Latest news with #Dicker
Yahoo
06-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Former New York Post editorial page editor Bob McManus dead at 81: ‘A journalist's journalist'
Bob McManus, the wry and eminently fair voice of the New York Post for over a decade, died Saturday at NYU Langone Hospital. He was 81. McManus was a Postie for 29 years — the last 12 as the influential editorial page editor, where government waste, public and private corruption, and hypocrisy in all its forms felt the 'pain of his withering gaze,' as the paper noted when he retired in 2013. 'He was a journalist's journalist,' said former Post state editor Fredric U. Dicker. McManus died three days short of his 82nd birthday of complications from bile duct cancer, his family said. Robert LaVelle McManus Jr. was born in Buffalo, the oldest of nine siblings to Robert L. McManus Sr. and Jeanette Manning. He was introduced to journalism early in life by his father, an award-winning reporter at Binghamton and Albany newspapers who went on to become a top aide and press secretary for the late Gov. Nelson Rockefeller. 'Bob had memories of going to work with his dad on Saturdays,' said Mary McManus, his wife of 24 years. 'Newspapers were in his blood.' McManus was raised in Binghamton and, after a bout with polio at 12, moved to Albany with his family. He graduated Vincentian Institute high school, where by his own admission he was 'academically undistinguished,' his wife said. He was always a hard worker — in high school he finagled a full-time job as manager of the 'pets and plants' department at W.T. Grants department store while a student. After graduation he enlisted in the US Navy and served four years — first on a destroyer, the USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., and then on a submarine, the USS Sablefish. He was proud of his time in the highly-selective 'silent service,' and was a member of the NYC Base of the United States Submarine Veterans. He returned to Albany, and got his first crack at the news business, as a copy boy at the morning Times Union, while he took classes at Siena College. He quickly moved up the ranks to become an award-winning investigative reporter, exposing corruption and malfeasance on topics like snow removal and Medicaid, friends and family recalled. Longtime friend EJ McMahon, an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, described McManus' writing style as 'pithy amalgam of Damon Runyon, Raymond Chandler and Red Smith.''He was the last of a dying breed in what's left of journalism — underneath the editorial writer and columnist was an old-school, no-nonsense reporter, a stickler for accuracy and fairness.' He became the Albany paper's city editor and projects editor in the 1970s before being persuaded in 1984 by Dicker to move to Manhattan and join the New York Post's editorial page. In 2000, he was named editorial page editor. McManus was 'always after the truth, and never let his personal views, or his abiding cynicism, get in the way of that pursuit,' Dicker said. The month before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, McManus ran an editorial thundering that Washington was fundamentally ignoring al Qaeda despite escalating attacks. With Ground Zero still burning, he felt obliged to postpone his wedding for a month, recalled his successor, current Post Editorial Page Editor Mark Cunningham. 'Bob was a pro; a sharp classic dresser; an avid reader all across his ridiculously wide range of interests; a guy who loved to craft a good line; a man who cared about the truth and despised phonies; always aware that our mission is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable,' recalled Cunningham. He especially 'loved' giving opinions about George Pataki's 12-year tenure as governor, and was sometimes quick to needle Pataki by inserting 'blah, blah, blah' whenever writing editorials discussing the administration's rationale on state policy issues, recalled his wife. 'Bob loved politicians,' Mary McManus said. 'He found them very interesting, whether they're Democrat or Republican, and people did consider him to be fair even though he wrote editorials.' Longtime Post editor and columnist Steve Cuozzo called McManus his 'Irish 'rabbi.'' 'He knew every living and no-longer-living soul in Albany, including Nelson Rockefeller, and his deep knowledge of government at all levels informed his every editorial and opinion piece,' he said. 'His time on a U.S. Navy submarine instilled in him a profound strength and discipline, but he was also a kind and witty man beloved by his colleagues. . . . We'll miss him terribly.' Even though he retired, McManus never really left The Post, continuing to pen common-sense columns. He'd usually accept the assignment with a shrug, 'I guess I could do it,' — only to call back 15 minutes later to say, 'I'm very worked up, can I have more room?' one staffer recalled. His last New York Post piece in March 2024 called Gov. Hochul's decision to deploy National Guard troops into the city's subway system to address rising crime a 'political stunt — undertaken to divert attention from her unwillingness to confront the core problem: the hammerlock crime-tolerant progressivism has on public policy in New York.' 'Life was interesting with him,' said Mary McManus 'He just knew so much and put the pieces together so well. . . . His memory was phenomenal.' Besides his wife, McManus is survived by his daughter Kathleen McManus, three sisters and four brothers. The family is planning to hold a memorial service honoring him sometime next month.
