'Bigger look' now needed at flood protection on the Mersey, says Andy Burnham

direct to your inbox Andy Burnham has hired external consultants to review Greater Manchester Police’s response to last year’s damning inspection report.

direct to your inboxNew details have emerged about the new jobs and housing masterplan which will replace the scrapped Greater Manchester Spatial Framework.Council leaders of nine of the city-region’s boroughs, along with mayor Andy Burnham, will meet to consider the next steps for ‘Places For Everyone’ this week.

direct to your inbox Andy Burnham has called for poorer parts of the country to be given additional supplies of the coronavirus vaccine. The Greater Manchester Mayor said that more jabs should be given in areas where life expectancy is lower.Speaking to Sky News' Sophy Ridge On Sunday, he said there should be 'greater flexibility' within the vaccine roll out programme so that people can be called up earlier.

direct to your inboxGreater Manchester Police ‘deliberately’ failed to properly answer the mayor’s questions on its hugely troublesome computer system, Andy Burnham and his deputy have claimed. Last Friday the mayor had appeared before a scrutiny panel to describe a litany of failures within the force, arguing there had recently been a ‘persistent and repeated underplaying of problems’ at ‘the most senior level’, including, ‘at worst’, information being deliberately withheld.

Clayton Davis Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars from Film Awards Editor Clayton Davis. Following Academy Awards history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar predictions are updated regularly with the current year's contenders in all categories.

direct to your inboxA failure to guarantee wages and offer support for people during self-isolation is 'unpicking the chain' when it comes to controlling coronavirus.Mayor Andy Burnham has heralded Greater Manchester's local test and trace system for tracking down more than 16,000 people who were missed by the national programme within the 24-hour target.The success of the local push to test and trace cases and contacts in high risk settings like prisons, homeless shelters and care homes, has

coronavirus pandemic.Speaking as part of Independent Venue Week’s Culture Panel last week (January 28), Burnham said the industry had a responsibility to protect beleaguered venues which have faced the threat of financial ruin.Proposing a new levy, Burnham likened it to his own role in the formation of the Football Foundation, which was established in 2000 to provide funding for grassroots football facilities.“The industry has to pay a levy to support grassroots venues, because that is their

direct to your inboxGreater Manchester Police has at times ‘deliberately withheld’ information from the mayor’s office amid battles for transparency that became a ‘war of attrition’, Andy Burnham has claimed, in a veiled attack on the previous Chief Constable.In a lengthy and unprecedented diatribe on the force’s culture and leadership over the past four years, the mayor promised what he said would be the first ‘open review of the force’ in at least two decades.He claimed that concerns raised

direct to your inboxTrafford council has called on Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham to set out ‘an action plan’ to address the city-region’s police force being placed into special measures.A motion submitted by the Liberal Democrats party at last night’s full council meeting passed, with a Labour amendment.Around 8,000 crimes in Trafford went unrecorded by GMP’s systems last year – 80,000 across the city region.The motion called for clear steps to be outlined as to how Greater Manchester

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said the social media giant is taking steps to reduce the amount of political content on its platforms and in its news feeds to channel users to more “healthy communities.”

direct to your inboxOne in four people in Greater Manchester’s hospital beds are now Covid patients, with the peak of the third wave not now expected to hit until the coming weekend and projected to last for some time.A further 999 new patients with the virus have been admitted to hospital beds here in the past week, nearly twice the numbers being recorded a month ago.

direct to your inboxMore than 300,000 people have received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine so far in Greater Manchester.As of Tuesday (January 26), 309,469 first doses of the vaccine had been administered and 96pc of care homes have now been offered the vaccine.Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has praised the progress of the rollout, saying the region is in a good position to reach the mid-February deadline.There are around 560,000 people in the four highest priority groups

direct to your inboxGreater Manchester is forecasting 200 Covid patients in critical care by next week as the system gears up for an exhausting, drawn-out third wave peak.That projection is 25pc higher than the worst part of November's second wave, according to M.E.N.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) was placed in ‘special measures’ following a damning inspection report last month.

direct to your inboxAndy Burnham has promised a 'new era' at Greater Manchester Police after the force was placed in 'special measures'.The mayor held his first policing press conference yesterday since former Chief Constable Ian Hopkins was asked to step down in the wake of a scathing inspection report.

direct to your inboxGreater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham wants to add £15 to the average council tax bill to help restore our failing police force.In his first policing press conference since Ian Hopkins was forced out of his job as the chief constable of GMP, the mayor outlined his vision for a 'new era' of policing.GMP was effectively placed in 'special measures' just before Christmas when Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) inspectors estimated the force had failed to properly

After waiting for the Friends reunion for what seems to be decades, we finally have some good news! While the cast members have spoken about the reunion several times in the past, there haven’t been any hints at the timeline of the potential reunion, until now! Friends alum Lisa Kudrow, who essayed the role of Phoebe Buffay in the iconic show, recently came on Rob Lowe podcast and spoke about the reunion.  She told the host Rob Lowe: “I pre-shot something for it already, so we’re definitely

Black Crowes guitarist Marc Ford has revealed that he was asked to join Guns N’ Roses on two different occasions.Speaking in a new interview, Ford discussed being asked to join the band after Izzy Stradlin abruptly left in 1991, and again in the early 2000s when frontman Axl Rose was looking to retool the GnR lineup.“I got asked to join that band a couple of different times,” Ford said on the Black Crowes-themed State Of Amorica podcast.“Once when Axl was still finishing that record that was

straight to your inbox every day for freeMarcus Rashford has admitted that Manchester United's players are always arguing over penalties in training - and that Jose Mourinho told them how to win more spot-kicks during games. As a team with so much attacking talent, it's inevitable that there are always plenty of volunteers when ever United win a spot-kick.