The Mancunian Way: ‘If they can say sorry, why can't you?'
Peter Tatchell wants an apology - and not the first time.
In fact, the LGBT activist has been calling for Greater Manchester Police to apologise for past 'homophobic witch-hunts' for two years.
In particular he says former chief constable James Anderton - nicknamed 'God's copper' - left an indelible mark on the force's reputation with gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans people.
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But current chief constable Stephen Watson says an apology could be seen as 'merely performative'.
Anderton's views on homosexuality are well known. At the height of the AIDS crisis, the devout Christian denounced gay people as 'swirling in a human cesspit of their own making'.
Tatchell says the force under Anderton 'became synonymous with open hostility towards the LGBT+ community' and claims he directed officers to 'illegally harass gay venues' - including a notorious raid by 23 police officers on Napoleon's bar in 1984.
The human rights activist is calling for an apology for the 'abusive and often unlawful manner' in which now-repealed homophobic laws were enforced.
This isn't ancient history. We're talking about police action less than 40 years ago. Many of those who felt the brunt of Anderton's words and actions are still alive today. Tatchell says a formal apology would be 'an important act of healing'.
But Chief Constable Watson says that while he is 'of course sorry' that police bodies prior to the GMP's foundation in 1974 'didn't always perform to the standards deserved by those whom we serve', it would 'nevertheless be quite unjust for me as the current Chief Constable to cast some sort of sweeping assertion as to the general conduct of the force over a prolonged period of time'.
In a letter to Tatchell dated in April, he says 'virtually no serving officer in the entire force can speak to the period with any personal knowledge' and an apology would make 'little or no difference'.
It's a point our LGBT+ writer Adam Maidment simply can't accept.
'By not apologising, we're sort of at a cross-roads where progress in certain areas just can't, and won't, be made,' he says in this illuminating comment piece.
'With Mr Watson refusing to apologise and starting the efforts to firmly strike a line through past behaviour, the wound is still there - it's basically just being left to fester.
'How are we to feel like the police force is truly behind us as a community with that remaining?'
In total, 21 police forces have apologised for similar past wrongs, including the Metropolitan Police, Police Scotland and Merseyside Police.
Tatchell says apologies are 'acts of justice' which affirm that change has occurred.
His ongoing question to Mr Watson is: 'If they can say sorry, why can't you?'
Earlier this month reporter Nicole Wootton-Cane revealed that convicted paedophile Todros Grynhaus had been allowed to live opposite a children's play area.
Nicole and reporter Stephen Topping have now discovered that Grynhaus owns the house next door, which was rented out on Airbnb and Booking.com.
According to Land Registry documents the property is owned by a company called Heywood Investments Ltd with Grynhaus listed as a director of the company, alongside his wife, Leah Grynhaus, who is also listed as company secretary. There are no other listed directors for the company.
Airbnb has since taken the listing down from its website and suspended an account which hosted the property. Booking.com has also now removed the listing.
You can read the full investigation here.
The independent experts who Andy Burnham appointed to his local grooming gangs inquiry resigned after authorities 'lawyered up', a Parliamentary committee has heard.
Baroness Louise Casey said authorities in Greater Manchester initially refused to share data with Mr Burnham's review.
And she told MPs on Tuesday (June 17) that 'they were all lawyering up' to fight over what information would be shared and by whom.
Jo Timan has the details here.
Years of setbacks, billions of pounds splurged, and a devastating blow to the North announced in a former Manchester railway station.
HS2 is a long way from the vision first proposed by the last Labour government 16 years ago.
Now Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander says there is 'no reasonable way to deliver' the high-speed railway on schedule and within budget.
Reporter Stephen Topping explains the background here.
When What' s On editor Jenna Campbell bought a family-sized portion of lasagna off the internet, she suddenly feared she had been scammed.
Something about the sign outside Miss Lasagna, on Gorton Road, made her pause. And ordering via WhatsApp also confused her.
But her fears were assuaged on meeting Frederica, a Roman who told her all about her time feeding traditional Italian food to Mancunians.
