City news in 250 words

MANCHESTER CONFIDENTIAL will today guide astronauts from the Discovery Space Shuttle around Manchester, to show them the delights of the city. Honest, this is true. Later in the evening there will be audience with the crew at MOSI at 7.30-8.30pm. Tickets are £8 adults, £4 children, £6 concessions and £20 for a family ticket. Visit www.mosi.org.uk to book.

X-FACTOR JUDGES did their bit for global warming on Friday, driving just 7 metres to Manchester Central. Staying in the Radisson Edwardian Hotel, Simon, Louis, Cheryl and Danni all chose to be chauffer driven to the first round of auditions than walk the few yards by foot; Minogue briefly stopping to sign a builder’s hardhat outside the former G-Mex.

IT WOULD APPEAR the middle managers at the BBC are suffering from ‘Londonitus’, after fewer than half agreeing to relocate as part of the corporation’s move north. Around 1,400 staff posts are to transfer from London to Salford’s MediaCity:UK, with only 109 out of the 261 senior staff ‘invited’ to move agreeing to do so. Beeb bosses have said the 42 per cent moving up north was “higher than expected”.

MANCHESTER INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL has got off to a cracking start with a mix of the unusual and the inspired. ‘It Felt Like A Kiss’, the spooky drama in an abandoned office block, has been the first talking point. The Pavilion in Albert Square has proved a superb focal point for the Festival, and has already been adopted as a rendezvous point by Mancunians.

This 'N' That wisdom: Never call in a tiger to chase away a dog

Taken from the free calendar available at This 'n' That, Soap Street, Northern Quarter. Those curry masters are so very, very sagacious. How does this wisdom rate? 3/10