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Here's the Mancunian Way for today:
Hello,
Happy Valentine’s Day to those of you who celebrate it. And to those who don’t - more power to you.
In today’s newsletter we’ll be discussing the heartbreak over the sad closure of Oldham Coliseum, the rise of ‘romance scams’ and calls for authorities to act over knife crime. Let’s begin.
Broken hearts and broken bank balances
Romance scammers have conned almost £8m from people in Greater Manchester over the last four years.
A total of 836 people fell victim to romance scams across the region between the start of 2019 and the end of 2022, according to new figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats.
The scams see people duped into sending money to criminals who convince them that they are in a genuine relationship.
And this type of fraud is on the rise with the number of cases reported to Greater Manchester Police increasing from 167 in 2019 to 227 in 2022, according to data journalist David Dubas-Fisher.
The amount lost to the fraud rose from £1.1m in 2019 to £2.4m last year. It totalled £7.7m over the four years.
The figures were revealed through a Freedom of Information request to Action Fraud and covers romance fraud cases reported to local police forces.
The Liberal Democrats are calling for a tougher plan to tackle online fraud - including setting up an Online Crime Agency and a real-time scam warning system to check and report suspicious activity.
“Cruel romance scammers are leaving far too many people with broken hearts and broken bank balances this Valentine’s Day,” says Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP.
Punished for being in the north?
Oldham Coliseum has helped launch the careers of countless Northern stars during its 135-history. Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel, Minnie Driver and Ralph Fiennes all trod the boards.
It also served as a training ground for Coronation Street stars including Barbara Knox, William Roache and Anne Kirkbride. Meanwhile, its annual pantomime attracts audiences of over 35,000 from across the North West.
But as actress Maxine Peake said when it cancelled all upcoming shows after losing its entire Arts Council England funding: “We feel like we’re constantly being punished for being in the North."
Theatre bosses have today announced the historic venue has entered a period of consultation with staff. They are now proposing to close at the end of March.
The theatre applied for £1.84 million in funding to remain in the ACE portfolio for the next three years - but were unsuccessful - despite Oldham being earmarked as a priority 'Levelling Up for Culture' area. ACE said it had received a ‘record-breaking’ number of applications and had to make ‘difficult decisions’.
But Ms Peake says it feels as though ‘the further north you get the worse it gets’. “Our cultural institutions, identity and spaces are being taken away, stripped back," she told Channel 4 news.
Julie Hesmondhalgh, who played Hayley Cropper on Coronation Street, says the Coliseum has been ‘so many people's first experience of theatre’ and a ‘massive employer of creatives’.
Speaking about ACE’s decision to cut funding she previously said: “In a time when we are talking about levelling up, about access to culture, and art as a tool for regeneration, this decision feels incomprehensible to me. Oldham is a town that has been hit hard by austerity and the cost of living, and the long term effects of the closure of the Coliseum can only mean further hardship.”
All events will go ahead as planned until Sunday March 26. Ticket holders for all other events will be refunded over the coming weeks.
‘Act now’ on knife crime
Andy Burnham has previously insisted there is 'no knife epidemic' in Greater Manchester. But Yousef Makki’s sister says the mayor and authorities must ‘act now' following a spate of stabbings across the region in recent weeks.
Jade Akoum has been a strong campaigning voice on knife crime since the death of her brother Yousef - who was stabbed to death aged 17 in Hale Barns.
"It's happening all the time and until we see tougher punishments for it, it's not going to get any better. It's mainly young kids using knives and violence,” she told crime reporter John Scheerhout.
"It's really sad and each time there is another it's another family left devastated. I feel like it was a real problem when investment in youth and community centres stopped. I want to know what Andy Burnham says about all this. How long is he going to carry on saying there's no knife crime epidemic?
"I'm not saying I know the solution. I just wish people could see the devastation that is left behind."
