‘It’s basically a f*** you to the left’: Labour’s candidate selections are going down well
Plus: The gorgeous ginnel gardens of Moss Side
Dear Millers — when we got on the phone with one Labour activist, they told us they wanted a local candidate and then put down the phone. Another likely candidate parachuted into a safe seat is described as “a fuck-you to the left”.
It’s been a frantic few days of political shenanigans as Sir Keir Starmer’s ruthless operation in London moves to impose its favoured people on the safe seats that are up for grabs in Greater Manchester, and Jack has got the inside track on who has been selected and who is pissed off about it. Plus he marks our card for other seats to look out for as Labour and the Lib Dems attempt to remove any Tory blue from the GM map.
To balance out the intrigue and back-stabbing in that piece, we also have a very lovely interview about a project turning ginnels and back-alleys in Moss Side into beautiful gardens. “We’ve seen a fox, we have little squirrels,” its organiser tells Mollie. “These are things you don’t often see in Moss Side. I don't think Moss Side is known for its wildlife.”
On Wednesday, members got a great piece of analysis from our data reporter James Gilmour who says that, to understand Greater Manchester’s housing crisis, you shouldn’t be looking to the skyscrapers, but into the suburbs. He focuses in particular on Stretford, where working class residents are being replaced by more affluent workers who prize access to jobs in the city centre.
“What a fantastic article!,” commented one subscriber. “Really lays out the essential truth of both the importance of social housing and improved public transport.” To read that story and get involved in the conversation in the comments, hit the button below.
Our fourth birthday party event next week has now sold out! We can’t wait to see lots of members there, and sorry to those of you who missed out on tickets for this one. We will soon be announcing our next Mill Members’ Club event, so get ready to queue through the night for tickets to that.
Your Mill briefing
👮♀️ Detectives investigating the murder of Stuart Everett, whose dismembered torso was discovered in a park in Salford last month, have moved their search from Boggart Hole Clough to Parr Fold Park in Worsley. Police have found remains in multiple locations and say they have concluded their search in Boggart Hole after making “significant recoveries.” Michal Jaroslaw Polchowski, 68, and Marcin Majerkiewicz, 42, have been charged with Everett’s murder, and will appear at Manchester Crown Court next month.
🖼 There was some good news coming out of Bury earlier this week. The town’s art museum has been granted £589,545 to repair leaks in the building. The repairs will start in Autumn and allow the affected gallery spaces to reopen.
📺 From next week, BBC News at One will air from MediaCity in Salford, making it the first daily news bulletin broadcast from outside of London. The show will include more human interest stories and extend its runtime by an hour.
Make June joyful at First Street
From today’s sponsor: Celebrate summer in style at First Street, Manchester’s most vibrant city centre neighbourhood. Throughout June they’ll be showing the French Open, the T20 World Cup and Glastonbury on the big screen, with more events throughout the summer. Soak up the sun and catch the sport, while enjoying a huge range of food and drink. And Millers get a special offer: Hakkapo — a modern Japanese Izakaya, serving fresh home-made bao buns, Ramen and small plates — are offering 20% off everything until the end of June. Just mention The Mill when you place your order.
Full details of all events being shown at First Street can be found here.
We’ve got some sponsored slots free in the coming weeks — would you like to get in front of over 47,000 Millers? We also have sister publications in Liverpool, Birmingham, and Sheffield. Get in touch at daniel@millmediaco.uk for more information.
The ginnel gardens of Moss Side
In 2018, residents in Moss Side decided to transform their ginnels into gardens, growing flowers, herbs and vegetables. We caught up with one of the project’s founders, Yasmine El-Gabry, to find out more. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Hi Yasmine, can you tell us more about the origins of the project?
The reason it started was because of the sheer amount of fly-tipping and antisocial behaviour. I opened up my back gate to go to the bins and you actually couldn't access the bins because of the amount of rubbish — bin bags, every bit of furniture you can imagine, broken glass. It was horrific. We really wanted it to become a nice place and have that pride of where you live. Me and neighbours started tidying up and it gradually became a gardening project.
And what’s your background, do you know anything about gardening or rewilding?
I have no background in any of this. My background is office work; I had a house plant or two before doing this. But I kind of knew what needed to be done. Because I had a couple of neighbours to work with, we all had our different strengths. One neighbour was just really happy to get on with the cleaning and de-weeding. Another neighbour was good at knocking on doors and rallying people. I was good at getting things moving.
