September blog challenge

I need to get my mojo fired up and my writing head on. I've created a whole load of deadlines and expectations for the month, that will keep me motivated. However, I've also set myself the blog a day target as well. 

I've done this before in July 2019 and November 2020. I may even get around to covering some of the topics I promised to cover last time, but didn't. Like on our radio show, I do requests, but reserve the right to not do ones I don't like.

In short order, and on the list are:

• Academic writing v journalism
• Refugees
• Magazines
• Debate and disagreement
• Networks, why we need them, and why we don't
• 24 Hour News vs Slow news
• Family
• Friends
• All Those Things That Seemed So Important
• Aesthetics
• Devolution and Democracy
• Living with medical conditions
• Welsh Nationalism
• Some book reviews
• The 143 (not a bus route, a music list)
• Folk horror
• Kinder Scout, my complex relationship 
• Cumberland

Just to be clear, I don't often suffer from writer's block, but I am old enough to recognise that I work best under pressure. I should also at this point link to the Big Issue in the North, which published my feature on the BBC. I'd love you to buy a copy from their digital archive, here.

I also do a weekly column on music (mainly) for the Weekender section of the Tameside Reporter and Glossop Chronicle. One of the recent ones is here.

I was also involved in the Inset Day at Aquinas College yesterday, which prompted this piece on LinkedIn. 

So, which me luck and I hope this works.

To offer hope - possibilities of devolution in Greater Manchester

At the Discuss Manchester debate on education this week I was greatly encouraged by a conclusion to some of the bright, startling and inspirational ideas being chucked around. Devolution is a possibility - not an inevitability. A challenge, not a solution. 

All the speakers were fantastic - I could listen to Debra Kidd and Melissa Benn all day long. But as ever our audience rose to that challenge of thought leadership and ambition. Overwhelmingly our audience agreed that education is failing our economy, despite a valiant and well-argued attempt to persuade us otherwise by Nick Bent and Alun Francis. The very deliberate word I asserted in that motion, by the way, was "our".

Our solution to our problem. Well, let's create a Manchester curriculum, for starters.

Since I raised it in the round table discussion with the PM, the Chancellor and other Northern leaders after George Osborne's Northern Powerhouse speech I've scratched my head as to why it hasn't formed a plank of the whole DevoManc edifice. Health and social care is arguably harder and riskier, while the direct benefits of education reform also potentially solve two problems in one - happiness and productivity.

Mike Emmerich has written a very smart piece for the Guardian on how cities need to scale up their ambitions on devolution. And I've written a great deal including this, also for the Guardian, about how devolution presents a real opportunity to shape the future, whereas to most people it's still seen as something that is done to you by "they".

I think a lot about "they".

At a meeting in our local area on Tuesday I witnessed one of those transitions from "they" to "we". Matt Grant is one of those special people in any community who cares enough to do something and uses his skills and resources to lead. He'd be reluctant to call himself a "community leader" or "organiser" but in addressing some of the acute traffic problems he's shown a great deal more vision than our local councillors.

Long story short, there's going to be a new by-pass that will link the A6 to the Airport road. It will inevitably change traffic patterns. We have a problem with speeding on local roads. Matt and the Windlehurst Living Streets Group (of which I'm a tiny part) have pushed and pushed through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, meetings with officers and councillors for information about whether we have a problem (we do) and what are the solutions (inadequate). This week Matt presented the start of "our" alternative strategy.

This is what devolution should be doing. Not just creating another structure slightly less far away that does stuff to you, but where decisions are taken at the appropriate level. Not just accepting what central government are doing but challenging it. Not just railing against an agreement because one side of it are Tories, who are very good at devolving other people's power, but seizing the moment because it has the possibility of better outcomes.

In another meeting I was at this week with a client we had a presentation on how HMRC are tackling the tax gap. Shortly after we hear that they are to be regionalised and rationalised, resulting in job losses and disruption to service. My old colleagues at the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAEW) are rightly sceptical about this. But what if it was a tax collection and incentive service that operated locally according to the priorities of an area? One again, the possibilities start to light up the imagination.