When Jenna took her lasagne home, it was eaten in absolute silence - 'a sign that the food is good'.
You can read her full review here.
Thursday: Get in the shade and don't forget your suncream, it's going to be sunny all day and 28C.
Roads: A572 St Helens Road southbound, Leigh, closed due to roadworks from A578 Twist Lane to Bonnywell Road. Until June 30.
A6 Chapel Street westbound, Salford, closed due to long-term roadworks from A6041 Blackfriars Road to A34 New Bailey Street. Until January 19.
Hub: Wythenshawe Civic Centre's former Co-op department store is set to become the town's new Culture Hub. It will house food and drink spots at ground level; studio spaces for workshops, events, and artists on the first floor; and a 200-seater theatre on the second storey. More here.
Extended: The Greater Manchester Housing Investment Loans Fund will continue despite a High Court battle. The fund, which loaned £1bn to property developers, closed to new applications earlier this year, as always planned. But on Tuesday (June 17), the government confirmed it will re-open and extend the fund 'to deliver thousands of new homes over the next ten years' as part of its push to build 1.5m properties. Details here.
Dumped: Cars, fridges, and mattresses are among items being dumped next to a Stockport landmark hoping to get World Heritage status. Residents in Marple say three areas around the town's historic canal locks and the River Goyt have become dumping grounds for rubbish and larger items. More here.
HMOs: Bolton council has agreed new rules to control the number of homes being converted into rental properties for multiple tenants. In 2021, the borough had 117 houses of multiple occupation (HMO), but by the end of last year there were 720. Details here.
He's one of the best known voices in rock n' roll and one of the most famous faces in music - but Liam Gallagher is more than just a music icon. He is a thinker, a philosopher - a Descartes for our times.
If you ever need sage counsel, you need only look to Liam.
As we all prepare to see Oasis take to the stage again for the first time in years, I've been looking at some of Liam's wittiest one liners and best pieces of advice.
You can read them all here.
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Miami Herald
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‘Warm smile, kind heart': Family, friends mourn woman killed in Wynwood shooting
Evelyn Valdes rang in her 28th birthday in classic Miami fashion. Though the occasion took place days earlier, she took to Wynwood's club-lined streets Saturday to celebrate with friends under the blacklights of hotspots like 1-800-Lucky and Mayami Wynwood. Hours later, as last-call patrons trickled out onto the street, she was caught in a deadly crossfire between police officers and an armed man, cutting her life short. At around 3 a.m., cops in the area 'confronted' a man with a gun along Northwest First Court and 23rd Street before 'shots were fired,' Miami Police spokesperson Officer Mike Vega told the Miami Herald in an email. The gunfire hit both Valdes and the armed man, who were transported to Jackson Memorial's Ryder Trauma Center and pronounced dead, he confirmed. Whether Valdes was killed by police gunfire or the armed man is still unclear as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the lead agency for police-involved shootings, continues to investigate. 'Evelyn lived every moment to the fullest, capturing life's beauty with unyielding passion,' reads a statement released by the attorney of Kristy Garcia, Valdes' mother, on Tuesday. 'Her absence leaves a void that words cannot describe.' The 28-year-old was identified by Garcia before authorities through a GoFundMe page that she organized. In a note posted with the fundraiser for her funeral, the mom described her as 'not the intended target, just an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire' and said she was remembered for her 'warm smile, kind heart, and the way she could bring light into any room.' According to the Valdes family, Evelyn loved the ocean, had a sharp sense of humor and had recently come to the Christian faith. To her family — who knew her as 'Titi Evelyn' or 'Nana' — she spearheaded many academic firsts. Valdes grew up a Homestead local in the halls of the Medical Academy for Science and Technology, becoming the first high school graduate in her household in 2015. Her friend Michelle Trujillo, who attended MAST with the 28-year-old, shared on the social media platform that their after school routine consisted of Valdes 'walking past my house and stopping by to say hi on her way home.' She went on to complete a bachelor's and master's degree in social work at Barry University, graduating in 2023 after 'trials and tribulations, sleepless nights, lots of studying, and a couple of humbling hick-ups,' as one of her Facebook posts reads. Her account shows her to be an avid concertgoer who enjoyed traveling to places like South Carolina, Louisiana and the Bahamas. After finishing her studies, Valdes dedicated her talents to advocating for child victims of abuse and neglect at a local nonprofit, her family shared. To honor her, they say, answers are needed. 