Category Archives: Greater Manchester

‘Know your audience’: BBC 5 Live chief on the station’s staying power

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On 5 Live’s 30th birthday, Heidi Dawson says more of the BBC should be based outside London to reflect the national conversation

More of the BBC needs to be based outside London to reflect the “conversation of the nation” and secure its future, according to the controller of BBC Radio 5 Live.

As the station celebrates its 30th birthday on Thursday, with a series of shows and tributes, Heidi Dawson says 5 Live is well placed to see off the multiple headwinds buffeting its HQ in London, including a further £200m in annual cuts announced by the BBC’s director general this week.

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Who are the Rochdale byelection candidates – and what do they stand for?

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With Labour withdrawing support for its candidate, the vote has been blown wide open

With Labour withdrawing support for its candidate, Azhar Ali, at the 11th hour, the Rochdale byelection on 29 February has been blown wide open. The candidates on the all-male ballot paper include George Galloway, who has been canvassing support among the Muslim population, and the seat’s former MP Simon Danczuk, who has appeared as a last-minute candidate for Reform UK.

Here’s a run-down of the candidates and what they stand for:

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Labour withdraws support for Rochdale candidate after Israel-Gaza remarks

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Party no longer campaigning for Azhar Ali, who suggested Israel had allowed 7 October attack to happen

Labour has withdrawn its support for Azhar Ali, its candidate for the Rochdale byelection, just days before voters go to the polls in a key test for Keir Starmer’s party.

Senior Labour MPs and members had urged the leadership to confirm Ali would be disciplined if he won the byelection as comments he had made soon after the 7 October attacks surfaced over the weekend. In them, he suggested Israel had deliberately relaxed security after warnings of an imminent threat.

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Ex-MP Simon Danczuk suspended for sexting to fight byelection for Reform

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Former Labour member likely to be up against George Galloway in contest for Rochdale seat

Simon Danczuk, the former Labour MP who was suspended from the party for sending explicit messages to a 17-year-old girl, is standing in the Rochdale byelection for the Reform party.

He looks likely to face George Galloway, another former Labour MP, who said he would stand on a pro-Palestine ticket to “teach Starmer a lesson”.

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Tory MP says most struggling children in his area are ‘products of crap parents’

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Bury North MP James Daly makes remark while outlining what New Conservatives group stands for

A Conservative MP has claimed most children who struggle in his constituency are the “products of crap parents”.

James Daly, the MP for Bury North, was outlining what the New Conservatives group of MPs stood for when he presented his perspective on how important a family unit is in giving children “stability”.

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Tornado damages homes in Greater Manchester as Storm Gerrit batters Britain

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Thousands of homes without power and rail travel in chaos after strong winds, heavy snow and rain

A major incident has been declared in Greater Manchester, where a “localised tornado” has swept through the Tameside area, damaging about 100 properties and leaving thousands of homes without power.

Storm Gerrit, the latest named storm to reach the UK, has also caused heavy snow, high winds and rain in parts of Scotland, where fallen trees, branches and other debris have brought down power lines.

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Alex Batty back in UK six years after vanishing on holiday in Spain

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Teenager whose disappearance, aged 11, sparked an international police hunt, flies home after being found in France

Teenager Alex Batty has returned to the UK six years after disappearing while on holiday in Spain with his mother and grandfather, police said on Saturday.

Detectives told a press conference at Greater Manchester police HQ that the teenager, who was 11 when he went missing, met his step-grandfather at Toulouse airport earlier on Saturday before flying back to the UK.

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Alex Batty to return to UK six years after going missing during holiday

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Teenager believed to have been abducted by mother in 2017 was found in France earlier this week

Alex Batty, the British teenager who has been missing for six years, will return to the UK on Saturday afternoon.

The 17-year-old is expected to be reunited with his grandmother, Susan Caruana, his legal guardian, who has not seen her grandson since he disappeared in 2017.

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Alex Batty fled across Pyrenees after mother planned Finland move, French police say

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British teen allegedly kidnapped in 2017 told passing driver ‘I need a future’ after he was found in remote corner of France

A British teenager allegedly kidnapped by his mother six years ago fled across the Pyrenees after she announced plans to take him to Finland, French police have said.

Alex Batty, 17, told a passing driver “I need a future” after he was found in a remote corner of south-west France in the early hours of Wednesday, carrying only a skateboard and €100 in cash.

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British boy missing since 2017 Spanish holiday found in France

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Alex Batty was 11 when allegedly abducted by mother and grandfather to give him ‘alternative lifestyle’

A British boy who has not been seen by his legal guardian since he went missing on a family holiday to Spain in 2017 has been found in France.

Alex Batty, from Oldham, was 11 and under the guardianship of his grandmother Susan Caruana when he was allegedly abducted by his mother, Melanie Batty, and grandfather, David Batty.