Finally, in the course of challenging ideas and exploring new areas of interest about how we work I attended a session on Tuesday about entrepreneurial wellbeing. I saw a terrific presentation by Kat Taylor on bipolar disorders and creative people. It was unsettling at times, but inspiring about how we must celebrate and embrace difference and diversity, however hard that can be.

So, an incredibly exciting, challenging and inspiring week - I'd like to think I can loll about on Saturday and think this through a bit more, but I'm up at the crack of dawn to review the newspapers with Andy Crane on BBC Radio Manchester. Maybe some of this will make it onto the programme.

Crowd control at three events this week - the exciting life of an event host and chair

I've hosted three events over the last week where trouble and conflict was expected, but none came. I'd be flattering myself if I said this was because I established such a force of firm control, but there are ways to encourage debate without it getting testy.

Our speaker at a private dinner on Wednesday night was Tehsin Nayani. If you've never heard of him, that's his intention. For six years he was the PR man for the Glazer family. You could say he did a lousy job. That would be harsh, but he certainly had his hand tied behind his back with owners who simply didn't want to engage with public or media. As a result, the American owners of Manchester United have never improved upon their relationship with the fan base at Old Trafford and long periods of their ownership have been punctuated with protests and discontent. Tehsin gave us some fascinating insights into who his bosses were, what they were like and how the club is run. In his book The Glazer Gatekeeper, he explains just how frustrating his job was at times. He's no longer a spokesman for the owners of Man United, but clearly retains a respect for them and stoutly defended their tactics and strategy of ownership at Old Trafford. Did everyone leave convinced? Probably not. Did the guests of KPMG, NorthEdge and Rowan Partners manage to enjoy ourselves without falling out about it? Very much so, as Ron Manager would say.

I was delighted to be asked to open Manchester Policy Week on Monday. Arriving early I was surprised to see burly security guards on the doors to the room inside the Manchester Museum. The debate I hosted was on fracking, with an illustrious panel of geologists and climate scientists and for good measure, a senior executive from exploration business Cuadrilla, which seems to attract protestors like moths to a flame. We used electronic clickers to gauge the opinions of the audience - 70 per cent were against. By the end that number was reduced to 60 per cent (a mixture of latecomers and waverers). Interestingly, the argument against fracking from Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre is almost solely concerned with the end product, not the means. It's more hydro-carbons and that's enough to want to block any further gas extraction. Anyway, no protestors but a very robust and high quality debate as you can read on the Policy Week blog.

Last Saturday I took a trip to the seaside for Labour's North West conference where I was hosting a fringe meeting on how we can make Britain fairer in the next five years. As I said on my blog for the think tank Progress, there is a twin track approach needed here of community leadership and ultimately campaigning for Labour to be in government, wherever that may be. There is a golden thread of sanity through the Labour party that is exemplified by how we govern - Jim McMahon, the leader of Oldham and selected to stand for parliament in the Oldham West by-election is one - but also MPs like Alison McGovern who are thinkers and active campaigners. There is talk about conflict in the party, but I only detected a steely pragmatism. The advice I gave to Young Labour activists who didn't get elected to officer roles on Saturday was to just get on with the task in hand, put ideological differences aside and work for the people who need us. Sure, there will be ripe language and rule bending. Yes, some of them were a little shaken up, but that's politics, it can be a rough trade.

So, such variety and no bother. I do think it's important to maintain that safe and free space to express views and opinions. I saddens me that Universities are closing down debate and extending the dubious "no platform" policy beyond where it was ever intended. We're in the process of programming our 2016 Discuss series and I would dearly love to host debates on whether Islam needs a renaissance, why Manchester isn't as good as it thinks it is and the relevance of feminism.

I ought to point out that my agent, Nicky Wake of Don't Panic is taking bookings for conferences, debates and awards nights.

Why challenge is so important in everything you do

I've been thinking a lot about the importance of challenge this week. I've had an induction for a new board I'm joining where constructive questioning and challenging of executive directors is not only encouraged but actively expected. This hasn't always been the case in cultures where I've worked before.

In any walk of life, it must be impossible to achieve anything if you have to make all the decisions yourself, but are then surrounded by "yes men" who tell you what you want to hear. New ideas and new thinking on any subject can help to refresh decision making and bring a confidence to any organisation.

