Dear readers — on Saturday, ostensibly the day of romance and rose petals, 2,000 angry Facebookers descended on The Mill’s Jack Walton and told him he doesn’t know how to dress, which isn’t very Valentinesy.
We’d posted a video promoting Saturday’s story, about the members of Matt Goodwin’s campaign team whose social media output included using the n-word, saying “I wouldn’t touch a Jewish woman”, and playing down the loss of life in the Holocaust. That video has been watched around 50,000 times, although few of those seemed able to look beyond Jack’s sleeveless vest.
“The Frank Spencer look went out years ago, bonny lad,” read one of the many, many remarks. There was also “his granny knitted his tank top”, “I hope his mummy doesn't find out he's been using scissors to cut up the carpet to make that top”, and, simply: “Who's the nut in a tank top?” Our favourite, though: “Are you a Wallace and Gromit fan?”
Left, Jack Walton, 172cm, size Medium. Styled with: plain white t-shirt, beaded necklace, Levis 592, braided leather belt, Reebok Classic gum sole. Right, Wallace, 20cm, size XXXXXS. Styled with: crisp white dress shirt, red tie, brown wool trousers, nice warm slippers, inventor-dog.
Despite that sartorial blip, it was a great weekend for The Mill. The Reform scoop was shared by the deputy Labour leader, Lucy Powell, who urged Matt Goodwin to distance himself from the remarks made by his team (“You must have seen the investigation by The Mill”, she wrote). Meanwhile, Ophira’s Sunday pigeon investigation was a huge hit! “Read it with my morning coffee and actually cried laughing,” wrote Helen. Read it here if you haven’t already.
How Factory International inspires artists to "do something huge"
In Autumn last year, Marina Abramović took over Factory International’s Aviva Studios with her wildly entertaining Balkan Erotic Epic. Now, the show begins its world tour in Barcelona. It comes as Phillip Glass’ Tao of Glass, also produced by FI, makes its West End debut. These shows add to the long list of FI produced work to be performed elsewhere. 1.8 million people in 35 countries across the world have experienced a FI production, making it the largest cultural exporter in the UK, and continuing to put Manchester on the map as a northern production powerhouse.
The BBC have recently published a documentary about Abramović’s time making Balkan Erotic Epic in Manchester. In the documentary, she speaks about how Aviva Studios inspired her to finally bring the production to life after years of pause: "we entered the big space... and I said wow... let's do something huge". To learn more about Factory's international output, click below.
‘State clearly that racism and conspiracism is not welcome in Reform’
The deputy Labour leader, Lucy Powell, has sent a letter to Matt Goodwin urging him to distance himself from “racist content” shared by his campaign team, following our reporting on Saturday. Our piece, based off research by Hope Not Hate, revealed that members of Goodwin’s team used the n-word, attempted to play down the loss of life in the Holocaust, wrote (in the case of Reform interim campaign manager in Tameside Adam Mitula) that they would “never touch a Jewish woman” and expressed support for the far-right party Britain First. The Guardian also found further Mitula tweets, including one in which he claims there are “Muslim no go ghettos in the UK”. In addition, in response to a post on Black fathers, he wrote: “They are the best in leaving muims [sic] with no support. But those who care about families are very good people.” In the letter, Powell said Goodwin may have been unaware of the comments “when they offered to help your campaign, but you are aware of it now”. She then urged him to “ensure that they are not part of your campaign in the future, make clear that you disagree with their vile views, and state clearly that racism and conspiracism like this is not welcome in Reform and not compatible with campaigning for you”. Jumping to Goodwin’s defence on X, Tommy Robinson claimed Labour had turned a blind eye to “industrial scale rape”, but was now trying to call the people who had attempted to “prevent it” extremists. Quite what record the likes of Mitula have achieved on this front is unclear, nor why it makes making brazenly racist remarks acceptable. Goodwin ignored our, and the Guardian’s, request for comment.
That said, it isn’t only Goodwin struggling to distance himself from divisive figures in his campaign. A few Fridays back, we asked Labour’s Angeliki Stogia if she would campaign with the councillors named in the infamous “Trigger Me Timbers” group chat — where councillors, along with former MP Andrew Gwynne — made a series of racist, antisemetic and derogatory comments. She said “let me win this thing first, then we can have that conversation.” That same day, she was photographed out leafleting with Brenda Warrington who, an investigation found, had derided local constituents and compared two Labour members to the serial killers Fred and Rose West. When we asked Stogia what message she thinks campaigning with Warrington sends to voters, she said “she has been reinstated.” Asked if she thought being photographed with her is a good idea, she said: “I don’t think it’s a good idea, but she is a member of the Labour Party, and she is out campaigning.”
No such thing as a free dinner
There is a little over a week to go until the Gorton and Denton by-election and, as of this weekend, all three of the key contenders have been referred to either the electoral commission or the police for possible law-breaking. The latest is the Labour Party, reported for allegedly bribing voters with free dinners. 600 people were hosted at a south Asian restaurant My Nawaab in Levenshulme and served a three course meal. This has been reported as “treating”, an abstruse electoral law that bans using food and drink to influence voters. When we asked Angeliki Stogia, the candidate for whom the dinner was organised, she said: “we are running a clean campaign, we were invited to an event by a supporter. I don’t think we have done something outside the rules”. Treating can only be proven if there is evidence the food and drink was provided with the intention of corruptly influencing someone’s vote. A Labour spokesperson called it a “desperate politically motivated move.” It hasn’t been reported who referred Labour to the police.
