Hello
Welcome to the first Mancunian Way of 2025. It’s been a pretty nippy start to the new year so far, hasn’t it?
Yesterday Greater Manchester woke up to a blanket of snow. And sure enough chaos ensued.
Roads were closed, train passengers were warned not to travel and the airport runways were temporarily shut. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the big snow-related disaster in our house occurred when the kids sledged over a huge pile of dog mess in the local park, splattering it everywhere.
READ MORE: Weather updates LIVE as schools and roads CLOSED amid snow and flooding
READ MORE: School closures in Greater Manchester amid snow and flooding
A gritter at work in Saddleworth -Credit:Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News
I was working yesterday but got the phone call to go rescue them. The things you have to do…
Anyway, enough of that. The wintry weather has continued to cause mayhem in Greater Manchester again today.
Two Met Office weather warnings have been issued across the region – for heavy rain, and snow and ice. And several flood alerts and warnings are also in force, while many schools are keeping their doors closed on what should be the first day back from the Christmas holidays.
It comes as some parts of Greater Manchester are still recovering from the New Year’s floods. We’ve had a team of reporters out and about across the region all day bringing you the latest on the cold snap and all the disruption it’s caused.
Dogs in the snow
Geordie the golden retriever enjoying the snow in Oldham -Credit:Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News
The weather’s not all bad news though. It gave M.E.N. photographers Sean Hansford and Kenny Brown the excuse to take loads of pictures of dogs playing in the snow, which we pulled together in this very pleasing gallery.
Buzzing about buses
Andy Burnham at Wigan bus depot
This story got lost a little bit among all the snow news, but yesterday was a huge day for public transport in Greater Manchester. After four decades of deregulation, the region has finally taken all its buses back under public control.
For years, Andy Burnham has promised us a London-style public transport system – in fact, it’s the reason his role as mayor was created. And now it’s on the verge of becoming a reality.
Now, every single bus fare will be a ‘hopper’, allowing passengers to take as many buses as they like within an hour for £2. There’s also a £5 day ticket and a new season ticket, offering regular passengers savings of up to £240 a year.
These fares aren’t new – tickets have been available at this price since September 2023. But no longer will passengers need to plan ahead and buy the right ticket from machines at tram stops or on an app – they just need to tap in and tap out for the cheapest fare.
The next challenge is bringing the railways into the network – so passengers can tap in and tap out on trains too.It’s not going to be easy, but as politics reporter Joseph Timan writes: “If London can do it, so can we – but more importantly, we must do it to unleash our potential as the world-class city we want to be.”
Sex, drugs and tuxedos
Harvey Lisberg with Jimmy White and Alex Higgins.
Alex Higgins and Jimmy White were a handful both on and off the snooker table. But they were box office gold.
And Manchester-based agent Harvey Lisberg knew it. He’d already enjoyed a taste of showbiz by discovering Manchester band Herman’s Hermits in 1963 – and when snooker began to explode in popularity in the early 80s, he leapt at the chance to represent the bad boys of the green baize.
In this rollicking interview with chief reporter Neal Keeling he tells how he failed in an attempt to get White to sport a punk hairstyle and had a plate thrown at his head at Higgins’ Cheadle home.
Location, location, location
An underpass on Pomona Island -Credit:Manchester Evening News
They’re the border-straddling suburbs with divided loyalties, the spill-over estates that retain ties to their old inner-city homes and the former industrial districts re-branded by developers. Across the region there are several places wrestling with questions of local identity.
Here we take a look at the places in Greater Manchester no-one’s sure exactly where they are…
Weather etc
Tuesday: More snow, ice and rain warnings are in place across Greater Manchester today. James Holt reports
Roadworks: One lane is closed on Wilmslow Road in Withington due to roadworks in both directions between Davenport Avenue and Copson Street.
Manchester headlines
Burst into flames: A car erupted in flames after smashing into a bollard in east Manchester last night . Fire crews, police and paramedics raced to the crash on North Road in Clayton shortly before 7pm. More here
Sledging accident: A man was rushed to hospital after a horror sledging accident in Bury on Sunday. Read more
Cafe fire: Plumes of smoke filled a shopping centre in Harpurhey after a café set alight. Emergency crews were called to the blaze at Trisian’s Traditional Family Restaurant, in the Harpurhey shopping centre shortly after 3pm on Sunday to reports of a fire.
Worth a read
A dramatic scene in Missing You featuring James Nesbitt, filmed at Manchester Art Gallery -Credit:Thomas Wood/Netflix
Netflix’s latest Harlan Coben adaptation Missing You is pretty ropey. But there’s a lot of fun to be had spotting the Greater Manchester locations used in filming.
Here lifestyle editor Dianne Bourne runs through all the places you might recognise in the show.