The Manchester Evening News has reported on 16 serious stabbing incidents since the turn of the year. On Monday a 34-year-old man was knifed inside a property at Ordsall, Salford. Other cases include the stabbing of a 14-year-old girl with a broken bottle in a school, a 62-year knifed in a supermarket car park and a 19-year-old who died after being stabbed outside a convenience store. Detectives have stressed most of the attacks reported were targeted and there was no wider threat to the public.
Superintendent Caroline Hemingway, GMP’s lead for knife crime said: “Any incident involving a knife is concerning but Greater Manchester Police is making progress in preventing and reducing this type of crime – with the number of knife related offences recorded by GMP falling by 131 in the 12 months to December 2022. There is still a long way to go and that’s exactly why the force has launched Operation Venture.
“Within the first month, the team made several significant arrests and seized weapons, which will go some way to keeping our communities safe. The force has also developed the understanding of hotspots and how we can police these effectively, whilst continuing youth engagement work and distribution visits to those who are known to us and may pose a risk to both themselves and others.
“Though GMP will continue doing everything in its power to fight knife crime, communities need to continue sharing their concerns and any intelligence.”
From worried about finances to anger
It’s almost a week since students entered University of Manchester buildings and barricaded themselves in.
The UoM Rent Strike group initially occupied three buildings, barricading themselves with filing cabinets, desks, and tables while demanding a 30 per cent cut on monthly payments and a refund on some fees already paid.
Over the weekend, reporter Ethan Davies spoke to a protester who said many students are struggling due to the cost-of-living crisis. “I knew the maintenance loan was going down, and I’m already on an increased loan because of my parents’ income,” he said.
“Around December the uni published its finances and it said they were thrilled to make a £120m profit this academic year and some of that came from increases in accommodation [income]. That was the point when I went from worried about finances to anger.”
The university - which says it continues to ‘monitor the situation carefully’ confirmed that students remain in the John Owens Building but have now left the Samuel Alexander and Engineering building.
“We are aware of a small number of individuals gaining unauthorised access to the Simon Building overnight. Our primary concern is the health and safety of those people who are currently occupying the buildings,” they said.
'Sometimes I have to sleep in the living room because of the smell of mould'
A change to the law has been promised following the tragic death of toddler Awaab Ishak.
But two years after his death and a year after a Manchester Evening News investigation into conditions on Rochdale's Freehold estate - where Awaab lived during his short life - there are still tenants who fear for their health.
Journalist Charlie Smith visited the estate this month and spoke to families, some of whom claim the estate is beyond repair.
Leosenio Santos, who lives there with his pregnant wife Aniceth, has reported mould eight times since moving into their one-bedroom flat in September 2021. They first noticed mould growth last May after a leak.
Leosenio, a barber and cleaner from Angola, is worried about how mould could impact his wife - who is due to give birth to their baby daughter in May. “Sometimes I have to sleep in the living room because of the smell of the mould in my bedroom," he says.
“She vomits all the time, throws up, because she inhales the mould or when we want to take something from the cupboard.”
Social landlord Rochdale Boroughwide Housing say improvement works in the flat to deal with mould have been completed since Charlie’s visit - apart from some joinery work which has been scheduled.
Julie Poole, 59, who lives on Freehold with her cat Bertie, has accused RBH of ignoring the damp and mould in her one-bedroom flat for three months. The retired care worker suffers from COPD and uses inhalers.
She has cleaned the mould several times and also painted over it. “There’s nights where I’m coughing and my inhalers have run out because I’m on them so much,” she says. RBH says it is working to schedule the work requested by Julie as quickly as possible at a time which is convenient to her.
The landlord says it is determined to make changes needed to ‘regain the trust and confidence of our tenants and all the organisations we work with’.
They say an improvement plan is being delivered as quickly as possible and work to tackle damp and mould is being prioritised.
Opinion: "We're almost there - now MPs must secure Awaab's Law to change lives in his memory"
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Weather etc
- Wednesday: Clear changing to light rain by lunchtime. 10C.
- Road closures: One lane closed due to carriageway repairs on M56 in both directions between J7 A556 Chester Road ( Bowdon ) and J5 (Manchester Airport) until 6:00 on 18th February 18.
