Keep up to date with all the big stories from across Greater Manchester in the daily Mancunian Way newsletter. You can receive the newsletter direct to your inbox every weekday by signing up right here.
Here's the Mancunian Way for today:
Hello,
If you’ve ever caught the tram past Castlefield, you may have noticed a famous face staring back at you.
Taylor Swift - or rather a cardboard cut-out version - has been smiling out at commuters from an apartment in the city centre for years. And there were fears tram-goers would have to wave goodbye to the popstar as her owner, Red Redmond, is moving to Sheffield.
However, thankfully it appears Taylor's future may not be in jeopardy after all as her owner announced they will do 'everything they can' for her to stay.
In today’s newsletter, we’re looking at a disturbing investigation into how predators have targeted a young girl on Spotify. And we’ll be discussing the scramble for oxygen in the NHS and Take That’s best songs.
A 'secret porn community'
The quote highlighted below may come as a shock to many parents - not least the mum who discovered her 11-year-old daughter had been sexually groomed by a ‘secret porn community’ on Spotify.
Reporter Sophie Halle-Richards has been investigating how the child, from Stockport, was able to upload multiple explicit pictures of herself to the music streaming platform before her account was deleted.
Children's charities say this new type of grooming - which they haven't seen before - is proof of how predators will exploit any app children use if it's possible to do so.
Spotify say they take the safety of minors ‘extremely seriously' and have removed exploitative content, and terminated the user in question.
But mum Rachel says her daughter was encouraged to create her own playlists where other Spotify users could edit the title to enable them to message each other. Users can then upload a ‘custom’ picture to the cover of the playlist.
Her daughter was sent an email from one user who she'd met on Spotify who claimed to be a 12-year-old boy, who asked her to send a video of her pleasuring herself. Another user named ‘I have nudes’ tagged her in a playlist with a message asking her to ‘show a good view’ of her genital area.
On one playlist, seen by the Manchester Evening News , the name was been changed to 'important message to all porn posters' and warns users about an American YouTube channel uncovering the 'secret porn community on Spotify.'
Rachel says she only discovered the extent of what her daughter had been exposed to when she was locked out of her Spotify account shortly after Christmas.
"I saw another email in her inbox this time from a man's name I didn't recognise. I asked her who he was and she said 'he is one of my friends on Spotify.' She said she had given him her email address so they could play Minecraft together. She said he was only twelve.”
She adds: "I just got that sinking feeling. I asked if she'd been putting up inappropriate pictures and she nodded.
"The police officer who came to our house said she had not heard of Spotify being used like this so she was quite shocked.”
You can read the full investigation here.
Death at Forest Bank
An investigation has been launched after a prisoner died at HMP Forest Bank.
The inmate died on Wednesday while in custody at the category B jail, in Salford.
He is among several prisoners to have died at the privately-run prison in recent years, including Michael McDonagh, 27, and 63-year-old Raymond Lucy. Most recently, an inmate died at the prison in June of last year.
The independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will now investigate the most recent death.
A spokesperson at HMP Forest Bank next of kin have been informed and ‘our thoughts are with the family’.
Fancy some more maths?
Rishi Sunak’s plans for pupils to study maths up to the age of 18 have come in for ridicule this week - not least from actor Simon Pegg who accused the Prime Minister of wanting a ‘drone army of data-entering robots’.
But Glyn Potts, headteacher at Newman RC College, in Oldham, says his pupils actually love the subject and he would like them to do more. However he says it’s unrealistic in the current climate, doesn’t address the vast shortage of maths teachers and pointed to more pressing matters facing schools.
“I want our pupils to do maths, but at the moment, we’re feeding them, and that’s more important,” he told this newsletter.
So how popular would the notion of more maths be with children themselves? Let's look to the data to find out.
The Reach data unit’s Richard Ault has found that just one in four teenagers in Greater Manchester chose to take Maths at A-level last year.
In 2021-22, only 25 per cent of A-level students in our region studied maths, while just 3 per cent took further maths. And some 56 per cent of the conurbation’s A-level students didn’t study any maths or science courses.
But the rates did vary across our area. Maths was most popular in Trafford, where 35 per cent of A-level students took the subject, while only 18 per cent of students in Salford picked it.
On average across England, 28 per cent of students picked maths as an A-level, and 4 per cent studied further maths.
Scramble for oxygen
NHS bosses in Greater Manchester say hospitals here are being hit by 'greater demand' for portable oxygen amid soaring numbers of patients with influenza and other respiratory illnesses like Covid.
As Paul Britton reports, 401 patients are currently in hospital with flu in our region - with 17 of those said to be in 'critical' condition.
