Dear readers — thanks for all your kind words for our weekend read, which followed Jack’s attempts to speak to Lee Twamley, a convicted people smuggler who has been hanging Union flags around Manchester and Salford in the past few weeks. Unfortunately, Twamley wasn’t willing to speak to us for that piece, but we open today’s newsletter with exciting news! Twamley talks.
On Saturday afternoon, hours after publication, Jack began receiving a series of calls from a withheld number. Then a voicemail message came through. It was the voice of Lee Twamley. We are publishing his address in full today (please excuse the language):
Yo is this Jack the big, daft, fat fucking weird looking leftie cunt? Yeah let me tell you this Jack, from Mills publications in London. Stop fucking getting on the girl’s case. If you’ve got a problem answer your fucking phone you prick and we’ll meet you bro. We’ll meet you, any of us. By the way, yeah, as you know my name is Lee Twamley. Don’t text me saying ‘Hello are Lee Twamley? I’m gonna run a story on you’. Run what you want you big, daft, fat, leftie cunt. You big, fat, fucking, leftie fucking horrible cunt.
Thanks to Lee for sending that in.
We also got lots of great feedback on social media, where the piece was widely shared. On Bluesky, one reader wrote:” This is so good, from a journalistic pov but also it’s managed to make me laugh when the subject matter at hand is dark. Fantastic door knocking, boots on the ground reporting.” Another said that while “local journalism has been decimated in recent years,” this piece “[shows] the beauty of it when done well. Knowing the area, knowing the leaders, digging around in the streets.” And Nick Lowles, the founder of Hope Not Hate, who initially surfaced Twamley’s convictions after he was seen at a recent Britain First march, also chimed in: “You couldn’t make this up,” he wrote.
Down in the comments section too, lots of readers shared their opinions. Alec said it was a “fantastic piece of journalism and exactly the type of story the Mill can achieve”, while Andrew said it “nailed the flags story better than any other reporter in Britain, in a dismal week”. Emma Boyd, a member of the Churchill’s Lions group responsible for putting the flags up, also wrote in with thoughts. “You little rat, how dare you,” she wrote. “Fuck off. You are a bullshitting little rat”. Emma proceeded to write similar comments on our other reporter Jack Dulhanty’s Instagram page. A classic mix up, and not the first case of these lot getting their Jack’s the wrong way round (several of the Union Jacks in Piccadilly Gardens are, quite literally, upside down). If you haven’t joined in the discussion — get stuck in.
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From Plot to Plate: RHS Garden Bridgewater shows you how
From today’s sponsor: from the 13th to 21st September head to the beautiful RHS Garden Bridgewater for their Plot to Plate event to learn all about how to grow your own produce at home and turn it into delicious dishes. Across the days, get involved in cooking demos, garden tours and talks from top chefs. Welcome the start of autumn by exploring the pumpkin field, floral displays and all the flavours of the season. Entry is free for RHS members. See below for more information.
Catch up and coming up
- On Wednesday historian Thomas McGrath took us back into Manchester’s seedy past to meet Madame Chester, one of the city’s most famous Victorian escorts and a figure who was no stranger to scandal
- Our weekend read about Jack’s hunt for flag-raising people smuggler Lee Twamley was widely shared on social media and got loads of great comments from our readers — if you haven’t yet joined in the discussion please do
- On Wednesday paying members will receive a piece from Mill favourite David Rudlin, looking at how the theories of superstar American academic Richard Florida, and his book The Creative Class, can be applied to Manchester
- On Thursday, Jack Dulhanty explores what Andy Burnham’s possible return to Westminster would mean for Greater Manchester, and whether Labour could hold on to the mayoralty.
- And our weekend read will be about the city’s most esteemed secondary school, Manchester Grammar, with Ophira asking whether it’s still the future-shaping institution it once was
- And please remember, many of our best stories have initially come from readers sending in tips. If you’ve got some information you think we ought to be digging into, share it with us.
🌦️ This week’s weather
Tuesday 🌦️Largely cloudy with a few showers during the afternoon. Feeling mild in a gentle southerly breeze. Max 19°c.
Wednesday 🌧️Windy with morning rain followed by heavy showers. Risk of thunderstorms breaking out. Max 19°c.
Thursday 🌦️ Breezy with sunny spells and scattered showers. Max 19°c.
Friday️ 🌤️ Dry and quite warm with a few bright spells. Max 20°c.
Weekend 🌦️ Warm and bright but with a risk of showers, mainly on Sunday. Temperature highs around 21°c.
Your briefing
🪧There were more protests outside Altrincham’s Cresta Court hotel, which is currently housing asylum seekers, over the weekend. Demonstrators and counter-demonstrators also clashed outside hotels in Fallowfield and Oldham. At Cresta Court protestors raised Union Jack flags, chanted “send them back” and held a Britain First banner that read “Starmer is a wanker”. In attendance was friend of the Mill Salford T-Bone, aka Lee Twamley, convicted of immigration crimes and now raising flags across the city centre to protest immigration. Trafford’s conservative leader Nathan Evans requested an emergency council meeting about the use of Cresta Court and another hotel in the borough to house asylum seekers. Evans said the group intends to put forward a motion directing council officers to seek ways to legally evict the asylum seekers from these hotels. However, the precedent set by Epping Forest District Council earlier this month, which was initially granted the ability to restrict the use of local hotels to house asylum seekers, has since been overturned on appeal.