- Trivia question: Which Greater Manchester football team is known as The Lactics?
Manchester headlines
- Green: Plans to build a ‘heart of Ancoats’ have been formally submitted by Manchester Council, which it says the space ‘will act as the green focal point for the area’. Revitalising Ancoats Green forms one element of a project to improve public space in the neighbourhood, along with Jersey Green and public realm on Prussia Street. In all, the project will cost £32.7million, with £28.1m coming from Homes England and another £4.7m from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority through the Brownfield Housing Fund.
Vigil: A candlelit vigil for schoolgirl Brianna Ghey - who was tragically found stabbed to death in a public park - is due to take place at Sackville Gardens, in Manchester city centre, at 7pm tomorrow. It’s one of dozens of vigils due to take place in memory of the teenager. Brianna, 16, from Birchwood, Warrington, was found dead on a path in Culcheth Linear Park on Saturday. Police say she had been stabbed multiple times. A boy and girl, both aged 15, have been arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with Brianna's death.
Thank you: Messages left out for refuse collectors who worked through the Covid pandemic and national lockdowns are due to go on display as part of a summer exhibition at Bury Art Museum. The notes were all drawn and written by residents and left on wheelie bins during the first lockdown of 2020. More than 30 pictures and notes were collected and kept by bin crews. "You are my heroes," one note reads. Another states: 'not all heroes wear capes...thank you'.
Levelling Up: Responsibility for levelling up spending in Greater Manchester should be devolved to local authorities, the Shadow Chancellor has said on a visit to Bolton. Greater Manchester missed out on more than £276m of levelling up money in the latest round of funding announced by the government. Three bids were successful, bringing nearly £60m to Trafford, Wigan and Oldham. Bolton lost out on around £40m of funding. Rachel Reeves MP said: “I don’t think it is the right way to make decisions about investments which are of huge significance to towns like Bolton. The bid would have regenerated much of the town centre but was rejected. This is money which Bolton needed to make a real difference.”
Town hall: Sir Graham Brady has backed a campaign to save Altrincham Town hall for 'community use' ahead of a crunch Trafford Council meeting. The Altrincham and Sale West MP has called on the Labour-controlled council to abandon plans to 'dispose' of the building - a popular venue for weddings and community events. The council has signalled its intention to sell the 25-year lease on the building the Juice Nursery childcare business in order to cut what it says are £60,000 annual running costs. Sir Graham and the campaigners say the council has done little to market the facility effectively. The council’s executive will determine its future on Wednesday.
Fancy a chip?
This great image from the archives shows a mum and baby outside Turner's chip shop, in Eccles, back in 1978.
It’s one of many pictures included in this nostalgia article, by Lee Grimsditch, which takes a look back at the Salford town and how it looked decades ago.
Worth a read
Jordan McCann was in prison when the song that put him on the UK rap music radar was released. On ‘Lifestyle’, he raps about his life of crime and mentions the people he grew up with in Salford.
“I got everybody in the cell and we barricaded the pad and had a listening party. We just stayed there until they got all the extra staff to rush in the cell and get every one of us, because we were so hyped," he recalls.
From the Amblecote Estate, in Little Hulton, Jordan is a member of a well-known Salford family and his youth was peppered with offending - violence, armed robberies, gang affiliations and drug dealing.
He now describes it as the 'fakest life in the world.' "I just realised that the streets is a serious trap and it's a mind frame of 'oh I want to be a gangster, I want to be someone' but you make one mistake that's gonna f*** you up for the rest of your life."
Jordan says music has helped him turn his life around. And he will soon be touring jails to teach inmates how to write and record. But he says he has faced some blowback due to his background, friction with loved ones and people who doubted a Salfordian can be a chart topping rapper.
He has been speaking to reporter Rami Mwamba about his formative years, his time in prison, his love of music and the lessons he has learned.
That's all for today
Thanks for joining me. If you have stories you would like us to look into, email beth.abbit@menmedia.co.uk.
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The answer to today's trivia question is: Wigan Athletic
