Greater Manchester has been given an extra £1 million in funding to help tackle the rise in violent crime across the region.
In a crucial attempt to help people leave a life of violent crime behind them, Greater Manchester’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) has received a significant funding boost to help it develop and trial a new programme in the city of Manchester and beyond.
Part of a wider £6 million joint investment, and expecting to take inspiration from a ‘focused deterrence’ strategy developed over in the US, Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) explains that the new trial programme will attempt to identify the people most likely to be involved in violence and supports them to stop.
Previous projects have worked with children as young as 14 or 15.
Prior research has shown that focused deterrence strategies in other countries have been highly effective, and have reduced crime on average by 33%.
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"Greater Manchester’s VRU has received £1million in funding to develop and trial a new programme in the city of Manchester which aims to help people leave a life of violent crime behind them."
— Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit (@GM_VRU) September 5, 2022
As the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) and Home Office are said to be investing in learning more about what impact focused deterrence could have in England, Greater Manchester’s VRU has been awarded £1 million to develop the trial programme and learn how it works to make Manchester safer.
It will bring together a number of different agencies and community groups, including Greater Manchester Police (GMP), housing providers, faith leaders and schools, to take a partnership approach to ending violence.
“I’m really pleased that the city of Manchester is set to receive this funding so we can trial a new, innovative approach that has achieved success in other countries in preventing people from committing violent crimes,” explained Bev Hughes – Greater Manchester’s Deputy Mayor for policing, crime, criminal justice, and fire.
Greater Manchester given £1 million in funding to tackle ‘violent crime’ in the region / Credit: GMP
“If this project is able to impact just one person in the city of Manchester, then it has potentially saved a life.
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“This will build on the work our Violence Reduction Unit is already carrying out across our city region to engage with people and prevent these terrible crimes from being committed as we see far too often the devastating consequences they have on our communities and those who lose loved ones to shocking incidents which are sadly preventable.
“We must do all we can to tackle these issues, and this approach which combines support with swift enforcement action, is another way we can now do that.”
Tyson Fury has announced he is returning to boxing yet again
Danny Jones
Tyson Fury has confirmed that he will once again be returning to the boxing ring for what feels like the umpteenth time.
Honestly, he’s come in and out of retirement so many times now that we’ve genuinely started to lose count at this point…
The Manc fighter last ‘retired’ back in January 2025, so it’s only fitting that, quite literally, almost exactly 12 months on from his last sabbatical, ‘The Gyspy King’ is making another comeback.
Sharing the almost entirely expected news at this point on social media, Fury said: “2026 is [the] year. Return of the Mac. Been away for a while, but I’m back now, 37 years old and still punching. Nothing better to do than punch men in the face and get paid for it.”
Even prior to his own announcement, the Wythenshawe-born boxer had shared multiple updates online about ‘sharpening the edge’ following his hiatus.
Earlier this month, he posted another video of himself sparring along with a caption that read: “This is how I spent my New Year. Grinding and working my ass off!
“Couldn’t think of anything better to do than this! Great things come to those who work hard. All in the name of Jesus, Little by little, on the daily, we keep climbing.”
Another clip of him hitting the punchbag with fight coaches and other members of his entourage has also surfaced online.
There’s no question that he’s still one of the biggest pugilists on the planet, but not everyone is convinced he’s tacked on the right kind of mass.
Fury often piles on weight between bouts and has fought plenty with size on his side, too.
He notably trimmed down to one of his lightest competitive statures ever for the first fight against heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, but even bulking back up wasn’t enough to secure victory.
As for his next opponent, the expectation of a third fight against Usyk is there somewhere down the line, but many feel this could also be the time we finally get to see Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua.
Featured Images — High Performance Podcast (screenshot)/@Mike_DiDomizio (via WikiCommons)
News
Manchester has been named one of the UK’s top property hotspots for 2026
Emily Sergeant
Manchester has been revealed as one of the most-searched places to move to in the UK according to annual data.
Every year, leading property listing website, Rightmove, takes a look at all the cities, towns, and residential areas across the UK where people searched for homes to live in most, and puts together an interesting top 10 list.
From the suburban neighbourhoods and coastal escapes, to country communities, overseas destinations, and everything in betweeen, Rightmove has been digging into the numbers and trends to see where house-hunters dreamed of moving to the most last year, and found that this year’s trends tell ‘an interesting story’.
Manchester has been named one of the UK’s property hotspots for 2026 / Credit: James Feaver (via Unsplash)
Property experts say this year’s ‘hotspot’ list is shaped by lifestyle changes, shifting priorities, and economic influences that are reshaping demand.
As was to be expected, major cities dominated UK property searches in 2025.
London continued to ‘lead the way’ as the country’s main urban hub, with close to 10 million people calling the English capital home currently, meaning it, unsurprisingly, claimed the top spot when it came to area searches – but Manchester wasn’t very close behind.
Top 10 most-searched UK cities on Rightmove 2025
London
Manchester
Glasgow
Bristol
Edinburgh
York
Bath
Cornwall
Liverpool
Sheffield
Our city claimed second place on the list, with several other major northern cities featuring in the top 10 too, including York, Sheffield, and Liverpool.
Glasgow is third on the list, while Bristol and Edinburgh rounded out the top five.
“Our review of the year spotlights some of the most popular trends from 2025,” explained Rightmove’s property expert, Colleen Babcock.
Emily Sergeant -
6th September 2022 
