Increasing numbers of people across Greater Manchester are being signed up or switched over to the controversial and heavily criticised Universal Credit system. To help those struggling to cope with the change to the new welfare system, Greater Manchester Unite Community Branch (GMUCB) have published a Universal Credit survival guide. Universal Credit, the Tory and […]
The wrong kind of homeless: meet the teenagers crowdfunding for a place to call their own
Homelessness is something we’ve grown reluctantly accustomed to in Manchester over recent years. But when somebody says the word ‘homeless’, what is the image that springs to mind? Often it’s a ragged, single, middle-aged, white man with a beard, sleeping on the street. Caitlin and Shelby don’t fit this stereotype. Walking past them on Market […]
‘The Truth About Fake News’ – the portrayal of refugees and asylum seekers in the media
The ‘hostile environment’ for refugees and immigrants in the UK has seen state-sanctioned human rights abuses proliferate. The government has been aided and abetted in producing this toxic environment by the right wing media in the UK, who persistently demonise immigrants and stir up far-right outrage. With the number of refugees and asylum seekers likely […]
Manchester’s first Mindful Art Centre opens in Levenshulme
Manchester’s first Mindful Art Centre is launching in Levenshulme Old Library on 27 April, 4pm-9pm. Local social enterprise The Owl and The Coconut are behind the centre, which opens with a community crowd-sourced exhibition and offers of free places on their Mindfulness and Mindful Art courses. The ‘Levy Life’ exhibition, a partnership between Levenshulme Old […]
Domestic abuse led to life on the streets for Julie
“I didn’t ask to be homeless love. I never thought I’d go from working, to nothing. I was learning to drive and everything, I was going to get my own car. Half the house was bought – I had bought half my husband’s house, but I had to leave it so he couldn’t find me. […]
‘Be the change you wish to see’ – Manchester’s squatters are doing just that
The idea that ownership breeds value is essentially true. However, it is not true in the Thatcherite sense, where ownership is the means to the end of an individualistic anti-society. It is true if you develop an area which’s express purpose is to be the collective property of those who inhabit it or utilise it, […]
The Addy land squat: a missed opportunity for Hulme?
When masked bailiffs arrived to clear the North Hulme Adventure Playground of a group of squatters and dismantle the homes they had built there, it marked the end of the most recent in a series of occupations, and eventual evictions, of non-residential buildings across Manchester. The site’s residents spent three months clearing, building and planning […]
The Meteor Explores: Homelessness in Manchester
To see all the articles in this series, click here. Homelessness is a visibly growing problem in Manchester. When asked what concerns Mancunians have about their city, homelessness was one of the top issues mentioned. The Meteor has subsequently covered a range of stories relating to homelessness over the past year and have now been […]
Manchester 1, Tories 0: Take Back Manchester Festival outperforms conference in the rainy city
“Get off your arse and do something..” sang the Commoners Choir on Saturday night, at a Partisan pre-protest party entitled ‘Fuck the Tories’. The following day, an estimated 50,000 people got off their collective arse to demonstrate outside the 2017 Conservative Party Conference, under shared slogans of ‘No More Austerity’, ‘Scrap the Pay Cap’ and […]
‘Our Sam – The Middleton Man’: Community needed to help bring Middleton’s most famous son back to life
“In ten minutes from the commencement of the havoc the field was an open and almost deserted space. The sun looked down through sultry and motionless air. Several mounds of human being still remained where they had fallen, crushed down and smothered. Some of these still groaning, others with staring eyes, were gasping for breath, […]