The Rentier City takes a geographical approach to arguing against the latest form of neoliberal conquest sweeping Manchester. Hinged on the concept of rentierism, something which writer Isaac Rose argues has been an undercurrent in the shaping of the city we see today, the book makes a wider warning about cities in the UK at large. Published by Repeater Books, the book makes its case by charting the Manchester story from the end of industrialisation to the present day, via historical examples of resistance, class struggle, racial equality, politically managed decline and Manchester’s obsession with memorialising certain aspects of its history.
Review: Encore Coliseum
It was a show unlike any other. With a cast of stars who began their careers at the Coliseum, with future stars of the stage and screen, with amateurs who have been welcomed onto that stage as they escape the real world with their love of theatre, the show encapsulated the spirit of the Coliseum. This was the last show at Oldham’s Fairbottom Street theatre.
Songwriters Joe Solo and Johnny Campbell celebrate Engels Week at Working Class Movement Library
The Working Class Movement Library celebrated Engels Week last Thursday (24 November) with an evening of empowering songs by Joe Solo and Johnny Campbell.
Workers Can Win! A Guide to Organising At Work – Book Launch
A new book from Manchester author and activist Ian Allinson tells you everything you wanted to know about workplace organising but were afraid to ask, and some things you hadn’t even thought of.
Henge: Attention Earth! album review
Fresh on the heels of a full summer of festival appearances, local Manchester band Henge release their first album, Attention Earth! How does their frenetic and psychedelic cosmic dross fare when transported from sweaty, heaving festival tents to more placid domestic situations? I sat down with a cup of Valerian Tea to find out… Touchdown The […]
Manchester bands rock German festival in intergalactic style
The long-standing, alternative, anti-capitalist and strongly anti-fascist Fusion Festival was this year graced by storming sets from two of Manchester’s most beloved underground electronic music bands. Held on a former soviet air base in Lärz, North East Germany, Fusion Festival is billed as four days of ‘holiday communism’. With a strong ethos of diversity and inclusion, […]
Happy Days Review: What’s it all mean? What’s it meant to mean?
Sarah Frankcom directs Samuel Beckett’s ‘Happy Days’ Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester Winnie Maxine Peake plays Winnie, a woman in something of a predicament, but determined not to let it get her down. Winnie is buried in the ground up to her waist, yet for her this is all a perfectly normal aspect of every day. The same […]
Consent To Entertainment: The Newspaper Boy
It probably says a lot about the kind of theatre I’m accustomed to that I was initially disappointed by the lack of soliloquies and arty shouting. After some adjustment, it turns out that well-drawn characters struggling relatably against society’s pettiness and cruelty, speaking from the heart with witty, unpretentious dialogue, against a backdrop of impeccable […]
Acoustic Amnesty fundraiser brings a taste of Americana to Salford
Once again an Acoustic Amnesty gig approaches with a top notch line up of singer/songwriters and poets that promises to bring a transatlantic feel to the beautiful Sacred Trinity church in Salford. The performance on 9 June, the day after the general election, provides an excellent opportunity to soothe away your sorrows or celebrate your […]
The fight for freedom of expression rages on in Syria
Warning: contains images and ideas that some may find shocking/controversial. War is a cruel and powerful muse. Those affected by the death, destruction and misery create works as acts of rebellion and survival against the inhumanity, chaos and insanity thrust upon them. The people of Syria rose up against the oppressive culture of fear of […]