Mike Garry reflects on creativity, authenticity, and having the courage to follow your own path
Known for his distinctive voice, love of Manchester and powerful live performances, Garry has spent decades turning the city’s streets, stories and ordinary lives into extraordinary poetry.
On the latest episode of Best Life Podcast with Shay O’Brien, Garry shares how his passion for poetry emerged from the rhythms of family life, music, religion and storytelling.
The episode journeys through his life and career — from working in a library to collaborating with some of music’s most influential artists. He speaks candidly about leaving behind a secure career to pursue poetry full-time, why happiness matters more than money, and describes how he’s “always been an outsider” who has “ never wanted to follow the flow.” Listen below or on all major podcast providers.
Peering down at Andy Burnham from a balcony at midday on Monday, my brain was stuck in the wrong mode. I realise that now, but I didn't then.
In my notebook, I headlined one page "Specific" and one page "Vague" and tried to keep a tally of whether Burnham – in his first major speech on his plans for Britain – was telling us anything material (both pages filled up, and the notebook will not be released until The Rylands takes possession of the full, explosive Mill archive in 2050).
I've spent weeks writing, thinking and chatting to all manner of podcasts about the question of whether Andy Burnham will be a good prime minister. Everyone wants to know whether 'Manchesterism' amounts to a useful political programme, whether it coheres with Burnham's recent holy war against neoliberalism (you know my views), and whether its magic can be sprinkled benevolently upon the folk of Cornwall or Lincolnshire.
So when I turned up to the People's History Museum for the speech my mind was programmed to ask: is Andy Burnham going to run this country well? Will this speech nudge my thinking on that question one way or another?
As I was rushing out of the museum to give the nation the benefit of my sparkling thinking via BBC Radio 2, I bumped into Tom Peck, the excellent sketch writer from The Times. "This will be great for you," he said, to which I hurriedly agreed. And then, sitting on my sofa that evening, watching Germany being defeated by Paraguay, I realised a bit more what he meant. This will be really great for us, and not just us being The Mill, but us meaning, us! Manchester! This Burnham premiership is going to be extremely good for Manchester.
My mistake at the speech was I had promoted myself to the role of a national newspaper commentator pontificating on whether Burnham's devolution plans will edge up Britain's disappointing GDP growth. But there were plenty of national reporters in the room who can turn their minds to that question. I was there to report on the speech for The Mill, and apart from snapping lots of soon-to-be-valuable pictures of leading Labour politicians chatting to Sacha Lord, my assignment was to think about the interests of this city. So let's do that.
The announcement of the speech that stuck out to me most was the concept of "Number 10 North": an extension of the Downing Street operation that will be based in Manchester that Burnham says will lead on some of his key priorities. The FT – which first broke the news about moving parts of the prime minister's operation to Manchester – has now learned that it will be Burnham's "national growth unit". It was later briefed to journalists that Burnham will spend "a minimum of a day a week" in this office, and that his "primary home" will continue to be up here, rather than Downing Street.
Again, let's put to one side the question of whether these plans are good for the country. Plenty of critics seem to think they are flawed or impractical, but let's just be deeply parochial about this for a second: this sounds really good for Manchester. If the prime minister is spending a lot of time in our city, that is going to be fantastic for Manchester's standing in the country. Even if Number 10 North turns out to be a gimmick, it will be our gimmick! And the prime minister will be sitting inside it on a very regular basis, every minute of which will suck power, money and authority into our city.
It's the same with devolution. We can sidestep the question of whether the newly-formed Devon and Torbay Combined County Authority has the administrative talent to handle the new powers Burnham is promising to bestow upon them. What we do know is that Greater Manchester has thrived after being given more powers in recent years, and I think we can be confident it will likely thrive even more if the GMCA is given greater control over policy areas like getting people back into work – it would be hard to do worse than the national government on that one. The 'trailblazer deal' agreed three years ago means the next mayor will already have more powers than Burnham had when he was first elected, including the boring-sounding "single settlement" that means the mayor has more choice on how to spend money.
But it's the Number 10 North idea that has got me in an optimistic mood. The Local Democracy Reporting Service reports that it will be located in the new cluster of government offices that are being built on the site of the former Central Retail Park in Ancoats, although that's not expected to be ready until 2028. Burnham has already tapped the GMCA's chief executive Caroline Simpson to run Number 10 North, according to the Guardian, who will "work alongside cabinet ministers and senior civil servants in Whitehall, as well as the devolved regions and nations, to drive economic growth across the country".
That's the kind of language Burnham used in his speech, of course, trying to reassure voters that this new Manchester office isn't just some wheeze to mainline goodies into the city that he runs. But again, let's keep focusing on our own interests (yes, I know, the country doing well is in all of our interests, but let's leave that for another day): it will be incredibly beneficial to this city to have a serious government powerbase in bloody Ancoats. No, I don't think we should expect it will be a real equivalent to Downing Street. And yes, the gravitational pull of Westminster will probably suck Burnham down there much more than he would like, particularly when things are going badly.
Those caveats don't concern me. I’ll be interested to hear what some of you think in the comments, and whether you share my optimism. To my mind, the notion of having a prime minister who is at least partly governing from Manchester will be incredibly powerful. Literally powerful. Political power is such a magnet – it attracts money, ideas and talented people. It creates opportunities. It means everyone wants to be nearby, hoping to feel the warmth of its rays like courtiers in the palace of the Sun King.
If Burnham’s premiership survives long enough for Number 10 North to lease a few floors of serviced office in a Bruntwood tower, I foresee the positive vortex starting to suck good things into the city. Companies will want to base more of their staff here. Overseas investors – whose neoliberal cash this city has rebuilt itself on – will invest more in Manchester companies and building projects. Think tanks will hire Manchester researchers. Lobbying groups will snap up former middle-managers from Stockport Council's planning department who once had dinner with Caroline Simpson.
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Foreign powers will beef up their Manchester consulates with dozens of conventionally attractive "cultural attaches" (spies), who will suddenly appear in the City Arms, incongruously sipping half-pints and eavesdropping on Pat Karney. Suspiciously state-adjacent Chinese industrial firms will sponsor the Christmas markets and install listening devices on every Glühwein stall.
By having to spend more time in the Manchester, government ministers will realise how poor our transport is compared to London. "I think they should occasionally be forced to trek over to Sheffield via Snake Pass," my colleague in Sheffield Dan Hayes suggested on social media. "Then and only then will they understand the pain of transport in the north." The Castlefield Corridor – the nightmarish bottleneck that makes our trains so unreliable – will be their nightmare.
Of course, the most important economic benefit is that all of these new government workers, think tank wonks, lobbyists and investors will need to subscribe to The Mill, further boosting one of the city's most job-creating firms. Beyond that, national media companies will realise that they need to station more journalists in Manchester instead of toiling miserably in the provincial backwater of Westminster. As it stands, the Guardian has a handful of journalists based here, but most of the other national newspapers have one "northern correspondent". That will start to change. Young reporters sitting at the feet of the excellent journalism teachers of MMU and the News Associates programme will be more likely to find their first job in Manchester.
Not every single thing in this article will come to pass. But lots of it will. I have no idea how Burnham will last in the job, but I hope it's at least 10% of the time he's spent eyeing it up, because in that time, Greater Manchester will flourish.
Lots and lots of you signed up yesterday to read our feature on Oldham Coliseum.
Its CEO can’t explain over £30,000 in trustee expenses, and overnight stays in luxury hotels. One recent play is described by staff as “possibly the worst thing they’ve ever seen.”
The company is haemorrhaging money, and staff are instructed not to speak to one another...
So what's gone wrong this time?
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