The return of ‘bad actors’: a new twist in the Carlton Club saga

Dear readers — we hope you survived another weekend of, how to put it? Mixed weather. In between snowstorms and floods, there has been much going on in the city. The Bee Network has completed its first phase, integrating all of Greater Manchester’s buses; Elon Musk is attacking the government over its decision not to back a new inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham; and there has been yet another twist in the Carlton Club saga.

On Saturday we published our first story of 2025 — a feature on Lindsay Reade. Lindsay was the Stone Roses and 52nd Street manager, and a major driving force behind Factory Records. So why is it that she’s only remembered as Tony Wilson’s ex-wife?

We had a lot of lovely comments from our members about the piece. Helen Wood wrote “Thanks for writing this… it’s never crossed my mind until reading this how few women are included in the stories,” and over on Bluesky (we have Bluesky now, by the way) user Jen Bren wrote “This. The whole Manchester story is immensely male-dominated in its narrative and yet so many women powered it.” You can read the piece and join in the discussion here.

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This week’s weather

Tuesday ⚠️ An unsettled mix of bright spells and heavy showers which will fall as sleet, hail and snow. Cold and icy overnight. Max 3°c.

Wednesday ☀️ Dry with long spells of winter sunshine and light winds but feeling cold. A hard freeze will follow overnight. Max 2°c.

Thursday ☀️ Very cold with temperatures below freezing in most areas throughout the day despite plenty of winter sunshine. Max 0°C.

Friday 🌤️ Dry and a little less cold with sunny spells. Max 2°c

Weekend 🌥️ Turning milder and cloudier, although still with plenty of dry weather.

You can find the latest forecast at Manchester Weather on Facebook — daily forecasts are published at 6.15am.

Your briefing

🌹 The Labour government’s decision not to back a new inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham has sparked a major controversy in the past few days, with the billionaire and close ally of incoming president Donald Trump, Elon Musk, tweeting that safeguarding minister Jess Phillips is a “witch” who should be jailed. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch's has called for a national inquiry into what she calls the "rape gangs scandal", broadening the story out from Oldham. But you might remember that back in the summer of 2022, there was a major report into the handling of sexual abuse allegations in Oldham, which found some alarming cases but no evidence of widespread grooming or a council cover-up. The limited scope of that review (mainly covering the years 2011-2014) led to calls for a wider inquiry, including from Raja Miah, the online activist familiar to Mill readers from our past reporting. Is there a case for a new inquiry into grooming in Oldham? We've been digging into that question for the past few days and will have a story for you this week.

📫 There has been another big twist in the Carlton Club saga (yes, another…). For those not in the know, here’s our longread, follow-up, and what we thought was finally the end of the whole thing. But a quick catch-up, two rival groups have been fighting over the ownership of the club since one group (that owns the building) served the other (that runs the club) an eviction notice last August. For ease, let’s call them the Building Company and the CIC. A public fundraiser abounded, and things eventually went into remediation. That failed, then suddenly the CIC found a way to oust the leaders of the Building Company who were trying to evict them, and reinstate their own people in their stead. It felt like after XXXX months of in-fighting and legal wrangling the matter had finally reached a conclusion. Apparently not. Now, those that were removed are back on the director’s board. We understand that the CIC is still trying to figure out how this happened.

The Mill reached out to Balmaine Craig, one of the formally ousted Building Company directors who has been re-appointed. He reiterated his allegation that mail from Companies House addressed to the Building company was stolen by the CIC and used to remove him and his associates as directors. He claimed the reappointments came after solicitors were instructed to contact Companies House. “We contacted Action Fraud and we arranged with Companies House for the corrections to be made and to stay as they are.” “The Police have been investigating what has occurred, Companies House are fully aware of the fraudulent actions of the Officers of the CIC,” Craig said, providing no evidence that anyone was investigating the CIC. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the CIC strongly refutes just about all of Craig’s claims. It says it has since spoken to Companies House, who say they haven’t intervened in the matter beyond changing the company address. In a statement, its chair Justin Anderson told us.

We are not aware of any investigation into the CIC and we have had no contact from Action Fraud, Companies House or the police. We had already filed our own complaint with Action Fraud about the misappropriation of the Club’s historic shareholding in the Building Company and the improper appointment of the former directors. These directors have shown themselves to be bad actors with no interest in protecting the future of the Club and its members.We strongly assert that the removal of the improperly appointed directors was done legally, and we will continue to challenge these changes, and our fight to save the Club. We did not steal mail. The Club has always had two directors on the Building Company, though the current directors have chosen not to recognise this. When the Building Company changed its registered address to Rowan Lodge, the Club’s legally appointed directors were able to access it. We shared our actions with Companies House at the time and will continue our dialogue with them as we seek to resolve these complex issues once and for all.

