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The ‘happiest’ towns in the UK have been revealed – but Greater Manchester doesn’t feature

It's all thanks to an annual poll by property platform Rightmove.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 24th November 2021

The official list of the happiest places to live in the UK for 2021 have been revealed thanks to an annual poll by property platform Rightmove.

But Greater Manchester is nowhere to be seen.

The ‘Happy at Home’ index – which is now in its 10th year – was conducted using the responses of more than 21,000 people across the UK, who were asked to explain how they feel about where they live.

Respondents were asked to rate several aspects of where they live for the study, such as friendliness, community spirit, nature and green spaces, schools, restaurants, shops, and sports facilities, and were also asked about opportunities locally to develop skills and whether people feel they can be themselves.

The Northumberland market town of Hexham has been named Britain’s happiest place to live this year, after having already claimed the title back in 2019.

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Last year’s number one, St Ives in Cornwall, was eighth in the 2021 rankings.

The top five was rounded out by Richmond-upon-Thames in London, Harrogate in North Yorkshire, Hove on the East Sussex coast, and the Welsh town of Llandrindod Wells, while other North West towns on the 2021 list include Kendal in Cumbria at 14th place, and the nearby Cheshire town of Macclesfield at 15.

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Yet the region of Greater Manchester does not have any representatives within the top 20 list.

According to Rightmove, around a third of this year’s top 20 towns are market towns, while the study also revealed that people living in coastal villages tend to be happiest.

It also found that 69% of people who had moved in the last year have relocated to a new area, with 64% now feeling happier where they live.

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81% of those who moved from a town to a village said they now feel happier.

Top 20 Happiest Places in the UK

  1. Hexham
  2. Richmond-upon-Thames
  3. Harrogate
  4. Hove
  5. Llandrindod Wells
  6. Stirling
  7. Monmouth
  8. St Ives
  9. Anglesey
  10. Leamington Spa
  11. Perth
  12. Hitchin
  13. Woodbridge
  14. Kendal
  15. Macclesfield
  16. Exeter
  17. Salisbury
  18. Horsham
  19. St Albans
  20. Guildford

You can read the full results of the 2021 ‘Happy at Home’ index on Rightmove here.

Featured Image – Flickr (Billy Wilson)

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Rúben Amorim outlines the three key things Manchester United need to work on

Danny Jones Danny Jones Ruben Amorim first pre-match press conference Man United

Rúben Amorim has conducted his first full press conference as Manchester United manager and has outlined the three key things he wants to address when it comes to his new team.

Amorim officially joined Man United on Monday, 11 November after being given a ‘now or never’ which meant he had to leave his former club Sporting CP in the middle of the season.

Replacing Erik ten Hag, who was sacked less than 24 hours after a 2-1 defeat to West Ham and had overseen a run of bad results, the contract extension he was given in the summer ultimately proved obsolete and now the Portuguese head coach must lift his new side from a measly 13th in the table.

That being said, speaking to the media in his first full pre-match presser ahead of his maiden Premier League outing against Ipswich Town this weekend, Amorim has already highlighted three key areas in which he wants United to improve as a matter of priority.

What did Amorim say in his first full Man United press conference?

Although the 39-year-old coach – who is only three years older than resurgent centre-back Johnny Evans – started off by assuring that his main focus at its core is to win the next match (and the one after that, as the football cliché goes), he boiled the current squad issues down to a troublesome trio.

In his eyes, a lot of it just comes down to pure physical effort.

Improve possession

First and foremost, Amorim was quick to point out that United “lose the ball too often” and simply have to retain it more throughout the 90 minutes.

Although they have enjoyed spells of greater control in games, their average possessions stats in the Premier League not only under ten Hag but Ole Gunnar Solskjær and even short-lived interim boss Ralf Rangnick never flirted too far above 50-53%.

While that might sound like the signs of nothing more than a well-contested game, the club need to be looking at much higher numbers if they want to start being a dominant force again.

