It allowed ugly modern buildings to go up next to Victorian warehouses on Canal Street, replaced the cast-iron bridge with a concrete one, gave the go ahead for a giant skyscraper that would overshadow the whole street and granted endless licences for bars. It allowed the gay village, which was once a safe space, to become a binge-drinking hellhole where people get murdered.

Well, if you thought you’d seen it all, think again, because the latest lunatic proposal will make you gasp…
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Photo: Kinopablo (Some Rights Reserved)

It’s the ‘green man’. But an open road lies ahead.

Photo: Kinopablo (Some Rights Reserved)

In previous years the riders had a good response from Greater Manchester Police, including a police escort for the first two years. It looked as if 2009 would be no different…
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This week I found a silent film that Stan Laurel made in 1923 called ‘The Soilers’. A camp cowboy appears regularly throughout the ten minute film. Here are two clips:

Stan grew up in and around theatres in Britain because his father was a theatre manager. Many of the characters and routines in the early days of the movies would have been inspired by variety acts in the music halls and no doubt this kind of character would have been part of that. But it’s unusual to get a glimpse on film from this period and for it play such a major part in the storyline.

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However rumours are circulating that the car was won by the nephew of the owner of the club. We have asked Cruz 101 for a statement on whether this is true and will let you know here if we get one.

No doubt this raffle drew crowds to the club itself and we understand it raised £4,500 for the Lesbian and Gay Foundation. In fact, the Licence Holder for the draw is a member of staff at the LGF. ‘The winners names can be obtained by sending a sae to Cruz 101 Birthday Winners, 101 Princess St, Manchester, M1 6DD, between May 30th and June 30th, 2009.’

One of the rules is that employees of ‘101 Entertainments Limited’ can’t take part. No mention of relatives though…

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Much has been written about the extra income that Manchester Pride brings in for the local economy.

In 2008, Andrew Stokes, who is chairman of Manchester Pride and chief executive of Marketing Manchester (the tourist board) told the press that Pride was worth more than £17.5m per year to Manchester’s businesses. Other estimates have been as much as £22m.

With Pride bringing in so much much cash for businesses you might think that Marketing Manchester would owe us? After all, Pride is funded mainly by the public, through ticket sales. In 2008, we coughed up about £600,000 — two-thirds of the total Pride income — to run this giant tourist bonanza for the city and its businesses.

But no… Take a look at page 21 of the 2007/08 Manchester Pride accounts (PDF) and you’ll see that Pride paid £6,040 to Marketing Manchester for ‘normal commercial services’. Whereas Pride invoiced Marketing Manchester just £92.

More interesting figures coming soon.

Vintage pig photos from the Library of Congress.

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* Funding crisis: Outnorthwest magazine slashed

* An NHS-funded registered charity that engages in politics

* 62% of the annual income goes to pay 23 employees

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When you look at the facts
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