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Government will pay self-employed people 80% of their monthly wages

The Manc The Manc - 26th March 2020
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The shortlist for the 2025 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards has been revealed

Danny Jones Danny Jones

The shortlisted nominees for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award (SPOTY) have been revealed, including one notable nearby name.

The question is, who do you fancy most for it this time around?

After Atherton’s very own Keely Hodgkinson claimed it last year, we were naturally hoping another Greater Manchester native would win it once again.

While we haven’t quite got what we wished for, you could say we’ve got the next best thing, as a fellow North West name has been nominated.

A short train ride away to Cheshire, and being a big Man United fan basically counts, if you ask us.

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Yes, Warrington’s very own Luke Littler has been named on the shortlist for the 2025 Sports Personality of the Year, quite literally 12 months from his previous nomination.

Littler, who is still only 18, did go on to win the 2024 Young SPOTY last December – a very decent consolation prize following his blockbuster debut year or so – but he has been tipped as a bookies’ favourite this time around.

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He’s also been voted for that award again this year, so you’d hope he’d be walking away with at least one of the trophies, though it’d be far from his only one of late.

Since then, the young sporting prodigy has gone on to win all but two of the 10 PDC majors, including two Premier League Darts titles.

In fact, if you want to look at how his arrival onto the senior professional darts circuit breaks down, you can take a gander at the frankly staggering stats behind his breakthrough down below.

The stats behind World Darts Champion Luke Littler’s brilliant year (and a bit) are quite staggering

As you can see, other nominees include former Manchester City Women’s star Chloe Kelly and Lioness, Hannah Hampton; rugby union and national team member, Ellie Kildunne, F1 favourite Lando Norris, as well as Irish golfer, Rory McIlroy (not for the first time).

We’ll confess we’re very much biased and backing local lad Littler – sue us.

The other Young SPOTY nominees for 2025 include another rising England star in Michelle Agyemang and Northern Superchargers cricket talent, Davina Perrin.

Being hosted over at MediaCityUK in Salford once again, voting will take place during the show on BBC One and the BBC iPlayer on Thursday, 18 December.

Who’s got your backing this year?

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Featured Images — Darts Now (YouTube)/Katie Chan (via WikiCommons)/Raph_PH (via Flickr)

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Manchester residents urged to have their say on want they want the Council to invest in next year

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant Manchester skyline

Residents in Manchester are being urged to have their say on what they want to Council to invest in next year.

Manchester City Council has this week launched a consultation for its upcoming 2026/7 budget, and is asking the people of Manchester what their priorities are for investment in services in the new year.

For those who hadn’t heard, the Government is introducing fairer funding for Councils, which recognises that areas with more challenges need more money – Manchester being one of them – and although final details of the Council’s financial settlement will not be received until later this month, it does mean that it’s anticipated there’ll be more funding available than previously expected. 

As well as protecting vital frontline services with the upcoming budget, the Council says it will also have some scope to invest in ‘making Manchester better’.

Whether this would be improving street cleaning services, supporting youth services and community groups, extending library opening hours, or a variety of other services, the Council says it’s aiming to build on the strong progress made in recent years.

While extra funding will make ‘a very real difference’, the Council says it still has a duty to plan carefully and ensure its impacts are maximised. 

Ongoing value for money and service transformation measures will work to reduce and avoid costs, as it ‘makes sense’ to do this anyway – but crucially, every pound saved will be reinvested in services.  

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Manchester residents are being urged to have their say on want they want the Council to invest in next year / Credit: Benjamin Elliott (via Unsplash)

“How we allocate budgets for our services has long been guided by what Manchester people have told us about their priorities for themselves, their families and friends, their neighbourhoods and their city,” explained Councillor Rabnawaz Akbar, who is the Executive Member for Finance at Manchester City Council.

“As we begin to build back, restoring some of the things which had to be cut previously and looking to the future, we need to hear people’s views again.

“These will shape the final package of proposals for 2026/27.”

Council Leader Bev Craig added: “Crucially, the fact that we will get a three-year financial settlement from Government rather than year-by-year settlements as has previously been the case, means we can plan ahead with real confidence.”

Read more:

Want to take part in the consultation? The consultation is now live and runs until 5pm on 28 January 2026. You can either find out more and complete it online here, or paper copies of the consultation are also available in libraries across the city.

Featured Image – Josh Taylor (via Unsplash)

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