The Mancunian Way: ‘I just don’t want him to be forgotten’
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Diane Burke was at work when she received a phone call from a Ukrainian police officer who, in broken English, repeated the phrase ‘Daniel Burke is missing’ over and over.
“I was hysterical,” she told me last week[2], as we spoke about her son, who has now been missing in the war-torn country for more than a month.
Daniel Burke
I met Daniel in 2020.[3] He had just been released from HMP Wandsworth after prosecutors suddenly dropped terror charges against him. He had been arrested after returning from Syria where he had fought Islamic State with Kurdish militia group the YPG - a Western ally against IS.
He said he passed intelligence to UK counter-terror experts and US special forces and spent time on the front line and working as a medic. On his return home, he was arrested, but no charges were pursued. Then, in 2019, he was charged with terror offences - a move Daniel believed was highly political[4].
He was never explicitly told what the alleged terrorism in his case was supposed to involve, considering that he only ever fought alongside Western allies. During seven months on remand at HMP Wandsworth he was nicknamed ‘Jihadi Dan’, much to his disgust.
Then, just before a trial at the Old Bailey, the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the charges, with no proper explanation ever offered as to why. Daniel told me the whole ordeal had made him feel 'sick to the stomach' and left him disappointed in his country.
At the time, his lawyers said his treatment flagged up a need to review the scope of the definition of 'terrorism' in UK legislation. “Its use in recent cases to prosecute British volunteers fighting against the genocidal activities of proscribed terrorist groups in Syria arguably goes far beyond the intention of Parliament in passing the legislation, and potentially brings the law into disrepute,” they said.
Speaking to me[5] at the home he shared with his mum in Wythenshawe back in 2020, Daniel was clearly angry about how he had been treated. But it didn't take long before he began waxing lyrical about the Kurdish people he had been working with, his experiences with the British Army in Afghanistan and the way conflict ravages communities. At the time, he was about to start a job in construction, but it seemed clear that he would always return to aid work. “That’s just his nature,” his mum says now.
And so, when war broke out in Ukraine, Daniel was quickly contacted by friends and contacts who wanted him to fly out and use his skills in the field. He was initially reluctant telling Diane: “I have put that behind me”. But it wasn’t long before he visited the country for increasingly long stints - initially fighting on the frontline before taking on rescue and evacuation work.
It was this work he was involved in when he went missing from Zaporizhzhia on August 11. There are no signs of a break-in at his apartment and none of the high-value medical supplies he had been collecting are missing.
The last person to hear from Daniel - Australian Nourine ‘Adam’ Abdelfetah, who is serving with the Ukrainian army - says he had not been feeling well that day. The pair drove out of Zaporizhzhia that morning to go to a rifle range but abandoned the plans when Daniel thought he had food poisoning. CCTV apparently captures Adam driving Daniel’s Mitsubishi Barbarian back to his flat at around 5.30pm. He says Daniel was lying down in the back.
Daniel Burke and his mum Diane (Image: Diane Burke)
Adam says he dropped Daniel off and left. But when he attempted to return the car two days later, he couldn’t get in touch with Daniel. He was reported missing by a fellow Brit later that day.
Since then his family here in the UK have heard very little. Friends are worried and say it’s unlike Daniel not to be in contact. They are baffled as to how he could disappear into thin air.
Of course, Ukraine is currently extremely dangerous. Daniel’s friend Sam Newey - who was up with him on the dropped charges back in 2020 - is the latest Brit to be killed in action while fighting in Ukraine.[6] His brother has hailed him as an ‘exceptional man and a good soldier’.
The Foreign Office currently advises against all travel to Ukraine and says the risk to life, or of mistreatment, is high. They have also warned that Brits who travel to the country to fight, or to assist others engaged in the war, may be prosecuted on their return to the UK.
