After their excellent piece on Penda's Fen a few weeks ago, @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social turns its attention to the Midlands' other great slice of celluloid history. Time for another showing, @talkingpicturestv.bsky.social?

Not long ago, I got a tip off from a reader who'd seen my piece about Manchester's warring tour guides. She told me of a similar battle going on between the burger vans outside Old Trafford - mostly run by women from Odsall: "salt of the earth... but you'd rather have them as friend than foe".

And an excellent explanation of where Boxing Day comes from 🎁🥊

🎄 Herring soup and piss ups: this is Christmas in Georgian Manchester. We look at how Mancunians in the 18th century made merry. manchestermill.co.uk/herring-soup...

I have been so disappointed by the lack of urgency and transparency displayed by the universities watchdog. Allegations of impropriety at the University of Greater Manchester surfaced months ago after @manchestermill.bsky.social reporting, so why has a formal investigation only just been launched?

This does seem bizarrely slow. @philbrickellmp.bsky.social raised this story in parliament in March and leader of the House Lucy Powell said the OfS were looking into it.

Honourable mention of @manchestermill.bsky.social Regulator ‘asleep at the wheel’ over University of Greater Manchester investigation, MP says www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Every Christmas pudding tells a story of Liverpool’s innovation, enterprise and ambition — with a large helping of exploitation too. Did our modern Christmas start in our docks? 🎄 www.livpost.co.uk/how-liverpoo...

Matthew Goodwin objects to prosecuting this: ‘I think it’s time for the British to gang together, hit the streets and start the slaughter. Violence and murder is the only way now. Start off burning every migrant hotel then head off to MPs’ houses and Parliament, we need to take over by FORCE.’

🚨BIG HIRING NEWS🚨 We're hiring for a marketing and events assistant! Applications close Sunday 4 January, and the successful candidate will be: - Creative, organised and highly efficient - Committed to working in a fast-paced startup - A talented social media operator More below:

I spent months secretly contacting the country's most powerful politicians to find out their favourite pubs in the capital. Then I went on a @londonermag.bsky.social pub crawl to find out who has the best taste. It really wasn't who I was expecting. www.the-londoner.co.uk/we-found-out...

This story is completely bananapants

Every single word of this is true, heartfelt and powerful. *This* is why I grieve for the radio we've lost, the radio we used to have. I'm proud to have worked in radio when radio mattered Please read this closely. I feel it deeply Losing local radio — and my mum www.livpost.co.uk/losing-local...

Less than 10 HOURS LEFT in what has become an incredibly successful @manchestermill.bsky.social membership campaign. Join up now if - for some reason - you haven’t done so yet. Award winning journalism and you choose the price. Ends at midnight. manchestermill.co.uk/less-than-10...

Pleased to say that @manchestermill.bsky.social met their target two days early. Well done 👏

Our campaign ends tomorrow night! More than 1,000 new members have joined, and you can join them - and pay what you choose for your first two months. manchestermill.co.uk/lp-1/

My gosh this gets worse and worse

Another belter from @manchestermill.bsky.social @joshih.bsky.social and crew. Time the Uni of Manchester was taken over by a more transparent operator ? manchestermill.co.uk/the-baroness...

We're so incredibly close to reaching our goal of 1,000 new members! There's only 3 days left to become a Miller and pay whatever you can. Become a part of the campaign to revive local journalism, through the link below!

🏆 We won a British Journalism Award! The judges said @molliesimpson.bsky.social's investigation into the University of Greater Manchester is a "first-class piece of investigative reporting by a journalist who would not be thrown off the trail".

🥳🥳🥳

Congratulations to the Local Journalism award winners @molliesimpson.bsky.social @joshih.bsky.social @manchestermill.bsky.social for an investigation into the University of Greater Manchester #BJA2025

We’re closing in! 97 more members to get. Three days to go. Amazing effort by the Millers to make this campaign such a success. manchestermill.co.uk

🗞️Listen up Millers! With just 134 new members needed to hit our target of 1000 before Sunday, it's high time to talk about our pledges, which we'll be committing to if we make the magic number manchestermill.co.uk/the-problems...

⌛Only four days left now in our 1000 member push! With a late push we'll make it to the finish line and commit to six amazing pledges to Manchester

We've reached Hollywood 🎥

You can choose how much to pay for the first few months. If you value local journalism - wherever you live - sign up! @manchestermill.bsky.social and its fellow papers in Liverpool, Sheffield and London are essential for democracy.

🚨 Just five days left in our campaign! We’re 303 members away from our target 🎯 Please share the link manchestermill.co.uk or join up now for a price you choose to help us get there.

