Confusing alliances, no-nonsense graft and general malaise: insights into this year's local elections

Plus: An update on a dismembered torso in Salford

Dear readers — In a little over three weeks, Greater Manchester residents will go to the polls for this year’s local elections. Today, we’re taking the temperature of three boroughs to get a sense of what councillors and insiders are thinking and feeling, and to look at the stories taking shape in the build up to the election. 

But before that, an update on our Monday briefing, and the racquet sport taking the world by storm, now coming to Manchester.