The Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ) is currently recruiting for a number of roles in Manchester.
Whether it’s something you’re aware of, or it’s rather fittingly been kept under wraps, the country’s intelligence and security organisation actually has an office base right here in Manchester city centre.
GCHQ is responsible for providing signals intelligence and information assurance to the government and the UK’s armed forces.
In a nutshell, the main goal is to “keep our country safe”.
We're not always looking for qualifications – we're also looking for potential.
A career with us opens the door to our excellent training and development programmes to allow you to flourish.
While the main hub of the over 100-year old organisation is actually based down in Cheltenham, other office locations include London, Scarborough, Lincolnshire, Cornwall, and of course, Manchester.
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Working alongside MI5 and MI6, the organisation combines technology and intelligence to counter sophisticated threats such as terrorism, cyber attacks and more – and you can now apply to be a part of the action at “the heart of the nation’s security” as GCHQ is recruiting for roles in our region.
Here’s some of the jobs currently up for grabs.
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Specialist Technical Analyst
Salary – £28 642 + the opportunity to qualify for specialist skills payments ranging from £5,000 to £23,000+ per annum in the role.
Role – According to the job description on the GCHQ website, this position is an operational role within GCHQ that is responsible for analysis of industrial systems data and making recommendations.
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This post is part an analytical team, and the successful candidate will play a role in informing and shaping HM government outcomes.
“This is a unique and exciting opportunity to work at the centre of intelligence.”
You can find more information about the role of Specialist Technical Analyst, and stick an application in here.
The main hub of the over 100-year old security and intelligence organisation is based in Cheltenham / Credit: GCHQ
Senior and Lead Software Engineer
Salary – £37,639 – £59,210 (depending on skills, experience and job role – package includes basic salary and concessionary payment).
Role – According to the job description on the GCHQ website, successful candidates will be passionate about developing software, have a curiosity for new technology and new ways of solving problems, thrive working in diverse teams with other highly capable software engineers, have potential to be a future leader on technology, design, feature development or teams, and be interested in a role that gives them space to innovate and learn new skills.
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“You’ll be central to our work to keep the country safe.”
You can find more information about the role of Senior and Lead Software Engineer, and stick an application in here.
European Language Graduate
Salary – £30,831 (which includes a concessionary payment).
Role: According to the job description on the GCHQ website, successful applicants will be talented, flexible, and committed individuals from all backgrounds with a 2:1 degree in at least two languages – French, German, Italian, Portuguese, or Spanish – and a linguistic ability of a very high order to carry out the duties of transcription, translation, analysis and research.
The role is available to graduates who are “keen to use their existing language skills and for those interested in learning a new language.”
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You can find more information about the role, and stick an application in here.
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Haven’t found a role suitable for you?
GCHQ is offering Mancunians the chance to register interest for a variety of roles that will become available in our region over the upcoming months, with the organisation’s website stating that “it doesn’t matter where you are in your career, as long as you’re interested in learning or have experience of working in a more technical role.”
We employ people with a variety of experience, skills and qualifications in a wide range of roles, from project management and finance to HR and procurement.
The roles that GCHQ will be hiring for in upcoming months are:
Infrastructure Engineer
Network Engineer
Information Assurance
Software Developer and Engineers
You can keep your eye out and register your interest via the GCHQ website here.
Featured Image – GCHQ
UK News
Bez and Shaun Ryder are starring in a new gangster movie – nope, not kidding
Danny Jones
No, you didn’t misread the headline and you’re not on acid: Manchester music legends Bez and Shaun Ryder are set to feature in a brand-new gangster film.
Yes, the ones from the Happy Mondays – why are you having such trouble processing this?
Seriously though, we did a little double-take ourselves when we came across this news, but the familiar Manc faces look to be among the ensemble of a brand-new gangster movie by Irish writer, actor, producer and filmmaker, Ciaron Davies.
And this is just a little leak or rumour that may have been blown out of proportion: you can take it from the horse’s mouth as Happy Mondays frontman, Ryder, recently shared the news on social media.
As you can see, the new film is called Geezers and is billed as a “British crime caper” written and directed by Davies, featuring Shaun as hard-man Robbie and Bez as ‘Monk’. If you saw Ryder shaking off that snake biting his hand like it was nothing then you already know he’s hard as nails.
