‘Suddenly life just becomes one long miracle’

After drug addiction came poetry and a Bob Marley-loving cockatiel

Dear Millers: we’ve reported a lot in the last couple of issues about policy and the big picture when it comes to our city — today’s piece zeroes in on just one person. Stephen Brown is neither powerful nor wealthy. You might think of him as someone on the margins of things — he’s unemployed, has struggled with addiction and homelessness. On paper, his life sounds like one long low. But writer Dani Cole found that Stephen’s life is threaded with joy. We loved meeting him — it’s stories like this you don’t always get to hear in your day-to-day — and we hope you enjoy doing so, too.

But first, a video of Andy Burnham being heckled by Raja Miah supporters, and are nightclubs the future when it comes to the North?