Breaking ice, breaking news . . .

THE Manchester Evening News gets right to the heart of the best stories of the big freeze. Who would have assumed for one moment that icy weather would boost de-icer sales? Not me, that’s for sure. Let’s have a look through the paper to see if there are any similar cutting-edge stories . . .

It’s Ent-ertainment

TREE “butchers” are on the loose in Manchester. Council contractors have allegedly slaughtered a particularly fine specimen known locally as “Old Man Willow” after a character in JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. This has caused outrage across the Shire and beyond – from nearby Old Trafford to the Misty Mountains. The Manchester Evening news invariably has a long and blossoming list of reader comments when it publishes local stories like this, and here we reproduce a selection of the best – from outraged elves and mischievous orcs alike . . .

Gut feeling

INTO the grey and dismal world of every newspaper journalist a ray of light penetrates occasionally to gladden the heart and bring warmth to the soul

Bakery fire. Readers rise to the occasion

NEVER let it be said that there’s nothing to laugh about in a bakery fire – especially if it’s the very bakery where only weeks earlier the leader of the Conservative Party delivered a speech that was broadcast to the nation. Here’s the Guardian headline from the time:

Bad taste headline of the day

FROM the Manchester Evening News, February 23, 2010:

Everything’s naked in the eyes of the Lord

“AIRPORT’S naked body scanners ‘may be unlawful’”. I should think so too.