MANCHESTER Pride always means one thing for glamorous actresses Suranne Jones and Vicky Binns – party time.

For both girls share the same birthday, August 27, which always tends to coincide with Pride’s Big Weekend of events over the bank holiday.

And Vicky and Suranne, whose portraits both feature in the Pride Exhibition at Selfridges, tell me they will, again, be holding their birthday bashes down at Pride.

Former Coronation Street star Suranne tells me: “Every year I always celebrate my birthday at Pride.

“This year I’ll be joining Antony Cotton and Sir Ian McKellen for lunch, and then in the afternoon I’ll be meeting up with all my pals to watch the mainstage events.”

The Diary recalls that last year Suranne’s birthday ended up with her and pal Sally Lindsay on the mainstage – with Sally even doing the splits.

“Yes, and Antony ending up serving hamburgers in one of those vans,” she giggled. “But I don’t think we’ll be quite as mad this year though.”

Meanwhile Vicky, Corrie’s Molly Dobbs, tells me as well as partying for her birthday over the big weekend, she will be among the show’s stars taking to a Corrie float for the first time in the big Pride Parade on Saturday.

She said: “I can’t wait, I’ve always loved going to watch the parade because of all the energy and support from everyone. But being on a float in the parade is going to be brilliant.”

THIS is about five years late for a review but I finally got round to seeing Transamerica this week.

I was a bit worried it would be a bit too American arthouse ie. where critics salivate over films where NOTHING happens.

Instead it was an incredibly moving film and truthfully honest film about a disfunctional father/mother and son relationship.

It takes about five minutes to forget that it’s Desperate Housewife Felicity Huffman a woman pretending to be a man about to become a woman and when you do it’s an utterly convincing performance.

For a review of Toy Story 3, log on in another five years.

IT’S never been easier to chronicle the comings and goings of your life in still images – almost all of us carry a mobile phone with some sort of camera built in.
And while that helps us keep our treasured memories intact, it also means we are all lumbered with an awful lot of frankly rubbish photos. Especially as we don’t waste film shooting them.
O2 have taken it upon themselves to tackle this problem with their Guru’s roadshow, which is in Manchester city centre outside the Great Northern on Peter Street today and tomorrow.
This week they welcomed pro photographer Hannah Maule-Finch, who’s taken photographs of the royal family, as well as pop stars like Florence Welch and Alanis Morrisette, to the roadshow, and she handed out tips and tricks for taking better cellphone snaps.
She said: “I would advise mobile phone photographers to get creative, crop in unusual ways, explore different subjects but work on having a very steady hand, the phones seem very responsive to movement.
“The O2 gurus were helpful and I have no doubt that with their advice and technical knowledge we could all become better mobile phone photographers.
“I am genuinely surprised at how good the cameras on phones have become. They are perfect for having in your pocket at all times. I use mine for recording locations, and bits of my life that I couldn’t with a standard SLR camera, in fact I would be lost without my phone. Such a small camera gives you the freedom to shoot whenever and wherever you are.”

Hannah’s top tips for taking better snaps are:
1 Ensure that there is enough light on the face of the subject and in the background
2 Make sure you fill the frame and think about the position of your subject
3 Make sure your subject’s eyes are in focus, but remember a blurred movement shot can look good as well
4 Make sure you have a steady hand or rest the phone on something solid as it’s very sensitive to movement.
5 Be careful not to put your finger over the lens!

Visit the roadshow today or tomorrow between 10am and 6pm. It’s free and open to all. Ask the O2 Gurus anything, from how to use GPS to track down your mates in a crowded bar, to how best to contact friends and family abroad for free.

Congratulations to Jane and Rob from Rochdale who, after a whirlwind romance, got married this week. They met at a truffle hunt and it was love at first sight. Like many couples, they kept their own little secrets until they were sure they were right for each other. As it turns out, Rob hadn’t told Jane about his really smelly feet and Jane had somehow managed to keep her halitosis from him.

 As they prepared for their first proper kiss as a married couple, Barbara whispered “Darling, I’ve got something to tell you”. Alan said “I Know. You’ve eaten one of my socks!”

In honour of the A Level students who got their results this week, I offer some examples of recent examination questions and the answers offered by the candidates.

Q. What are steroids?

 A. Things that keep carpets in place on the stairs.

Q. What is the fibula?

A. A small lie

Q. What is a terminal illness?

A. When you’re sick at the airport.

Q. How can you delay milk turning sour?

A. Keep it in the cow.

Q. What does ‘varicose’ mean?

A. Nearby.

Brilliant.

A friend has just come back from Kuala Lumpur and was impressed with the amazing light rail transport system which crosses the city. There are three main lines, each operated by a different company. As you would expect, all the major elements of the city are connected. Trains run about every three minutes and are clean, well maintained and comfortable. The commercial competition leads to all operators offering first class service and the lines are run on with impressive infrastructural cooperation. 

