We've only gone and done it!

Dear readers — the moment came at 2.09pm on Friday afternoon. Our counter stood at 999, in fact it felt like it had been standing at 999 for an absolute age, when all the phones, laptops and other devices at Mill HQ pinged in unison. A cheer went up, corks catapulted across the room, Jack Dulhanty performed an impressive knee slide through the corridor and someone did a cartwheel. 

A name appeared on the screens before us, the 1,000th Miller in our campaign push and the person, ultimately, responsible for damning Jack Walton to spending a chunk of his 2026 being bullied by teenagers, most of whom presumably bigger and tougher than he is. In other words, a hero: Deidre McLaughlin.

Since Friday afternoon, that toll has continued to rise. The final score, smashing our target, is 1,224 new Millers in 3 weeks. For context, it would normally take us about a year to add that many people. Our campaign has now ended, the total number of Millers is way over 4,000 and we’re now going to get to work on making good on our six pledges — more on that front very soon. 

For now though, a huge thank you from all of us. When we set our target of 1,000 members we obviously considered the possibility that we’d fall flat on our backsides and have to sheepishly take down the campaign counter and pretend nothing ever happened. Instead, so many of you have rallied behind us. We think of Niall Power, showing up several days on the trot to fill two newly-purchased M&S suitcases with Mill print editions to be distributed, or Bob Johnson, setting up an impromptu Mill distribution-stand in the foyer of his New Islington apartment block. 

We can’t thank everyone individually, sadly, but the number of people who have handed out print copies, shared the campaign with friends, sang our praises on social media, volunteered to assist with the pledges or even just sent us very nice and encouraging emails, has been humbling. 

And to the newly signed-up 1,224 of you, a very warm welcome. Many of you have signed up for discounted rates for your first two months, so it’s now very much on us to dazzle you into staying around after that period expires. Before the dazzling commences, though, a final thank you to everyone, it’s been a blast.

🚨 Oh and one more thing: We’re hiring! If you know someone who might make a brilliant marketing and events assistant for us, please send them our job ad. It’s a full-time – and extremely varied – role and the deadline for applications is Sunday 4 January.

SPONSORED

Manchester Museum holds 40,000 objects from across Africa. But there are big gaps in its knowledge.

Manchester Museum's African collections include cultural heritage items, plants, animals and minerals, many collected during the period of Empire, often through violence. Museum records can tell us when these objects arrived and sometimes who donated them, but much of their story remains untold.

To begin to fill these gaps, and to ask what the best way to approach these objects is, the museum has launched the Africa Hub. It includes a display co-curated with Igbo Community Greater Manchester (ICM). Honourable Mrs Sylvia Mgbeahurike, Vice-Chairlady of ICM's Women's Wing, commented: “Some of [the objects] were given, some of them were stolen, some were taken forcefully, out of conquest. But it’s good for us to start bringing them together again. It shows inclusiveness. It shows there is strength in diversity. It shows we are one people."

The Africa Hub is now open, on floor 2, above the Egypt and Sudan gallery. To find out more, click below.

Learn more

Your briefing

The weekend papers were filled with “quite a lot of rubbish”, to quote Andy Burnham, about the mayor’s return to Westminster via a safe North West parliamentary seat and his plans to depose Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister. Allies of Burnham’s told the Mail on Sunday that a seat was “likely to come free” for Burnham to fight a by-election over. The mayor has denied this. It’s the second time this year that journalists have scrambled to find out if Burnham is actually going to make his move. Back in September, things seemed slightly more serious: the Labour party was in flux following Angela Rayner’s resignation, and Burnham was backing a new party faction that was promising to put an end to factions (“my head hurts,” one source texted in at the time). But in the end people felt Burnham went too far too fast, and by the time the Labour party conference was over, he conceded that Starmer was the best man for the job, “the Burnham revolt seems to have galvanised people behind Keir,” one former MP told the FT.

