Manchester

3 days late but thought you may like to see some pictures.

Happy Year of the Dragon!

新年快乐

A claim that the Manchester Arena terror attack was staged by government agencies and did not kill or injure anyone is "absurd and fantastical", a High Court judge has ruled.

Martin Hibbert and his daughter, Eve, who were both left with life-changing injuries after the bombing that left 22 people dead in 2017, are bringing legal action against Richard Hall, who has been spreading the conspiracy theory.

Mr Hibbert was left with a spinal injury and Eve, who was 14 at the time of the attack, has severe brain damage as a result of the explosion that took place as crowds left the Ariana Grande concert.

Suicide bomber Salman Abedi, 22, detonated a home-made, shrapnel-packed device in the Manchester Arena - with hundreds injured as the blast dispersed thousands of nuts and bolts.

However, Mr Hall has claimed the terror attack was faked.

He is said to have made money from selling books and DVDs outlining various conspiracy theories he promotes, as well as speaking at events and posting videos online. His videos are reported to have had more than 16 million views on YouTube.

He has been accused of visiting the homes and workplaces of those injured in the bombing - including Miss Hibbert's home - and recording footage of them.

A BBC investigation in 2022 found that he shared a video demonstrating that he set up a camera to film Eve, who is disabled and in a wheelchair since the attack, to see whether she could actually walk.

I love original New Order and when Hookie left I resigned myself to the fact he's a bit of a curmudgeonly sod but ultimately sound.

Though what he said about "not knowing Bernard Sumner" was a bit weird.

Recently read he chases Hacienda and Factory memories a lot and starting to wonder - is he just a cunt?

Anyone know (of) him? What's he like?

A man has been arrested after complaints about somebody appearing on social media wearing a Halloween costume depicting Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi.

Abedi killed 22 people as well as himself when he detonated a bomb at the end of an Ariana Grande concert at the arena in May 2017.

Pictures of a man wearing an Arabic-style headdress, with the slogan “I love Ariana Grande” on his T-shirt, and carrying a rucksack with “Boom” and “TNT” written on the front, caused fury when they were posted earlier this week.

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cross-posted from: https://derp.foo/post/359319

There is a discussion on Hacker News, but feel free to comment here as well.

It is £130m over its original budget, four years late and has a name not yet totally embraced, but Aviva Studios in Manchester, its backers say, will be unlike any other arts venue in Europe and its opening is “a landmark moment” for culture in the UK.

The £242m building on the site of the former Granada television studios officially opened on Wednesday evening with an immersive dance production based on The Matrix and directed by Danny Boyle.

“There is no denying it is a lot of money,” said Boyle of Aviva Studios’ cost. “You can go: ‘Why not build a hospital’, but the long-term benefit you get from the courage to press forward with this is incalculable.”

The capital project has received £99m of Treasury money and is the UK’s biggest investment in a cultural project since Tate Modern in 2000. As well as the Covid pandemic and inflation, the “complexity and unique” nature of the building contributed to spiralling costs much higher than the £110m estimate made in 2014.

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The venue has a flexible 1,600-seat theatre and an open industrial warehouse-like performance space with a capacity for 5,000 people.

The idea is that artists will be able to create ambitious works of a kind not seen anywhere else in the world. The building’s architect, Ellen van Loon, said it had to be a place where “anything could happen”.

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The building is a seen as a flag-bearer for attempts to better distribute public money to the arts across England. In the last spending round Arts Council England (Ace) cut £50m to arts organisations in London to support more groups outside the capital.

Nicholas Serota, the chair of Ace, said it was investing £130m a year in the north of England and £10m a year would go to the organisation that commissions the work for Aviva Studios, Factory International.

Factory International was the original name of the building until the council gave the naming rights to the insurance giant Aviva in return for £35m. Craig said it is “the largest private sector investment in arts and culture in this country,.”

Backers of the 13,350 sq metre building say it will add £1.1bn to the economy of Manchester and the surrounding region over the next decade. It will create or support an additional 1,500 jobs, they say.

