Thermal imaging captured by a police helicopter above Gorton / Image: GMP
Home Secretary Priti Patel has given police new powers to tackle the mass gathering problem besetting England during lockdown.
From this week, £800 fines can be given to anyone found attending a house party of more than 15 people.
This will double for repeat offenders up to a maximum of £6,400.
Patel made the call to ramp up fines due to “a small minority who refuse to do the right thing”; claiming that bigger penalties would help the government “crack down on the most serious cases of rule-breaking.”
A lot of this ‘rule-breaking’ the Home Sec was referring to has happened very close to home.
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Greater Manchester has a poor record for COVID breaches.
Data from the National Police Chief’s Council showed that 2,183 fines were handed out in the region between March 27 and December 20 – ranking Greater Manchester the second-worst area in England.
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The only region that received more fines in this same period was Northumbria – with 3,034 FPNs.
And the fines have kept coming.
Since August, local police have served over 2,800 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) in total – with around half of those for house parties.
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So, does this mean that GMP has been tougher than other forces in England? Or is Greater Manchester simply more badly behaved than its neighbours?
Home Secretary Priti Patel has announced that those attending house parties can be fined £800 / Image: BBC
First and foremost, it’s worth noting that the NPCC data covers the whole range of COVID legislation breaches – from mass gatherings and meeting others to operating business when required to close.
Rules have varied between different areas in England – changing more than 64 times in the process.
Since the first lockdown ended, there have only been 27 days when Greater Manchester has not been under some form of restriction – beginning with an indoor ban on July 31.
GMP’s Assistant Chief Constable Nick Bailey believes that this is one of “a number of factors” that play into Greater Manchester’s bad COVID breach record.
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“Greater Manchester has been in some form of lockdown or restriction pretty much longer than anywhere I think other than Leicester,” he stated.
“So more offences have occurred over a longer period of time.”
The ACC also stated officers have moved beyond simply warning residents now – given how everyone is aware of the rules.
“Our staff have had longer to engage with the public and make sure they’re informed about the rules, and yes we’ve probably reached a stage where we are at enforcement with more people sooner than lots of other parts of the country,” he explained.
“Whilst we were having to enforce breaches over August and early September, many other forces weren’t under that level of restriction, so they weren’t dealing with COVID breaches.
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“We’ve done a lot of communication with our population, so it’s hard for them to say they don’t understand the rules.”
All parts of England are currently under the same blanket restrictions as part of a nationwide lockdown. But recent breaches in Greater Manchester have remained high.
Local police issued over 100 FPNs after shutting down multiple New Year’s Eve gatherings. But, perhaps more surprisingly, 190 FPNs were also distributed in the middle of January (a traditionally quieter period).
87 of these fines were for house parties alone.
According to officers, this represented 16% increase in the same period during December.
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House parties drastically increase the spread of COVID-19. Think of others before deciding to go as you could pass this on to more vulnerable members of your family
Most COVID breaches are reported via the police’s online system, but the force has urged people to use 999 if there’s “real disorder”.
An increasing number people are being found in attendance at party properties – with an average of 15 or more.
ACC Bailey admitted that some people “haven’t got it in their heads” that mass gatherings are dangerous.
“This variant – which is in Greater Manchester now – is far more infectious,” he stated.
“COVID is still killing people in our communities.
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“If you go to a party, there is a chance that you are aiding the spread. If that happens, quite frankly, people die.”
The new hefty £800 fines come into force this week, but ACC Bailey has said the size of these penalties isn’t going to deter officers from handing them out.
“The fine itself doesn’t change how we enforce,” he said.
“In our view: A breach is a breach. We will not be introducing any leeway just because the penalty has changed.”
“If the only way people can learn a lesson is to receive a fine of quite a significant amount, then that is what we will do.”
Feature
We’ve found some of the best Chinese food in town – being served out of a snooker hall
Danny Jones
Yes, you heard us right: we’ve stumbled across one of our favourite new places for Chinese food just on the outskirts of Manchester city centre – it just so happens to be served out of a best-in-class snooker hall.
And that really is just the tip of the iceberg here.
