It’s official: Manchester is the third best city in the whole world.
Back in March, Time Out launched its post-pandemic ‘Time Out Index’ survey, which quizzed 27,000 city-dwellers on the details surrounding their lives.
Questions included how they were feeling, thinking, what they were eating, drinking and what they were doing for fun, and included ‘urbanites’ from all over the planet, including major cities such as Melbourne, Madrid, Chicago, Copenhagen, Tel Aviv and Tokyo.
@mrwilliamo / Unsplash
The magazine wanted to find out which cities had ‘really stepped up and pulled together’ during a year of worldwide pandemic – so it wasn’t just questions about food and culture, but also community projects, green space and sustainability.
And guess what? Manchester ranked as the third best city in the whole world out of thirty-seven contenders. Quite the achievement, isn’t it?
Noted for our ‘resilience’, Mancunians were praised for having thrived throughout the pandemic, with communities coming together through the toughest of times. Time Out’s summary read: “Mancunians are a very proud people, and so it’s no wonder 71 percent described the city as ‘creative’ in this year’s Index.
“This is the home of Factory Records, the Fall and the Smiths, after all, and in 2021 the likes of Manchester International Festival (MIF) and Grayson’s Art Club have continued to show this city really punches when it comes to big, splashy cultural events.
“On a more local level, small firms like Result CIC offered free mental health support to frontline workers, while the Eagle and Child pub gave away 4,500 meals to vulnerable locals.”
Fran Serra / Unsplash
Rob Martin from Time Out Manchester said: “We’re leading the way in: General great vibes. This city has a rep for knowing how to have a good time, and it came as no surprise to us that it was voted top for ‘nightlife’, ‘creativity’, ‘community spirit’, ‘friendliness’ and ‘getting to know your neighbours.”
We were beaten to the winning spot by Amsterdam, which ranked in second place, and San Francisco, which was crowned as the best city in the world for its ‘giant street party’ vibe and ‘progressive politics.’
Though it is worth noting that we did conquer major cities like New York, London (ha), Sydney, Singapore and Lisbon… So it isn’t all bad.
Drivers across the country have been sharing pictures of their messy car interiors to win a competition.
The shameless and grubby lot have been submitting their entries for a chance to win a £200 Amazon voucher. It is part of a nationwide search to find the UK’s messiest car owner by vehicle service provider, ATS Euromaster.
Photographs show dirty seats, footwells piled with litter, boxes, empty packets of food and drinks, and used face masks — you might want to don some clean PPE to look at these!
Here is a selection of the best entries so far, but the competition remains open until June 11th.
Mel Crumpton
Mel Crumpton, 57, from Benfleet shared this chaotic photo of litter overflowing from the passenger footwell in her Ford Fiesta.
Mel might need more than a few bin bags to clear this mess.
Rachel Hughes
Rachel Hughes, 38, from Malmesbury submitted this photo of dirt and rubbish covering the back of her BMW 320D.
The poor passengers will be wishing they took the bus instead.
Satvinder Billa
Satvinder Billa, 42, from Leicester shared how the front passenger area has a second purpose in this Honda Jazz.
I’ve seen tidier looking dustbins to be honest.
Helena Sperring
Helena Sperring, 30, from Shropshire revealed she likes to use her Peugeot 107 as extra storage.
Maybe she just doesn’t have room for it anywhere else?
Alison Wilkie
Alison Wilkie, 56, from Harleston also uses the footwell in her Toyota Yaris as a rubbish bin.
Face masks and rubber gloves! Well, at least this mess is contained to just one footwell.
If you have a pigsty of a car, and would like to win £200 in Amazon vouchers, you can can enter the competition by clicking here.
Mars Bars will change to new paper wrappers for a trial period in Tesco stores from today (Tuesday May 30th).
Mars Incorporated confirmed switching from its traditional plastic wrapping to an environmentally-friendly paper packaging for a trial run.
The chocolate bars will be available in Tesco for a limited time while the company explores different packaging options in a move to become more Sustainable in a Generation plan.
Mars is investing hundreds of millions of pounds to ensure it meets its goal of reducing use of virgin plastics by a third in the short-term.
Mars Incorporated
This includes using less plastic, recycled plastic and plastic alternatives. Once the pilot is over, it said it will use what it has learnt to inform other trials.
Richard Sutherland-Moore, packaging expert at Mars Wrigley UK’s research and development centre in Slough, said: “We are exploring different types of alternative packaging solutions for our confectionery products.
“For Mars bar, the challenge was to find the right paper packaging solution with an adequate level of barrier properties to protect the chocolate whilst guaranteeing the food safety, quality and integrity of the product to prevent food waste.”
@marswrigley / Instagram
Adam Grant, general manager at Mars Wrigley UK, said: “With our Mars bar pilot project, we are taking a big step to see how paper-based packaging works in everyday life.
“From the test, we will derive insights for our sustainable packaging strategy.
“While challenges may impact the pace of progress towards our vision, we at Mars Incorporated are committed to scaling up viable solutions where recycling options exist, and to test, learn, partner and advocate where they don’t.”
Piers Morgan and a TikTok prankster got into a heated argument during an interview live on air.
The TikToker known as ‘Mizzy’ called Piers Morgan a ‘moron’ during the bizarre and heated interview on the Piers Morgan Uncensored show, on Wednesday May 14th — just hours after his sentencing.
Mizzy — real name Bacari-Bronze O’Garro — and Morgan got into a spat while live in the studio. As the pair continued to interrupt each other throughout, Morgan listed the numerous extreme ‘moronic’ pranks O’Garro has carried out.
O’Garro is the person behind a series of notorious viral videos including stealing a woman’s dog, ripping up library books and jumping into strangers’ cars.
Piers Morgan Uncensored / Talk TV
The 18-year-old was also said to have put a family ‘at risk’ by walking into their home pretending he was trying to find a study group, a court heard.
When Morgan asked why he would choose to cause ‘so much alarm and distress to so many people’, O’Garro replied: “This whole public uproar just makes me laugh because people are getting hurt over something that didn’t happen to them and that’s how I see it as.”
Morgan went on: “You go up and take a dog from an elderly woman, you leapfrog over the top of an orthodox Jewish man standing at the side of the road minding his business.
“You go up to women in the street and say, ‘do you want to die?’”
Mizzy / Tik Tok
At one point the Talk TV presenter then asked: “A lot of the stuff that you do could have consequences far more serious but you don’t care do you, as long as you get a laugh?”
O’Garro replied: “Of course I care… I have remorse.” On why he pulled the pranks for social media, he said: “It was a trend. I just done it for a trend.” He then said he is his ‘own person’ and ‘I am legally an adult now so I can do what I want’.
The pair called each other ‘idiots’, and Morgan ended the interview by saying: “You’re just a complete moron.” Adding: “For the record, he wasn’t paid for this.”
O’Garro appeared at Thames Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (May 24th) and admitted failing to comply with a community protection notice. He was fined £200 and will have to pay an £80 surcharge with £85 in prosecution costs.
Mizzy / TikTok
The teenager, from Hackney, east London, was also issued with a criminal behaviour order, for a period of two years, which means he can never upload a video again without the permission of all those appearing in it.
The CBO also prohibits him from ‘trespassing into any private property, including residential homes, business properties, school and retail outlets’, and ‘attending Westfield Stratford City.’
Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway said: “The CBO issued is a powerful measure designed to prevent behaviour which has caused alarm and distress to our communities.
“If the conditions are breached, at any point over the two year period, a custodial sentence can result.”