'We demand answers about the night that stole her from us and we also demand accountability from those involved,' reads the Valdes' statement. 'With limited information available, we plead for the community—near and far—to come forward with any details, including witness accounts, photos, videos, or social media posts, that could clarify the events leading to this tragedy.' Loved ones of the second victim, the armed man, are making similar requests. Though authorities haven't confirmed, family members are identifying him as 30-year-old Norman Lindo Jr. Saddened friends of his, like Tazzy Redd, are calling Saturday's shooting into question. Saying Lindo was the little brother of her kids' godmother, she took to Facebook asking community members to send in any video footage of the incident, saying 'We just really need to know what happened because we don't know.' Answers from authorities could come once the investigation is complete since 'FDLE as a routine does not comment or provide additional information,' on active investigations, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement told the Miami Herald in an email. 'Our family is overwhelmed with heartbreak, grief, anger, and countless unanswered questions,' read the Valdes' statement. 'The details surrounding that fateful night remain sparse, leaving us desperate for truth and accountability to honor Evelyn's memory.'
New York Times
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Kennedy's Purge Is a ‘Code Red' for Vaccines in America
'Some people believe that the term anti-vaxxer is a pejorative,' the physician Robert Malone wrote on June 9. 'I do not — I view it as high praise.' Early in the pandemic, Malone campaigned for treatment with ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine and against mRNA vaccines, which he described as 'causing a form of' AIDS, though he later admitted he received the Moderna vaccine to treat his own long Covid. In 2021, Malone circulated a 2013 video of a high school athlete collapsing on the football field, blaming coronavirus vaccination for the death before he was served with a cease-and-desist letter from the family. More recently, he dismissed as 'misinformation' news reports attributing the deaths of two girls in Texas to measles, blaming not vaccine refusal but 'medical errors,' and last fall published a book, 'PsyWar,' claiming that between the C.I.A. and Department of Defense, the United States maintains 'reality-bending information control capabilities' and that much of federal government's business is conducted via sexual favor. 'The term 'anti-vaxxer,'' he repeated June 9, 'it is not a slur, but a compliment.' Two days later, he was appointed to the advisory board that steers America's vaccine policy. Richard Nixon conducted his 'Saturday night massacre,' back in 1973, when one after another federal prosecutor refused to withdraw a subpoena of the White House tapes. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, staged his night of the long knives a week ago Monday, firing all 17 members of the vaccine advisory board, called the A.C.I.P., in one fell swoop — a historically unprecedented action and one that broke an explicit promise he made to Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana and a physician, as a condition of his confirmation as secretary. The epidemiologist and immunologist Michael Mina called Kennedy's move a 'code red' for vaccines in America. None of the A.C.I.P. advisers were warned or had their firings explained; they had to read the news in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that accused them of 'malevolent malpractice.' Cassidy, who dodged questions from reporters on the subject, was left sputtering on X: 'Of course, now the fear is that the A.C.I.P. will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion.' Malone, whose appointment to the board hadn't yet been announced, posted proudly, 'Promises made, promises kept.' The new appointees are not all fully committed skeptics — though, beyond Malone, they include several people who have testified in lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers, as well as a longstanding board member for an anti-vaccine nonprofit and an M.I.T. business-school professor who has been publicly describing mRNA vaccines as mass killers since 2023. (The choices also include a nutritional scientist focused on fatty acids in the brain and a founder of a biotech company without a single piece of published research to his name.) The new group fails to include experts on any diseases that vaccines prevent. Or experts on vaccines themselves. Or experts on infectious-disease epidemiology. Or experts on clinical trials. 'We've taken people who had expertise and fired them for a bogus reason,' says the University of Pennsylvania vaccinologist Paul Offit, a former member of the A.C.I.P. and the creator of the rotavirus vaccine. In their place have been installed what the bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel, also of the University of Pennsylvania, described to me as 'vaccine skeptics.' Offit calls them, more pointedly, 'purveyors of disinformation.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
