Category Archives: Greater Manchester

Nico in Manchester: ‘She loved the architecture – and the heroin’

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She had been a top model, then sang with the Velvet Underground, and in 1981 Nico moved to Manchester. Her friends there share their touching, alarming memories of ‘a true bohemian’

An imperious blond German ex-model with a voice once described as like “a body falling through a window”, Nico was already extraordinary by the time she leant her vocals to songs including Femme Fatale and All Tomorrow’s Parties on the Velvet Underground’s classic first album, produced by Andy Warhol.

Soon after that, she embarked on a solo career, and made records, such as The Marble Index, that were even darker, with despairing lyrics and a wheezing harmonium accompanying Nico’s Teutonic tones. By this time, she was no longer blond – she disdained her traffic-stopping looks – and was addicted to heroin.

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Northern’s Pacer trains to run into 2020 despite retirement pledge

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Rail firm privately backtracks on vow to MPs that fleet would be retired by end of year

Northern rail promised MPs last week its fleet of hated “buses-on-rails” would be retired by the end of the year, but it has emerged the firm had already privately warned the transport secretary it might have to keep some of them in service well into 2020.

Rob Warnes, the rail firm’s network planning director, told the all-party parliamentary group (AAPG) on rail in the north that all of its antiquated fleet of Pacers would be gone by the end of the year, according to Ian Mearns, the Labour MP who chairs the AAPG.

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Woman, 93, arrested as a dying wish after being ‘good all her life’

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Josie Birds said to have ‘thoroughly enjoyed’ gesture by Greater Manchester police

One of the UK’s largest police forces apparently arrested a 93-year-old woman who had committed no crime because it was her “dying wish”.

In a tweet that received more than a thousand likes, Pam Smith wrote to Greater Manchester police to thank them for the gesture towards her grandmother, Josie Birds.

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Hancock pledges hospital food overhaul after listeria deaths

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Factory production of sandwiches linked to five cases is halted as health secretary demands action

Health secretary Matt Hancock has ordered a “root and branch” review of NHS food after two more patient deaths were linked last week to a listeria outbreak. The new deaths bring the number of suspected fatalities to five and doctors have warned that further cases could occur.

Hancock said he was “incredibly concerned” after it emerged the patients were suspected of dying as a result of eating pre-packaged sandwiches and salads linked by the same supplier, The Good Food Chain.

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Manchester police defend prosecution of two mentally ill people

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Women who tried to kill themselves were charged this year after causing traffic jams

A police force has defended its decision to prosecute two mentally ill women who were charged after they caused traffic jams when trying to kill themselves.

Greater Manchester police (GMP) charged the two this year following the incidents. The force said it would review both cases and stressed prosecution was “rarely a course of action for someone with a mental health condition”.

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Diner accidentally gets £4,500 bottle of wine in Manchester restaurant

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Hawksmoor steakhouse tweets ‘chin up!’ to staff who served it, adding: ‘mistakes happen’

A lucky diner was accidentally given a £4,500 bottle of red wine at a steakhouse in Manchester .

A member of staff at the Manchester branch of Hawksmoor, an upmarket chain specialising in steaks and seafood with nine sites across the UK, apparently served the luxury wine unknowingly in what the restaurant management described as a “one-off mistake”.

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Celebrating Purim in Manchester – in pictures

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Orthodox Jewish children in fancy dress and adults take to the streets of Broughton in Greater Manchester to celebrate the annual feast of Purim, celebrated by Jewish communities around the world with parades and costume parties. Purim commemorates the defeat of Haman, the adviser to the Persian king, and his plot to massacre the Jewish people, 2,500 years ago, as recorded in the biblical book of Esther.

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‘Friendship over fear’: Manchester man shows solidarity with local mosque

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Andrew Graystone responds to Christchurch massacre with message ‘I will keep watch while you pray’

A Mancunian whose message of solidarity with a local mosque after the Christchurch massacre went viral has said the overwhelming response shows “the power of choosing friendship over fear”.

Andrew Graystone from Levenshulme stood outside the Madina mosque on Friday after hearing about the shooting at two mosques in New Zealand that left 49 people dead.

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Hitman guilty of murdering Salford ‘Mr Big’ Paul Massey

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Mark Fellows and an associate also convicted of killing John Kinsella during gangland feud

A gangland hitman has been convicted of the murder of the Salford criminal Paul Massey, known as “Mr Big”, and his associate John Kinsella.

Mark Fellows, 38, shot Massey in the chest with an Uzi machine gun in July 2015 as part of a deadly feud between rival gangs in Salford. The attack sparked a series of tit-for-tat repercussions.

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Local councils heading for fracking showdown with government

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Greater Manchester tells firms they are not welcome as discontent spreads

Ministers are facing a fresh confrontation with local councils over their controversial plans to expand fracking, after one of the biggest combined authorities in the country set out plans to ban the practice.

Greater Manchester’s decision to effectively stop companies from extracting underground shale gas in the region was greeted as a critical moment in the fight against fracking, which critics say is dangerous and unproven.

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UK trains ‘are packed to near double capacity’

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Some major routes to be 208% over capacity by 2022, shows data compiled by Labour

Overcrowding on trains is at the highest level for years, according to official data compiled by Labour showing some major routes are to be 208% of capacity by 2022.

A study of government figures found the most overcrowded services were on average 187% of capacity in 2017, an increase of 25% since 2011.

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