Dear members — “How would you stop one violent crime? Where would you start?” With these questions, Jack opens up a discussion about violence in Greater Manchester with the man tasked with reducing it: Damian Dallimore, the director of Greater Manchester's Violence Reduction Unit. There are no quick and easy solutions, Dallimore suggests, but hope might be found in the successful “Glasgow model”.

But before that: the demise of a group of luxury mansions in Bolton; a summit on youth agency, and why Greater Manchester Police might need to hire extra IT consultants in the near future.