What you missed at the first Mill Members Club
The 'conflicted' PR supremo and the stories behind our journalism
On Thursday night we hosted the first Mill Members Club of the year and based on the anecdotal feedback of a few people we buttonholed at the bar, it was a triumph.
Members packed out the Anthony Burgess Centre to hear from our staff writers Mollie Simpson and Jack Dulhanty, who talked about The Mill’s recent work — including their investigations into Manchester Confidential and cases of drink spiking.
We also had a live Mill interview on stage between our founder Joshi Herrmann and Andy Spinoza — the PR supremo and co-founder of CityLife — about his new book, Manchester Unspun: pop, property and power in the original modern city. It’s published by Manchester University Press, who helped us to put on the night.
The event sold out quickly and members milled around — if you’ll pardon the pun — having drinks before we took to the stage. Mollie baked a very good Victoria sponge, Jack wore a bit of a statement cardigan and members got to ask us about our recent pieces. Within minutes of the start, dozens of people who had never met before were chatting away and getting to know each other. It was a like an online comment section, but in the real world and in a good way.
On stage, Mollie went into the process of working on an issue as sensitive as spiking and sexual assault and recalled the time a pub in the Northern Quarter got so concerned about her regular visits while reporting a story that they thought she was lining them up for a robbery. Jack talked about sticking with stories until the time is right, and the very awkward phone conversation he had with Mark Garner, minutes after he had sent the Manchester Confidential founder a list of allegations he wanted a response to.
Members got the chance to quiz us on how we go about our journalism: the steps we take to protect sources and how we get the smaller details that come to make our pieces. They also got to hear from Andy Spinoza on his new book, which chronicles the meteoric rise of Manchester over the past few decades. He and Joshi talked about what the MEN was like in the 80s (“there was a whole showbiz desk, a canteen, execs with company cars,”) and tried to trace the source of the seemingly endless development boom that has taken over the city and why Spinoza sometimes feels “conflicted” about it. Did the property boom start with the Haçienda? Or is that a lazy simplification?
Afterwards, we stuck around to chat with members, have a few more drinks and eventually get kicked out because the Burgess Centre needed to close.
We’ve got more Mill Members Clubs coming up in the next few months, and we want these events to become a big part of what we do. They provide our members with a great chance to meet each other, discuss the big issues shaping Manchester, hear from interesting authors and get closer to our journalism.
So, if you want to join us in getting kicked out of whatever venues we hold those at, click the button below and join the club.