Manchester

When I woke up yesterday morning I was stunned because the first words I heard on the radio were:

"I know that some people will only just be waking up to the news of the horrific attacks in Manchester last night. This was a barbaric attack deliberately targeting some of the most vulnerable in our society - young people and children out at a pop concert. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and the victims who have been affected and I know the whole country will share that view."

I raced downstairs to watch the news and discovered, to my horror, that a suicide bomber had detonated an Improvised Explosive Device in the foyer of the Manchester Arena, the city’s biggest concert venue, just minutes after an Ariana Grande concert had finished.

This would be a sickening and evil thing to do normally but in this case it was even worse, if that’s possible because the audience were mainly young people and children. Over the past day or so I’ve watched the news with a heavy heart as events have unfolded. I have seen the faces of children and teenagers in anguish as one of the pop events of their lives, an event that is meant to bring happiness and joy, suddenly became a terrifying real life nightmare.

Amongst the victims were young children, in particular a girl of 8 years old.

8 YEARS OLD!!!

I still don’t know what to say and the horror of what happened is still at the forefront of my mind.

Three weeks ago, my eldest son was at the Manchester Arena watching Iron Maiden. In fact, in the past five years, I have also been there on numerous occasions. It could have happened to any one of us.

I am shocked and upset and my heart goes out to all the victims of this tragedy.

I know exactly where the explosion took place and I know that it would have been really crowded just after the gig had finished. I can barely imagine how people who witnessed the carnage felt.

Knowing Manchester and its people as I do, I was not surprised to discover that people rallied to help.

The police and ambulance service were magnificent.

People heard about the tragedy and drove into the city to see if they could help, offering food and refreshments to the emergency services and people who were clearly distressed.

A hotel opened its doors for those stranded by the event and gave them a room for the night for free.

Taxi drivers took distraught people home for absolutely no charge.

Others gathered up young people and offered them refuge in their own homes until somebody could come and pick them up.

This is what Manchester is and why I love living in my adopted city.

I still cannot fathom why anybody would target such a vulnerable crowd of people. There is no cause on this entire planet that is worthy of such an atrocity.

Since the terrible events of Monday night, the police have made some arrests – in particularly in a suburb called Fallowfield where I used to live and is not far from where I live now.

The city is still shocked but Mancunians will eventually recover – we have done so before after the IRA bomb in 1996 destroyed an area of the city centre. Manchester evolved and grew after that and it will do so again.

We love our city and this will not change a thing.

I will leave you with a poem read out by poet Tony Walsh (known as Longfella) called “This is the Place” which he recited at the vigil following the tragedy yesterday.

This sums up the city and its people perfectly.



Manchester will always be wonderful. Mancunians will always be amazing people.

We will prevail.

Scars Beneath The Skin

I had a shock a couple of months ago. A friend of mine announced that he had written a novel.

I wasn’t surprised by this because I knew that he had been attending a creative writing class for some time. However, the next bit of news floored me; a publisher had accepted the novel.

As happy as I was for him, I was also envious. No, that’s not correct – I was insanely jealous. Why? Because writing a novel and getting it published is one of my ambitions and he has achieved something I dream of doing. Yet I am still delighted for him, so much so that I offered to contribute to his success in a tiny way by posting about his achievement and giving him a little free publicity here.

My friend’s name is Andrew Duggan and his novel is called “Scars Beneath The Skin”.

The inspiration for the novel came from a major incident that occurred on 15th June 1996. I remember the day well. I was at home, getting ready to watch England play Scotland in Euro ’96, a major European football tournament. This was a huge match for everyone in England and Scotland.

The phone rang and it was my mum, who lived in Walsall, sounding rather worried.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

“Sure, why?” I replied.

“A bomb’s gone off in Manchester City Centre,” she said.

I reassured her that my (ex) wife, my two young sons and myself were all fine. I switched on the TV and was totally shocked by what I saw. A massive bomb had exploded in the centre of the city outside the Arndale Centre, a large shopping centre in the heart of the city. The police had received a call from the Irish Republican Army, or IRA, warning about the bomb an hour or so before it exploded. Thankfully the police recognised a codeword used by the IRA and took the threat seriously enough to start clearing the area. Bomb disposal experts had begun their examination of a suspect van when it exploded. Thankfully, and incredibly, nobody was killed. Two hundred people were injured.

You can read about the bomb here and here

Andy was downstairs in a record store when the explosion occurred and when he left he found himself in the vicinity of the devastated city centre, close enough to witness the aftermath of the incident first hand. It had a profound effect on him, inspiring him to write about the experience ultimately turning it into “Scars Beneath The Skin”.

But don’t take my word for it; you can hear Andy talking about the experience in an interview with BBC Radio Manchester (by clicking here).

The book is released on May 1st and will be launched in Manchester City Centre on 3rd June at the Central Library at 18:30.

I will of course be attending with Mrs PM, where I hope to enjoy a glass of wine and get a free signed copy of the book (only kidding Andy, though if you are feeling generous …). I am also, of course, looking forward to reading the book.

Details of where you can buy the book can be found here.

You can also find details about Andy and his book here.

As for my own aspirations, I have actually written two books myself. Unfortunately they are travelogues that are too personal (and too amateurish) to see the light of day. The first is a chronicle of my exploits on a two week trip to China in 1999; the second was a gift for Mrs PM’s mother for taking us to Australia and recounts our experiences on that trip. I may post a few excerpts to let you judge for yourself. No publisher would be interested unfortunately.

If I want to follow in Andy’s footsteps I will have to knuckle down, find some time, defeat procrastination and just get going.

I will also probably have to learn to write something better than the hogwash I frequently post on this blog.