Someone physically makes almost everything.' Salford's DeFelice & Co talk to Northern Soul about their hand-crafted bag ...

The late Irish singer, songwriter and activist Sinéad O’Connor was, and remains, a heroine to many, not least to this show’s director and choreographer, Sonya Tayeh. O’Connor was loved (and loathed by ...

Whether they know it or not, Manchester-based readers of Northern Soul are already likely to be familiar with the work of Brian Fell. Serving as the gateway to Trafford Park, his Skyhooks – an ...

For anyone wondering whether there is any humanity left in this troubled world, I am delighted to confirm that there is – I have just found it in the form of Flapjack Press’s new release, The First ...

In the run-up to Christmas 2023, Molly McGuinness came down with tonsillitis. Before long, she was rushed to hospital with chest pains. The infection had developed into a rare case of Lemierre’s ...

When Bonnie Raitt was a young girl, she was enthralled by the power and charisma of such blues and folk greats as John Lee Hooker and Sippie Wallace, modelling her own music and guitar-playing on them ...

It’s been 20 years since BBC Three debuted Ideal, the left-field sitcom written by Graham Duff. Made at the Beeb’s (now gone) studios on Manchester’s Oxford Road, for seven series it starred Johnny ...

As we approach the end of 2025, we’re looking back at the things that have brought us immense comfort during the year. For the team at Northern Soul, books were once again a source of great joy, and ...

For the British Textile Biennial 2025, artists and makers filled spaces – which previously, directly or indirectly, powered Lancashire’s cotton industry – with stories of innovation in textile ...

There’s a painting at the heart of From Here To Here To Here, part way through a decade of Louise Giovanelli’s collected works, and it looks a lot like Blackpool. Light glistens across the liquid gold ...

For those of us – and there are a fair few – with Irish ancestry, cornerstones of Irish culture hold a special appeal. Dancing at Lughnasa, Brian Friel’s poignant play inspired by his own family’s ...

There’s an episode of the 90s hit comedy Father Ted where the lads on Craggy Island are visited by Father Damian Lennon, a young Dublin priest and pound-shop Liam Gallagher, who you know is rebellious ...