The bumpy road ahead
From time to time, stories crop up about potholes in our roads. This one, for example. It’s bread and butter stuff, but it matters to people, and so we write about it. But ratepayers should be at least...
View ArticleFaking it
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. After all, if you are a big enough band to inspire a tribute act, then you must be doing ok. Do not fret too much then for Councillor Iain Roberts,...
View ArticleThe £5m question: will Stockport council’s leadership implode?
The – potentially nuclear – political fallout from Stockport council’s ‘missing cash’ crisis is heavy, and has been waiting six months to drop. But next week Stockport’s Lib Dems may need their...
View Article“Now let it roll…” That Jimmy Savile/Cyril Smith story in full
Even before Simon Danczuk’s bombshell in the House of Commons yesterday, there had been much speculation about the impact of the Jimmy Savile case on decades-old rumours about Cyril Smith. So any...
View ArticleThe view from the directorate
Friday’s PCC elections clearly demonstrated – as if proof were needed – the now yawning gap between politics and the people. But item 5 on today’s Salford neighbourhoods committee proves it is never...
View ArticleCyril Smith: why the truth still matters
Genetically, babbled Dr Fox on Brass Eye more than a decade ago, paedophiles have more in common with crabs than you and me. There’s no evidence for it…but it is scientific fact. Chris Morris’s satire...
View ArticleMerry Christmas…from the DCLG
As Christmas looms, Greater Manchester councils have been given the ultimate unwanted gift – cuts of up to 8pc. The latest local government funding settlement sees areas that rely heavily on government...
View Article‘We’re all doomed…’
Remember Liam Byrne’s infamous ‘there’s no money left’ note to his treasury successor three years ago? Well if their latest forecasts are to be believed, our town halls may soon be following suit....
View ArticleMy Big Fat Gypsy Council Meeting (Part II)
With apologies to those I know who work in it, there are usually very few things less sexy than town planning. (The exception is possibly the meeting I once attended about a planned ‘swingers” club in...
View ArticleRetail rennaisance… or high street gimmick
About a year ago flame-haired underwear saleswoman-turned-retail guru Mary Portas was billed as the saviour of our nation’s shopkeepers. A £1m regeneration pot presided over by the Queen of Shops...
View ArticleThrowing his weight around…that exclusive Cyril Smith transcript – and police...
Last November, we revealed just how convinced police in 1970 actually were that Sir Cyril Smith had been abusing young boys. After investigating a string of similar sexual abuse claims, officers...
View ArticleBatting for the left… Ed’s best ever gift
In other news, I interviewed Ed Miliband a couple of weeks ago. In what, as you can see, was clearly a Paxman-esque ordeal. Keen to stay on top of that day’s most important news event (my birthday),...
View ArticleThe captain of the ship
While we’re on the topic of Ed Miliband, he also managed to come up with the most original excuse for being late that I’ve yet to hear from a politician. After doing the other interview rounds at Media...
View ArticleThe Stockport inquisition
She’s inquisitor of the year… But she needn’t expect the Stockport inquisition. I’m told an evening with Starbucks nemesis Margaret Hodge, planned for Brinnington Labour club this Friday, has so far...
View ArticlePortas: back to the drawing board?
Elsewhere in Stockport, democracy grinds cumbersomely on. Beset by in-fighting from the start, the Town Team tasked with spending Stockport’s Mary Portas cash is tying itself up in the red tape she...
View Article‘People Like Us was a mistake…’ Sir Peter Fahy hits back
Last summer, when production company Dragonfly rolled into Harpurhey, they wrote to Greater Manchester Police and Manchester town hall asking for their permission to film a series provisionally...
View ArticlePolitics and the press office
Rumbles of discontent reach me from Salford, where council press releases are supposedly taking on a new spin. Several have gone out in recent weeks decrying the ‘bedroom tax’, highlighting the plight...
View ArticleWhere are they now 1: Geoffrey Berg
Remember Geoffrey Berg? He is the man behind Salford’s mayoral system, the Prestwich businessman who managed to get enough signatures to trigger a referendum in 2011. Mission accomplished, he has now...
View ArticleWhere are they now 2: Paul Rowen
In the second of what will probably be a pretty sporadic and poorly executed series, let us turn our musings towards Rochdale. The town’s former MP Paul Rowen has more earthly delights on his mind than...
View ArticleAs now, potholes appear…
It’s not often local government makes me laugh. Not intentionally anyway. So I was cheered, after the latest crop of MEN stories on horrific potholes – including some belters in Wythenshawe – when this...
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