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Here is today's Mancunian Way:
Afternoon,
I hope you all had a lovely long weekend. It was a belter here with Manchester Pride, Bolton Food and Drink Festival and the World Gravy Wrestling Championships (albeit over the border in Lancashire) all going off with a bang.
I'll bring you back down to earth as gently as I can in today's newsletter. Let's get started.
Out of control
Andy Burnham says there needs to be ‘pay restraint’ for the highest paid as ‘the gap between the bottom and the top has just got out of control’.
The Greater Manchester mayor is due to appear with RMT boss Mick Lynch at Manchester Cathedral tonight for the launch of the Enough is Enough campaign - which is calling for lower energy prices and increases to wages and benefits.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, the mayor said a payrise for the lowest paid workers could come from pay freezes, or even pay cuts for ‘people in the top half of organisations’. “The gap between the bottom and the top has just got out of control. There is a culture of high pay in the top half of organisations not just in the private sector but sometimes in the public sector as well,” he said.
“So what I’m saying is over the next three years there needs to be pay restraint for people in the top half. That means pay freezes or even pay cuts and that should then be used to bring up the pay of those at the bottom.”
Mr Burnham said the pay of the chief executives in the FTSE 100 is ‘109 times higher than the person at the bottom of their organisation’. “Where is the public debate about high pay? It’s always the pay of people lower down that is deemed to be unaffordable. What about challenging this culture of high pay in organisations?” he asked.
“We are going to have to make big interventions to get through this cost of living crisis - at the moment I think people are worried but politicians haven’t caught up yet with the scale of what will be needed.”
Speaking about striking workers, Mr Burnham told Sky News he would share a picket line with Mr Lynch and he doesn’t see it as ‘controversial’. “People are fighting for their incomes in a cost of living crisis,” he said.
In an opinion piece for the Mirror this weekend, the mayor said politicians should start working out, ‘sector by sector, fair pay deals to keep heads above water’. "That means approaching this winter in the same spirit as the early days of the pandemic: by putting politics aside and remembering how much we all depend on those key workers,” he wrote.
Weather, etc.
- Wednesday: Cloudy changing to sunny intervals by late morning. 21C.
- Roads closed: A57 Eccles New Road westbound for roadworks from Stott Lane to Gilda Brook Road until September 12.
- Trams: No service on Metrolink between Eccles and MediaCityUK due to engineering works until October 21.
- Trains: Cancellations across the network on Avanti West Coast.
- Today's Manc trivia question: Which famous soda was created in 1908 in Manchester?
Answer at the bottom of the newsletter
An ultimatum
It was another difficult weekend for anyone travelling between Manchester and London as Avanti's restricted timetable continued. And the mayor says one service an hour until further notice is simply not good enough.
Following a meeting with Avanti last week, he’s issued the company with an ultimatum - present a plan for the reintroduction of the timetable by the end of the week, or he’ll ask the new Prime Minister to remove the contract.
Mr Burnham says passengers have been caught up in 'dangerous stampedes' for Manchester-bound trains at London Euston.
“I have witnessed chaos on trains and passengers in stressful situations as they arrive at seats that have been double-booked,” he said in a statement.
“I have heard reports of dangerous stampedes at London Euston as people clamour to get on the Manchester trains. And passengers are contacting me to complain that the Avanti website is slow to release tickets for sale and pushes people towards more expensive options like open returns or buying two singles.”
The mayor says anyone who has been ‘seriously inconvenienced by this mismanagement - or forced to pay over the odds to travel’ should be compensated.
Why have Manchester to London rail services been cut to the bone?
Going the way of the U.S.
Criminal gangs will be ‘rubbing their hands with glee’ and ‘prospering’ as communities come under increased strain - that’s according to Greater Manchester Police’s former chief constable.
Sir Peter Fahy has told The Mirror that ‘huge numbers’ of young people fell out of the school system over the pandemic, leaving them more susceptible to crime. “Whenever communities are under that strain, gangs prosper,” he said.
“In the United States, we just have seen an incredible increase in homicides and violence in general. We really haven’t seen anything like that here yet - but you can see us going in the same direction. People in poorer parts feel abandoned and are therefore more likely to develop an alternative economy and criminal justice system.”
Opinion: This is a national emergency, so where is our government?
Threat
A city centre councillor claims a police officer 'laughed' after he reported receiving a death threat at Manchester Pride.
Jon-Connor Lyons says a fellow festival-goer told him 'F*** off, I'll kill you', before hurling abuse at his female friend during an altercation in the queue for a bar, Damon Wilkinson and Sophie Halle-Richards report.
"I spoke to security then I spoke to a police officer who frustratingly laughed at me when I told him what had happened. Thankfully about 10 minutes later a senior member of Pride staff spoke to me, she was fantastic, and she got security to go to the bar with me but by that time the lads had gone," he says.
Greater Manchester Police say they have since apologised to Coun Lyons following their 'disappointing' response, and are making enquiries into the incident.
Manchester headlines
Tributes to councillor: Tributes have been paid to a former Bolton Liberal Democrat chairman who has died following a brain haemorrhage. Kev Walsh, 40, passed away this week. Described as a man 'who always stood up for what he thought was right', he served as chairman of the area party, and stood as a candidate for the Lib Dems for both Bolton Council and the Bolton South East parliamentary constituency. More here.
Blaze: A memorial tree has been left 'irreparably damaged' following a fire in the Gay Village. The National Trans Memorial, in Sackville Gardens, caught fire on Sunday night. As James Holt reports, the Sycamore was specially carved and decorated with plaques to remember trans people who have died. Charity Sparkle say they are exploring how it can be replaced by a ‘lasting and resilient monument that reflects the rich diversity of the trans, non-binary and gender expansive communities’.
Stockport Spider-Man: Martial arts expert Jason Baird became well known for entertaining children by dressing up as Spiderman on his daily run during the first national lockdown. And he displayed heroic actions again last weekend when he rescued a four-year-old boy from a 50ft fairground slide. Jason ran up the slide at Arley Hall, in Cheshire, when he saw the lad panicking and trying to climb back up. He scooped up the child and slid back down to safety.
Visits from Diana
This week marks 25 years since the death of Princess Diana. Nostalgia reporter Jess Molyneux has been looking back on Diana’s visits to Manchester over the years.
Worth a read
Reporter Hana Kelly has been speaking to residents on Manchester’s ‘most Instagrammable street’.
The terraces of Anita Street and George Leigh Street are something of an oddity in Ancoats these days. The homes, many of which are still council owned, stand not far from the glut of apartment blocks and new builds that the city centre is now better known for.
The homes are often used as a location for film crews. But resident Sam Bishop says it can be hard to get used to the influx of selfie-hunters, walking tours and film crews. “It’s kind of strange, especially when you’re just watching TV,” he says.
“It’s very special and unique. A lot of people pose for Instagram photos at either end of the street, especially when the blossom is out.”
That's all for today
Thanks for joining me, the next edition of the Mancunian Way will be with you around the same time tomorrow. If you have any stories you would like us to feature or look into, please email: beth.abbit@menmedia.co.uk
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The answer to today’s trivia question, which famous soda was created in 1908 in Manchester, is Vimto.