Not that that message has always been clear. When she was Foreign Secretary - just before her very short tenure as Prime Minister - Liz Truss initially said she supported individuals from the UK who might want to go to Ukraine to join an international force to fight. She told the BBC it was a battle ‘for democracy’ and said Ukrainians were fighting for freedom, ‘not just for Ukraine but for the whole of Europe’.[7][8]
As the search for Daniel continues, his mum is keen that her aid worker son, who has done so much to help those in conflict zones, is found as soon as possible. And as each day passes with no word, she says: “I just don’t want him to be forgotten out there.”
You can read the full details of Daniel’s disappearance and the interview with his mum here.[9]
New trains to be withdrawn due to lack of drivers
The Nova 3 trains operated by TransPennine Express are to be withdrawn (Image: TransPennine Express)
TransPennine Express is set to mothball a fleet of 13 almost new trains - because they don't have enough drivers trained to operate them.
It’s an indictment on the state of our rail services, which have been hampered by delays, cancellations and strike action for months on end as the government fails to reach an agreement with unions.
TransPennine was nationalised in May after months of poor performance. At the time it ranked highest of all train operators in terms of cancellations with an average of 37 services cancelled each day.
Now, as John Scheerhout reports[10], the company will withdraw its Spanish-built Nova 3 trains from December in a bid to 'deliver improved punctuality and reliability'. The trains have only been in use since August 2019.
Remaining services across the north of England and the south of Scotland will be operated by older trains, including the Nova 2 and Nova 1.
TPE said a ‘significant backlog’ of driving training days has led to operational issues when planning the Nova 3s and removing them will improve performance.
Chris Jackson, interim managing director at TPE, said the decision is part of plans to ‘restore reliability and confidence for passengers by simplifying the business and putting customers at the heart of our decision-making process’.
Millions of days missed
More than 3 million days of face-to-face schooling were missed in Manchester due to persistently high Covid infection rates and longer-lasting restrictions. This resulted in children here falling further behind those in the rest of the country.[11]
That’s according to a new report which has found North West schools receive £654 less per pupil on average than those in London, as Joseph Timan reports.[12]
The Child of the North report - prepared for an all-party parliamentary group - says funding for Northern schools has lagged behind the rest of the UK over the past decade while regional inequalities have risen since the pandemic. Children in the North of England are more likely to miss school than their Southern counterparts, researchers found.
Year 7 pupils in the corridors of Newman RC College wearing facemasks during the pandemic (Image: STEVE ALLEN)
They say there has been a 'concerning' decline in performance in primary schools across the North - where there was an additional 41 days of lockdown on average. Wages fell, unemployment rose and mental health worsened.
They argue that Northern schools already support disproportionate numbers of children in poverty who suffer higher rates of physical and mental health problems. Covid exacerbated this and there is currently insufficient funding for those hit hardest by the pandemic and its aftermath.
The report also says many children in the North struggle to learn to read at an 'acceptable' rate. In Manchester, standards in reading have slipped and the difference compared to national data has more than doubled since 2019.
Local leaders have blamed a lack of social interaction for primary school pupils who were born just before or during the pandemic. However, the Child of the North report says children may be struggling to read because of poor eyesight. Evidence suggests some who need glasses are not taken to the hospital eye service or an optometrist.
The report refers to 'record numbers' of school absences in the North, with attendance dropping to 92.6 per cent in Manchester last year. Brooklands ward in Wythenshawe had the lowest school attendance rate last year at 87.4 per cent - compared to 95.6 per cent in Chorlton. But next door in Chorlton Park, which is home to a pupil referral unit and three secondary schools, attendance was just 89.3 per cent.