What kind of difference has the project made to the neighbourhood?
The greening aspect is beautiful. The biodiversity now compared to six years ago is amazing. We’ve seen a fox, we have little squirrels. These are things you don’t often see in Moss Side. I don't think Moss Side is known for its wildlife! And the social cohesion is invaluable. You cannot underestimate how much the community has felt supported. We started this in 2018, and by the time 2020 rocked around and people were desperate for community networks, we already had that established.
Now the weather is nicer, almost every evening I'm there chatting to neighbours in the alleyway, and sometimes we have a drink or have some food and a catch up. It brings a sense of community, a sense of pride and a sense of belonging. We try to have barbecues and community parties just to get people outside and talking and being together. We have a really high number of social housing in the area and students and I think sometimes people feel temporary when they’re here. It’s really important to me that people feel part of the community.
If you’d like to visit the Moss Side ginnel gardens for yourself, they’re hosting an ‘Open Alleys’ day this Sunday (2 June). You can find out more here.
General Election preview: Starmer gets his candidates in Greater Manchester
By Jack Dulhanty
The snap General Election is just over a month away. Nationally, the polls still point to a heavy Labour victory. Locally, Sir Keir Starmer’s party is hoping to pick up a string of seats on the edges of Greater Manchester — including in Trafford, Bury, Bolton and Rochdale. And in Stockport, the Lib Dems hope to pick up a couple of seats from the Tories too.
The FT has a clever new tool that lets you see how each seat might play out based on the current polling gap. Right now, it predicts blue disappearing from Greater Manchester entirely, which may change if the polls begin to tighten.
You’re probably sick of reading about politics on The Mill — it was only a few weeks ago that we were hitting you over the head with local elections coverage. We will try to keep things engaging in the weeks ahead by focusing on specific people and areas that tell interesting stories. If you think there’s an interesting storyline near you, please drop Jack a line.
For today, we’ll try to give you a bit of an overview of some of the interesting races as we see them, and the scramble by Labour to get its favoured candidates onto the ballot paper in key seats.
The Starmerites get their men in place
The media has been abuzz with stories about Starmer-aligned researchers, moderate bloggers and chin scratching think tank wonks being parachuted into Labour safe seats across the country. Veteran Westminster journalist Paul Waugh has been selected to stand in Rochdale, hoping to unseat George Galloway. Waugh was on the by-election shortlist in February but lost out to the doomed Azhar Ali, who was dropped by the party because of anti-semitic comments, leaving the way open for Galloway to win.
Waugh might be a classic party machine selection but it seems to be going down reasonably well with local members. He grew up in Rochdale, supports the local football team and also reported extensively on the allegations of child abuse made against the town’s former MP Cyril Smith. “We need an MP who can unite the town, and who reflects the basic decency and local pride that all us Rochdalians share,” Waugh tweeted yesterday.
Labour is hopeful that it can win back the seat from Galloway and his Workers Party of Britain, but it will be an interesting result to watch on election night. The war in Gaza is still an emotive issue in Rochdale, and will only become more salient in the month before the election if Israel continues its assault on Rafah. On the other hand, Labour effectively didn’t stand a candidate in the by-election after withdrawing its support for Ali at the last minute, so local organisers hope the higher turnout of a General Election, and an increased focus on national issues, will hand Waugh victory.
Over in Makerfield, in Wigan, it’s unlikely that ambitious centre-left politico Josh Simons was at the top of any local Labour member’s list. Yesterday morning it was announced that Simons, the director of the think tank Labour Together, will be the party’s candidate in Makerfield, by some calculations the safest Labour seat in the country. Its outgoing MP, Yvonne Fovargue, announced her plans to stand down last week after representing the area for 14 years.
Simons’ think tank, described in a recent New Statesman piece as “the provisional wing of Starmerism”, works out of Millbank Tower, a short walk from the houses of parliament, and he appears to have no personal connection to Wigan. In fact, the last time anyone was talking about him in these parts was when he was hovering around the seat of Bury South, before the defection of Tory MP Christian Wakeford took that prize off the table. Speaking to The Mill about the prospect of Simons becoming a candidate earlier this week, deputy mayor and veteran councillor Jenny Bullen said, “Makerfield constituents want a local candidate and have made that abundantly clear. Nothing else to say, bye bye,” and put the phone down.
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