Hello,
We all woke up to a light dusting of snow this morning and it was a lovely sight.
Kevin Edwards, who is something of an expert on keeping warm, says the best advice on a day like today is to layer up. He’s worked in temperatures as cold as -30 and currently runs indoor snow centre Chill Factore, which is that vast jutting building next to the Trafford Centre.
He says thermals are really important when trying to fend off the cold and it’s also important to keep hands, feet and your head warm and stay active. "Anything that keeps the blood pumping,” he told Dianne Bourne.
Now that’s covered, let’s get on to the news. In today's newsletter we’ll be discussing the nurses’ strike, the people paying £25 a day on energy and some controversial roast potatoes. Let's begin.
They’re run ragged
'Claps don’t pay the bills’ read one placard brandished by a nurse outside The Christie this morning.
The mass applause that was encouraged by the government at the peak of the pandemic has become a point of scorn for some in the NHS - especially among those who have been asking for a pay rise for years.
But the issue of pay is a secondary issue for many of the nurses on the picket line this morning.
“People aren’t dying because nurses are striking. Nurses are striking because people are dying,” says Royal College of Nursing chief executive, Pat Cullen.
“That is how severe things are in the NHS and it is time the Prime Minister led a fight for its future. Today’s record number of unfilled nurse jobs cannot be left to get worse. Pay nursing staff fairly to turn this around and give the public the care they deserve.”
Reporter Lyell Tweed has been speaking to nursing staff on the picket in Withington about their reasons for striking.
He has also spoken to Claire Mooney, a terminal cancer patient at The Christie, who is determined to show her support. “They’re run ragged, staying past their shifts, they’ve kept me alive,” she said.
Thousands of nurses across the country are on strike today in the dispute over pay. The RCN says two further, bigger strikes will be held next month, while the GMB union is expected to announce further ambulance worker strike dates on Wednesday afternoon.
Mrs Cullen, says nurses felt ‘totally heartbroken’ going on strike, but felt they have no choice. She told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that minimum staffing levels are ‘not available for our patients or our nurses on any day of the week’.
She said staff ‘are working in a crisis every single minute of the day’, adding that ignoring that was ‘living in a parallel universe’.
“We will only recruit and retain our nurses if we pay them a decent wage so that they can continue to work in the health service and not have to leave to other jobs that will give them two or three pounds an hour more so they can pay their bills.”
‘I hope it prevents Barlow coming out’
He was dubbed 'The Coronation Street rapist' after preying on women in terraced homes, often in Greater Manchester. And Andrew Barlow’s crimes were so serious he was handed 13 life sentences after two campaigns of rape in the 1980s.
But the Parole Board last month concluded the 66-year-old - formerly known as Andrew Longmire - should be released. The decision sparked fear among his victims and their families, who believe the serial rapist should never be freed.
Justice Secretary Dominic Raab has now asked the Parole Board to reconsider their decision, as he felt there was an arguable case it was irrational. The move will delay Barlow’s scheduled release.
Mr Raab says Barlow’s ‘despicable crimes blighted the lives of dozens of women’ adding: “Public protection is my number one priority, which is why I’ve asked the Parole Board to reconsider their decision to release and I am overhauling the parole system to keep prisoners who pose a risk to the public off our streets.”
Manchester MP Graham Stringer - who called the decision to release Barlow a ‘perversion of justice’ - says he is pleased Mr Raab has listened and hopes the move ‘prevents Barlow coming out’.
Barlow, originally from Bolton, was given multiple life sentences in October 1988 after being convicted of 11 rapes, three attempted rapes, indecent assault, and using a firearm to resist arrest. His tariff was fixed at 20 years. In the decades that followed he was linked to more offending, as previously unsolved cases were cracked. He was given two more life sentences in 2010 and 2017 for rapes which happened in 1981 and 1982.
Between 1981 and 1988 he went on two separate campaigns of terror, raping women in five different counties. The first was between 1981 and 1984 and the second between August 1987 and his arrest in January 1988, when he opened fire with a shotgun as two police officers detained him.
Chief reporter Neal Keeling was working as a journalist when Barlow was jailed and has spoken extensively to his victims over the last few weeks.
"Talking to a victim of Longmire and relatives of his victims was harrowing but necessary," he says.
"One victim told me she had not slept in a bed for decades; the daughter of another that her mum still has nightmares and panic attacks.
"The son of his first victim - a mother in her late 20s in 1981 - told me how he was five and his little sister, three, having their breakfast with their mum, when Longmire barged into their terraced house at 8am. The detail of his recollection was such that I felt his trauma. He explained how the rape of his mum at knifepoint destroyed his family - causing his parents to split up.
"I am just reporting the impact these crimes had - it remains the Parole Board's call, if it chooses to reconsider its decision to release Longmire."
A £25 a day energy bill
Disabled people are being particularly badly hit by the hike in energy bills.
Michael Regan relies on an electric wheelchair to get around and says an energy company forced him onto a prepayment meter last year after he and his two housemates fell into around £1,000 of arrears.
He says it now costs him £25 a day on energy at his home in Oldham.
"We shouldn't be on a prepayment meter because we have equipment that needs charging. I have an electric hospital bed, I've got my wheelchair, but I can't really afford to charge it at the minute so I'm going out less often.
