Manchester City Council

Back Tracking

Standing in Albert Square last night, in shirt sleeves, after midnight and still very, very warm not surprising that climate change, a dominant theme over the last few weeks, came to mind. It was the Manchester International Festival's launch party, following the superb Steve Reich/Kraftwerk opener at the Velodrome and the square was absolutely heaving, but what I really want to do today is catch up on a couple of events this week I've missed out, one I was at, the other I wasn't.

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Cycling Boosts Retail Sales

First stop this morning is to boost Manchester's retail economy as I've arrived at the Town Hall on my bike, in t-shirt and shorts, but forgot to put a shirt in my bag to change into. Normally its just socks I forget - must be a lot on my mind today.

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Lull after the Storm

A quiet day today at least until my advice bureau this evening so thought I'd tell you about my weekend, or some of it at least.

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First the Cabinet, then the Cutting Room

The day starts as a continuation of yesterday, talking to Radio Manchester about the transformational possibilities of the Royal Opera House Manchester, but the day isn't all arts and culture.

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Food for Free

Highspot of the day will I hope be a leisurely lunch with my son and daughter dining al fresco and enjoying the fantastic Manchester sunshine. Better still they're paying, son feeling particularly guilty about failing to deliver a father's day card although why he feels more guilty this rather than any other year I don't know.

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In Flight

An uncomfortable few minutes at Resources and Governance Scrutiny explaining why the presentation on this year's State of the City report wasn't available. Something to look forward to when they next meet in four weeks when I'm assured it will be ready.

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Get Britain Building

First stop this morning is Manchester Central for the opening of the Greenbuild Expo, an exhibition and conference dedicated to promoting sustainable construction (on today and tomorrow) and then I join the National President of the Federation of Master Builders plus representatives from the Modern Masonry Alliance and the Builders Merchant Association in the trade launch of the Get Britain Building campaign.

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Product Placement

Delighted to say that there is at least one Council officer who thinks this blog might be attracting sufficient readership to make it suitable for advertising purposes. If it did could offer real opportunities as an income generator to help maintain vital Council services in these cash strapped times so I'll give it a go.

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No Time to Lose

Yesterday representatives from two countries, six cities and four political parties met in Manchester Town Hall to discuss forming a campaign for a national High-Speed Rail network.

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Let's Work Together

The dust is settling over last week's elections and time for a little reflection.

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