Simon Hooton
@simonhootonmcr.bsky.social
A real person. Mainly listening in.
My daughter studied there for a year 22/3 - it was brilliant for her (and me!).
November 30, 2025 at 6:22 PM
My daughter studied there for a year 22/3 - it was brilliant for her (and me!).
Mark Hughes the footballer?? ... not the other one??
November 6, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Mark Hughes the footballer?? ... not the other one??
Simplest solution (which I suspect most locals adopt) is to just see Media City as part of the city that we know (and love) as Manchester. I regularly cycle and walk there .... crossing 3 local authority boundaries to do so (!!)
November 6, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Simplest solution (which I suspect most locals adopt) is to just see Media City as part of the city that we know (and love) as Manchester. I regularly cycle and walk there .... crossing 3 local authority boundaries to do so (!!)
Would the impact have been greater if BBC had relocated to City Centre?
Would London based BBC staff have been more enthusiastic?
Easy to say now, but the relocation of ITV to Salford Quays suggests a city centre MEZ wasn't that strong an idea? And First St now looks well used too.
Would London based BBC staff have been more enthusiastic?
Easy to say now, but the relocation of ITV to Salford Quays suggests a city centre MEZ wasn't that strong an idea? And First St now looks well used too.
November 6, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Would the impact have been greater if BBC had relocated to City Centre?
Would London based BBC staff have been more enthusiastic?
Easy to say now, but the relocation of ITV to Salford Quays suggests a city centre MEZ wasn't that strong an idea? And First St now looks well used too.
Would London based BBC staff have been more enthusiastic?
Easy to say now, but the relocation of ITV to Salford Quays suggests a city centre MEZ wasn't that strong an idea? And First St now looks well used too.
Isn't the sustainable long term case based on reducing fraud whether it be consumer, finance, voting or access to public services. Everyone can get behind those arguments can't they?
September 26, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Isn't the sustainable long term case based on reducing fraud whether it be consumer, finance, voting or access to public services. Everyone can get behind those arguments can't they?
Damn. I've been telling people for years that I once worked with David Baddiel when he was doing urban research in Manchester.
September 12, 2025 at 6:47 AM
Damn. I've been telling people for years that I once worked with David Baddiel when he was doing urban research in Manchester.
London's challenges are surely more about distribution. Doesn't it need targeted intervention to help deprived people access the infrastructure that's there? While the North still needs the actual infrastructure?
May 31, 2025 at 8:01 AM
London's challenges are surely more about distribution. Doesn't it need targeted intervention to help deprived people access the infrastructure that's there? While the North still needs the actual infrastructure?
Is your BAU that the UK risks stopping growing without public investment in London? Or that London will grow less fast? It's easier to say the North won't grow without infrastructure investment to get people closer to jobs.
May 31, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Is your BAU that the UK risks stopping growing without public investment in London? Or that London will grow less fast? It's easier to say the North won't grow without infrastructure investment to get people closer to jobs.
Also need to consider impact area... are we looking at impact on London or the North or on UK as a whole? It makes a big difference!
May 31, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Also need to consider impact area... are we looking at impact on London or the North or on UK as a whole? It makes a big difference!
I agree, we don't want and can't afford as a country for London to not grow. But would investing in other regions make that more likely? The Green Book allows this to be considered in the reference case.... or BAU
May 31, 2025 at 7:51 AM
I agree, we don't want and can't afford as a country for London to not grow. But would investing in other regions make that more likely? The Green Book allows this to be considered in the reference case.... or BAU
Milagros or Mariposa, with Corazon as a possible if it were a girl. Spike or Ivan for a boy.
Completely vetoed by wife and subsequently born kids are pleased I lost.
Corazon was a No on grounds we were living in Manchester and it would become Corrie.
Completely vetoed by wife and subsequently born kids are pleased I lost.
Corazon was a No on grounds we were living in Manchester and it would become Corrie.
May 4, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Milagros or Mariposa, with Corazon as a possible if it were a girl. Spike or Ivan for a boy.
Completely vetoed by wife and subsequently born kids are pleased I lost.
Corazon was a No on grounds we were living in Manchester and it would become Corrie.
Completely vetoed by wife and subsequently born kids are pleased I lost.
Corazon was a No on grounds we were living in Manchester and it would become Corrie.
And of all the options in Cheshire, Frodsham wouldnt be the obvious place to go for a punch up after the pub.
May 1, 2025 at 10:04 PM
And of all the options in Cheshire, Frodsham wouldnt be the obvious place to go for a punch up after the pub.
And then there's Chester which is the centre of gravity for rural folk and the north Welsh
May 1, 2025 at 9:57 PM
And then there's Chester which is the centre of gravity for rural folk and the north Welsh
Winsford is an untypical island in mid Cheshire on account of Liverpool overspill housing development in the late 60s. My impressions are that the east (Knutsford, Macc, Wilmslow) looks to Mcr and the NW (EP) to Liverpool, the South (Crewe) to Stoke and the North (Warrington) to Lancashire.
May 1, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Winsford is an untypical island in mid Cheshire on account of Liverpool overspill housing development in the late 60s. My impressions are that the east (Knutsford, Macc, Wilmslow) looks to Mcr and the NW (EP) to Liverpool, the South (Crewe) to Stoke and the North (Warrington) to Lancashire.
I grew up in Winsford, right in the middle in the 80s. Town made up of scousers and woolly backs. I think allegiances split evenly four ways between Liverpool, Everton, City & Utd with a small number of Crewe Alex and Port Vale fans.
May 1, 2025 at 9:44 PM
I grew up in Winsford, right in the middle in the 80s. Town made up of scousers and woolly backs. I think allegiances split evenly four ways between Liverpool, Everton, City & Utd with a small number of Crewe Alex and Port Vale fans.
National Portrait Gallery is excellent npg.si.edu
April 25, 2025 at 11:09 PM
National Portrait Gallery is excellent npg.si.edu
The real juice is looking behind headlines at the net figs (remove displacement and deadweight) and to look at area of impact (then remove double counting / unattributable impacts).
January 17, 2025 at 12:42 PM
The real juice is looking behind headlines at the net figs (remove displacement and deadweight) and to look at area of impact (then remove double counting / unattributable impacts).
If you were to look closely at any projected impacts there will be a methodology and assumptions which probs have some rational basis even if they are 'ambitious'.
January 17, 2025 at 12:41 PM
If you were to look closely at any projected impacts there will be a methodology and assumptions which probs have some rational basis even if they are 'ambitious'.
How many MPs elected to Labour in 2024 will be sitting without the Whip over a matter of principle/voluntarily? And how many without it now will have had the Whip restored?
December 24, 2024 at 1:19 PM
How many MPs elected to Labour in 2024 will be sitting without the Whip over a matter of principle/voluntarily? And how many without it now will have had the Whip restored?
School Dinners were served up by Dinner Ladies at lunchtime. And then for dinner we'd have our Tea.
December 21, 2024 at 1:10 PM
School Dinners were served up by Dinner Ladies at lunchtime. And then for dinner we'd have our Tea.
I went to Nepal earlier this year. Can confirm the Earth is not flat.
December 18, 2024 at 7:36 AM
I went to Nepal earlier this year. Can confirm the Earth is not flat.
We went on a lot of crappy school trips but the best day ever was the one we wangled during the school exchange to go down there. We weretaken around underground in a minibus to a see what the town was built on. I'd gladly pay to go again.
November 20, 2024 at 7:27 AM
We went on a lot of crappy school trips but the best day ever was the one we wangled during the school exchange to go down there. We weretaken around underground in a minibus to a see what the town was built on. I'd gladly pay to go again.