Tristram Hunt first floated the idea of "algorithm politics" at the debate I held in September on the new politics. You can watch a video of his speech here.

He continued the theme in a talk at the University of Sheffield last week. "Google’s skill at offering you what it knows you like is now directing you towards what you want to hear, from people like you."

We have algorithms driving Facebook and Twitter that point us towards more and more people we agree with and like. We are herded towards those with whom we agree. This fuels a cycle of validation.

Jeremy Corbyn has created the veneer of being inclusive with his parliamentary party because he has no choice. The talent pool is so shallow on the left he's had to give jobs to poor calibre ranters like Richard Burgon and Diane Abbott, but is still forced to work with whoever will serve. In his own team he is less pluralistic, Seamus Milne is the latest appointee, but others in his ranks like Simon Fletcher and Andrew Fisher are brutal faction fighters who are there to consolidate, validate and enforce. Not to challenge. That's not on the agenda.

Flesh on the bones of history

I started this week as I started last with an evening at the Manchester Literature Festival listening to authors I've heard of, but never read anything by. Admittedly, they are both Labour grandees, but Robert Harris and Melvyn Bragg have both written recent works that attempt to put flesh on the bones of history. Harris by completing his Roman trilogy and Bragg with a novel about the Peasants revolt of 1381.

I haven't truly embraced the spirit of historical fiction (or Game of Thrones, yet) but it strikes me that we apply much of our own interpretations of history through the lens of modern life and morality. Melvyn Bragg was asked how on earth he can construct a character based on how someone will think and feel 750 years ago. But he has, and wasn't this the very basis of our greatest ever historical fiction writer, William Shakespeare?

Chinese state visit 

So Manchester is receiving the Chinese leader today, which I'm genuinely pleased about. But it comes at a time when the strains of globalisation and fetishisation of the Chinese success story are being felt, especially on Teeside. The social costs of a loss of our steel industry and the technical weaknesses to our infrastructure from inferior product are high prices to pay.

It's also important that as we respect the culture and history of our visitors we don't forget our own traditions too. Protest, mutuality, respect and democracy. There will be protests against the human rights record of the Chinese government, rightly, I just hope it can be done with dignity and without spitting and rape threats.

The nuclear question

I genuinely haven't made up my mind about nuclear power. Next week we're hosting a debate as part of the Science Festival  which might help. Tickets have been shifting fairly briskly and we're close to a sell out with just a week to go.

A few years ago, when I was pondering what to do next, I became very excited by the possibilities of curiosity and debate. Bringing people together to explore new ideas and bring original thinkers to a stage to lead a sharing of knowledge and query.

It was on a wet night in August 2011 listening to Tristram Hunt telling a packed audience at the People's History Museum about Peterloo that the idea that is now Discuss started to form. I was also excited by some of the libertarian free thinking displayed by an author called Douglas Carswell, who challenged conventions on politics and community organisation.

I hope we've been true to that mission and I hope we have been able to encourage more critical thinking. Now that is an idea worth fighting for.

Our non-charter charter for Discuss

I've been tweaking the website for our remarkable debate and event business DISCUSS.

I'm slightly proud of the copy for the "about us" bit on our website, so I thought I'd share it here.

Discuss doesn't have anything as snooty as a charter. But we do have a starting point. 

We take our inspiration from Manchester’s celebrated history in progressive thinking, invention and the free trade of ideas.  

Our debates will always be challenging and provocative, but we are never high-brow, intimidating or ‘glitterati’. 

Our debates aim to be inclusive, authentic and delivered with integrity.

Foremost, they will be fun.

No fuss, no clutter, no messing about, just a good old fashioned ding-dong. 

 The rest is here...

Today is the first day of the rest of your life

I found myself thinking a lot during the election campaign about that famous saying from Norman Kirk - that people just want someone to love, somewhere to live, something to do and something to hope for. Well, I'm no different. In the course of doing one of the most exhilarating things I've ever done, I've still had time to consider what I actually do with the rest of my life.

It's been hard to plan for the future when I've been rather publicly applying for a new job, even if it was one that on this occasion I wasn't expected to get. I'm upbeat about the experience, given it was my first shot. As my friend Martin Carr said last night - "I don't lose. I either win, or I learn something new."

