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Eric Jackson often has his tongue firmly wedged in his cheek. The artist has created a large collection of, often cheeky, posters celebrating Greater Manchester’s villages, towns and boroughs.
His Fallowfield poster dubs the student suburb ‘Home of the brainy, bars and bedsits’. While ‘Incredible journeys of the world: Route A6’ is the tagline for an artwork depicting an impeccably dressed woman hanging from the door handle of the 192 bus in Levenshulme.
‘The never-ending ideological struggle between East and West in Didsbury’ reads his poster for the leafy south Manchester suburb. While his Prestwich poster knowingly references that infamous song lyric ‘spank me on the bottom with the Woman’s Weekly’ by the late, great Prestwich local Victoria Wood.
Though they are often a little mocking, there is always warmth to Eric’s creations, which invariably celebrate areas in ways instantly recognisable to locals. “Most of the places I’ve done I’ve got an affection for, even the ones I’m taking the mickey out of,” he previously told us.
You’d have to be very uppity indeed to take any offence at his gentle ribbing. But it happens, particularly with his Hale poster which describes the town as being 'one rung below' Bowdon. “The bottom line puts people off, but I don’t mind, I’d rather keep that in and get a laugh than take it out and sell twice as many,” he said.
Most recently, the former Manchester Evening News features editor created a ‘Das neue Berlin’ Stockport artwork featuring a Sally Bowles-type figure at the Underbanks to capture the recent zeal about the town.
Eric’s move from journalism to art was partly inspired by his collection of old stylised city posters which he collected while travel editor for the M.E.N. While recovering from an operation, Eric - originally from Burnage - picked up a paintbrush again, decades after leaving art school. Eight years on and more than 100 posters later, he has just sent me his latest creation.
His poster depicting Leigh features Pennington Flash nature reserve, Leigh town hall, the tents of the new cafe and the Unlock sculpture - all of which will be instantly recognisable to Leythers.
Eric says it came about thanks to a friend who sparked his imagination. “I did my Wigan poster years ago, and whenever people asked if I'd done a Leigh one, I'd reply, ‘No, but I've done Wigan’,” he says. “Their response to that was negative, to say the least. As a Mancunian, I had no idea about the rivalry between Wigan and Leigh.
“I always intended doing Leigh, but wasn't sure what to include, until one day I was walking round my local park in Stockport with a fellow dog walker. He told me how he had been to Leigh that weekend to see his girlfriend, and had walked around Pennington Flash.
“Well, once he said the word 'flash', and I connected it with Leigh and the sailing and the Unlock sculpture on the nearby canal, it all just fell into place. All I had to do then was paint it! So a big thank you to Lee Whittaker, my fellow dog-walker, for the inspiration.”
The poster of Leigh is available on Eric’s website here.
Crucible protester also stormed gallery here
It turns out the Just Stop Oil protester who stormed the World Snooker Championships yesterday also has form for protest in Manchester. He has been named by The Mirror as Edred Whittingham - a politics, philosophy and economics student at Exeter University and an active member of Just Stop Oil.
Mr Whittingham is said to be the protester who last summer glued his hand to a painting at Manchester Art Gallery. Just Stop Oil says he spent three days in custody following that action - which sparked an evacuation at the gallery.
The serial protester claims to have been arrested six times over the course of the last year.
Play was halted at the Crucible, in Sheffield, when demonstrators invaded the playing area shortly after the start of the evening session. One of the protesters, a man, interrupted the match between Robert Milkins and Joe Perry by jumping on the table where he released a packet of orange powder paint.
The protest group are demanding the UK government immediately halt all new oil and gas consents and licences. They have disrupted several sporting events over the past year, including Everton's clash with Newcastle last March and the 2022 British Grand Prix, as Ashlie Blakey reports.
After the protest, Mr Whittingham said he didn’t want to disrupt something people enjoy, but said ‘we’re facing an extremely grave situation’. “Europe is experiencing its worst drought in 500 years. We’re seeing mass crop failure right now. We’re facing mass starvation, billions of refugees and civilizational collapse if this continues. We can’t continue to sit back and act as if everything’s okay,” he said.
12 hours and still waiting
Patients served by five of Greater Manchester’s hospital trusts have faced waits of more than 12 hours to be admitted, transferred or discharged.
Trusts in Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh, Bolton, Manchester, Stockport and Tameside have been ranked among the worst for waiting times at A&E departments across the country in February.
NHS England has published data on the number of patients having to wait more than 12 hours for the first time - and has ranked trusts accordingly.
At Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust, 19.7 per cent of patients had to wait for more than 12 hours. And of the 7,615 people who attended Bolton NHS Foundation Trust in February, 14.7 per cent had to wait that long.
At Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust it was 13.6 per cent patients and for Stockport NHS Foundation Trust and Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust there was a 12 hour wait or longer for 10.4 per cent and 5.2 per cent of patients respectively.
NHS Greater Manchester says services are in very high demand and trusts are working to improve wait times and support timely discharge. Capacity in the 111 service has also been increased. "Our staff have been working hard to provide patients with quality care and we are grateful for their efforts against a backdrop of challenges,” urgent and emergency care programme director Gill Baker says.
Sergeant shared confidential data about people he knew
A cop who used police computer systems to access confidential data, which he then shared with his ex-partner, has been sacked.
Greater Manchester Police Sergeant Richard Proctor ‘abused his position’ by using the force's IT system to carry out multiple checks on people he knew. He was fined £880 by magistrates last year after he admitted misusing GMP's computer system. He was found guilty of gross misconduct and dismissed from the force without notice during a disciplinary hearing yesterday.
Former Sergeant Proctor - who joined GMP in 2005 and worked in the force's City of Manchester district - conducted checks on people who were known or of interest to him on nine occasions with no policing purpose. He then shared this information with his ex-partner on 22 occasions.
