The Mancunian Way: A ChatGPT weekend

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Here's the Mancunian Way for today:

Hello,

If there’s one thing traffic cops enjoy, it’s a good pun. And when they caught an ice cream van driver speeding in Salford, they couldn’t resist sharing the details on social media.

The red Mr Whippy van was caught travelling at 62mph along the A6 Broad Street by Greater Manchester Police's traffic unit, as Chris Slater reports. It elicited quite the reaction online…

On to the rest of the day’s news.

We’re talking Oi Polloi, Manchester’s Eurovision plans and the end of an iconic music venue in today’s newsletter. Let’s begin.

Our team of local democracy reporters have been out and about across Greater Manchester this month, chatting to voters about the upcoming local elections. They’ve garnered a range of reactions, from apathy in Fallowfield to real passion in Wigan.

In Middleton, Nick Statham found one voter predominantly concerned with pigeon poo. While in Leigh, George Lythgoe found voters who wanted to hear more from their local representatives.

Meanwhile, the candidates themselves have walked miles, handed out thousands of leaflets and even dealt with broken shoes during the campaign trail, as George found out. He met up with candidates in Wigan who told him they spend three to four hours each morning pushing red leaflets through letterboxes in the Aspull ward before heading back out in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, Independent Network’s James Fish told George he ‘needs a new pair of shoes’ as he’s walked so much around the Tyldesley and Mosley Common ward he hopes to become