Rejection
But I only had five months as candidate, pity those who were at it for YEARS. Those unsuccessful candidates who stuck everything on Red 6. Giving up jobs and careers in one city to try their luck and be rejected in another, far from home. Or to stand up as the local hero in their own community and have to face the people who turfed you out every day.
You don't get paid to be a candidate either. So many people don't appreciate or know this, they assume the party supports you with a job.

Family
It does become all consuming. I've not been a particular supportive Dad for my eldest son who's now sitting his GCSEs, or my youngest who is doing his SATS. And in the middle of all of this Rachel has completed her final year dissertation at University AND secured her first teaching job in September. All without much help from this myopic political zombie. This incredibly loving family, they leafleted, supported me in public debates and rose to an unexpected level of enthusiasm for the election. I could quite simply not have done it without them. And I'm pretty sure I don't deserve it.

Work
In all of that time I carried on working. One of my big projects came to its conclusion with a launch event at the start of March - a look at the future for the ICAEW, a professional institute. Another reached a natural end, many others carried on, some stalled, probably because I couldn't maintain the momentum. But even during polling week I was signing off page proofs for a magazine I produce for Seneca and meeting a potential new partner for Liberty one of the other businesses I'm on the board of. And proudly, our Discuss debate series secured more sponsorship and we sealed a media partnership with The Guardian. And I've put together a launch event for Gorilla Accounting, a cracking new business serving self-employed contractors, anyway, it's in Manchester next Thursday and you are welcome to come along.

Book
I also put my book on hold, much to the frustration of the publisher. An expletive strewn satire with 95,000 words, many of them starting with F, which required a blizzard of publicity and would have given out a mixed signal to the voters of Hazel Grove at a crucial time. We're launching it on June the 25th.

Variety
This isn't a moan, by the way. I wouldn't have it any other way. One of the reasons I gave up my full time job a few years ago was precisely to have that variety and an opportunity to live a more rounded life than the treadmill I'd found myself on. I also wanted to contribute to my community in a meaningful way, to do what I enjoy, but also to earn a better living.

The future
I have absolutely loved this. There are some very exciting political challenges I am interested in pursuing, there is a job to build on what we have created here. But right now, this week, I've got to focus. Starting with a presentation I'm meant to be writing for delivery on Saturday.

Democracy isn't broken. Discussed.

I spoke at the Discuss debate on Democracy on March the 11th. I was speaking AGAINST the motion that Democracy is Broken. Here's my case. I was more than ably supported by Dr. Rob Ford, author of Revolt on the Right and an academic at the University of Manchester and up against activists Kwame Ibegbuna and Loz Kaye.

Good evening. I intend to prove to you tonight that Democracy isn’t broken.

It is bruised.

It is, to quote Winston Churchill, the worst form of government invented…

Except for all the others.

I wanted to set this out to start with by using the example of two cows.

PURE DEMOCRACY:
You have two cows. Your neighbours decide who gets the milk.

REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY:
You have two cows. Your neighbours pick someone to tell you who gets the milk.

FASCISM:
You have two cows. The government takes them and sells you the milk.

ANARCHY:
You have two cows. Either you sell the milk at a fair price or your neighbors try to kill you and take the cows.

That’s the Walking Dead theory of politics. Maybe some of you think that’s better.

Maybe the very fact we can reduce our democracy to such absurdities is a sign of a rumbling, grumbling discontent with it.

But hold that thought while I take you on my own personal journey

I’ve always been fascinated by our politics.

By the theatre of public life – how we attempt to reconcile issues of how we distribute resources by a system of popular validation.

From 2000 to 2012 I worked as editor of a high profile business magazine. I retained my fascination in politics, but put my participation on hold.

In that time as a journalist I would always put my readers and my own publication over any party political loyalty.

But as my time doing that ended in the spring of 2012 something happened.

I live in a small town called Marple. It sometimes gets generously referred to as “leafy Cheshire” but in reality it’s a mixed community in Stockport of working families and retired people, a mix of private and social housing.

Lots of self employed people. And yes, with white vans and occasional England flags. And I’m cool with that, by the way.