Following the news of the second leg of HS2 being scrapped on Wednesday (October 4) the government has instead announced the launch of 'Network North', with investments dubbed to improve transport and connectivity across the north of England.

In the north west, it was announced that almost £4bn in cash would be found to 'improve connectivity', including a scheme to extend the Manchester Metrolink lines to Heywood, Bolton and Wigan.

However, the government also announced that the Metrolink would be extended to Manchester Airport as a trade-off for the scrapping of HS2 - despite the fact the line already exists and was opened in November 2014.

The mayor of Greater Manchester has urged ministers to talk to leaders in the north of England before scrapping HS2 and leaving it with “Victorian infrastructure” for the rest of the century.

Andy Burnham said he and the leader of Manchester city council, Bev Craig, would be writing to Rishi Sunak to say that while a rephasing of the rail project may be possible, cancelling the section to Manchester would create “a north-south chasm”.

“You really should not take this decision without listening to the voice of people here,” Burnham told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Amid significant political anger about the much-trailed move, including within the Conservative party, it remains unclear when any decision might be taken.

Sunak and Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, are expected to decide this week, with an announcement pencilled in for Friday.

However, northern Tories believe that scrapping the northern leg before the Conservative party conference in Manchester next weekend would be a huge political embarrassment, and are urging Sunak to wait while they push for a compromise solution.

Asked what would happen to the parallel Northern Powerhouse Rail project if HS2 ended at Birmingham, Burnham said: “Scrapping HS2 rips the heart out of Northern Powerhouse Rail. Basically it would leave the north of England with Victorian infrastructure probably for the rest of this century.

“If we’re trapped with that old infrastructure and the southern half of the country gets new lines, that is a recipe for the north-south divide to become a north-south chasm, the very opposite of the levelling up that we were promised in this parliament.”

In his letter to Sunak, Burnham said he and Craig would be saying: “Please at least do us the courtesy of meeting us and discussing this issue before you take any decision.”

He continued: “It’s frankly disrespectful to the people of the north of England that our voice has not been heard at all in this conversation that seems to be going on within government. This is a decision of epic proportions for our part of the world and we should be heard before it’s taken.

The second thing we’ll be saying in the letter is as part of any discussion, we would say whatever you decide to do, please don’t scrap it.”

If changes had to be made, Burnham said, he could be open to a possible rephashing of the northern section so Northern Powerhouse Rail was built first.

He said: “That is something we could have a discussion with the government about, but scrapping it will basically take everything off the table, the east-west line, Liverpool to Leeds as well.

“And that will be a disaster for people here in the north of England. It would leave us stuck with that Victorian infrastructure that causes so much chaos on our railways day after day.”

Asked about the plans for HS2 on Sky News, the housing minister, Rachel Maclean, was able to say only that there was “no announcement at the moment”.

“The focus is on delivering HS2,” she said, adding: “It’s not for me to say – I’m the housing minister.”

A new study has revealed that people living in Manchester are spending more of their monthly salary on bills than anywhere else in the UK.

Mancunians are typically spending nearly 80 per cent of their income after tax on things like food, rent, bills and travel costs - compared to just 66 per cent for those living in London.

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According to the research, which involved polling 2,000 people and extracting information from Money Supermarket's database, Mancunians spent £1,784.90 a month or £59.50 a day - £11 more than the UK average.

The city spends more on energy, phone contracts, car insurance, pet insurance than anywhere else in the country. And it ranks among the highest for broadband bills and school costs, including clothes and childcare.

We also have the highest spend on toiletries, gym membership, gaming and news subscriptions.

Despite Londoners having the highest average income - £30,302 - and spending an average of £55.72 on essential items per day, their higher income means people in the city spend among the lowest proportion of their income on bills.

In contrast, Mancunians typically have 76 per cent of their £28,158 average income committed each month, and have the lowest disposable income.

Colliery spoil left over from the industrial past has been alight under Green Lane in Leigh, Wigan, since 2021.

A three-week trial of injecting liquid grout to extinguish two fire hotspots is due to start this month.