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Here's the Mancunian Way for today:
Hello,
It was nice to receive an email from a Mancunian Way reader from Hamburg who signed up to this newsletter ahead of a visit to our city.
She was particularly enamoured with the striking look of the Peveril of the Peak, John Rylands Library and the ‘mixture of very old and very modern buildings’. She also mentioned how friendly people had been, which is lovely to hear.
It’s sometimes easy to take the great things about Manchester for granted so it’s nice to have a reminder that we’ve got something special here.
On to the news. The week kicked off with a promise from Sir Keir Starmer to replace the House of Lords with a new democratic assembly of nations and regions.
Speaking at the launch of the report of Labour’s commission on the UK’s future, headed by ex-premier Gordon Brown, Sir Keir vowed to ‘unbind’ Britain from a centre that has ‘not delivered’.
The party’s leader claimed people are being held back by a ‘broken model’ that ‘hoards power in Westminster’, with the country ‘crying out for a new approach’.
Speaking of broken models, politicians and journalists on their way to Leeds to hear Sir Keir’s speech struggled to reach the city by train.
Wigan MP Lisa Nandy tweeted: “Heading from Wigan to Leeds for the launch of the report by the Commission on the UK’s Future which calls for transport to be devolved to our great towns and cities. It’s taken me 3 hours to travel 29 miles.”
Transpennine today cancelled 70 services according to The Guardian’s North of England editor, Helen Pidd, who wondered if that was a record for the rail company.
Improving rail services is a major priority for Manchester Council leader Bev Craig, who says she plans to fight the Government to get what's right for the city.
Speaking to reporter Paul Britton a year into her tenure, Coun Craig says there is ‘no polite way’ to describe the ‘chaos’ poor rail services are creating for commuters, visitors and businesses.
“This has given real misery,” she says.
And with the Government now set to scale back plans for Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), she says HS2 must ‘land’ right in Manchester or else things will be ‘much more difficult’ for other Northern cities.
"Manchester's approach should never be going with cap in hand to Government saying, 'feel sorry for us, give us our money'. Because actually for us it's dead simple. Invest in trains and business will bring more money into the UK's economy.
"Invest in basic infrastructure that we need, help us with our housing targets and in creating a more prosperous, fairer city and city region, and you're adding into the tax bucket.”
City's most deprived areas
It’s the south Manchester neighbourhoods of Longsight East, Victoria Park and Longsight West and Fallowfield Central which have the highest proportion of people living in deprived circumstances, according to the latest data.
Deansgate and Castlefield is the least deprived area, with only 23.3 per cent of residents living in any form of deprivation, while West Didsbury is close behind with 23.6 per cent.
Meanwhile, a number of formally deprived areas near the city centre, including Collyhurst, Piccadilly and Ancoats, New Islington and Bradford and Miles Platting, are now among some of the lowest ranked neighbourhoods in the city for deprivation, perhaps owing to the level of ongoing gentrification.
This map, released by the Office of National Statistics, shows which areas of the city have the highest rates of deprivation by looking at four metrics - employment, education, health and housing.
It shows what percentage of people in each Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) struggle the most, as the cost of living crisis bites. The graphic uses data collected in the 2021 census.
Parents warned to be on 'lookout' for Strep A
Parents are being urged to be on the ‘lookout’ for symptoms after a rise in infections caused by the Strep A bacteria.
Officials say the NHS is ‘well prepared’ and Number 10 says it is not aware of any current shortage of the antibiotic amoxicillin.
At least six children have died with an invasive form of the Strep A bacterial infection in recent months, with a seventh possible case reported at the weekend.
Over the weekend, family and friends rallied around four-year-old Camila Rose Burns, from Bolton, as she fought for her life in hospital after contracting Strep A.
A huge fundraising campaign has been launched to support the family of the little girl, who is on a ventilator at Alder Hey Children's Hospital.
Her father, Dean Burns, said hospital staff described her as 'the poorliest girl in the whole of England'. He said Camila went from dancing on Friday night last week with her friends to feeling 'a little bit under the weather on Saturday' and needing emergency care on Monday.
Read more: What is Strep A and what are the symptoms?
Ambulance response times
Patients in Bolton and Wigan facing the most serious medical emergencies wait almost 20 minutes longer for an ambulance than residents of other Greater Manchester boroughs.
Manchester residents waited an average of 43 minutes for category two 999 calls - which cover emergencies like heart attacks and strokes - in 2021/22. The NHS target is 18 minutes.
But Bolton and Wigan had an average wait time of 56 minutes each for those types of medical complaints. That’s 19 minutes longer than Stockport’s average wait time of 37 minutes.