Our local sixth form college was in a financial black hole and opted to sell one of its sites to a supermarket chain.

As news dripped out, people got busy.

Through social media word spread.

Small teams divided up tasks to separate rumour from fact.

They scrutinised minutes of meetings, they put in Freedom of Information requests.

On one balmy evening 500 people turned up at the Local Area Committee meeting where usually the councillors go through the motions to an audience you could count on one hand.

One of the local councillors was a governor of the local college and could have, should have, but didn’t, speak out about this.

They said TRUST US.

We didn’t.

A group was born.

MARPLE IN ACTION.

Privately the Councillors appealed to us to “tone it down”.

We didn’t. We turned it up.

We gathered signatures on a mass petition.

There was a march through the centre of Marple.

We lobbied the leader of the council. He backed us and developed a spoiler scheme in the centre to spike Asda’s guns.

There was a rally in the park for 1000 people.

IT WAS EXCITING. IT WAS OUR VERY OWN MARPLE SPRING.

People started talking about what kind of place we wanted to live in.

We considered standing candidates in the local elections, but as all the parties knew where public opinion stood, there would have been nothing to gain for this single issue campaign.

In turn Asda tuned on the charm. Their consultants from Deloitte held a consultation.

They made promises on how engaged they’d be in helping the community and complementing local businesses.

Opinion held firm.

It took a while, but eventually, 18 months later, Asda gave up.

The College did the sensible thing and sold the site to a housebuilder. Much better.

This my friends was Democracy at work, the will of the people.

When it matters. When decisions are made that affect people’s lives and when they feel they can change, it is to the tools of democracy that we turn to.

I was inspired by this community action.

I was reminded of the words of Tony Benn.

You see there are two flames burning in the human heart all the time. The flame of anger against injustice, and the flame of hope you can build a better world.

I thought long and hard about how to play this out.

At the same time I’ve worked hard to develop this brand – DISCUSS – because I’m passionate about debate and ideas.

So….

I rejoined the Labour Party.

When I was younger and angrier I did so because I hated the Tories.

Through my activism in our church I have learnt more about the rich traditions of Catholic Social Teaching and the pursuit of a COMMON GOOD.

As Cardinal Vincent Nichols said in a letter this week  - “WE HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO BE INVOLVED IN THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS. IT IS A DUTY WHICH SPRINGS FROM THE PRIVILEGE OF LIVING IN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY.”

We live in fascinating times and face an opportunity to reforge our democracy.

No-one has yet come up with a better structure for change and social action than a political party.

Parties aggregate diverse political opinion and create order out of chaos, creating a platform.

Sometimes that’s done badly.

What I found wasn’t that surprising.

Hollowed out political parties with historically low levels of engagement and membership.

More votes cast for the X Factor, Strictly or Big Brother than in council elections and even general elections.

In fact, Loz has already told you all of this. And I imagine Kwame will layer it on even more with examples at a local level.

It is hard and thankless.

People telling you they don’t vote, because “they don’t believe in it”.

What do they believe in?

Absolute monarchy?
Feudalism?
Dictatorship?
Anarchy?

But politicians are waking up to this.

Parties know that we have to engage differently. That’s what democracy forces us to do.

It offers us the challenge to do things differently.

But for all of the disillusionment in the political process I still believed it offers us the potential to change lives, and to ENJOY the active endorsement of voters.

Democracy places a powerful burden on the elected to hold the powerful to scrutiny and to exercise power with care.

It is taken for granted, but for the most part, it can work.

And what of the development of social media and the development of iDemocracy?

Or Digital politics?

Or the prevalence of the shallow narcissism of Russell Brand.

In the current parliament we have seen a return to scrutiny in the powerful committees.

We have seen more rebellions against a party line by free thinking Members of Parliament who feel the breath of accountability from their electors and visibility like never before.

How politics is done is changing as a result of this.

The iconic image of the narrow Scottish DEVO campaign isn’t a hollow pledge or Cameron’s tears, but Jim Murphy’s upturned IRN BRU crate – 100 speeches in 100 town squares.

By a quirk of fate and a twist of circumstance I found myself selected as Labour’s candidate in the upcoming General Election.