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UK Biobank and the masses of medical data that became key to genetic research

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The resource, which is on the move to Manchester, now ranks as the world’s most important health database

The origins of the UK Biobank can be traced back to a pilot study in a building in Stockport bordered by the Cheadle Heath police station on one side and the local recreation ground on the other. It was the early 2000s and scientists had realised the potential for genomics and big data to transform health research.

With diabetes, cancer, dementia and other ailments on the rise, scientists pushed for a database devoted to genetics, health and lifestyle to help them tease apart who was most at risk and how diseases could be prevented.

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Andy Burnham claims government note shows Covid tier 3 restrictions imposed on Manchester as ‘punishment beating’ – as it happened

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Covid tier system introduced in October 2020 and imposed different restrictions on English regions in effort to contain spread of virus. This live blog is closed

At the Covid inquiry Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, said that he was not getting information from the government in February about Covid. He said he was “disappointed” by that.

In late February and early March he was getting information from other cities around the world instead, he said. He said this happened even though his foreign affairs team consisted of just three people.

The government generally does give us information about a variety of things happening. I’m disappointed the government weren’t giving us information in February about what they knew then.

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‘I feel like I’ve lost him twice’: daughter pleads for return of father’s stolen ashes

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Nigel Hill’s ashes were taken along with power tools from garage in Bury, Greater Manchester, in September

A woman whose father’s ashes were stolen in a burglary has urged the culprit to show compassion, saying: “I feel like I’ve lost him twice.”

Nigel Hill’s ashes were stolen along with some power tools from a garage at the home in Bury, Greater Manchester, that he had shared with his wife, Susan. He died aged 72 in January.

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Rishi Sunak refuses to make ‘premature decision’ over HS2

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PM declines to reveal if Manchester to Birmingham line will be scrapped amid speculation over soaring costs

Rishi Sunak has insisted he is not going to be forced into a “premature decision” over the fate of the HS2 high-speed rail line as speculation about the multibillion pound project continued to overshadow the Conservative conference.

“I am not going to be forced into a premature decision because it is good for someone’s TV programme,” the prime minister told BBC Breakfast.

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Manchester to launch ‘revolutionary’ Bee Network public bus system

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First buses to return to public control since deregulation to offer cheaper fares across integrated transport system

The first buses to be brought back into public control in England since deregulation in the 1980s will set out from depots in Bolton and Wigan on Sunday morning.

Greater Manchester will launch its Bee Network, which promises better, cheaper transport with fares capped across an integrated public transport system that combines buses and Metrolink trams.

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Greater Manchester police officers’ data hacked in cyber-attack

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Details of thousands of officers may have been taken in ransomware attack on third-party supplier

The personal details of tens of thousands of public sector workers could have been breached in a cyber-attack that has hit two of Britain’s biggest police forces, an expert has said.

More than 12,500 Greater Manchester police (GMP) officers and staff were put on alert on Thursday that their private data had been compromised in a hack that also hit the Metropolitan police last month.

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Miscarriages of justice body has ‘attitude problem’, says Andrew Malkinson

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Exclusive: Man imprisoned for rape he did not commit says Criminal Cases Review Commission has yet to contact him

Andrew Malkinson, who spent 17 years in prison for a rape he did not commit, has accused the body that investigates miscarriages of justice of having an “attitude problem” and said it had still not contacted him since he was cleared by the court of appeal last month.

Malkinson and his legal team first heard that the Criminal Cases Review Commission was launching a review into its handling of his case after the Guardian contacted them about it on Thursday.

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Five men found guilty of sexually exploiting two girls in Rochdale

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Abuse of girls, viewed as ‘mere objects for defendants to use, abuse, humiliate then discard’, started when they were 12 and 13

Two brothers are among five men from Rochdale to have been found guilty of sexually exploiting two girls from the ages of 12 and 13.

The girls were “mere objects for the defendants to use, abuse, humiliate then discard”, Manchester Minshull Street crown court heard.

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US air force photos of England at war available to public for first time

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Thousands of images from second world war include bomb damage to Old Trafford and troops at leisure

Black-and-white aerial photographs offering a bird’s eye view of England as it changed during the second world war are being made available to the public for the first time.

The 3,600 images include pictures of bomb damage to Old Trafford in Greater Manchester, as well as other towns and cities. They also show ancient monuments surrounded by anti-tank defences in West Sussex, and troops at play at a US army camp in Wiltshire.

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Salford surgeon harmed 20 patients with ‘unacceptable’ conduct, report finds

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Review of spinal expert John Bradley Williamson identifies poor surgical technique, record-keeping and communication with patients

A leading spinal surgeon’s botched operations left patients with serious blood loss, long-term pain and mobility problems, a damning report has revealed.

It found that John Bradley Williamson’s “unacceptable and unprofessional behaviour” severely or moderately harmed 20 patients at Salford Royal hospital, once regarded as one of England’s safest.

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