Hello! Lucy here. Over the course of this by-election we’ve broken two major stories, we’ve had our work picked up by the deputy Labour leader as well as several national titles and we’re not done yet! This week we’ll be bringing you in-depth profiles of the major candidates in the race as well as all the latest news and tidbits from the campaign trail. All that, and we still found time to investigate the massacre of pigeons at Victoria Station.
All of this work has been published for free in order to give people as much information as possible about the race. We think this is crucial to a healthy democracy. It wasn’t free to produce, however. If you like to support us today, here’s the button.
‘Dead Lefty F*** Greens’
In another sign of the growing acrimony in this by-election,a reader in Levenshulme got in touch about a strange sight she’d seen in the streets — a doll constructed from a stuffed pair of tracksuit bottoms, a green blouse, and a football wearing a child’s cycling helmet. The doll was propped up against a tree across from Alma Park primary school, and above it was a sign that read: ‘Dead Lefty Fuck Greens’. Our reader dismantled the doll and reported it to the police. “It was particularly disturbing that they positioned it across from a primary school and that it was wearing a child’s cycle helmet,” she told us. “Also it was wearing women’s clothing and a pink girl’s helmet so it feels quite misogynistic too.”
‘This place smells of growth, and it looks like growth too’
Over the weekend, the BBC published an article headlined: “Could Manchester be a model for the UK to kickstart growth?” It argued that while the country’s economy had a rather uninspiring end to 2025, Manchester’s, on the other hand, is booming. “This place smells of growth, and it looks like growth too,” writes Faisal Islam, the BBC’s economics editor. From skyscrapers dominating the skyline to a city centre teeming with young professionals, economists call our boom an “agglomeration” — multiple factors clustered together. One of the most significant of these, argues the article, is that we’re finally able to retain the graduates who flock to the city for our top universities. Manchester’s population has increased by 9.7% between 2011 and 2021, and what’s most surprising about the surge is that it’s partly driven by the reversal of a longstanding trend. Where many of the north’s graduates would once head to London for the best chances of employment, in 2024, 13,000 Londoners moved to Greater Manchester; that’s 1,200 more than the number of Mancunians who relocated down South.
Someone went and posted the piece on Reddit, a platform seldom known for inviting amicable engagement. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Manchester’s Redditors have plenty of critiques to make. “Such a superficial analysis. The UK needs a set of energy and industrial policies fit to compete internationally, not just more construction,” reads one. “It literally does just need more construction,” rebukes another. Further evaluations include: “I’m worried we’re getting yet another form of ‘trickle down economics’, sold to us as a ‘really great thing’ when it just means more inequality and more rent-seeking from corporations and immense generational wealth.” A few more users point out that while the city looks great aesthetically, homelessness and poverty remain rife.
Do you want to throw your two pennies worth into the mix? Feel free to head to our comment section below.
A big announcement 🚨
We've got some exciting news: we're planning to launch a new sister title in Leeds! We'll be bringing our mix of investigations and human features to one of the UK's biggest and most interesting cities. Think of it like The Mill, but on the other side of the Pennines.
To launch it, we need 500 people pledging to support the new newspaper. We're sure we must have readers with links to Leeds — could you help us get it going? Click the link below, and please share it with anyone you know in West Yorkshire.
This week’s weather
Tuesday 🌥️ Dry with sunny skies during the morning. Remaining dry but with increasing amounts of cloud during the afternoon. Light winds. Max 8°c
Wednesday 🌥️ Mostly cloudy & breezy with the odd shower. Feeling cold in the breeze. Max 6°c.
Thursday 🌥️ Breezy & chilly with occasional sunny spells. Max 7°c.
Friday 🌦️ Milder with showers & largely cloudy skies. Breezy again. Max 10°c.
Weekend 🌦️ Mild, changeable & often breezy
Home of the week
This three-bed on the cusp of Alexandra Park is going for £230,000 — mid century furniture presumably not included.
What our writers are up to this week
🚶Dedicated flaneur Jack Dulhanty will be escaping the hubbub this week and heading to the Yorkshire moors; both in celebration of the launch of our new sister title in Leeds and the release of the new Wuthering Heights film, a steamy spin on a classic. This is the hike for he.
🥞 Lucy will be spending tomorrow’s lunch break devouring pancakes over at Altrincham Market. For the third year running, Bounceback Community Food Kitchen is giving away free pancakes between 11:30am and 12:30pm. And if one pancake won’t sate your appetite, you can get a discounted lunch ticket that includes a main, side, drink and, of course, a pancake. Every meal sold funds an extra meal that’s distributed to foodbanks or sheltered accommodation across the North West. Tickets here.
🎨 And Ophira spent last Thursday at the Whitworth, getting a sneak preview of Delaine Le Bas’ new exhibition Un-Fair-Ground. The exhibition merges Le Bas’ own work with the Whitworth’s existing collection. It’s a sight to behold, and you get these little blue shoe covers for walking around, which are very stylish.
If someone forwarded you this newsletter, click here to sign up to get quality local journalism in your inbox.
If you’d like to sponsor editions of The Mill and reach over 60,000 readers, you can get in touch or visit our advertising page below
