My return to Levenshulme - and the rise of Manchester's former townships

Phil Griffin explores the neighbourhood where he grew up

Dear members — we hope you had a peaceful Bank Holiday weekend, or at least more peaceful than the scenes at the Palace Theatre on Friday night, where a show was halted after a "few badly behaved individuals ruined it”. More on that in our briefing below.

You would never encounter such disgraceful scenes at a Mill Members Club, of course, and if you missed our most recent event with the author Andy Spinoza you can now get a taste of the night via our latest podcast. The podcast has the audio from Joshi’s conversation with Andy on stage, including questions about whether Manchester is losing its soul, whether the city’s leadership has been dominated by a tiny clique of powerful individuals, and what it’s like to work with Gary Neville…

If you sat down with the latest edition of Prospect magazine this weekend, you might have spotted an interview with Joshi in the opening pages, talking about The Mill, the “vandalism” being done to local newspapers and why the media missed Brexit. Joshi’s…