More cuts at the Manchester Evening News

Earlier this week, I couldn't believe it when I heard some of the people who'd lost their jobs at the MEN. These are not cub reporters by any stretch, but committed and experienced editorial-level folks who've been on the paper for years.

Outgoing online editor Sarah Hartley (Good luck, Sarah!) writes about her time at the MEN over on her personal blog. Wrestling such an old-school relic of a paper into the internet age couldn't have been an easy task, and it's unclear now what will become of the stable of blogs she developed for the MEN, including The Mancunian Way and Life Through Food. Or, for that matter, the CityLife website. You'd have to be pretty moronic to jettison websites and blog projects at this juncture, but the suits in charge of our local rag haven't ever been exactly visionary.

Seriously, is there anyone left in the building? This is what, the second, or is it the third round of cuts on the paper this year? Not to mention the fact that they've decimated the much-vaunted Channel M and cut its broadcasting time to a few hours a day.

Not to mention the fact that, when I bought my GMG-owned Rossendale Free Press yesterday, it had a notice about how the newsroom was now at Scott Place in Manchester, and if I wanted to talk with a reporter in Ramsbottom I could do so at a 2-hour "surgery" once a week. (Yeah, thanks, but news phoned in from six postcodes away doesn't sound so fresh to me. I'd much rather start a citizen-powered hyperlocal community newsblog. Any takers?)

It looks like we happen to be lucky enough to be seeing the death of the newspaper age up close and personal. It'll be painful for a while as journalism reconfigures itself for the new world order. But how this happens, what new forms emerge, and whether we as consumers of news will ultimately benefit remains very much to be seen.

In the meantime, the state of Manchester's print media is looking pretty bleak. If you've got news, you'd probably be better off shouting it from the rooftops then calling the MEN, where there soon may not be anyone to answer the phone, let alone file a story.

Manchester Blogmeet: The Fellowship of the Ping

Anyone feel like getting together for a blogmeet? There are loads of new folks on the blogroll I've never met, and it'd be real nice to see some of my old blogging buddies. We never talk anymore.

I'm thinking upstairs at Trof NQ might be a good place. It's usually fairly quiet up there before the DJ starts at 9 (and they can reserve us tables). Plus they do all manner of drinks as well as good food in case anyone's hungry.

I am most eager to avoid clashing with any other Important Business though (are the Decemberists in town? heh heh) so anyone who might like to come let me know if Tuesday March 10 is a really bad idea. We could do the following night, or another night entirely. Suggestions appreciated.

MLF seeks volunteer bloggers

Calling all literary-minded Manchester bloggers, or wannabe bloggers: The Manchester Literature Festival is looking for one or two people to write for the festival's blog during this year's events in October - and possibly take some snaps too. It'd be a great way to get the most out of the festival (bloggers would get free admission to MLF events - the full programme is now up here) and get some wider exposure for your blogging skillz. Your posts would be read by a large audience on the MLF blog, and linked to your own blog if you have one. If you don't have a blog but have been toying with the idea of starting one, this would provide a quick practice run. Interested parties should email cathy AT manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk

BBC Manchester Blog: RIP

Some sad news: The BBC Manchester blog is no more. The experiment has run its course, and creators Richard Fair and Robin Hamman are bowing out.


You have to hand it to them - okay, I became involved with it, so I'm not totally impartial here - but they did good. In fact, I was initially very suspicious of the project. So many other instances of traditional media trying to "do" blogging result in tin-eared, unreadable sites that have all the easy authenticity of Michael Howard in a metallic hoodie. Or they expect bloggers who already have an established audience online to fall all over themselves to write for their media outlet just for the sheer privilege of it, and seem gobsmacked when they don't.

But Robin and Richard, from the first, demonstrated their willingness to engage with the existing community of Manchester bloggers on equal terms, and use the BBC's broad reach to make the medium increasingly accessible, welcoming many Mancunians new (and old) to blogging with workshops, radio spots and generous linking. They showed that blogging can be a very effective way for established media to incorporate new voices into their output - and that local people who are not necessarily members of the media elite can contribute really worthwhile and fresh content about their city (even if it isn't news-led; even if, in fact, it is totally random.)

