Gary Usher – one of the most celebrated chefs on the North West food scene – is set to star in a new Channel 4 show hitting screens soon.
Presented by Anna Richardson, How to Save a Grand in 24 Hours sees a team of experts help cash-strapped families to cut costs and reduce outgoings “amidst one of the most unpredictable financial periods of our times”, and is set to feature a different family each week.
The families will be given a financial makeover from the “crack team” of specialists.
According to Channel 4, the team will perform a money-saving pincer-movement on every area of the families’ lives, from DIY and home-improvement, to cookery, beauty and lifestyle, and “genius financial tips” will be combined with the practical skills that we all need to keep our bills to a minimum.
The Elite Bistros boss – home to KALA in Manchester city centre, HISPI in Didsbury, and a number of other restaurants across the North West region – will handle the food side of things, sharing tips for cooking affordable, tasty, healthy meals.
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He is well-known for his crowdfunding success, which has helped to finance his restaurant group.
Channel 4
Joining Usher for the task, is Eve Humphreys, who will show the families a series of budget DIY and decorating tips, and Peachy Clean, who will provide organisation hacks, and as the team reveal how to reduce everyday spending and the savings mount up, the clock counts down as they show us “how possible it is to save £1,000 in 24 hours”.
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While often shying away from television and other media appearances, this will be the second Channel 4 show Usher has starred in, following the documentary The Rebel Chef: My Restaurant Revolution in 2019.
Although no official air date has been confirmed for the show as of yet, if Gary’s recent tweets are anything to go by, it should be on screens in the coming weeks.
Speaking ahead of the show’s air, Clemency Green – Commissioning Editor at Channel 4 – said: “I’m so excited to be bringing this brilliant gang together. They’re a crack team who will really help people wrangle their finances and learn some amazing new skills [and] I can’t wait to see them in action.”
Keep your eyes peeled.
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Manchester City announced signing of top Premier League defender Marc Guehi
Danny Jones
It looks like they’ve finally got a done deal: Manchester City have finally announced the transfer of highly sought-after defender Marc Guehi.
Man City reached an agreement with Crystal Palace to sign the increasingly established Three Lions star after emerging as a suitor in recent weeks.
Pep Guardiola’s pursuit of the impressive Premier League centre-back ramped up earlier this month, as it became apparent that they were hoping to hijack Liverpool’s prospective move for Guehi.
The Ivory Coast-born England international looked all set to arrive at Anfield back in the summer, but the deal never materialised, and now rivals City have sealed his signature instead.
Finally confirmed and fully announced on Monday, 19 January, Palace and Man City are said to have reached an agreement in principle for a base fee of approximately £20 million.
However, rumoured add-ons are thought take that total closer to £30m; either way, it’s fair to say that it’s an absolute bargain for a player of his quality.
On the other hand, the acquisition will also see Man City’s total spending reach roughly half a billion pounds over the past year alone. Staggering sums for any sporting outfit.
Not that his former London team will mind one bit, of course, as it became increasingly clear that Guehi would be leaving eventually; manager Oliver Glasner – who also seems set to depart at the end of his contract – even addressed the sale ahead of completion in a recent press conference.
Guehi will wear the number 15 shirt for Man City and has penned a deal until 2031.
With Man City currently facing multiple absences, particularly in their backline with both Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias out injured, Guehi’s arrival is no doubt a welcome one.
Although many debated whether or not Pep needed to sign another centre-half, especially with two promising youth players returning from loan, supporters will nevertheless be glad to have snatched him from the clutches of Liverpool.
Over in the women’s team, they’ve also brought in a new member of the squad who could help spur on their title charge.
Can you see any more deals being down befor the end of the window?
New survey reveals half of Mancs have already given up their new year’s resolutions
Emily Sergeant
We’re into our third week of 2026 now, and according to a new survey, half of Mancs have already ditched their new year’s resolutions.
New year’s resolutions are always made with the best intentions, and it’s not like we intentionally set ourselves up to fail with them, but more often than not, that tends to be the case – and now a new survey of 1,000 Brits carried out over the past few weeks has found that 35% of us have already admitted to giving them up.
That percentage rises to a whopping 50% when narrowed down to the people of Greater Manchester.
Belfast, Bristol, Cardiff, and Glasgow are the other four major cities joining Manchester in the top five list of people in each area that have stopped their 2026 challenge early.
Half of Mancs have apparently already given up their new year’s resolutions / Credit: PICRYL | Pexels
On the other end of the spectrum, it’s the cities of Southampton, Newcastle, and Edinburgh that are staying strong, with just 25%, 26% and 26% giving their new year’s resolutions up respectively, and some of the other northern cities on the list including Liverpool and Leeds.
According to new research from greetings card marketplace, Thortful, more than half of Brits (53%) expect to give up within the first three months of the year – with the hustle of busy schedules, work commitments, families, and social activities being given as reasons why.
When it comes to the reasons people provided for why they’ve given their resolutions up this year, lack of discipline tops the list at 43%, followed by just being too busy to consider them at 21%, and different mental or physical barriers in third place, as well as a change of personal circumstances and a lack of money also cited.
The majority of people cited a lack of discipline as being the reason they gave up / Credit: Andrea Piacquadio (via Pexels)
Looking forward to next year, it seems many of us want to reframe how we set our new year’s resolutions in the future.
According to the research, 32% of respondents want to ‘improve their existing qualities rather than set an unrealistic challenge’ next time around, and 16% ‘feel like there’s social pressure to change in the new year’, when in reality, they ‘don’t have to’.
Emily Sergeant -
8th January 2021 
