My mum was like that. She couldn’t understand why anyone in their right mind would buy a sandwich

It’s bad that I saw the photo and immediately went oh that’s the shit car park at stepping hill

Absolutely. Nonetheless as I’ve said before, it’s striking that UAE/China investment in Manchester - and resulting foreign ownership of assets - has never previously been something AB has flagged in the narrative, which is one of several reasons it’s so striking that he chose this moment to do so

Me, in the FT. He might hate her but she had leadership qualities he will need to reverse her legacy. But he also needs to bring the country together to deliver his vision in ways she never could.

Loads of money went into Manchester. Housing especially but also Co-Op Live, the hotel that just opened Several things can be true at once

It isn’t!!! It’s not built exclusively on investor friendly loans. I was there. It isn’t.

Whenever people say to me “what do you think about manchesterism” I try to say the same thing. Do you mean the narrative, or what Manchester did? Because they’re not the same. (Also stop sending me reports about manchesterism)

The current situation though is an unforced error. If you sell Manchester as your entire narrative blueprint for PM, without appreciating the incoherencies in your message or reconciling the inconveniences, moments like this will bite you. And Manchester. The city quickly becomes collateral damage.

I find the way the City/Burnham stuff affects Manchester deeply frustrating. Not because the city’s future relies on City - it doesn’t. Personally I don’t think Manchester is so reliant on a particular club ownership that it won’t prosper without it.

Manchesterism in action

That’s very kind 🙏

Exclusive (if you didn't read last weekend's FT) 😉

I’ve never seen this - love it. Pretty sure his love of Larkin is genuine (I’m biased since I do too) and have got a bit grumpy when I’ve seen people write that it’s put on. I just don’t think it is

Yeah I found it quite hard listening to his voice crack on LBC never mind the speech. In retrospect glad I wasn’t in the room tbh

I also can’t quite shake the thought that he’s grieving. Personally I kind of went into shock then overdrive in an attempt to battle through it. It probably does raise the likelihood of errors of judgment

Yeah it’s unusual

Maybe they did 🤷‍♀️