The Independent
26-03-2025
- Business
- The Independent
‘We're all dreading April' say pubs and salons ahead of business rates rise
Hospitality firms and salon owners have said they are being 'overloaded with extra costs' ahead of a rise in business rates in April. In Wednesday's spring statement, Chancellor Rachel Reeves made no change to a pencilled jump in how much firms will pay in rates. Rox Marjoram, who co-owns five pubs and a restaurant in Suffolk, told the PA news agency her rates bill is set to skyrocket from £33,000 a year to £80,000 a year. 'We're all dreading April this year. That's such a shame,' she said. 'We're being squeezed and squeezed, and that's going to make things really difficult… Doors will close across the country.' The tax, which applies for businesses operating out of physical premises, was previously cushioned during the pandemic, but a 75% relief will fall to 40% in April. The Government has said it will reform the current business rates system, and on Wednesday said it will publish an interim report on this during the summer. But no details of the proposed changes are set to be announced until the next autumn Budget later this year. Ms Marjoram said she is 'pleased' about proposals for rates reform, but that until that happens it is just another rising tax for small business owners. It comes on top of an increase in company National Insurance Contributions (NICs) which is also set to take effect next month, as well as a rise in the minimum wage. On Labour's promises to grow the economy, Ms Marjoram said: 'I don't think anyone in hospitality feels like there's much hope for growth at the moment… We're being overloaded with extra costs.' Meanwhile, salon owner Toby Dicker said the sector faces a 'staggering' tax bill from April, with the rates increase combined with other measures set to disproportionately harm small businesses. For his own business of five salons in the South East, the rates bill is set to go up by about 2.4 times what it was before to £50,000, he told PA. 'The high street is going to be a bloodbath for the next six months,' he said. He added that the Government promising to permanently reduce rates is 'patently ludicrous' when the tax bill is set to rise. Mr Dicker, who is the founder of industry group the Salon Employers Association, has also campaigned to reduce VAT on labour costs from 20% to 10% in the spring statement. The British Hair Consortium (BHC) recently said the tax disproportionately hits salons, because the work they do is labour intensive compared to selling products. As a result, they have less opportunity to claim back the costs. A report earlier in March said the industry faces a 93% employment decline by 2030 without reform, and that there would be no new apprenticeships by 2027. Ms Reeves made no changes to the VAT on labour costs in the statement. Mr Dicker said the industry is being 'destroyed' by the tax, and said the Government needs to 'level the playing field' to stop a wave of salon closures.
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'I'm an NFL star who loves Liverpool and Mohamed Salah - I even took his number'
Los Angeles Chargers star Cameron Dicker has revealed he chose to wear the No.11 jersey for the Californian NFL team because he is a fan of Mohamed Salah and Liverpool. The 24-year-old, who recently spent time at Liverpool's training ground, started following the Reds when he was a youngster growing up in Hong Kong, and his love for the club continued to grow after he moved to the United States in 2011. "I chose No.11 for the Chargers because of Mo Salah," Dicker told before revealing how he often finds himself watching Liverpool matches in the Chargers' team hotel on the morning of NFL games. The time difference between the UK and California (either seven or eight hours depending on the time of year) means that a lot of the time, Dicker is watching the Reds in the early hours of the morning. READ MORE: Jurgen Klopp made feelings on Harry Kane clear to Liverpool before shock transfer links READ MORE: Federico Chiesa's dad weighs in on Liverpool situation and his opinion after transfer "It's just got to be in my hotel," Dicker responded when asked where the strangest place he has watched a Liverpool game is. "Probably one of those Sunday mornings in the hotel where I wake up and we have a late game in the afternoon. So I'm just sitting there watching alone, yelling. "The hard thing during the season is watching games, just because we're playing as well. We're either travelling or in a hotel right before our game, so that's tough." After recently training at Liverpool's AXA Training Center, he gave a talk to some Liverpool academy players before being guided on a behind-the-scenes tour of the facilities. "This is surreal," he told club media. "We're all laughing saying that this is the craziest moment ever. We can't believe we're actually here. This is an amazing opportunity and I'm very blessed to be here. "It's been an honour. It's very cool to be able to talk to those guys and kind of share my journey, and then hopefully it can help impact others."