I'm sorry to see the experiment end, but I understand it couldn't go on forever - these two guys are pretty busy. I'm frankly amazed they were able to keep the blog active and interesting for as long as they did, given the number of other things they both have to do. Still, the UK landscape has changed so drastically in since the blog started in 2006 - big newspapers and media companies seem to be getting a bit more of a handle on this blogging thing, and local microsites, citizen journalism and community-led content are the buzzwords of the day. The BBC Manchester Blog was certainly at the forefront of this trend.

RenterGirl in the Guardian

Yes, it's another "Manchester blogger makes good" post. Y'all are just so darn talented these days. Our MBA best new blog awardee RenterGirl has a nice big feature on the front page of the Guardian's Society section today. Called "Lost in Neverland," it's about the perils of living in a rented new-build apartment in the city centre - essentially a short n' sweet version of her blog. Well done!

Curiously, the article never mentions Manchester - perhaps the Guardian wanted to help it appeal to urban nomads all over the UK? Or maybe they were trying to shield the actual location of Dovecot Towers to prevent reprisals from angry landlords?

Another interesting thing is that RenterGirl has dropped her anonymity for the article and used her real name, Penny Anderson. Penny's a freelance journalist based in the city whose professional writing experience clearly shows in the polished tone of her blog. It's interesting how anonymous bloggers find they can't keep their identities a secret anymore when they cross over to print (see Single Mother on The Verge/Maria Roberts) but I guess it's not surprising. Most newspapers, mags and publishers aren't down with anonymous bylines, at least not for stuff that's based on real-life experience.

Two things

Those folks at the Guardian just love Manchester blogs: MBA best new blog winner Renter Girl is the latest to be featured in its hallowed pages. An excerpt from her blog appears on Page 2 of today's Society section - a really nicely-written bit about the cleaner at her infamous abode, Dovecot Towers. Well done!

Another Blog Awards winner, Chris Killen of Day of Moustaches, has embarked on a very interesting project: The Cat Boat.

There are some cats on a boat. The boat is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There are some cats on it. The cats are in charge of the boat. There are one hundred and fourteen cats on the boat. The cats have given the boat a name. They have called the boat ‘The Cat Boat’. The boat is like a pirate ship, but with cats on it instead of pirates.

The cats take it in turn to ‘man the rigging’ and ‘carry the Christmas pudding’ and ‘play the record album’. The cats are listening to Tunnel of Love by Bruce Springsteen on repeat. This is their favourite album. It is somehow easier to take songs about low-down American drifters and transmute that experience into the experience of some cats on a boat, than it is, for instance, to take some songs about gangs or about love and transmute those.


Here is the list of 114 cats on the boat. Killen is inviting writers to send in each cat's story, which he will then post on his blog. Lots of good stories there already, but lots of good cats left. There is also a "Tunnel of Love" drawing competition (see the example above.) Go write about cats! My favourite cat is whatthehellamidoingwhyaminotworkingonmynovel?, which really sums up this whole post perfectly.

Blogging workshops at MDDA (UPDATED)

UPDATE: Gadzooks! These are now full, I'm told. There has been such a robust demand that I may try to organise some more blogging workshops after the festival. If you want a heads up about those, leave a comment with your email, or send me a message at themanchizzle at gmail. Sorry to those who missed out this time around.


Just wanted to say that there are still a couple of spaces left in the two blogging workshops we're running Saturday, Sept. 29.

Blogging for Writers will go over the basics of blogging as a tool to market your work, experiment with different styles and get projects off the ground. And have fun writing! It'll be led by myself and the amazing Elizabeth Baines (Tart of Fiction/Fictionbitch), an author who has made excellent use of blogging both professionally and creatively.

So You Wanna Be a Blogstar? is a general blogging workshop ideal for anyone setting up a blog, or anyone who has been blogging for a while but needs a little inspiration. It'll be from 2-4pm, and will be led by myself and the awesome Chris from Mancubist, which is shortlisted in the arts and culture category at this year's MBAs.

