The Mancunian Way: Our A.I. Big Ben

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A vast spherical dome, a largely pedestrianised Oxford Road and what looks like part of Big Ben plonked on top of the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel - that’s what AI is predicting Manchester will look like in 100 years time.

The digital images also include what looks like a new cathedral or mosque and a vast glass dome on Portland Street, a completely flat and grassy Piccadilly Gardens and a very shiny Oxford Road station.

Oxford Road as predicted by AI tool Midjourney

AI tool Midjourney came up with the pictures when the People’s Postcode Lottery asked it to predict what our city will look like in 2123.

Chris Lawson, managing director and senior designer at CK Architectural claims the interpretation gives great modern features to streets and squares. He says introducing a section of greenery 'could give a level of decarbonisation and biodiversity' which he says will 'have to lead future architecture in cityscapes just like this one'.

Piccadilly Gardens as predicted by AI tool Midjourney

“Within the Oxford Road image, the elongated glass and mirrored structures do feel like a step into the future," he says. "The curved mirrors would help bring sunlight and energy to typically shaded places in cities, allowing energy capture and more growth to become intertwined into city life.

How AI tool Midjourney think the city centre will look in 2123

"This is of course not to forget reflecting and enhancing the exciting historic buildings that make the fabric of this city. Creating a solid harmony of modern and traditional architecture will be the future of most major UK cities.”

I can’t say I’m totally convinced by the pictures myself. Not least because I think fans of Great Abel - the town hall’s famous hour bell - would object to having another huge clock in the city, especially if it looked just like its rival Big Ben.

‘Seismic shift’ in attitudes to full-time school attendance

“Pre-Covid, I was very much about getting the kids into school, you know, attendance was a big thing. Education was a major thing. After Covid, I’m not gonna lie to you, my take on attendance and absence now is like I don’t really care anymore. Life’s too short.”

That’s what one Manchester mum-of-two said when asked about the importance of school attendance for her primary-aged children. Her comments show how dramatically attitudes to education have changed since the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to a study by Public First, lockdowns caused a ‘seismic shift’ in parental attitudes to full-time school attendance that will take a ‘monumental’ effort to change.

A significant proportion of parents are taking their children on holiday during term time and these breaks are seen as ‘socially acceptable’, the report says.

“Pre-Covid, ensuring your child’s daily attendance at school was seen as a fundamental element of good parenting. Post-Covid, parents no longer felt that to be the case, and instead view attending school as one of several - often competing - options or demands on their child on a daily basis, against a backdrop of a more holistic approach to daily life,” the report concludes.

Researchers conducted eight online focus groups with parents of school-aged children in eight different locations across England.

The report calls for fines for school absences to be ‘potentially abolished’ as it suggests they are failing to change parent behaviour and they ‘undermine’ relationships between schools and parents. It adds that further investment in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (Send) and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) ‘will significantly improve attendance’.

New figures recently revealed that secondary school absences have been particularly bad in one area of Wythenshawe. Attendance was just 89.3 per cent in Brooklands ward with 9.4 per cent of pupils absent most of the school year. In Brooklands, 37.9 per cent of pupils missed 16 days of school or more.

Dixons Brooklands - a secondary school in the ward - had a very low attendance this year according to Manchester Council. Mark Harrison, executive director for Dixons Academies Trust, said the impact of Covid ‘has not been felt equally across society’.[2] “Solving the attendance challenge will require multi-agency work and won’t be achieved by schools alone. We are working relentlessly to re-establish pre-pandemic norms in our schools, but this is going to take time,” he said.

‘We can't become the best consultants’

There were some pretty stark comments from doctors[3] when health reporter Helena Vesty visited the picket line at Manchester Royal Infirmary yesterday.

Consultants and junior doctors have walked out together in a historic strike over pay and conditions.

Among those who spoke to Helena was Dr Matt Church, an oncology doctor who says medics ‘can't become the best consultants we want to be’ as training is impacted when doctors are ‘always trying to prop up a failing service’.

Dr Matt Church (right)

"Most NHS departments already have consultant vacancies. You need consultants to read reports and to check scan results, and surgeons to do operations. If we're to ever get the waiting lists down, we need those really experienced, qualified consultants.

"I've seen late-stage cancer patients present later than they should because of delays in their pathway to care. I've seen patients in A&E sat in their own faeces because there aren't enough staff to take care of them.

