The mother of one of the Manchester Arena attack victims has this week graduated with a Masters degree in Counter Terrorism.
After two years of study, 60-year-old Figen Murray – whose son Martyn Hett was one of 22 people killed in the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing – has gained an MSc in Counter Terrorism, and graduated on Wednesday with a distinction from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).
Figen said she completed the degree to try and understand why her son was killed.
“When my son was killed in a terrorist attack, I remember clearly thinking ‘you kill my baby, you watch what I am going to do!’ [and] at the time, I had no idea what shape or form that would take, but I simply took the murder of my son very personally, and it became an issue between me and terrorism,” she explained.
Graduating today after two years studying my Masters in Counterterrorism. This one's for you, Martyn!💞
She continued: “Martyn would not want me to be angry and bitter, but I quickly realised I knew absolutely nothing about terrorism.
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“I didn’t understand why people would be so angry to resort to blowing themselves up and take others with them [and] I wondered what made them so cross with humanity so, I had the need to find the answers to so many questions around terrorism.”
Originally from Stockport, Figen worked full-time as a psychotherapist in private practice until the day of the Arena attack.
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But when she went to UCLan’s Preston Campus to give a talk to the students there, she had a conversation with course leaders Jim Bonworth and Ian Palmer, and she soon realised she wanted to enrol on to the two-year course herself.
Figen’s son, Martyn Hett, was one of 22 people killed in the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing / Credit: Martyn Hett
“I found the first year very interesting as we were given so much information about the historic background,” she continued.
“Sometimes it was difficult to sit through, say if there were photos of an attack or a major crime scene, I had to look away and try to ground myself in those moments, but I was determined not to leave the classroom.
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“I always thought ‘Bring it on! I can do this!’ [and] there were thankfully only a few of those tricky moments.”
Figen Murray, mother of Martyn Hett, has graduated from the University of Central Lancashire with with an MSc Counter Terrorism today, after her son was tragically killed in the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing.
What’s even more impressive is that Figen managed to combine her course work with attending the Old Bailey trial of Hashem Abedi – the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber – and with the ongoing Manchester Arena Inquiry too.
“I am obviously very thrilled to have graduated but I cannot believe I managed to complete it due to my circumstances,” she admitted.
Figen – who publicly forgave bomber Salman Abedi less than a month after the attack to “break the cycle of hate that existed” – is now aiming to reach more young people with talks about the dangers of online radicalisation, and is campaigning the government for the introduction of ‘Martyn’s Law’, which will mandate security at public venues instead of having it as a recommendation.
“To have passed with a distinction is something I cannot even comprehend as I have been in a constant state of emotional stress throughout the two years I was on the course,” she concluded.
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“I guess it was due to sheer grit and determination.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Benson Boone has announced a headline gig in Manchester – and it’s a big one
Danny Jones
American pop sensation and unrivalled king of unnecessary front flips, Benson Boone, has just announced his first-ever headline Manchester arena gig as part of a new arena tour.
The solo artist and acrobatic chart-topper has seen a meteoric rise in the US and, as is usually the case across the Atlantic, he’s become increasingly popular over here too.
Benson may have performed here in Manchester before as part of the 2024 MTV EMAs and for a small show at The Deaf Institute, but now big fans have the added Boone of getting to watch a standalone show at one of Europe’s leading indoor entertainment venues.
Announced on Friday, 30 May, the 22-year-old will be making his way across the pond from Washington for a limited run of UK concerts, with a date at Co-op Live arena being one of just five dates.
Extending his ‘American Heart Tour’ ahead of the release of his eponymous sophomore record, with this autumn leg, Co-op Live will mark his individual visit to 0161.
The Grammy-nominated artist has earned several nods of recognition already for his first album, Fireworks & Rollerblades, which was released just last spring.
He has been described as among the current trend of male singers who fit into the American Idol and ‘Voice audition pop’ genre (a term recently coined online), along with the likes of Teddy Swims, Shawn Mendes, Alex Warren and others.
Regardless of the slightly tongue-in-cheek term, he’s become a huge hit around the world and landing him is still a big coup for the venue that has already welcomed similarly massive pop contemporaries like Swims, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo and more.
In case you’re wondering just how big a deal he is over in the States, even this early in his career, his domestic headline dates sold out in seconds, quite literally…
The last time he visited Co-op Live was to perform at the most recent MTV EMAs
Benson Boone is coming to Manchester on Monday, 27 October and will be playing just two other British venues: The O2 in London (two nights) and the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
Safe to say you don’t want to miss this one if you like soaring vocals and lots of flipping.
General admission tickets go live at 10am on Thursday, 5 June, but Co-op Members can gain access via the arena’s official pre-sale window from the same time on Tuesday (3 Jun).
Emily Sergeant -
17th December 2021 
