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Here's the Mancunian Way for today:
Hello,
Politicians love a cultural touchstone don’t they? And I’ve heard the title ‘Hunger Games’ many times over the last 24 hours.
That’s because Lisa Nandy has compared the government’s Levelling Up fund with that Hollywood film series, in which teenagers are picked to compete in an elaborate televised fight to the death.
Shadow Levelling Up Secretary Ms Nandy - whose Wigan constituency has been awarded £20m to rejuvenate Haigh Hall but lost out on millions for other projects - has slammed the scheme as 'chaos'.
"It is time to end this Hunger Games-style contest where communities are pitted against one another and Whitehall ministers pick winners and losers," she said. Hyperbole perhaps, but it’s true there are huge winners and losers from this latest funding round.
In Greater Manchester, Wigan, Trafford and Oldham have received almost £60m in funding between them.
But Manchester, Salford, Rochdale, Tameside, Stockport and Bolton all missed out on money from the pot. And though Oldham has been granted a £20m boost to create a 'Green Technology and Innovation Network', it missed out on money for cultural projects.
The government’s flagship Levelling Up policy has been controversial from the start - not least because many are unsure as to its meaning. And Michael Gove’s Levelling Up white paper did little to clarify matters with its florid mentions of Rome and Renaissance Europe.
Here in Greater Manchester, accusations of the government ‘levelling down’ have been frequent.
Over the summer, it emerged that Salford - one of the country’s most deprived areas - is considered less in need of ‘levelling up’ than all other Greater Manchester boroughs. Veteran Salford MP Barbara Keeley accused the government of playing ‘pork barrel politics’ by ‘prioritising funding for relatively affluent areas with Conservative MPs while leaving areas like Salford behind’.
Other Labour politicians have been wading into the conversation today. Andrew Gwynne - whose Denton and Reddish constituency missed out on funding to transform Denton town centre - said making ‘overlooked’ areas ‘scrap’ for money is a ‘smokescreen to hide this Government’s fundamental failure to improve regional inequalities’.
While Andy Burnham said local authorities used to have the money to fund ‘basic’ projects’ he told BBC Radio Manchester "Now we're in a world where they have so little money that if the government sprinkles a little money, everyone's meant to give them applause. I'm not saying it isn't welcome but scattering it randomly, where there's winners and losers, is that Levelling Up? Does everybody feel that's really going to change life in the North of England?”
Indeed, areas in London and the South certainly appear to have fared better from this funding round. And analysis in The Times indicated 52 Tory constituencies in England benefited - more than twice as many as those represented by Labour MPs.
The capital received £151m compared with just £120million for Yorkshire and £108m for the North East. Only half of the 80 successful bids in England are in the 100 most deprived areas of the country, with wealthy areas such as Rutland, North Somerset and Malvern Hills, Worcestershire receiving cash.
Rishi Sunak rejected claims the allocation of more than £2 billion in taxpayers’ money for local projects was skewed towards relatively affluent areas - including his own constituency.
“If you look at the overall funding in the levelling-up funds that we’ve done, about two-thirds of all that funding has gone to the most deprived part of our country,” he said.
Meanwhile, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said the latest round of investment is ‘specifically tilted towards the North, the Midlands, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland’.
He told Times Radio that London and the South East together constitute a quarter of the country’s population, but that per capita ‘the biggest winners are those in the North West’.
Back to cobbles
Potholes - they’re the bane of our lives as drivers and a constant source of stories for local news reporters. Now a clearly exasperated councillor in Salford has come up with an idea to try and eradicate them.
Conservative councillor Arnold Saunders suggested that Coronation Street-style cobbles on roads across Salford would turn the city into a tourist attraction and cure its pothole problem.
The suggestion, made at a council meeting this week, was met with peels of laughter and Coun Saunders has admitted the suggestion was 'slightly tongue in cheek'. Though he insists Salford could capitalise on its Corrie links.
As Nick Jackson reports, Coun Saunders - who is also a rabbi - said he had looked at a pothole in his Kersal and Broughton Park ward and ‘similar to the bush that did not burn’ noticed the cobbles beneath broken tarmac were completely intact.
He suggested ‘going back to cobbles’ would provide a boost for tourism and ‘we would be the only authority that has no potholes’. “I look forward to seeing Salford re-cobbled,” he said.
The council’s planning lead, Coun Mike McCusker, said: "The Conservative government seems to want to take the health service back to the 19th century and now they want to push our roads the same way."
‘This is why I’m striking’
Nurses are striking for a second day, with many manning snowy picket lines across Greater Manchester again.
Across the country, tens of thousands of NHS staff have walked out in a row over pay and staffing.