🐝 The Bee Network integrated the final 50% of Greater Manchester’s bus network in the early hours of yesterday morning, with new drivers signing in to take the yellow-liveried buses out into the snow. All 1,600 buses travelling 577 routes across the city region are now under public control; a huge moment for devolution in the UK and the crowning achievement in Andy Burnham’s mayoral career. Taking eight years to achieve — which has included legal wrangling with the bus companies losing their private control — this is only the first phase of the Bee Network at-large, which will eventually integrate bike, tram and rail. “Despite all of the challenges — legal and meteorological — we did it!” Burnham posted on X. “After 40 years of damaging deregulation, Greater Manchester has this morning successfully retaken control of the whole of its bus network.”

⚠️ More flood warnings were issued across Greater Manchester today as the Mersey’s water levels continued to rise, damaging its banks in Didsbury and the embankment of the Didsbury flood basin. “Act now” warnings were in place this morning in Stockport, and schools in Bolton, Bury, Oldham and Stockport have also been missed the first day back after Christmas due to snow. The A555 bypass, linking the airport to the A6, is flooded with only a few car roofs visible. That’s not particularly new, as amply documented by the Facebook group dedicated to whether the bypass is open or not. Still, some are finding humour where they can. Over the weekend, the Fletcher Moss Parkrun was cancelled due to the park being almost completely submerged. Or, to quote the website “Fletcher Moss Parkrun is cancelled — course being used as temporary aquarium.”

Home of the Week

This four-bed red brick in Salford is only £280,000, and comes equipped with the world’s nicest oven.

Our favourite reads

‘We’re on the global map’: how Co-op Live bounced back from chaotic launch — The Guardian

The “teething troubles” of Co-op Live are well documented (Mill readers might remember our own reporting back when the arena’s ‘cancelled gigs’ list was a roll-call of many of music’s biggest stars) . But with a Paul McCartney gig under its belt, and the likes of Robbie Williams and Bruce Springsteen set to perform there this year, has the venue finally found its feet? Guardian correspondent Hannah Al-Othman thinks so.

Manchester City and England football star Chloe Kelly: 'A smile on your face goes a long way' — The Big Issue

Manchester City star Chloe Kelly chats with the Big Issue about victory, injury, and being a bad loser — “I think that young girl is still inside me with that fire in my belly to do well in this game”.

Transmissions: The definitive story of Joy Division and New Order

And if our weekend read has got you digging out your old Factory records, the second season of New Order’s Transmission podcast is out now — narrated by Elizabeth Alker, and featuring Johnny Marr, Billy Corgan, and Neil Tennant.

Our to do list

Tuesday

🏛️ If you’re stuck for lunchtime plans, award-winning tour guides SiManchester will be hosting an afternoon walking Tour at 2pm. The tour will guide you through the places, people and movements of our city — the revolutionaries and the hedonists, the footballers and the activists. Tickets cost £15.

🎭 And tomorrow also marks the first day of The Lowry run of An Inspector Calls. Stephen Daldry’s National Theatre production of the JB Priestley classic has already won more awards than any other production in history. It will be at The Lowry for less than two weeks, so is not to be missed.

Wednesday

🖼️ Up in Oldham you can join designer Jayne Ford at her new Looking through the stained glass window event — a celebration and exploration of stained glass. Attendees will learn about the history of the craft, after which they have the choice of either making a mock-up stained glass window, or a small, simple stained glass panel using the appliqué or traditional Tiffany technique.

🎨 And this week marks your last chance to see two exhibitions at the Whitworth: The ‘Death’ of the Life Room, and Alison Wilding: Sculptor’s Drawings. The former features work by Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, David Hockney, and others, while the latter features the lesser-known art of esteemed sculptor Alison Wilding.

Thursday

☸️ Manchester Buddhist Centre is hosting a lunchtime led meditation — perfect for those new to meditating and wanting to learn more. The classes are held at the centre’s Lotus Hall, and tickets cost £4, though there is no need to book.

🎷 And in the evening, you can head down to Matt and Phreds to see the Grant Russell Quartet. Founded in 2013, the quartet perform improvisation-led music within the framework of traditional tunes. Expect classics as well as unexpected numbers — entry is free, but tables can be booked.