With a new month now underway, many of us are reflecting back on what felt like one of the longest and dreariest Januarys on record.
Ongoing restrictions, school closures, and non-essential retail and hospitality shut-downs have meant that England’s third national lockdown amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hasn’t exactly given us much to cheer about.
But all of the doom and gloom of the past year is what prompted one mother-daughter duo to take their love for all things Christmas and “have a bit of fun while things are crazy”.
Charlotte Barker, 25, and her mum Sharon, 50, – both from Manchester, and both nurses at Manchester Royal Infirmary – are clinging onto the festive season and combatting the new year blues with a project that will see them keep their beloved Christmas tree up all year round, but with a twist.
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Instead of the traditional decorations you’d expect to see at Christmas, their tree will take on a new, seasonal theme each month.
The two “tree fairies” have even started an Instagram account – @notjustforchristmas_ – to lift spirits by documenting the beautifully-decorated trees each month, and it’s already picking up new fans from throughout the local community and across the country each day.
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While Charlotte and Sharon have plans to continue decorating their tree right through to December of this year, the pair actually got a head-start in 2020 by kicking things off at Halloween.
“We love doing our Christmas tree,” Charlotte told us.
“[We usually] start planning our colours for them six months before Christmas, and we made a Halloween tree for the first time [last year], which we loved”.
February’s themed tree has, of course, taken inspiration from the celebration of love itself, Valentine’s Day – with the tree covered head to toe in love hearts, tinsel, and plenty of other themed pink and red decorations – but with another 10 months of the year left to go, what else do they have in store?
“So we have a few ideas lined up,” Charlotte admitted.
“Such as St Patrick’s Day [for March], Easter [for April], and a summer holiday theme [too, but we are] still planning other themes.
“We want to try and do a nurse themed one for National Nurses Day in May too”.
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While the pair seem to have plenty of ideas in the pipeline to give their increasing fanbase something to look forward to, they’re always on the look-out for inspiration, with Charlotte adding: “If anyone has ideas for themes, please let us know”.
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To take a look at all of the trees so far, show your support, and follow along with Charlotte and Sharon’s journey, head on over to their Instagram here.
And don’t forget to suggest some future themes for them too.
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Football Manager 25 has been officially cancelled following delays
Danny Jones
Beloved videogame simulator Football Manager 25 has been officially cancelled following continued delays.
The long-standing game where players take control as virtual managers of football teams has been a mainstay of digital sporting entertainment for more than three decades.
Developed by London-based studio Sports Interactive and published by gaming giants SEGA, the game hasn’t missed a single season since it began life as Championship Manager back in 1992.
However, following two significant delays to this year’s title, Sports Interactive have confirmed that Football Manager 25 has now been cancelled, despite countless pre-orders having already been made.
While the news doesn’t come as a total surprise, with FM25 having first been delayed ahead of its initial November 2024 release date and then moved again to March 2025, many fans would
The statement reads: “Sports Interactive [SI] regret to inform that, following extensive internal discussion and careful consideration with SEGA, we have made the difficult decision to cancel Football Manager 25 and shift our focus to the next release.
“For the large numbers of you who pre-ordered FM25, we thank you enormously for your trust and support – we’re very sorry to have let you down. Please see the FAQs below on obtaining your refund.
“We know this will come as a huge disappointment, especially given that the release date has already moved twice, and you have been eagerly anticipating the first gameplay reveal. We can only apologise for the time it has taken to communicate this decision.
“Due to stakeholder compliance, including legal and financial regulations, today was the earliest date that we could issue this statement.”
Insisting that they pride themselves on “delivering the best value for money games that bring you countless hours of enjoyment”, they simply didn’t feel like they were able to release the latest FM title to a good enough standard in its current state following playtesting.
They go on to add that ahead of working on this, the studio undertook the “biggest technical and visual advancement in the series for a generation, laying the building blocks for a new era”, hence why the significant delays. The news has been met with mixed reactions, to say the least.
Don’t worry only gotta wait till November!!! Only in February FFS
— Out of Context Football Manager (@nocontextfm1) February 7, 2025
You can read the statement in full HERE, in which they also rationalise that it simply no longer made sense or felt fair to expect people to buy FM25 when it was ready only to purchase the next instalment later in the year.
Fortunately, with regular updates as well as community mods and patches to the current Football Manager (FM24 was released back in November 2023), loyal fans have been more understanding about the delays and now the cancellation.
SI signed off by stating: “Through the cancellation, every effort is now focused on ensuring that our next release achieves our goal and hits the quality level we all expect. We will update you on how we are progressing with that as soon as we are able to do so.
“Thank you for reading, your patience and your continued support. Our full focus now returns to creating a new era for Football Manager.”
Lighting a candle for the people who collect a physical copy of every Football Manager, with no FM25 their collections will be ruined forever. pic.twitter.com/M1S5LiLJtQ
A Greater Manchester Wetherspoons has been revealed as ‘one of the UK’s most beloved pubs’
Danny Jones
Whatever you make of them, Wetherspoons remains the biggest pub chain in the UK and millions of Brits drink in them every week; in fact, as it turns out, one of their Greater Manchester locations has just been revealed as ‘one of the most beloved pubs’ in the country.
The J D Wetherspoon name is one you’ll typically see at least once if not more in most towns and cities and given that they boast more than 800 across the UK and Ireland, their dominance of the UK drinking scene remains pretty steadfast.
Although many have railed against the massive franchise over the past few years, with thousands famously flocking to use the ‘Neverspoons’ app within just a week of its launch back in 2020, an estimated 20.5 million visit every six months.
The point being, ‘Where is the nearest Spoons?’ is a very common query online and punters still regularly search for them on Google Maps – quite literally, as it happens, as the latest data from the tech giants has revealed just how popular one particular Manchester location is. Drum roll, please…
Marking 20 years of Google Maps’, those behind the website and app pooled together their stats on the best-loved pubs nationwide and, yes, Manchester’s very own Moon Under The Water managed to make the top 20.
The busy Deansgate boozer, famous for rowdy weekends and being one of if not the only Wetherspoons we know of that includes a built-in dancefloor (perhaps the only one full stop) is certainly a memorable watering hole – provided you don’t drink so much you struggle to recollect much of anything.
Whilst we’re on the subject of Wetherspoons, they actually take up half of the list with various venues up and down the country, including four of the top five.
Other names that made the cut were Waxy O’Connor’s London, which once had a space in Manchester’s Printworks; England’s so-called oldest pub, the Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem in Nottingham, as well as few other storied London public houses.
For context, this list was compiled strictly by using data directly from the search engine. The top spots are based on places that have the most reviews and a rating over 4.0 stars on Google Maps and those locations were then calculated by the number of reviews and average review rating taken into account.
The main bar areaThe view from above looking down onto the dancefloorIt is the biggest and one of the most frequented Wetherspoons in all of Greater Manchester. (Credit: The Manc Group)
We’ll admit, of all the brilliant Manchester pubs and bars we know and love, we were quite expecting to see a simple Spoons beating them all out on the list.
Meanwhile, as part of the wider 20th-anniversary round-ups, Google also shared the likes of ‘best’/most-searched restaurants in the country, as well as some of the most popular Italian spots.
The only nod Greater Manchester received was among dining spots, with Turtle Bay’s Northern Quarter venue coming in at number 10.
So, what do you reckon then: are you a fan of Spoons and, more specifically, The Moon Under Water, or do you only support independent pubs and bars?