Track back more

The second area he said that the team desperately needs to improve in is the distances covered per match, especially when it comes to running back towards their own goal and tracking back during defensive phases.

Addressing it in a rather matter-of-fact manner, he told reporters: “We have to be better at running back, I think that is clear for everybody [to see].” He told Gary Neville something very similar in his other recent interview with Sky Sports.

He said it with a smile on his face but it’s clear that he knows there is a narrative surrounding United in recent years that they just don’t work hard enough, both on and off the ball. Having played mainly in the middle of the park for Belenenses, Benfica and SC Braga, running is a non-negotiable.

Focus on the ‘details’ first

Lastly, Amorim said he believes one of the big things he can do for these players is to help them fine-tune the small things. He added that although there is a feeling that fans want there to be “a lot of change” and pressure to make “big” decisions, he reiterated that “it’s the small things.”

The former utility player knows a thing or two about playing in lots of positions and going back to the opening point of his press conference in which he discussed getting the team to believe in “one thing”, he believes that the minute differences can contribute to changing how they approach the game.

There is understandably lots of talk surrounding his trademark 3-4-3 formation and whether these details refer to tactical tweaks, we will see, but he insists that so long as they put in the effort and pay attention to the little stuff, those on the pitch will start to play in the same way that he wants them to.

You can watch his press conference ahead of the Ipswich away this Sunday in full down below:

Amorim was also happy to casually call out those who ‘don’t believe in’ his new players in his first press conference as Man United coach.

Read more:

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — BeanymanSports (via YouTube screenshot)

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Posters around Manchester city centre spark serious rumours Charli XCX is set to headline Parklife 2025

Danny Jones Danny Jones Charli XCX headlining Parklife 2025 rumours

Some pretty big, green posters are popping up around town and, not to get ahead of ourselves, but it looks like they’re hinting at Charli XCX headlining Parklife 2025…

Feel free to lose your bratting minds.

A number of tall, let’s call it ‘apple’ green posters have been sighted in various places across Manchester city centre this Friday, 22 November and the last time we saw this slightly low-resolution, plain black Arial font and colour combo we got a reworked version of Charli XCX’s brat album.

Listen, all we can tell you is that this is almost exactly the same marketing and the letters on the poster simply read, “PL25”. Come on… you do the math(s).

@the.manc Posters have appeared all over Manchester and it looks like a @Charli XCX headline slot at @Parklife Festival is coming. SCREAMING. #themanc #manchester #charlixcx #parklife #mcr #brat ♬ original sound – Saturday Night Live – SNL

Spotting at least two of the posters for ourselves around both Newton and Thomas Street in and around the Northern Quarter, plenty of people have been double-taking at the simple but bold and undeniably eye-catching portrait posters.

Trust us, we weren’t the only ones stopping to take a picture and frantically send them to half of our phonebook either.

Charli herself hasn’t given us any other clues on social media thus far – to be fair, this one feels fairly obvious to us – but it’s well worth keeping your eyes peeled on her stories as she did plenty of teasing before dropping Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat.

Still can’t get over that actually being the title, by the way.

It’s also worth noting that Parklife themselves recently confirmed that festival fans can expect to find out their headliners and the full 2025 lineup very soon. Check out that colour…

Read more:

Oh, who are we kidding? That’s not apple green it’s straight-up BRAT green, b*tch. We’re fully getting carried away and you’ll just have to deal with it.

Even if it somehow turns out she’s not headlining it’s certainly looking like she’s going to be there and it wouldn’t be the first time.

Better yet, fans of the pop sensation won’t have to wait too long to see her right here in Greater Manchester because Charli is bringing her already smash-hit tour to Co-op Live next Wednesday, 27 November and in case you couldn’t tell by all the shouting in capitals, we’re very excited.

Roll on ‘PL25’. Other than Charli XCX, who else would you like to see as your Parklife headliners next summer?

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images – The Manc Group

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