Both are just £2, and take place at MDDA headquarters on Portland Street. We will have computers available for those who need them, but the place has wireless so you can bring laptops if you like. Book here at the MLF site.

Clarification on eligibility for Manchester Blog Awards

After getting a raft of nominations in already from far and wide, I feel like I should clarify the issue of what a Manchester blog is.

The blog awards are meant to recognise great online writing in the Manchester area. In the past "the Manchester area" has been described as anywhere within reasonable commuting distance of the city. But with high speed rail and all that this area could conceivably cover most of England. So I'll clarify further: You're eligible if you live in a place where Manchester is considered the nearest big city. The place that you mean when you say "should we drive into town or take the train?" The place you go when you need to do school shopping, see a concert, or do something annoying involving government offices and forms in triplicate.

In other words, if you live much closer to another fairly big city (like Liverpool, Stoke, Nottingham, Leeds...) than you do to Manchester, you won't qualify unless you work in Manchester, or go to school there, and/or you blog mainly about the city. Yes, I know that's horribly unfair. But it would be great if some of these other places started their own blog awards, wouldn't it? Then bloggers could take over the world.

Blogmeet Monday at MIF

Richard and Robin over at BBC Manchester blog have organised a blogmeet Monday evening in the Manchester International Festival Pavilion (AKA GMEX, Manchester Central or whatever they're calling it today.) They'll be there from 6 pm, and will have a table reserved for blog folk. The food and beer ain't free, but the wifi is. More details here. I'm going to try my darndest to make it, but Monday's busy for me.

New blogs to admire

I thought I was sooo clever inventing the word Yankunian to describe myself, but clearly the idea's not that original. Mancypino is the blog of an expat Filipino woman living in Manc. And My Little French Girl could definitely be described as a Frankunian. Photoblogger Anne-Laure describes herself as a "Frenchie dropped in Manchester."

James from Yer Mam! has suddenly turned into a multiblogger, thus ensuring that he has no free time whatsoever. His new blog is called No Flipping! and it's about telly.

Manc musicblog Get Weird Turn Pro has been in business for a couple of months. It's the work of Croft, who lately writes about Bjork and The Beasties and has made us a nice little mixtape with a song by Kool Moe Dee. Yeah, that's Mr. Moe Dee to you


The Asparagus is a new political blog I've been meaning to mention for a while, by Journalist Richard Jones, that specialises in foreign affairs.

M20 is a newish site from blogger Stuart Brown that covers life in South Manchester, with lots of lovely pictures.

Finally, mmm, pretty is a blog by Chloe, a graphic designer based in Manchester. She says it's "just a collection of visual things that make me happy. I originally started it for myself, but I have a modest amount of regulars now who aren't my friends."

Manchester Spring Blog Meet April 7

I know, I know, it's been way too long since we've all met up. But I'm still over here in the states, and still don't know when I'll be coming back to the UK. Fortunately, James Yer Mam! has kindly volunteered to organise the next blogmeet.

It's going to be going down at 3 in the afternoon on April 7 at The Hare and Hounds on Shudehill, a pub many of you may remember fondly from previous glittering Manchester Bloggers affairs (The quaintness of the decor! The cheapness of the beer!) For those of you who aren't quite sure where that is, it's in the Northern Quarter, just across the street from the new bus station and just across the tram stop from the Printworks.

As usual, everyone's welcome: people with blogs, people who wish they had blogs but aren't quite sure how to go about setting them up, people who like to read blogs, bloggers' significant others who secretly resent being forced to attend these geekfests but haven't quite managed to get out of going yet, people who don't understand why all these loud youngsters have taken over their pub in the middle of the afternoon but hope they bugger off soon. Have fun.

Fresh blogs

Young bloggers rule. Here's one of the youngest I know of: David Wilkinson was born (in Manchester, of course) in 1994. He's also the force behind Techzi, a blog about all things technological that's very highly regarded; The Techzi feed has 199 subscribers.
David describes himself as an "internationally acclaimed weirdo, founder of Zi Media, and general nutter." You rock, David.