Although it’s not strictly listed as a comedy per se, ‘caper’ would suggest plenty of humour and light-heartedness, so we’re thinking more like The Gentleman, Italian Job, or maybe even Four Lions, rather than a serious crime thriller.
Now, while we’ve seen both of the Salfordians on screen before not only in the likes of music videos, interviews, panel shows and even as two of the funniest guests to ever go on Celebrity Gogglebox, this latest venture will serve as their respective acting debuts.
According to the IMDb page, the synopsis of the film is as follows: “Crime caper about a stolen bag of money. Caught in the crossfire are ‘The Geezers’ a bunch of wannabe criminals who have bitten off more than they can chew. With 24 hours to grab the cash, London may just go up in smoke tonight.”
Shame it’s not set on the mean streets of Manchester, or better yet Salford, but you’ve still very much caught our interest.
You can see the first promotional poster for the film down below.
As for Davies, he has been involved with a number of small-budget TV film projects, as well as appearing in shorts and even video games, so it’s fair to say that getting 62-year-old Ryder and his ever-energetic hype man, 60, involved is quite the coup for his movie-making career.
Although the film has no release date just yet, we know that filming locations having included parts of Warrington and Pinewood Studios, will be produced by Loose Gripp Films and distributed by publishers High Fliers.
Given the high-octane nature of Geezers and its genre, the feature will involve lots of action, stunts, violence and even martial arts – though how much kung-fu these two will have learned for the project remains to be seen…
All we know is that the film is supposedly “coming soon” and if you don’t want to see Bez and Shaun Ryder doing their best impression of a Guy Ritchie gangster movie then you’re lying to yourself. Praying for a Rowetta cameo to put the cherry on top.
Featured Images — Shaun Ryder (via X)/Loose Gripp Films/IMDb
UK News
This Manchester suburb has just been named one of the UK’s ‘happiest’ places to live in 2024
Thomas Melia
An annual poll has named the Manchester suburb of Didsbury spot among 70 locations said to be the ‘happiest’ places to live in the UK.
Greater Manchester has got lots to say for itself, especially with its diverse and unique cultural landscapes, as well as various vibrant communities, so it comes as no surprise that one of our beautiful suburbs has been voted in a list of the UK’s happiest places to live for this year.
The survey included submissions from 5,000 people and there’s a lot of love being shown to the neighbouring areas of Yorkshire like Doncaster, Bingley, and Harrogate – the lattermost placed in second in the entire country.
But, ranking 62nd out of a possible 70 places, the distinct and vibrant area of Didsbury has been noticed by Furniturebox as one of the ‘happiest’ places to live in the UK.
Credit: The Manc Group
The results took into consideration good state schools, affordable housing, as well as accessibility to pubs, bars, restaurants, independent shops, retailers and more.
With multiple parks, walking destinations, and top-notch travel links with Bee Network trams and buses easily taking you back into the city centre and out to other boroughs, East, West and Didsbury Village all remain some of the most sought-after areas in the region.
There’s a whole host of indie retailers to enjoy, especially on the likes of the main high street and Burton Road, which effectively serves as its own cultural district, home to vintage clothing shops like Steranko, tailored styling opticians Fox Brothers and much more.
Burton Rd also boasts countless fantastic food and drink spots like The Great Kathmandu, SANTÉ, Volta and Proove Pizza, just to name a few; we’ve spent plenty of time just on this stretch of Didsbury alone.
If you’ve spent even a little time in Dids, you’ll know there’s plenty going on and it’s certainly one our happiest places in all of Greater Manchester and therefore the UK.
You can also enjoy the famous ‘Didsbury Dozen’ right on your doorstep.
Elsewhere, and somewhat unsurprisingly, Shakespeare’s ever-romanticised hometown of Stratford-Upon-Avon once again reigned supreme at the top of this list.
That being said, it’s refreshing to see that these locations weren’t entirely related to wealth and similar factors, the survey took affordability into careful consideration.
Cheshire was destined for success with its cracking views and grand properties, as the North West county made waves for the region managing to place in fifth position, holding up against Falmouth in Cornwall which placed in sixth.
Although not nabbing that all-important top spot, Didsbury is carrying the flag for 0161 and showing what all know to be true: Northerners do it best.
The Manc -
30th June 2021 