The city of Bremen has traditionally put transport at the heart of its redevelopment since the war and currently has a tram network which comprises half a dozen lines. Bremen is busy with freight traffic, supports the neighbouring harbour town and is also a focal point for regional rail travel. Consequently the system demands a high level of German coordination and competence.

Here in Manchester, we’ve had another week when a section of our Metrolink network was down for a few days. This time the track between Altrincham and Timperley was affected and it took almost the whole week to get it sorted. I have been a constant champion of the trams and I am a regular user but it’s all beginning to wear a bit thin.

 To be fair to Metrolink director Philip Purdy, he is always quick to stand up, explain and apologise but beleaguered commuters are short on sympathy and hate the dreaded phrase ‘replacement bus service’ .

 The ‘iconic’ Manchester trams – in other words the older original vehicles, are noisy and quite often a little grubby. The new, yellow trams look much better and are configured to offer more space but have fewer seats. Has anyone seen a yellow tram on the Altrincham line in peak hours? My neighbour, Paul, reckons they couldn’t cope with the passenger numbers. And let’s not get started on the stations. Despite recent refurbishment, many are unattractive and unwelcoming.  

We are all, rightly, very excited about the long awaited big bang extension but perhaps we could do with a dose of Asian ambition and Teutonic efficiency.

Nikon has finally responded to Canon’s 550d entry-level digital SLR camera with its own HD video-capturing work of art.

The D3100 sits at the top end of Nikon’s consumer range and boasts full 1080p high definition video capture at a cinematic 24 frames-per-second.

Set to retail for around the £580-mark for a kit including the 18-55mm VR lens, or £500 for just the body, the D3100 boasts what Nikon is claiming as a first for a DSLR – continuous auto-focusing while recording video.

What Nikon doesn’t say is how it plans to get over the obvious problem of a noisy lens continually re-focussing while recording audio with an on-board mic. Especially since there’s no option to plug in an external mic.

Facebook has, at last, launched its long-promised location-based feature… but it’s US only for now.

Named Places, the new feature allows users to tag their status updates with their current location.

This being Facebook, there are, of course, a number of privacy concerns that have been raised. Most obviously that your friends can check in for you, revealing where you are.

There are, of course, options to turn all that stuff off, but it seems some are suggesting those options are not quite as easy to get to as they should be.

Facebook says Places will launch in the UK “shortly”.

Granted, it’s very early days in the 2010/2011 season, but Paul Scholes is showing he could be a key part of United’s title challenge.

He bossed the Community Shield against Chelsea and performed an encore against Newcastle in the Premier League. It must be quite a thing to have a football obey your every command like that.

Of course, he can’t tackle, but that only endears the five ft seven ins dynamo to the fans. Scholes wasn’t put on the planet to defend.

If his season delivers on its early promise, and given he is 36 in November, I think Scholes would have a decent case for being the best midfielder in Europe over the last 20 years.

Zinedine Zidane is his main competitor to that crown. In terms of raw ability, Zidane probably had the edge. The Frenchman’s reputation is also heightened by his Euro/ World Cup double, while Scholes’ image is if anything tarnished by his England career.

But put Scholes in that France team of the late 90s early 2000s, and put Zidane in England over the same period, and then see how they both get on.

Zidane provided the flourishes that made the Bernabeu coo, but it is difficult to imagine anyone bettering Scholes’ performance over 15 or so seasons of the Premier League, in all weathers against rough opponents.

In terms of other competitors, the likes of Steven Gerrard, Patrick Vieira in his pomp, Michael Essien, Xavi and Iniesta would compete.

The last two, for sure, are Scholes like in stature and technique. But the beauty of Scholes is he combines the grit of the Premier League with technique of a Spaniard.

On balance, I’d go with Zidane as the best midfielder for the spells he used to cast on opponents and fans alike. But after that, surely Scholes is next best. And if he goes on for another two seasons at the level he is at now, Scholes will deserve the top spot.

:: Comparing Real Madrid’s capture of Mesut Ozil to City’s signing of James Milner in terms of price is unfair. City have nowhere near the pull or glamour of Madrid, neither do they have Champions League football – yet. No doubt City are paying over the market value for the players, but they need to.

:: Kamran Akmal has found his catching gloves at the Oval. The Pakistani wicket keeper had one of the all time Test shockers back in July at Trent Bridge, dropping dollies and getting a pair. As I write, he has claimed four catches as England slumped to 74-6.

Microsoft has finally announced the date we’ll be able to get our hands on its revolutionary Kinect control system for Xbox 360.

November 10 is the date for your diary.

The Kinect is a motion sensitive control system that uses no physical controller but instead tracks the movements of your body. So far 15 new titles have been announced for the system, including sports, fitness and dance games.

Visit Microsoft’s Kinect website for details.