The Mersey Basin Campaign blog has moved here, and changed slightly in focus, writes blogmeister Kate. "It's a bit wider in scope - rather than just focusing on 'Mersey Basin Week', it's a blog for the whole campaign. Highlights at the moment are a thread following the progress of the book we are putting together about the River Mersey, and news about the project to redevelop the Radar Tower at Crosby."

Nik Fletcher is a student at RNCM and a bit of a technophile. He's also an observer of Mancunian life, who "noticed this week that yet another Sainsburys Local getting ready to open on March 8th under what is believed to be a hotel (IIRC) on Mosley Street just down from Picadilly. With 4 Sainsbury Locals already in the City Centre, all within easy walking distance of each other, I can't help but wonder who's letting these applications go through."

Red Rose Ramblings is the work of a 30-something Lancastrian - it's Steven, who also writes for the FC United blog MREnders. He has a funny account of just how eager a certain local newspaper seems to shift copies.

On the heels of the Salford Star, here's another community-media venture for you: The Old Trafford News, which comes with a blog called Old Trafford Views, written by editor Ally Fogg.

The MEN weighs in on blogging

The MEN has published an article about blogging today - local blogging superstar Geoff of The 43 is quoted, as well as Robin from the BBC Manchester Blog (Which I'm still writing weekly bits for, by the way.)

A little birdie told me...

We love it here at the Manchizzle when a local boy makes good. You remember our old blogroll comrade and latent twitcher Conscious & Verbal left Manchester some months ago to seek his fortune? Sure you do. Well, he's now the proud owner of a shiny new blog called Flat Out Norwich.

It is, unsurprisingly, about "Norwich - Norfolk - the East of England - and the stuff that happens. Culture. Arts. Chat. People who blog. It's about finding out who is blogging flat out, out there, and compiling a big ol' blog roll so we can all spend more time reading about each other. It's blog love. Blove, if you will..."

Go visit and say hello.

(Brilliant canary picture courtesy of Bird Health.)

Stu's Review

Erstwhile Mancunian blogger Stuart Ian Burns is halfway through an interesting monthlong project on his blog Feeling Listless, called Review 2006. He's asked readers to send in any question, and he'll answer one a day for the whole of December. But he isn't simply answering these questions - some of which are quite complex indeed - he's using each one as the jumping-off point for a sort of ruminative mini-essay. Past questions have ranged from "Why can't Liverpool FC win away from home?" to "How many girls has James Bond slept with?". He's delved fearlessly into his personal life with toughies like "What would your total fantasy life be like?" (Rosario Dawson and the New Yorker figure prominently) and "Why Stuart Ian Burns, not Stuart Burns?" He's covered blogging, with this one: 'Whenever I think of doing something like a blog, I always worry that anything I write would either sound really pretentious or be very boring. How do you handle those fears and just write?"

And then there's my favorite:
"Throughout most of The Empire Strikes Back, the Millenium Falcon's hyperdrive is not working (should have gone to Kwik Fit!) so it can't travel faster than light! However, there is a point where they travel from the Anoat System to the Bespin system. Separate Star systems would never be less than a couple of light years apart (I presume!), i.e. at least two years travel even if they could attain just a tiny bit less than light speed! It clearly doesn't take them this long, so is it some sort of 'worm-hole' or curved universe phenomena that they utilise to accomplish their trip?" Awesome.

The good news is that you can still get in on this, as Stu's looking for his last ten days' worth of questions, so send yours to feelinglistless@btopenworld.com. There are five flavours of question he will answer:

(a) Personal (egotistical). A question about something that has happened this year or something I've written on the blog that you've wondered about but were too afraid to ask.

(b) Trivia. 'How big is the moon?' or 'How fast is the fastest thing that's ever been fast?' that kind of thing.

(c) Review. What do you think of this album/film/book that I like?

(d) Opinion. See if I can work out something you've been ruminating on. 'Why do people who get on buses always stand near the door when others are patently going to get on after them and they'll be blocking the way?' That sort of thing.

(e) Advice. Dear Stuart, I wonder if you could give me advice about this problem I've been having ...Basically a question about anything.

Go forth and enquire.