Protesters outside Cresta Court, in Altrincham. Photo: @BFirstParty
🏛️ Ahmed al-Doush, a dad of four from Manchester who was jailed in Saudi Arabia last year for social media posts, is on the brink of a hunger strike. Amnesty International have called on the UK government to do more to support al-Doush, who they say is “trapped in a living hell – abducted and separated from his young family and detained in Saudi Arabia.” Al-Doush was convicted on terrorism charges for posts about Egypt, Gaza and Sudan, which, according to Amnesty International, indicates the charges were based on what a British national would consider the right to free expression (he was jailed for ten years, later reduced to eight). They also argue he has been subjected to multiple violations of his right to a fair trial, including extensive interrogation without a lawyer present. His wife was pregnant with their fourth child at the time of his arrest: “No words can express the heartbreak of raising four children alone while their father is unjustly imprisoned,” she said.
🎡 Councillor Pat Karney is promising “one of the biggest ferris wheels in the world” when the Manchester Christmas markets return on 7 November this year. In even more exciting (or distressing — depending on your stance) news, the markets will finally be back in Albert Square after a long absence due to Town Hall restorations. There can be little uncertainty over which side of the ever-raging Christmas market debate Karney comes down on. “Manchester loves Christmas,” he told BBC Radio Manchester.
🏟️ And finally, spare a thought for Co-op warehouse worker Lucasz Zawadzski who was unfairly sacked for making high-pitched “hee-hee” noises in the manner of Michael Jackson at an unimpressed colleague. At his tribunal he admitted to the “embarrassing” King of Pop impersonations, but denied separate allegations of making racist monkey noises. The evidence of misconduct amounted to little more than “inappropriate and juvenile conduct,” according to the employment judge — who ordered he should be paid more than £10,000 in compensation. Zawadzski was however willing to admit that the “grunting and moaning” noises he had made to another colleague could reasonably be described as “orgasmic” and thus were not workplace appropriate.
Quick hits
👮♀️ Eighty arrests have been made in Stockport as part of Operation Rimini, a police crackdown on anti-social behaviour in part of the town where “large gatherings of youths wearing balaclavas” had been causing trouble, according to police. Apparently, there is now fear the rooftop park and area around Stockport Interchange could become “the new Piccadilly Gardens”
📱 WhatsApp groups on Bury’s ‘Millionaire’s Row’ have erupted into fury after plans were revealed to convert a property on the road into a children’s home. But despite resident’s concerns, a town hall report is insistent: “it would be unreasonable to assume the children occupying the property are a serious danger to the public”.
💸 Manchester city council spent the most of any council in private incentives to house homeless families, according to new data gathered by the campaign group Generation Rent via Freedom of Information requests. The council spent £3.3 million in 2024/25, £600,000 above the next highest spender: Enfield in London.
▪️A woman in her 40s has died after being hit by a falling tree branch in Didsbury. The MEN reported that a worker at a nearby petrol station saw the tree snap seconds before a “massive branch hit her”. Lib Dem councillor Richard Kilpatrick said it was” a really awful and tragic situation and the worst possible timing.”
Want to work with Mill Media? We’ve got a huge new opportunity: we’re looking for a Head of Growth to work with us and our sister titles across the UK to get more people reading us. You need to have a keen focus on growth and the creativity to try lots of different approaches. The deadline to apply is this Wednesday. Details can be found here.
Home of the week
This two-bed, split-level apartment in the Smithfield Building in Northern Quarter is on the market for £400,000. It’s right by Evelyn’s Cafe and a stone’s throw from Thomas Street and Stevenson Square.
Our favourite reads
Hunting rogue landlords: meet Manchester’s crack housing enforcers — The Sunday Times
In this piece from June, The Times’s northern editor David Collins joined Greater Manchester’s housing enforcement officers. Brought in by Burnham last October, the thirteen officers help tenants from the city region’s worst landlords. “They have rescued tenants from residential properties that also housed cannabis farms and brothels; found 12 eastern Europeans living in a tiny flat above a Wigan café where they were working around the clock in vape shops; and investigated a private landlord accused of raping one of his tenants.”
In England, Manchester Enhances Its Watch World Presence — The New York Times
We also enjoyed this piece from last November covering the Manchester Watch Show. Over the last few years Manchester has cemented itself as a hotspot for timepiece enthusiasts outside of London, but its watch-making heritage stretches back much further. The piece also includes a cameo from one Rob The American, a YouTuber we spoke to last year in his other guise as host of Manchester’s Cancelling Cancel Culture meet-up.
Our to do list
Tuesday
🗣️The Queer Up North Long Table is coming to Aviva Studios. “A unique dinner party where conversation is the only course,” The Long Table is a forum for open discussion that anyone can attend to celebrate Queer Up North, an LGBTQ+ arts festival founded in Manchester a decade ago. It’s free to attend and you can get your ticket here.
🥩 It’s steak night every Tuesday at Elnecot, in Ancoats. You can get three courses and a glass of wine for £28, no booking required. More here.
Wednesday
🍻 There will be comedy and pints at The Overdraught in Levenshulme. You can catch some of the city’s most exciting up-and-coming comedians, for free. However, tickets tend to get snapped up fast. Book here.
🦇 Join the Salford Ranger Team on Wednesday evening in Blackleach Country Park as they search for bats! It costs only £2.
Thursday
🎌Japan Week, the annual festival that has been held in cities around the world since 1975, is hosting its 50th anniversary in Manchester. The programme is packed with exhibitions, stage performances, workshops and a tea ceremony. You can find out about all that here.
Got a To-Do that you’d like us to list? Tell us about it here.
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