Fast forward to now, and sources in local Labour circles are baffled by the Mail’s story, saying they haven’t heard anything about Burnham's renewed interest in a northern seat. Andrew Gwynne — the disgraced Denton and Gorton MP under investigation for his part in the “trigger me timbers” Whatsapp scandal — has long been considered the obvious MP to step aside for Burnham. But the Guardian has reported he has no plans to vacate his seat. There were also talks of the mayor doing a “job swap” with MP for Oldham West Jim McMahon, but with the spectre of Reform and Gaza’s effect on local politics, that seat isn’t so nailed-on anymore. Plus, who is to say the national Labour party, controlled by Starmer, would allow Burnham to stand anywhere? “I have absolutely no idea who would give up their cushy £90k or whatever it is when it’s not even guaranteed that the NEC (National Executive Committee) would let Burnham on the shortlist if a vacancy arose,” one well-connected source texted yesterday. For Burnham’s take, see the top of this item again. On X, he said the whole thing “reminds me why I left Westminster in the first place!”

Quick hits 

💬 Sir Richard Leese — former leader of Manchester City Council and now chair of Greater Manchester’s Integrated Care Board (ICB) — told one of the board’s recent meetings to pay little mind to the “really wild” rumours attending the suspension of its CEO Mark Fisher. It was confirmed last Thursday that Leese had suspended Fisher, who is due to retire next March after 42 years of services, following whistle-blower complaints.

🎓 Eton Star Oldham, a new state sixth form backed by the elite college, will go ahead after a year in limbo due to a government review of free school projects that has seen two similar projects in the north west axed. “Eton Star Oldham will give our young people access to life-changing opportunities, no matter their background or where they start in life,” said council leader Arooj Shah.

🗞️ Jeremy Clarkson decided — as is within his gift — to review Manchester in general in his latest column. He alights on such things as the racial mix of some people eating a curry — “some were black, some were brown, some were naked (girls in Manchester see clothes as a nuisance) and some were white” — further expands on Manchester’s culinary offering (“cool restaurants are everywhere and none of them are bad”) and throws in a few kind words for the city’s council: “Labourish, works very fast, is extremely pro-business”. It’s all in an evening’s work for Clarkson and his pen. 

🌧️ Finally, four flood warnings are currently in place across Greater Manchester amidst heavy rain over the next few days. Key areas of concern around the upper River Irwell are in Bolton, Bury, Rochdale and Oldham. For the rest of this week’s forecast, we defer to our resident weatherman Martin Myles below.

This week’s weather

Tuesday 🌦️ Cloudy with patchy rain first thing, then turning dry with bright spells during the afternoon. Max 9°c

Wednesday 🌧️ Cloudy & breezy with outbreaks of heavy rain. Max 10°c.

Thursday 🌦️ Mostly cloudy & breezy again with showery periods of rain. Max 10°c.

Friday ⛅ Dry with long periods of sunshine but feeling chilly. Max 9°c.

Outlook 🌦️ Often cloudy with showers and seasonal temperatures over the weekend. Turning drier and more settled next week but still with large amounts of cloud at first. 

Home of the week

If sitting outside in the Stockport sun with your morning coffee will make you feel happy and fulfilled, then what’s £199,000?

What we’re reading this week

Losing local radio — and losing my mum — The Post

From The Post, our sister publication in Liverpool, Dave Lloyd writes one of the most beautiful pieces you’ll read this year. It’s about his mum, and how her little radio gave her comfort in her final days. “Mum’s radio was the thread that tied everything together,” he writes. “It was her social media — her steadfast link to the world in which she played her part with love and wonder. And, in those last fitful days, it was her gentle companion.”

Singin’ in the Rain review — destined to be a big fat Christmas hit — The Times

More positive coverage of Manchester in the Times here, thankfully minus a middle-aged columnist commenting on how little the women in the Northern Quarter are wearing. This review of the Royal Exchange’s Singin’ in the Rain describes the play as “pure bottled sunshine”, with Laura Baldwin in particular form as “the vain, mean and unfortunately voiced Lina Lamon”. Five stars.

To do this week

We’re sure you’re already awash with seasonal engagements as is, but in case you’re looking for something to do this week… 

🗣️ There’s a Christmassy evening of spoken word at The Carlton Club in Whalley Range tomorrow night. More info here.

🕯️There’s an equally Christmassy carol singing session at the Cathedral, also tomorrow night. All profits from the event go to supporting lonely and isolated ageing adults in the region ahead of Christmas. Doors at 7pm.

🎄And on Friday, head to Spinner’s Mill in Leigh for a night of performance, music and “Christmas Hauntings” hosted by STAT Magazine. More here.

If someone forwarded you this newsletter, click here to sign up to get quality local journalism in your inbox.