Bus drivers and teachers aged over 50 should get Covid jabs at half-empty Etihad, says Andy Burnham

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direct to your inboxGreater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is teaming up with two Manchester football legends to raise awareness of suicide and help prevent more people from ending their own lives.Former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson and his former player - and Manchester City managerial rival - Mark Hughes are backing a new partnership between the mayor and the League Managers Association (LMA).Members of the representative body for professional football managers in England will be

Covid jabs to Scots health workers also helps protect everyone in their house against the disease, a study has found.

direct to your inboxIt started with a few traffic cones and some handwritten banners, and ended with a pensioner in handcuffs.NHS staff - frustrated by a decade of stagnated pay growth and exhausted from the pandemic - gathered in St Peter’s Square last Sunday to protest the Government’s 1 per cent pay offer.But within the space of ten minutes the ‘socially distanced and fully risk assessed’ NHS pay protest escalated from a fairly meagre gathering to front page news.

direct to your inboxA council leader in Greater Manchester has accused neighbouring authorities of ‘virtue signalling’ by urging the regional pension fund to divest from fossil fuels.High-ranking councillors in Manchester, Salford, Rochdale, Stockport, Bury and Wigan want the Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) to match the city-region’s target of becoming ‘zero carbon’ by 2038.Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, has also been asked to back their calls as part of his re-election

sent home from school over positive tests, Mr Burnham questioned whether there could be a more thorough testing procedure. He said: "If a lateral flow test shows a positive case there's a question whether it's right for someone to isolate at home on the back of that and not for a PCR test to confirm it's not a false positive."He said this might build more confidence in the system - and was something the Government should consider.

direct to your inboxAndy Burnham has asked Greater Manchester Police to review a £10,000 fine handed to the organiser of a NHS pay protest.Mental health worker Karen Reissmann was one of the organisers of an event to showcase anger over the Government's offer of a 1 per cent pay rise to NHS staff.She was one of several people who attended a 'socially-distanced and risk assessed' demonstration in St Peter's Square on Sunday afternoon (March 7) - which lasted less than ten minutes.Police issued Ms

straight to your inbox every day for freeAndy Cole believes that Manchester United fans cannot ask much more from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer this season. United are third in the Premier League, 14 points adrift of Manchester City ahead of today’s derby at the Etihad Stadium.

direct to your inboxAndy Burnham has described Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Budget as a ‘packet of Polos’ boasting some ‘refreshing’ economic ideas - but with many policy-shaped holes.The mayor of Greater Manchester welcomed the extension of the furlough scheme, the Universal Credit uplift and grants for self-employed workers until September.The continuation of cuts to VAT and stamp duty, as well as a longer business rates holiday, were also seen as positive measures for the country’s post-pandemic

direct to your inboxWeaknesses in support for low-paid people who need to self-isolate risk both the government’s Covid-19 roadmap and Greater Manchester’s place within it, Andy Burnham has warned.The mayor said he had hoped government would strengthen the system as part of today’s Budget, but in the event, it was not mentioned.

direct to your inboxHundreds of bus drivers are on strike over changes to their pay and conditions at a Manchester depot. Around 400 Go North West staff have walked out over plans to change their contracts, a policy the Unite union is describing as 'fire and rehire'.

direct to your inboxGreater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has described harrowing body cam footage of an 'unlawfully killed' father begging to be freed as he was restrained by Metrolink-contracted staff as "one of the most distressing things you could see."He expressed sympathy to the friends and family of Jack Barnes, 29, who was pinned down outside Australasia restaurant on Deansgate in Manchester city centre.The dad-of-one had been involved in an altercation with staff at Victoria Station,

here.If there are concerns about rising infection rates locally, as is currently the case in Bury, Mr Burnham believes heads and leaders should be able to make the judgement 'not to close the schools per se, but to take perhaps a more phased approach to the return'.He added: "What we wouldn't want to see is the overruling of councils and schools as we saw in London before Christmas.

link!A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The establishment of a mass Covid-19 vaccination programme is a huge undertaking, and one that has required us to mobilise and have available a large, capable and diverse workforce as quickly as possible to ensure that the 1100 vaccinations sites we have in Scotland can operate at capacity, many seven days a week.“It remains vital that as many people as possible are available to staff these centres.“All staff employed to work on the programme are

direct to your inboxTwo bus drivers were attacked after yobs ran riot at a bus station.One is said to have been punched in the face after he confronted a gang of youths causing trouble at Stockport bus station.It's understood the second bus driver was also attacked at the depot after he ran over to help his colleague.Police are investigating the disturbance which happened at the station off Daw Bank in Stockport town centre on Thursday evening.One bus driver said the yobs were 'absolutely

direct to your inboxTeaching staff at a North Manchester high school were encouraged to book coronavirus vaccination slots despite not being eligible for the jabs.Leaders at the King David High School in Crumpsall said in an email that teachers could book a vaccine appointment by using slots for health and social workers.The email, circulated earlier this month, included a link to the NHS booking system for slots at the Etihad vaccination centre.Under Government guidelines only those classed as

direct to your inboxHundreds of people have called a helpline for crime victims unhappy with how Greater Manchester Police has handled their cases.The crime support line was established by mayor Andy Burnham after the force failed to record 80,000 crimes in a year - including one in four violent crimes.But the helpline will be closed down from tomorrow (Friday February 19) due to a ‘very low number’ of new callers in recent weeks.There have been 240 calls to the helpline since it launched in