I’m keeping up fast, but I don’t have the party baggage of other candidates. It’s not my career ambition, but I do feel a calling.

And the very way we are doing politics appeals to me too.

In this general election my party is having to rely on smaller donations and wider participation. Teams of activists making local contacts.

Ed Miliband has set us the target of having 4 million conversations this campaign. Direct contact. Personal contact.

This isn’t happening by accident. It is a drive for more democracy.

Authenticity.

Obviously I hope it is successful. But even within our flawed democratic system it offers us hope for the future.

Back to our two cows.

You have two cows, the government in London want to decide who gets the milk. You organize a campaign to keep it local. You stand on a milk crate in a public campaign and persuade the people that’s a fairer and more sensible distribution of resources.

That’s what I’ll be doing.

I say please continue to support the fine traditions of democracy and reject the motion.

Review of 2014

You just never know what opportunities life is going to throw in your way. That was my biggest take from a year of massive highs and lows.

The sad stuff first. We lost Hazel. Too soon and too painful, but forever loved. And Geoff Unsworth and Teresa Hawksworth, both so kind and warm and a cruel loss. Ian Hawksworth's eulogy to his wife, and the mother of his children, was as powerful and loving as anything I've ever heard.

Our debate forum Discuss has had a storming year - we're really thrilled with the progress we made - doing podcasts and putting on first rate debates - the real high points were our religion ding dong with Polly Toynbee and Bishop David Walker and the fracking fracas with Kevin Anderson and Bez.

My involvement in Discuss has really energised my involvement in popular debate and politics. I've seen some fantastic debates - Juergen Maier on Europe was outstanding, Tom Cannon on Football was pure poetry, but it was also contributions from people with a strong personal viewpoint who weren't academics or professional politician - guys like Steven Lindsay, Graeme Hawley and Tracey Smith, and then there was Bez, the longest ten minutes of my life from the moment I said: Ladies and gentleman, here's our first speaker... To be fair, he was on the winning side!

Saw some inspiring and thought provoking talks - the Blue Labour conference in Nottingham was probably the event with the deepest and widest range of provocations my friend Michael Merrick on education and Greenpeace's Ruth Davis on Nature, Science and the Common Good.

The best speech I wasn't at, but listened to on the RSA podcast, was Jon Cruddas's lecture on Radical Hope.

I long ago gave up on the main hall at Labour conference providing any of that, but the fringe had some real highlights - Liz Kendall on the personalisation of public services and Maurice Glasman on community organising - "the time it takes an activist to interrupt someone who is talking about something important to them - 8 seconds. The time that a stubborn interruption could be useful - 30 seconds." Personally, I think you can read some situations where even longer works. Listening always works.

Writing - got into the final of Pulp Idol - a first time writers competition. Making good progress on my debut novel getting published in 2015.

Work wise - I've really enjoyed being part of the Manchester conversation with Downtown - sitting at the table for some of the vital policy conversations that are contributing to the growth of Britain's best city, just as devolution rises up the agenda, providing a positive and progressive contacts and a context for the best business network in the North.

The work for Seneca, Liberty and the Tomorrow's Practice project for the ICAEW has been a real privilege, working alongside fantastically clever people creating businesses that are thinking hard and evolving in a challenging world.

Finally, I was selected to be Labour's parliamentary candidate for Hazel Grove for 2015. As described in the Stockport Express, Prolific North and the Business Desk, it is a big new step. But more than anything this represents a privilege and an honour, it is an opportunity to build a new covenant and a new way of doing community politics in this constituency.

Scotland the brave

I've done two blogs on the Scottish referendum result and the aftermath. One is more normal Downtown Friday blog, which is here. A flavour:

There has been an awful lot of hyperbole amongst think tankers and pundits about the triumphs of the Manchester experiment. But it would be wholly wrong to equate this with any kind of awakening of a civic mood for independence.
 But if we think the Tartan Spring is on its way to Manchester we have a lot of waking up to do. There are wards in Greater Manchester with voter turnout at miniscule levels. So small as to actually undermine the democratic mandate.
 There is an argument that because local government has become about bin collections and cuts to services that there is nothing to vote for. The aspiration has to be to correct that through real power, proper engagement and meaningful change.