WIRED
4 hours ago
- WIRED
The Minnesota Shooting Suspect's Background Suggests Deep Ties to Christian Nationalism
Jun 18, 2025 2:54 PM Experts say that the suspect showed clear ties to forms of so-called charismatic Christianity that views abortion as a sacrifice to demons and seeks the end of secular democracy. The man who prosecutors have charged with assassinating Melissa Hortman, a Democratic Minnesota state representative, and her husband Mark Hortman, once said in a sermon that his religious awakening came when he was 17 years old, working next to a man who 'talked about God all of the time' at a vegetable canning factory. Over the next four decades of alleged shooter Vance Boelter's life, while working in the food industry, local government, and private security, his religious worldview appeared to incorporate fringe theological ideas that are often associated with so-called charismatic Christianity and Christian Nationalism, a movement that's captured the American religious right, has been seen as a key driver behind the January 6 Capitol riot, and currently enjoys an outsized influence on current Trump administration personnel and policy. Charismatic Christianity is a broad movement of evangelical Christians who are associated with belief in modern supernatural experiences, like speaking in tongues, divine healing and prophesy. Independent Charismatic Christians seek to exert influence over all aspects of life, from culture to politics. Independent Charismatic Christianity, which encompasses the 'NAR,' or New Apostolic Reformation, has been described as the bedrock of Christian nationalism. NAR is an extreme Christian supremacist network that aims to dismantle the secular state, which it sees as demonic, and transform its institutions in accordance with Christian law. Experts tell WIRED that there are several links from the suspect's religious background to Christian nationalism that could explain why he allegedly targeted lawmakers and pro-abortion advocates. WIRED has also confirmed that the suspect attended a bible school in Dallas that was attended by several controversial figures from the world of Christian nationalism. 'Vance Boelter, from everything I have read and heard, would clearly be a Christian nationalist,' claims Michael Emerson, the Baker Institute's Chavanne Fellow in religion and public policy at Rice University. 'He found the perspectives and policies of the liberal left egregious, viewing such people and their work as anti-Christian and anti-God. They were harming the vision of a truly Christian identity and nation.' WIRED previously reported that the 57-year-old alleged shooter has been affiliated with at least one evangelical organization, serving for a time as the president of Revoformation Ministries. A version of the ministry's website captured in 2011 carries a biography in which he is said to have been ordained in 1993. According to a tax filing reviewed by WIRED, he ran the ministry with his wife. He moonlighted as a religious pastor part of Pentecostal congregations, and participated in missions preaching around the world, including in Gaza and the West Bank, according to an archived website for Revoformation. He also gave several sermons in the Democratic Republic of Congo in recent years. 'Many churches in America didn't listen to Jesus,' the alleged shooter said in a 2023 sermon in the Democratic Republic of Congo viewed by WIRED. 'And the enemy, the devil, comes through and rips everything apart. The churches are so messed up, they don't know abortion is wrong, many churches.' In other sermons, the alleged shooter talked about the LGBTQ community, saying, 'There's people, especially in America, they don't know what sex they are. They don't know their sexual orientation. They're confused … The enemy has gotten so far into their mind and their soul.' The alleged shooter also said 'God is going to raise up apostles and prophets in America' in one of the sermons. It's that language in particular, experts tell WIRED, that connects him to the world of charismatic Christianity. 'Everything that I've seen indicates that he's charismatic,' says Matthew Taylor, senior scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies in Baltimore and author of The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy . 'The supernatural, talking about the gifts of the holy spirit, while using a very pentecostal style of discourse in his preaching.' Abortion in the independent charismatic Christian movement is often characterized as a demonic practice. Police say the car that the alleged shooter abandoned contained a lengthy hit list of Democratic lawmakers, abortion providers, and outspoken abortion advocates in the state. Charismatic Christians often talk about abortion in terms of 'child sacrifice to demons,' says Taylor. 