If you want to understand more about why nursing staff are taking this action, it’s well worth reading this piece by Greater Manchester nurse Charlotte Barker, a staff nurse at an endoscopy unit in Leigh, who says NHS staff like her can no longer provide safe care.
“I don’t know anyone who was balloted for this that sat down and immediately said yes. This is a last resort, we all want to get back to work and care for our patients,” she says.
A visit from the King
King Charles III will visit Greater Manchester tomorrow to celebrate 150 years of Bolton Town Hall. It will be the first time the reigning monarch has been to Bolton since Queen Elizabeth II came for the town’s 150th birthday celebrations in 1988.
The King and Queen Consort, Camilla, will be greeted at the town hall by a civic line-up including Mayor Coun Akhtar Zaman, leading councillors and local MPs.
They will first enjoy watching a performance from the Polonez folk dance group, before entering the town hall to view L.S. Lowry’s famous painting Going to the Match and joining a reception in the main hall.
Airport chaos as flights cancelled
There was disruption at Manchester Airport this morning - thanks to the snow.
Bosses at the hub were forced to temporarily close both runways due to the ‘adverse weather’. Some flights from international airports were diverted to Birmingham.
The runways at Manchester reopened just before 9am but passengers are advised to check with their airline for any continuing delays.
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Weather etc
- Friday: Yellow weather warning of ice. 5C.
- Road closures: M56 eastbound exit slip road to the A34 closed due to roadworks at A34 Kingsway until February 5.
- One lane closed due to carriageway repairs on M56 in both directions between J7 A556 Chester Road (Bowdon) and J5 (Manchester Airport) until February 18.
- Airport: Delays after the earlier closure of the runways at Manchester Airport following heavy snowfall.
- Trivia question: What was the stage name of radio DJs Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley during their time presenting on BBC Radio 1?
Manchester headlines
- Hammer-blow: Heywood and Middleton MP Chris Clarkson has called for a flagship ‘Atom Valley’ site to be thrown out of the region’s Places for Everyone development masterplan. The controversial long-term strategy for jobs and homes is currently undergoing a public examination. But Mr Clarkson has written to inspectors overseeing the examination urging them not to allow the Northern Gateway on the grounds it would be a ‘devastating hammer-blow’ to the area. Local leaders have hailed it as of potentially national importance. But the Conservative MP says it could 'not be any less appropriate' for the area. More here.
Jailed: A man has been jailed after taking hundreds of pictures of women's bottoms. Plain clothes officers spotted Andrew Smoggie, 52, taking pictures of unwitting women at Manchester's Pride festival last year. When they stopped him, they realised he was subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) which barred him from taking pictures or videos of women he didn't know in a public place. He was 'observed' taking a number of photographs of passing women from behind on Peter Street. David Thompson, defending at Manchester Crown Court, stressed Smoggie’s conduct 'wouldn't ordinarily be unusual or criminal' but for the existence of the SHPO. The defendant, of Thelwall Walk, Warrington, was jailed for two years and four months after admitting two breaches of the SHPO and a breach of his suspended prison sentence. Full story here.
- Barlow: Veteran MP Graham Stringer has told the Prisons Minister a ‘callous’ serial rapist should remain behind bars. Mr Stringer spoke after outrage that the Parole Board had decided Andrew Barlow, formerly Andrew Longmire, should be released this month. Barlow carried out two campaigns of rape in the 1980s, targeting women across Greater Manchester and the North. He was later linked to two more rapes following advances in DNA technology. In a debate on the future of the Parole Board held at Westminster Hall, Mr Stringer cited Neal Keeling's Manchester Evening News stories about Barlow. "Without those stories I would not have known that Andrew Barlow was likely to be released and neither would the families of the victims,” he said. He added: “As many of the victims and their families that have written to me have said, he is a threat to them and their families and should remain behind bars and I hope any reconsideration leads to that." More here.
Cancellations: Under-fire train operator TransPennine Express reported almost 100 cancelled services across its entire network today. TPE reported 'cancellations to services on all routes', with passengers in Manchester facing another day of rail chaos as a result. Network Rail urged commuters to check their journeys in advance, saying low temperatures can cause points to freeze, leading to slower trains, delays and cancellations.
Worth a read
At 8.20am a Downing Street receptionist was transferring Steve Penk's call through to Tony Blair. By 10pm that night the radio presenter and professional wind-up merchant was the lead story on every news channel.
It’s been 25 years since the Mancunian DJ - renowned for his hoax calls - pulled off his biggest ever prank. Reporter Damon Wilkinson has been looking back on how he did it.
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: Mark and Lard.