Happy to count myself among the paying members of @manchestermill.bsky.social, mainly due to their fantastic investigations. If you're in #GreaterManchester, I can recommend (and it currently has an initial ‘pay what you want’ offer)👇

Fair play to the Guardian for properly citing and linking to work they’re covering and building on without needing to be chased. Sometimes you get a really low down credit and no link, or no credit at all, but this is how it should work.

Two Mill investigations have been followed up by the national press this week. Thanks to @theguardian.com for crediting our reporting on both without needing to be prompted. It’s because of our paying members that we can do impactful journalism like this, which holds local authorities to account.

Our campaign ends ON SUNDAY! We’re on 664 new members, on our way to our 1000 target 🎯. Please join up now and spread the word 🙏 manchestermill.co.uk/lp-1/

Thanks to the BBC for now picking up on our reporting about Knowsley Foodbank / Big Help Project 👇 @liverpoolpost.bsky.social

My heart sings! I cancelled The Times today to make room for the @manchestermill.bsky.social, Britain's best online local newspaper. Make no mistake - this one's better than most anything we did in the newsroom, back in the day. #Manchester #ManchesterMill #TheMill @joshih.bsky.social

“You were anxious all the time,” Pauline tells me as our chat comes to an end. “You weren’t sleeping, you weren’t eating". Meet Andrew Milne, the London lawyer terrorising homeowners in Horwich manchestermill.co.uk/meet-the-lon...

Vincent Chan just pled guilty to a litany of child sex offences he committed at the North London nursery he worked in, in one of the “most harrowing” cases in recent history. But we found that the multi-billion dollar company that ran the nursery has a long history of serious safeguarding failures.

The @manchestermill.bsky.social keeps demonstrating why it is so important to have a truly local paper. They really do feel like they are a part of Manchester, not "reporting" on it from somewhere else! They're doing a cool special right now, where you can pay what you like for two months!

An amazing opportunity to subscribe to the Mill, a local Manchester newspaper that does the proper reporting and investigating, for basically ‘give what you can’ prices! manchestermill.co.uk/r/3359d2b6?m...

This story is a complete disgrace - and an explanation of so much that is wrong with our economic system. Great reporting by @manchestermill.bsky.social as ever. manchestermill.co.uk/meet-the-lon...

I don’t even live in the NW but i read @manchestermill.bsky.social religiously because it’s doing a terrific job of real investigative local journalism. Along with sister publications, @joshiherrmann.bsky.social and team are doing an excellent job. Give it a try. manchestermill.co.uk/lp-1/

This is superb local journalism and absolutely enraging

Labour suspends Colette Goulding, a councillor heavily implicated in the Big Help scandal. @abi-whist.bsky.social has been reporting on this story for two years now for @liverpoolpost.bsky.social www.livpost.co.uk/breaking-cou...

Over the weekend we revealed a confidential report that found how Rochdale Council CEO James Binks inappropriately touched a female colleague when he was assistant CEO at Manchester City Council. Yesterday, Binks was suspended.

In February 2013, a British man died while visiting a friend in the US state of Arizona. For the next 12 years he was unidentified — known only as ‘Maricopa County John Doe 2013’. This year, thanks to a team of staff and students at Sheffield Hallam University, his family finally have closure.

As Sacha Lord previously learned, @jackdulhanty.bsky.social doesn’t mess around.

Exclusive: James Binks suspended as chief executive of Rochdale council @manchestermill.bsky.social kick arse, as do their colleagues in Birmingham, London, Sheffield and Liverpool. This stonking update will show you why you should subscribe right away: manchestermill.co.uk/exclusive-ja...

Looking back at my journalism this year, I think my favourite piece was the interview with Andrea Ashworth, author of ONCE IN A HOUSE ON FIRE, which ran on @millmedia.bsky.social manchestermill.co.uk/andrea-ashwo...

🚨 Some very nice news: we’ve got a new @manchestermill.bsky.social staff writer. Lucy grew up in Manchester and is the first staffer we’ve hired who first read The Mill at *school*. She looked up to @molliesimpson.bsky.social and is now taking her spot. manchestermill.co.uk/big-news-mee...

What a weekend of @millmedia.bsky.social journalism across the country. Brilliant investigations, great writing. Proud of our writers and editors, who slog so hard to produce work this good. All these cities are better for it. #localjournalism

Oh no! I love every single one of his plays. Rosencantz & Guildenstern was the first play I went to see of my own accord - Manchester, some time in the late 70s, at the Library Theatre I think