Words Dept.: category

Here’s a link to a photo of the anti-BNP protest that’s taking place at Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester as I type. One question: Why, when the election was last week and two of the racist twats have already been elected? Actually, here’s another one: Isn’t the idea of protesting against the outcome of a democratic [...]

When Guardian Media Group’s MEN Media announced last month that it was cutting a load of jobs at the Manchester Evening News and closing several local newspaper offices, there was a feeling from the NUJ and some staff that one of the reasons for the severity of the cuts was to protect Channel M. As [...]

It’s come to something when a regional newspaper group thinks it makes business sense to close eight local offices and force what’s left of its depleted journalistic staff base to either work from home or commute miles into the city centre to get to their own newsroom. The idea of long-established local beat journalists fulfilling the basic requirements [...]

Crain’s this week has a nice story about “council and quango chiefs” spending “hundreds of thousands of pounds” of public money travelling by first class train. The editor’s comment bemoans the first-class gravy train and free gin and tonic for fat cats. It’s a nice story that’s bound to cause a justified outbreak of tutting among the Manchester accountants [...]

The involvement of a vicar adds piquancy, I feel.

Ofcom has ruled that an advert about the congestion charge shown on ITV earlier this month directed viewers to a website that “contained material that was almost exclusively in support of the congestion charge” and, as such, broke the Television Advertising Code rules on political impartiality. You might think this is quite a serious indictment. [...]

I’m not sure which is more irksome. Is it making an extraordinarily stupid video linking the proposed Greater Manchester congestion charge to a violent assault on a young woman, or is it sending out a mud-slinging press release that acknowledges the video has been withdrawn but still seeks to make political capital out of the sorry affair? Well, here’s [...]

It’s a month to go until the result of the referendum on the Transport Innovation Fund and peak-time congestion charging in Greater Manchester – and the debate is moderately warm! Stockport council, led by Liberal Democrat Dave Goddard, is opposed to the TIF bid and has been a target of particular attention from the Yes [...]

Russell Brand and his pal Jonathan Toss have clearly touched a nerve over this whole “He fucked your granddaughter” business. But let’s get it into perspective. Why is Gordon Brown even thinking about this when real actual stuff is happening in the world? Aren’t we supposed to be on the verge of a global recession [...]

I’ve just returned from Lyme Park, having witnessed a deer sprinting around the place like a maniac. It made me realise that I am scared of most animals. Also that I don’t really know anything about the behaviour of deer. Are they minded, especially the male ones with the big antlers, to be aggressive towards [...]