As Tom George reports, the former officer told the hearing he had carried out these actions under ‘duress’ as he had been in an ‘abusive relationship’ at the time. “All of this relates to a toxic relationship I was in with my son's mother,” he said. “Every wrong action I took was under those circumstances and duress. Everything I shared with my ex-partner was a defence mechanism to prevent the loss of my son.”
He said he was ‘cut off’ from his son which left him ‘devastated and distraught’ and has since been diagnosed with acute stress and anxiety, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder. “I made a mistake and I'm sincerely sorry for what I have done,” he added.
Chief Constable Stephen Watson, chairing the hearing, said the breach of conduct amounted to gross misconduct. “Whilst I accept that there is good evidence to point to the stress of domestic disharmony, I cannot find the evidence to support the assertion that these unhappy circumstances somehow amounted to the officer being coerced into the access and disclosure of police information,” he said.
Have you got an 'anti-maths mindset'?
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak this week relaunched his plan to make maths compulsory for pupils up to 18 years old. At a relaunch event in a London academy, the PM blamed an 'anti-maths mindset' for holding back the British economy. And he said that numeracy is just as important as literacy.
My colleague Gary Bainbridge has created this GCSE-level maths quiz so you can test your skills. “Where do you stand? Do you know the difference between a factor and a fraction? Or do you think pi was one of the Teletubbies?” he writes.
Etihad expansion
New images show how Manchester City’s Etihad stadium could look after a proposed £300m expansion. The club is pressing on with their plans to develop after consulting with fans, as Simon Bajkowski reports.
Bosses have submitted a planning application which includes the expansion of the North Stand to take the stadium capacity above 60,000, as well as a hotel, sky bar, and stadium roof walk experience. There will also be space for some businesses to work there in collaboration with the club and their partners.
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Weather etc
- Wednesday: Cloudy changing to sunny in the afternoon. 14C.
- Road closures: A571 Victoria Street, Wigan, in both directions closed due to water main work between Argyll Street and Arundel Street. Until April 19.
- Trivia question: In 2020, which Manchester venue hosted an exhibition of work by Channel 4 viewers and curated by Grayson Perry?
Manchester headlines
Hypothermia: Cases of hypothermia soared by more than 80 per cent in the same month a great-grandmother from Bury was rushed to hospital with the condition following concerns about the cost of her energy bill. In December last year cases of the condition - caused by prolonged exposure to very cold temperatures - rocketed compared to 2021. Data obtained by The Mirror from ambulance services across England show 1,183 people were treated for hypothermia over the last festive period, compared to 650 in the same period the previous year. During that time, temperatures dropped to minus double figures while households faced rocketing energy prices, forcing Brits to live in freezing homes.
China flights: Flights from Manchester Airport to mainland China will return to pre-pandemic levels from next month in what has been described as a 'significant' economic boost for the region. Hainan Airlines is now flying four flights per week between Manchester and Beijing - an increase from one per week and a return to the pre-Covid schedule. The airline started flights from Manchester Airport in 2016. Pre-pandemic, around 100,000 people a year travelled between Manchester and Beijing from this catchment area. Studies showed the route led to a 38 per cent increase in Chinese visitors to the North. Covid-related travel restrictions meant the service was paused until a single weekly flight resumed in August 2022. The airport says Hainan flights will operate from Manchester to Beijing every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, all by the Airbus A330 aircraft, from April.
- School buses: Details of the first school buses to be part of Greater Manchester's new bus network have been revealed. The companies which will run bus services for 31 schools across Wigan, Bolton and parts of Salford and Bury have been chosen. Under the Bee Network which launches later this year, bus services will be under public control for the first time in nearly 40 years. There will be no changes to the schools served or the numbers of buses used under the new contracts. Vision, which currently runs some school services, has won six of the new contracts, while Stagecoach has been awarded the other 17.
- Zero-hours contracts: Labour will scrap zero-hour contracts if the party wins the next general election, Angela Rayner has said. The party's deputy leader and Ashton-under-Lyne MP says the pledge will form part of Labour's 'new deal for working people' if Sir Keir Starmer enters Downing Street. She pointed to an increase in the number of zero-hour contracts in Scotland in the past decade, rising from about 46,000 between October and December 2013 to about 94,000 during the same period last year.
Worth a read
When seeking out the best kebabs in town, three names tend to come up again and again. The Rusholme Chippy, Kobeda Place and Jaffa, all on Wilmslow Road’s Curry Mile, are said to be among the best.
Ben Arnold headed to Rusholme to test them all out. He rates Rusholme Chippy’s lamb kobeda - a meal that spans the table - as ‘excellent’ with the chilli sauce ‘still as fearsome as ever’.
Five doors down is Kobeda Place. There he samples another kobeda and finds that although it looks ‘nothing in the least bit special’, it is ‘quite sensational’. “Slick with green oil from whichever secret spices are ground up within - I ask what they are, but the chef has made the kobedas for the day and gone - it’s soft and giving, complex with spice and perhaps ‘literally the best kebab I have ever had’.”
Finally, to Jaffa, on the corner across the street, where Ben tries a generous plate of chicken and lamb shawarma he describes as ‘excellent’, and ‘a fine, fine kebab’.
“To conduct this in one night is perhaps not advisable,” he writes. “I shan’t be trying it again. But it served an admirable purpose in itself - to highlight the richness we have on our doorstep. And the sight of packed restaurants all up and down the strip on this holiest of Islamic holidays was a joy to see.”
That's all for today
Thanks for joining me. If you have stories you would like us to look into, email beth.abbit@menmedia.co.uk.
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The answer to today's trivia question is: Manchester Art Gallery.