'I don't think it's hard to see how someone could get radicalized around that language,' he alleges. The alleged shooter's now-deleted Facebook profile also showed that he had 'liked' a page for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal advocacy organization known for its hardline stances against abortion and LGBTQ rights. 'This signals at least a right-wing anti-abortion conviction,' says Taylor. David Carlson, who has known the alleged shooter since fourth grade and described the 57-year-old as his best friend, told reporters that the alleged shooter was a Trump supporter, 'very conservative,' and would be offended if anyone suggested otherwise. (In the aftermath of the shooting, however, far-right influencers including people like Elon Musk sought to blame leftists and the Deep State.) It's likely, according to Taylor, that the alleged shooter's theological ideas were rooted in his time at the Christ for the Nations Institute, a charismatic Bible college in Dallas, Texas he claimed to spend some time at, according to a biography on the archived Revoformation website. Taylor claims that a number of prominent figures in the independent charismatic Christian movement have deep ties to or attended the institute. Dutch Sheets, a NAR pastor who popularized the 'Appeal to Heaven' flag waved by Christian nationalists and rioters on January 6, 2021, graduated from the institute in 1978, and worked as an adjunct professor therein the late 1980s and early 1990s; he later briefly returned as an instructor in 2012. Cindy Jacobs, an avid supporter of Trump who has been described as one of the most influential prophets in America, settled in Dallas in the 1980s, and according to Taylor, was regularly on the institute's campus lecturing or guest-teaching. The suspected shooter was enrolled at the Institute from 1988 to 1990, which means he could have overlapped with some of those figures. When WIRED contacted the Institute, they directed our query to a statement saying it 'unequivocally rejects, denounces, and condemns any and all forms of violence and extremism, be it politically, racially, religiously or otherwise motivated.' The statement also said that they were 'aghast and horrified' that an alumnus of an Institute was a suspect in the Minnesota shootings. 'This is not who we are. This is not what we teach.' Jacobs and Sheets did not respond to requests for comment. Journalist Jeff Sharlet, in an essay published to his Substack called 'Scenes from a Slow Civil War' following the Minnesota shootings, recalls a recent visit to the institute where he saw a quote by the school's founder printed in the lobby: 'Everyone ought to pray at least one violent prayer each day.' (In its statement, the Institute said the slogan had been misinterpreted: 'By 'violent prayer,' they say, the founder 'meant that a Christian's prayer-life should be intense, fervent, and passionate, not passive and lukewarm.) Although independent charismatic Christians don't directly call for adherents to take matters into their own hands, they do see themselves as soldiers in the primordial battle of 'spiritual warfare,' where demonic forces can only be overcome by prayer and carrying out God's will. 'This binary good versus evil worldview transforms democratic politics into a deadly version of the board game Risk, where geographic territory, institutions, and leaders have come under the sway of Satan,' says Robert Jones, president and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute. 'They are not political opponents or neighbors with whom we disagree; they are literally the instruments of evil.' 'The logic is straightforward,' says Emerson. 'If Christian nationalism is to be realized, those of different faiths or no faith do not belong. They either must be converted, silenced, or expelled.' And Taylor notes that, for example, 'the people who participated in J6 were overwhelmingly in [Christian] charismatics; they would say they were doing God's will' because 'God had revealed that Donald Trump was anointed for another term.' The alleged shooter, too, may have seen himself as one of those soldiers. According to a criminal complaint filed Monday, Boelter texted his family after the killings, writing 'Dad went to war last night..I don't wanna say more because I don't wanna implicate anybody.' The suspect was captured late Sunday. In an affidavit filed after the arrest, police say he disguised himself in a rubber mask, wore a police uniform complete with a badge and a taser, and drove a car that had been customized to look like a local police cruiser. In addition to allegedly shooting and killing Hortman and her husband early Saturday morning, he also allegedly shot state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman. Hoffman and his wife Yvette survived despite being shot multiple times. David Gilbert contributed reporting.