"All these issues [came] way before strikes, the UK has some of the worst cancer outcomes in Europe.”

Dr Church says the erosion of doctors' pay is having a vast impact on the health service. "I have had colleagues who are making plans to move abroad or have actually done so. A lot of colleagues say they are thinking of leaving the NHS for the private sector.

"For me, the way the government is approaching it, I think it's difficult for me to see how I can stay in the NHS in the future. If this is how the government treats us now in comparison to 12 years ago, how will it treat us in another 12 years,” he said.

PM refuses to 'speculate' on HS2

Rishi Sunak has refused to confirm whether HS2 will make it to Manchester.

The Prime Minister said he was 'not going to speculate'[4] on the plans after he was quizzed about the railway line by a journalist following his net zero statement at Downing Street yesterday.

It comes just days after the Government refused to guarantee that HS2 would be running to Manchester[5] as originally planned amid reports that Mr Sunak was 'in talks to scrap the project's second stage' and about the soaring costs of the major rail project.

Manchester Council’s leader Bev Craig previously urged Downing Street[6] to 'provide assurances that the Birmingham-Manchester leg of HS2 is going ahead' saying 'tens of thousands of jobs' and millions of pounds rely on its certainty.

Protest against asylum seeker hotel

Protests outside the library in Wigan town centre in relation to the Home Office decision to house asylum seekers in Kilhey Court Hotel in Standish Protests outside the library in Wigan town centre in relation to the Home Office decision to house asylum seekers in Kilhey Court Hotel in Standish

A crowd of people were in Wigan last night to oppose the decision to house asylum seekers in a local hotel.

More than 100 people gathered near the town hall to oppose the Home Office decision to house those fleeing danger at Kilhey Court Hotel, in Standish. Organiser Coun Maureen O’Bern said she wants the council to take out an injunction against the Home Office decision. She believes this influx of migrants can lead to lost jobs and amenities as well as increasing pressure on local health services.

And as George Lythgoe reports[7], the stance was reiterated at Wednesday evening’s full council meeting when Coun Dane Anderton said councils must be consulted on these matters.

Those who oppose housing asylum seekers in the hotel believe it’s unsuitable for asylum seekers because of a lack of local amenities and limited public transport. Wigan MP Lisa Nandy and the council have both written to the government calling on them to rethink the plan.

One man and his dog

Barista trainer Theo Tobias is opening a new café bar in Withington alongside his dog Roscoe Barista trainer Theo Tobias is opening a new café bar in Withington alongside his dog Roscoe

Good news for south Manchester - the former Wilderness cafe and record store[8] is getting a new lease of life.

Theo Tobias has announced plans to open Something More Productive cafe bar at the Egerton Crescent site in Withington. He’s a local lad and he’s sentimental about the shop itself, having been a regular at Wilderness and having bought his guitar strings from the shop when it was Deco Records.

Theo and his dog Roscoe hope to open up the cafe next month. The new owner wants to create a comfortable atmosphere that pays homage to European café culture. “It will be something that accommodates a relaxed crowd in the day, and just extends that casually into the evening without altering the vibe too much,” he told Adam Maidement.[9] “Something that feels humble and communal, but that also offers the best quality, locally sourced produce available.

“I am personally very coffee focused, but I’m always dubious about the term ‘coffee shop’ as it feels too limiting. So in my head we’ll be a café and bar, that just so happens to serve specialty coffee at a high level. I also love sandwiches, like proper hearty sandwiches. So we’re working on something special in that department too.”

Completely and utterly beguiling

David Bradley stars as an unresponsive northern schoolboy who finds and trains a kestrel chick in Ken Loach's 1969 masterpiece Kes

Christopher Eccleston says Ken Loach's Kes inspired him to take up acting to smash Oxbridge's ‘ivory towers’.

The Salford-born actor told the BBC[10] Loach’s 1969 masterpiece was the ‘most important cultural event’ of his life. He recently read A Kestrel for a Knave - which inspired the film - at Oldham Coliseum for BBC Four. He also performed excerpts from Loach's film I, Daniel Blake alongside Maxine Peake during the theatre’s closing night earlier this year.