Hospitals and accident and emergency departments across the region, meanwhile, are continuing to operate in 'sustained, heightened pressure', with 'some of the busiest days ever' reported in the period between Christmas and New Year.
And more than a third of all GP practices in Greater Manchester have reported 'significant and extreme' increases in demand recently, according to the NHS. Hospital bed occupancy is said to be around 98 per cent - with more than a tenth of all beds occupied by patients who tested positive for Covid.
A weekly NHS report on the current situation in Greater Manchester mirrors the national picture, with reports of hospitals across the country experiencing a shortage of oxygen. NHS bosses say they are 'working with national colleagues and suppliers' to maintain supply and meet the increased demand.
Thousands spent on energy
Manchester bar and restaurant owners are feeling the pinch after forking out thousands on energy bills.
And they are now fearing the consequences of a potential U-turn by the government on plans to provide financial support.
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss promised six months of support to business owners, including those in hospitality, as energy bills soared. But according The TImes has reported that Rishi Sunak plans to more than halve that.
What’s On writer Ben Arnold has spoken to Jonny Heyes, owner of bars like Common, The Beagle and Nell’s New York Pizza and Bar, who says the industry has been counting on help.
He revealed that bills for the Nell’s Pizza bar at the site near Piccadilly run to £6,000 per month.
“Energy prices were already well on their way up even before the crisis in Ukraine. So we’ve been struggling for a while now. When we opened Common, energy bills would cost £1,000 to £1,500 a month. It’s a huge increase,” he says.
A million love songs
It’s the poll you’ve all been waiting for…the nation's favourite Take That songs have been revealed.
Thousands of fans voted for the ultimate playlist by the Manchester-formed manband and a top 30 countdown on BBC Radio 2 last weekend revealed that Never Forget is the Ultimate Take That Song. Do you agree?
Weather etc
- Saturday: Heavy rain changing to overcast by nighttime. 11C.
- Trains: Only one train per hour on Avanti West Coast between London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly due to strike action until January 7.
- Services only running on Transpennine Express between Huddersfield and York, between Cleethorpes and Sheffield and between Preston and Manchester Airport due to strike action on January 6 and 7. Expect knock-on disruption and late starts to service the following day.
- Trams: Service only running between 7am and 6pm on Manchester Metrolink between Altrincham and Timperley due to strike action on the national rail network on January. 6 and 7. This line shares track with the national rail network thus services are unable to operate.
Manchester headlines
- Crash: Residents living near to where a building collapsed after a car smashed into say it was an ‘accident waiting to happen’. Residents on Canterbury Street, in Ashton-under-Lyne, say they have been campaigning for speed bumps for years. Emergency services were called to the road at around 6.45pm on Thursday following reports a BMW had collided with the Alan Fish LTD electricals store, causing the already damaged building to completely crumble. Greater Manchester Police later confirmed a woman had been arrested on suspicion of drink driving and was taken into custody. There were no reported injuries. Alan Fish, who has owned the small store for 46 years, said the shop had already been damaged by another vehicle last September. More here.
-
Eco homes: A masterplan for 350 green homes near 'Millionaire’s Row', in Salford, has been released by developers Peel L&P. They say the ‘trailblazing’ plan for Worsley will create energy efficient homes off Leigh Road on a site named ‘Alder Carr’. Leigh Road is known locally as 'Millionaire’s Row' due to the number of high value homes all lined up opposite the RHS Garden Bridgewater. The developer wants Alder Carr to ‘set a new standard for sustainable and environmentally conscious new homes’ as they officially launch their consultation for residents. More here.
-
Drive thru: A drive-thru Indian street food restaurant has opened for business in Bolton. National chain Chaiiwala has opened its doors on Manchester Road, taking over what used to be the Londis petrol station. The restaurant has opened in partnership with the convenience retailer EG Group, and is thought to be ‘the first of its kind’ in the UK. Chaiiwala co-founder Sohail Ali told the Bolton News : “Using this blueprint we are now actively searching for new drive-thru locations across the UK which will replicate the Bolton store model."
- New leader: Trafford Council has a new leader after a meeting at the town hall to appoint a successor to the recently appointed MP for Stretford and Urmston. Labour’s Coun Tom Ross, formerly the executive member for Finance and Governance, takes the place of Coun Andrew Western who was elected to parliament in the Stretford and Urmston by-election last month. More here.
Worth a read
Heywood's fortunes could be about to change with £100m set to be invested as part of a new ‘growth strategy’ aimed at revitalising its centre and boosting connections to Rochdale, Manchester and beyond.
Local democracy reporter Nick Statham has been looking at how things could change in the town where you can’t currently get a train into Manchester and locals complain of getting nothing but ‘hanging baskets and soaring council tax’.
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.
If you have enjoyed this newsletter today, why not tell a friend how to sign up?