You can
I’ll admit The World Black Pudding Throwing Championships[14] is not my absolute favourite of the regionally specific bizarre sports - I’m afraid Gravy Wrestling[15] still holds that mantle - but it certainly comes a very close second. I think it's the use of the word ‘world' championships that tickles me most -suggesting as it does that there are other countries across the globe which also compete to see who can knock down as many Yorkshire Puddings as possible with a wedge of blood pudding. But, as Rami Mwamba found out when he visited Ramsbottom on Sunday[16], it’s a time-honoured tradition that competitiors take very seriously. This year's winner, Stu, said:[17] "It's been great. I've had a few pints and I've won £100. I entered last year and didn't get anywhere near, but my girlfriend came second, so it's nice to have gone on better this year." The event attracts competitors from all over, including Stuart Hubbard who travelled from Wolverhampton to take part. He insisted ‘lubrication is really important’. “You have to be well hydrated. I do regular training throughout the year, basically drinking beer to get my throwing arm in good order.” I must say I do quite fancy a go myself but I’d probably end up hurling the pudding backwards based on bitter history - and my previous athletic attempts. It's said the competition dates back to the War of Roses, when warring factions of the House of Lancaster and House of York would throw food at each other after using up their ammunition. The custom was revived in 1839, and later in the 1980s by the Stubbins Community Trust and it has been a summertime staple in the town ever since. Another day, another glass-fronted vast building planned for Manchester city centre. This time it’s developer HBD that hopes to plant a 16-storey tower on the corner of New Quay Street and Gartside Street, in the St John's district. Developers say it would be a ‘completely different prospect to the sterile and corporate offices of yesteryear’. The site was formerly home to the LTE Group’s Manchester College before it relocated to its new campus last year. It’s said the £140m office development, titled Colloco, could create around 1,400 jobs. Jon Robinson has more details here.[18] Has a friend forwarded you this edition of The Mancunian Way? You can sign up to receive the latest email newsletter direct to your inbox every weekday by clicking on this link[19]. Tuesday: Cloudy changing to light rain by lunchtime. 17C. Road closures: A57 Eccles New Road eastbound, Weaste, closed due to Metrolink works from A5185 Stott Lane to James Corbett Road. The road was closed westbound but these works have been completed, and now the road has been closed eastbound as work continues. Until Sept 25. A667 Stoneclough Road, Kearsley, in both directions closed due to roadworks between Brook Street and Quarry Road. Until Oct 1. A5145 Kingsway, Stretford, eastbound closed due to long-term roadworks between A5181 Barton Road and A56 Chester Road. Until August 31. Trivia question: How many turns do competitors get to knock Yorkshire puddings off a giant plinth during The World Black Pudding Throwing Championships? Puppets: Hundreds of people lined the streets of Stalybridge for a vibrant and colourful parade on Saturday.[20] As part of the ‘Hi!Street Fest’, a government initiative to celebrate our local high streets, Wigan and Stalybridge were chosen as two of the six towns for a visit from Farrah the Fox. She was welcomed by a giant animated mill boy puppet, Charlie, and his friend Maude, who showed off the town's rich cotton heritage. MOSI: The Science and Industry Museum celebrates its 40th birthday this weekend and is hosting a series of special events to mark the occasion. There will be expert talks, behind the scenes tours, and birthday themed arts and crafts. There will also be ‘spotlight talks’ focussing on the pioneering Liverpool Road Station and how it revolutionised the world. All the details are here.[21] Vapes: Child vape addicts as young as 13 are 'unable to go an hour' at school without taking a puff, councillors have heard. A meeting of Bolton's full council was told one high school has installed sensors to address the 'crisis', with detectors bleeping 'by the minute'. The revelations about vape use by children in school settings came during the maiden speech in the council chamber by Horwich and Blackrod First member Samantha Williamson. She said: "In recent times, we have observed a concerning rise in the use of vape products among youngsters, leading to an increase in disruptive and anti-social behaviour within our schools.” More here.[23] Sumayah Saadi quit her job in Parliament to start a Muslim women’s clothing shop that has people queuing down the road. She was just 23 when she set up ‘Sumayah’. And on opening day, the queue to enter the tiny store, on Levenshulme’s Stockport Road, wrapped around the corner. It mainly sells abayahs - robe-like dresses predominantly worn by Muslim women - but she certainly didn’t expect that demand would be so high. Reporter Rami Mwamba has been talking to the young entrepreneur about her fashion brand and business. Read the details here.[24] Thanks for joining me. If you have stories you would like us to look into, email [email protected][25]. If you have enjoyed this newsletter today, why not tell a friend how to sign up[26]? The answer to today's trivia question is: Three turns.Go on - lob it!
(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
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