Speaking about Kes, Eccleston said the film was a ‘transformative experience’. "It changed my entire view of myself, of art and culture for working class people," he told BBC North West Tonight.[11]

He said he was ‘completely and utterly beguiled by the idea that a working class individual like myself and my brothers and my mother and father could have a wonderful skill and could have a dream to be lifted from the pit, as in Billy's case, or the factories in my mum and dad's and my case’.

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Weather etc

Friday: Cloudy changing to light showers by late morning. 15C.

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.

A62 Manchester Road, Chadderton, out of town closed due to water main work between M60 J22 (Failsworth) and B6189 Drury Lane. Until September 25.

Trivia question: Which actor stars as Billy in Ken Loach's film Kes?

Manchester headlines

The Take That logo projected onto Co-op Live

  • TT: The distinctive double T symbol of Take That has been pictured on the side of the new Co-op Live arena and on an advertisement billboard in Manchester. The logo has also appeared on a number of other music venues and arenas around the UK in a strong hint that the much-loved group could be heading back out on the road for a new tour. More here.[13]

  • Bees: Bosses at City Tower have installed an apiary of four beehives[14] on the second floor. It sits in front of a bee-themed mural created by Mustard Tree volunteer, Graham Hudson. Designed with 22 bees - one for each victim of the Manchester Arena Attack - the creation also depicts the wildflowers situated within the apiary’s planters.

  • Vapes: Rochdale MP Tony Lloyd insists the government should have acted years ago[15] to stop children becoming addicted to vaping. The veteran MP made the comments after reports this week that ministers are considering banning single-use vapes because they are being specifically targeted at children. “I'm from a generation where people started smoking young and I would want those lessons to be learned so children do not start smoking at all,” he said.

  • Closure: Temperance Street Brewery, a popular brewery and tap room in Ardwick, has announced it is shutting up shop for good[16] later this week. It started life as part of the Beer Nouveau brewery founded by Steve Dunkley and was taken over by new owners last year. But bosses have now announced it will close on Saturday.

Worth a read

It started life as a ‘secret garden’ hideout in the Northern Quarter. But as Jenna Campbell writes,[17] nothing in Manchester remains secret for long and as such, Mala, has become increasingly popular since it opened in a couple of years ago.

Nevertheless, the enormous wedge-sized sandwiches currently on offer from the venue’s House of Hoagie’s vendor are yet to gain the traction they deserve.

The menu includes twists on classic American subs - from the Manny Cheesesteak to the riff on a Louisiana classic, the shrimp po’boy and its veggie alternative made with oyster mushrooms.

“Transporting us to a stateside Italian deli, their Cold Cuts hoagie (£13.25) is a masterpiece. Stuffed with lomo (pork loin), bresaola, mortadella, it takes some serious commitment to plough through it, but each bite is a delight. Bringing it all together is the spread of rich pesto along the base of the sub, as well as the mozzarella and pickled vegetables sitting pretty on the bed of cold meats,” writes Jenna.[18] “A sprinkling of parmesan, parsley, tiny capers and olive oil to finish it and you have yourself one of the best subs in town.”

Shrimp Po’ Boy sandwich from House of Hoagie

That's all for today

Thanks for joining me. If you have stories you would like us to look into, email [email protected][19].

If you have enjoyed this newsletter today, why not tell a friend how to sign up[20]?

The answer to today's trivia question is: David Bradley.

References

  1. ^ right here (mancunianway.co.uk)
  2. ^ said the impact of Covid ‘has not been felt equally across society’. (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  3. ^ pretty stark comments from doctors (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  4. ^ 'not going to speculate' (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  5. ^ refused to guarantee that HS2 would be running to Manchester (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  6. ^ previously urged Downing Street (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  7. ^ And as George Lythgoe reports (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  8. ^ Wilderness cafe and record store (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  9. ^ he told Adam Maidement. (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  10. ^ told the BBC (www.bbc.co.uk)
  11. ^ he told BBC North West Tonight. (www.bbc.co.uk)
  12. ^ clicking on this link (data.reachplc.com)
  13. ^ More here. (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  14. ^ installed an apiary of four beehives (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  15. ^ insists the government should have acted years ago (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  16. ^ has announced it is shutting up shop for good (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  17. ^ But as Jenna Campbell writes, (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  18. ^ writes Jenna. (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  19. ^ [email protected] (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  20. ^ sign up (mancunianway.co.uk)

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