"At the minute it's costing us about £25 a day. We're having to be really sparing with the heating, so we're using hot water bottles, blankets, wrapping ourselves up in dressing gowns.
"I'm diabetic, so I need to keep an eye on what I eat, but all our money is going on [the prepayment meter] at the minute. We're basically living on ready meals. It's a nightmare."
Damon Wilkinson spoke to Michael after Citizens Advice called for a ban on energy companies 'forcing' customers onto prepayment meters. The charity estimates that 3.2 million people in Britain ran out of credit on their meter last year, the equivalent of one every 10 seconds.
More than 152,000 households with smart meters were switched remotely to more costly prepayment meters by their energy supplier last year, according to recent figures from Ofgem. It comes amid rising energy costs as people's bills skyrocket and the cost of living worsens.
Energy UK, which represents the energy suppliers, said suppliers are required to have exhausted all other options before installing a prepayment meter by warrant.
The Government said it expects energy suppliers to do all they can to help customers who are struggling to pay their bills and suppliers can only install prepayment meters without consent to recover debt as a last resort.
Once in a generation plans
A new public square, cultural hub and food hall are all part of the ‘once in a generation’ plans for Wythenshawe Civic Centre.
The redevelopment of the 1970s site could also see 1,500 low carbon homes built.
As Joseph Timan reports, a new food hall would be a grocery for 'affordable regional producers' during the day and a space for local food and drink outlets at night.
Working in collaboration with Manchester Arts Centre HOME, the former Co-op department store would also be converted into a new creative hub with studios, performance spaces, a cinema screen and a flexible events space.
A fifth of the 1,500 homes planned - which includes 600 homes at the former Shell headquarters - would be affordable. And a reinvigorated business centre would offer a 'collaborative space' for businesses, start ups and entrepreneurs.
A new mobility hub would 'centralise' car parking at the Civic, offering electric vehicle charging and cycle hire. Existing buildings would be refurbished and new shops built with the aim of creating a 'sustainable net zero town centre'.
Off the rails
It looks like the future of HS2 could be uncertain...again.
The Prime Minister was quizzed about the high speed line by Blackley and Broughton MP Graham Stringer in the Commons today. And Rishi Sunak did not confirm if the line would definitely reach Manchester...
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Weather etc
- Thursday: Yellow weather warning for snow and ice. 3C.
- Road closures: M56 Eastbound exit slip road to the A34 closed due to roadworks at A34 Kingsway until 7am on February 5.
- Trains: Salford Central will be closed until summer 2023 for vital platform and canopy works.
- Trivia question: Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls are made in which Greater Manchester borough?
Manchester headlines
Asylum seekers: Trafford Council’s new leader Tom Ross has written to the Home Secretary protesting about the use of a hotel in Hale village for accommodation for 121 asylum seekers. Coun Ross told Suella Braverman there has been a 'lack of dialogue and planning' around the decision and says hotels are ‘not a suitable type of accommodation to house and support asylum seekers in the right way’. More here.
- Increase: Avanti West Coast has reported a 'huge increase in capacity', with 93 trains per day now said to be leaving north and south from Manchester. Bosses say there has been a 'vastly reduced' level of cancellations recently, although acknowledging some trains were still being taken out of service. Avanti West Coast has been given until April 1 to improve its services following the reduction of its trains last summer, partly due to sharp decline in the number of drivers voluntarily working on rest days for extra pay. The Office of Rail and Road revealed 238.6 complaints were made per 100,000 journeys on Avanti West Coast between July and September last year, up 51.3 per cent from a year earlier.
A rise: Manchester Airport saw passenger numbers rise to around 88 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in December as it served more than 1.7million people. This was despite UK Border Force staff walking out across several dates last month. In total 23,369,770 passengers passed through the airport in 2022, an increase of 283.2 per cent on the previous 12 months. The airport worked closely with partners including the UK Border Force to mitigate any disruption during industrial action by PCS Union members in late December. No cancellations to planned flights were made and queues at the border remained consistent with normal operations.
Closure: Devastated parents and children are campaigning to save a primary school lined up for closure after being placed in ‘special measures’. St Mary's RC Primary School, in Heaton Norris, Stockport, was deemed ‘inadequate’ - the lowest possible rating - following an Ofsted inspection last year. It was ordered to convert to an academy, but the Diocese of Salford did not want to absorb the school into its trust, believing it to be ‘unviable’ due to the falling number of Catholic pupils. In November a council report also said it was forecasting a £50k deficit by the end of this financial year, although it is understood this has since improved. Story here.
Worth a read
For many, the roast potato IS the Sunday roast,” writes Ben Arnold, after eating at Ducie Street Warehouse - which has been named the best roast in the UK by popular Insta channel 'Rate Good Roasts'.
But sadly, he found the restaurant’s ‘proper roast potatoes’ were ‘not crispy enough, or, in fact, crispy at all’.
You can see his verdict on those controversial spuds in this review of the restaurant, which was an otherwise great experience where Ben enjoyed ‘generous’ portions of beef and lamb, a ‘monster’ Yorkshire pudding, Tuscan pork stuffing balls and cauliflower smothered in cheese and…Frazzles.
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: Wigan.