Health reporter Helena Vesty and Reach data unit journalist David Dubas-Fisher have been looking at the statistics following a freedom of information request by the Liberal Democrats.
The figures show a postcode lottery, with patients in some areas waiting three times as long for life-threatening calls.
Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Hazel Grove, Lisa Smart described the figures as ‘heartbreaking’. “No one’s chances of getting to hospital in time if they’ve had a heart attack or a stroke should depend on where they happen to live,” she said.
An NHS spokesperson said the service is under ‘huge pressure’ with more than 19 in 20 hospital beds occupied, but is working to provide additional support to the worst hit areas.
With ambulance staff and call handlers preparing for strike action, it’s predicted the situation will get worse. But Helena has been speaking to ambulance staff about why they feel the action is necessary. They say patients are already unsafe after 'years' of ambulance services being underfunded and understaffed. They hope strikes could change that.
“It’s worse and worse and worse, every day,” one North West Ambulance Service paramedic said. “It’s just continuing in the new normal with delays, they’re a massive problem with regards to people’s health.
"If you get to patients early enough, it’s one day in hospital. But it’s two weeks by the time we’re getting to them. Around 100 to 200 jobs stacking is normal now and it never was - now it is. 60 to 70 jobs outstanding is a really good day.”
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Weather etc
- Tuesday: Cloudy changing to sunny intervals by lunchtime. 6C.
- Road closures A560 Stockport Road in both directions closed due to water main work between A627 Dowson Road and Hill Street until December 8.
- Trains: Special timetable operating on Transpennine Express and Avanti West Coast due to shortage of train crews.
- Trivia question: The former Kendals store, in Manchester, sprawls along Deansgate and which streets?
Manchester headlines
Protest at Mana: Michelin Star chef Simon Martin issued a riposte to Animal Rebellion protestors after they staged a sit-in protest at his Ancoats restaurant Mana during a busy Saturday night service. A total of 14 individuals were arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass at the restaurant on Blossom Street on Saturday evening. They have since been bailed pending further enquiries, Greater Manchester Police said. Martin said: "We are confused as to why the protestors chose to target a restaurant that prioritises sustainability and animal welfare, instead of a corporate fast food chain." More here.
Cells: Prisoners could serve parts of their sentences in cells at police stations in Greater Manchester as part of a national drive to reduce 'acute and sudden' overcrowding in jails. Greater Manchester Police has revealed it has 'agreed to support' the proposals and has offered to 'supply a small number of cells across the custody suites maintained within our force to assist in housing inmates from the prison estate'. The exact numbers of prisoners, or the locations of police stations, has not been confirmed, but GMP said 'all forces' have been approached by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). More here.
- Affordable: Manchester’s Christmas markets are the fifth cheapest in the UK, according to Pikl Insurance - which looked at entry prices, average attraction price, average local parking for more than six hours, and the cost of an overnight stay. Lincoln, Belfast and Norwich are the three most affordable, with London’s Winter Wonderland and Cardiff’s Christmas market sitting at the most expensive in the ranking.
- DJ battle: A special charity DJ battle event between the mayors of Greater Manchester and Liverpool raised more than £20,000. Andy Burnham and Steve Rotherham played to a packed Mayfield Depot crowd on Friday, pitting the music of the two cities against each other. Mr Burnham, backed by Labour's deputy leader, Angela Rayner, was victorious in the head-to-head DJ battle. The proceeds will go towards the Greater Manchester Mayor's Charity, A Bed Every Night, which seeks to support rough sleepers in the region.
A spot of Christmas shopping
Kendals proudly stood on Deansgate for over 170 years before it was renamed House of Fraser. With concessions selling designer items, an underground food hall, beauty counters, extravagant window displays, Santa's Grotto in the run-up to Christmas, and then the big sales afterwards, the festive season was always a special time of year for the store in its glory days.
Nostalgia writer Phoebe Barton has been looking back on the department store’s glory days.
Worth a read
Peter Kay’s long-awaited return to the stage was met with huge excitement by all who attended the first night of his tour on Friday. Among those to witness the comeback at Manchester’s AO Arena was What’s On writer Dianne Bourne.
“Boltonian Peter’s charm is his brilliant observations on everyday life, and this new show reminded fans just what they’d been missing,” she writes. “It clearly meant a lot to Peter to be starting it all in an arena where he actually used to work as a steward - gleefully telling us about his interview for the job back in 1995.
“There were his musings on famous faces he’s since met along the way in his career, and some hilariously near-to-the-knuckle anecdotes about some of them.
“And yes, garlic bread gets a hefty old mention, the purists will be pleased to hear.”
You can read the full review here.
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: King Street West and St Mary's Street.