Some of you may have heard about and/or seen it already, but we’ll admit we were a little late to the party when it comes to Club 200, a.k.a. the pool, snooker, darts, mahjong club and more, which has so many different things rolled into that it’s really more a Russian doll than a Chinese restaurant or sports venue.
The hook speaks for itself: a place where people spend just as much time practising with chopsticks as they do their cues, as it really isn’t a gimmick, as some pessimistic folk would have you think – the food is banging and so are the vibes in general.
Not only is this quite literally the best snooker club in Manchester – complete with everything from classic American billiards and Chinese 8-ball to king-size snooker tables that the Ronnie O’Sullivan has played and won on, to a special AI system you won’t find anywhere else – it is SO much more than that.
Whilst the backroom was packed with everyone from casuals to those looking to get their pro certification via the official Q Tour, and lads in the front were practising their arrows, as co-owner Simon admitted they get almost just as many darts regulars these days, a storm was cooking up in the kitchen.
It would be unfair to say this place doubles as a bar and restaurant, because we really couldn’t get over how well put together this menu was.
‘Café 200’s food offerings involve classics like fried rice and chow mein dishes, to the kind of sides you could expect from your local Chinese chippy, but it’s even more authentic exports that really impress.
For instance, the beef ho fun seemed to be a big hit with everyone; we loved the salty seafood udon as well (a great chew on those noodles), and we know plenty of people still searching for proper Hong Kong-style French toast – they might just find it here.
Speaking of the special administrative region, which has a twisting and turning but nevertheless rich culinary culture all of its own, that last dish had us hopping with joy.
You’re looking at baked Portuguese rice: a Macau speciality rooted in the region’s colonial history.
We’ve never quite had anything like it before, even in all of our years eating this kind of cuisine around the 10 boroughs, but we haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
And then there’s everything else they do, from karaoke and bingo nights to catering for birthdays and other functions, or even just serving as a cool, somewhat tucked-away spot to watch the footy and other live sport come the weekend.
You can tell this place has built up a real community over the last 18 months or so, and while the food speaks for itself, it’s the sheer abundance and variety going on that makes it especially charming to so many.
Speaking of jack-of-all-trade venues, we stumbled across a similar multi-talented one over in Salford not so long ago, too…
‘Manc the Biff’: the Co-op Live crowd made the Clyro boys welcome on debut
Danny Jones
It feels like we’ve been waiting a long time to welcome Biffy Clyro back to Manchester, and they really didn’t disappoint on their Co-op Live debut.
Here’s our review of what was a proper rock show.
After a strong lineup of support acts with The Armed and Soft Play (formerly Slaves) injecting plenty of early energy into the crowds, already knew two things: the Scots wouldn’t disappoint, and a Manc crowd NEVER lets you down.
We knew everyone was on top form from the moment the Kilmarnock icons stepped out on stage under a swathe of blankets to the opener from their latest album, Futique.
Once the curtain was eventually lifted during ‘A Little Love’, which has quickly become one of the most popular singles for some time, you could see the sea of fans below start bouncing.
Rolling into the likes of ‘Hunting Season’ and Only Revolutions classic, ‘The Captain’, those bounces quite quickly turned into a healthy-sized pit, and those up in the stands with us finally got on their feet.
That was maybe our only complaint: we love seeing a seated section pretending they’re in standing from their start, but we get it and each to their own, of course.
In fact, the same goes for the rest of the session players joining them on the road this year.
One thing we weren’t expecting was quite how cool the production levels were going to be. We’ve never been Biffy fans for their creativity when it comes to toying with stage design or lighting rigs, but they threw in some fun effects regardless.
Highlights from the night included ‘Tiny Indoor Fireworks’, ‘Bubbles’, and ‘Black Chandelier’, though we were sad not to hear ‘Victory Over The Sun’, and it was especially gutting that one of our favourite tracks from the new record, ‘True Believer’, didn’t end up on the setlist.
Again, you can’t have anything – we’re just glad we got to be there and see a truly great British rock band proving that they are well and truly an arena-level band.
Lastly, even after all the years and an X-Factor cover trying its hardest to take the credit away from them, ‘Many of Horror’ is still an unbelievable rock ballad, and d’ya know who is an unbelievable rock band? “Biffy. F***ing. Clyroooooo.”
The Manc -
25th January 2021 