Then I was guest commentator on Prolific North, the media news website. Where I picked up on the theme about political engagement and the role the media can play. A taster:

And the media has a role to play. What kind of North do we want? Do we have respect for the institutions of power, those that seek election and those that make the hard decisions, are do we turn over and yawn. Will all of the efforts to create a new constitutional settlement for how our cities can be run better be reduced to a newspaper poll about whether Marco Pierre White could be Mayor of Leeds or Shaun Ryder in Manchester.

Scotland has had a generational opportunity and is hopefully now working out how it can work effectively as part of the United Kingdom. That conversation has started here too. It mustn't get obsessed with structures, but it still desperately needs something to connect to people about what the new politics will be like.

And as if by magic, our next DISCUSS debate on the 8th of October will be on the race to give power to the cities. 

We've done another Podcast

In this episode of the Discuss podcast we again 'grasp the nettle', returning to the controversial topic of the recent DISCUSS debate: 'Is religion a force for good?' Joining me and Tom Cheesewright in the Pod this month: Angeliki Stogia, a Labour councillor for Whalley Range, Manchester City FC chaplain and Manchester's 'Minister for Business', the Reverend Pete Horlock. Also covered: Uber, 'the dismal science', whether Philip Blond has lost it, and the usual recommendations for your reading and viewing pleasure.

As far back as I can remember ... where we are with the Discuss podcasts

As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to present my own radio programme. I dabbled in Australia with my pal Adil Bux, now something of a tycoon in the cosmetics and health industry. Back then music was our life and the high watermark of our show on 6UVS FM was when we interviewed Kevin Sanderson from Inner City, I recall.

I've hung around BBC Radio Manchester and helped them out at the drop of a hat, but they never seem to take the hint that I feel this as a calling. I've enjoyed standing in for Frank McKenna on CityTalk and think I do a good job, but it's Frank's show in his city.

So, in the spirit of Manchester innovation me and Tom Cheesewright have done our own. It's called The Discuss Podcast, we've done three now. We invite guests with something to say, steer the talk around what's going on around us - culture, politics, civic life and we seem to be getting the hang of it.

Updated showreel - hope you like it

A showreel for Michael Taylor, versatile and energetic events host,
journalist and producer. Includes interviews with Lloyd Dorfman of
Travelex, Fred Done of BetFred, Dame Eliza Manningham Buller former head
of MI5 and author Cass Pennant. Clients include: Deloitte, ICAEW,
Downtown in Business, GrowthAccelerator, Ear to the Ground, Rapport
Events, Journey9, Daisy Group, Grant Thornton and Insider Business TV.

The football debate - only ever going to be one winner, but a spirited try

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It’s a tough job sticking up for football. The charge sheet against the so-called beautiful game is long. Indeed, at our DISCUSS debate on Wednesday the 15^th of January, Dr Annabel Kiernan outline a fairly chunky list of reasons why she was arguing for the motion that it is the beautiful game no more. Football has sold its soul.

In his quite stunning oratory against the motion Professor Tom Cannon of Liverpool University didn’t actually try and argue that it was in fact still beautiful, rather that it never was. We’ve become seduced by nostalgia and a sepia toned view of the past, that has allowed us to forget the crooks that ran football, Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool in the olden days.

But winning the emotional argument was TV’s Graeme Hawley, actor and Coventry City supporter who delivered a heartfelt plea for the motion based on his own club’s perspective – playing 35 miles away in another city – something the FA had done nothing to prevent.

Like I said, the job of defending all of this was left to Colin Bridgford of the Manchester FA. Fair play to him for evoking the schemes in the community. The great transformative things that the influx of money has enabled football to do.

But there remained an elephant in the room – the Premier League with all its money, pricing out the fans, accepting foreign owners with no respect for what matters to fans – well, the audience weren’t having it. Colin got a hard time when the questions came – and from all kinds of supporters.

In the end the motion was carried – some waverers were won over. But it was a mountain to climb, despite a plucky and audacious opening the odds were against an upset. Rather like the one the Blackburn Rovers team faced in the second half of the game that followed the debate.  There was only ever going to be one outcome. 

http://discuss.org.uk/2014/01/18/our-football-debate-results-now-in/