The Imperial War Museum may still come to the Manchester Ship Canal. Peel Holdings, owners of the Ship Canal and the new Trafford Centre, have pledged £10m towards the £35m project. Trafford Borough Council will put in a new bid for the museum. Last year's bid was rejected. And a spot further down the Canal, near the Trafford Shopping centre, nearing completion, may become the final resting place of the decommissioned Royal Yacht Britannia. The final proposals for the scheme were submitted today.

Attractive new signs have been going up all round the Northern Quarter - that area of the city centre to the north and east of Market St and Piccadilly. They have a continental look, and feature enamelled tiles in blue and white. Is this an attempt to turn Manchester into the "Paris of the North"? I hope not.

The Hallé Orchestra is to cut its numbers from 98 to 80 musicians. The Musicians Union have given their agreement to the reduction, which will occur through natural wastage, and save a quarter of a million pounds a year.

A pub in Greater Manchester went up in smoke over the weekend. Kevin Farrel and his wife Pam and daughter Stephanie were unhurt after an explosion which destroyed the Bridge Inn, on Manchester Road. The incident occurred during the night. The explosion was apparently caused by a gas leak. I drove past the pub the next day - it was reduced, literally, to a pile of rubble. I decided to photograph, instead, the much more cheerful secne at the Fisherman's Inn, Hollingworth Lake.

A baby was left in a police station in Collyhurst on Saturday night. The mother was subsequently located, and was in hospital, said to be suffering from depression. And in Warrington, police are still looking for the mother of an infant who was found dead near the Gullivers World theme park last week.

There have been accusations that Manchester Cathedral is investing in the arms trade. Representatives of the Cathedral has 20,000 shares in British Aerospace. Cathedral say they are only supporting a local employer, but the Campaign Against the Arms Trade accuses them of supporting oppressive regimes. The Manchester-based Co-op Bank makes a point on its billboard ads around the city, that it doesn't invest in such regimes.

There were glum faces at Old Trafford on Wednesday evening when Manchester United drew one all with Monaco. Monaco won on away goals, and so United's European hopes were dashed. I photographed the crowds going in but didn't stay for the match. As reported in "City Appointments" a free newspaper distributed on the streets of Manchester and Leeds, the draw with Monaco knocked £26m off the club's stock market value.

If you were in the Arndale Centre last week shopping for clothes or a Mother's Day present, you might possibly have had such questions in your mind as: "What existed before the Big Bang?" and "What is beyond the universe?" A display in Barbirolli Square, near the Universal Studios shop provides the answers. Interactive screens and experiments help you to understand the incomprehensible while you're looking for a pair of shoes or a Tweety Pie mug. Despite the subject matter, shoppers are showing plenty of interest in the exhibition, provided by Nuclear Electric and the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council. Perhaps the tourist office ought to do one with questions such as "Is there life beyond Greater Manchester?" and "What existed before the Hacienda?".

A dreary, overcast week's weather was broken yesterday with a day of bright sunshine and mild temperatures. It's amazing how the fine weather brings people out into the open. Hollingworth Lake, near Rochdale, was full of daytrippers enjoying the sunshine and savouring an afternoon pint next to the waterfront. But today it was back to cloudy skies and cooler temperatures. At least the nice weather came on a Sunday. It was a pleasant foretaste of the summer, which will soon be here.

• Petrol goes up to 64p/65p a litre of unleaded
• Storms cause death and destruction in the southern US
• Sinn Fein re-enter the NI talks