Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) are calling for Universal Credit (UC) to be stopped and scrapped due to its multiple flaws, and old welfare payments to be reinstated. This report covers DPAC’s talk at this years Lush Summit where they explained the devastating effect UC is having on people claiming it. DPAC’s #StopAndScrap Universal Credit […]
Shake off your digital chains: choose software that liberates you
The Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal has shown the danger of putting our data and trust in platforms running proprietary software. Richard Stallman thinks the solution is free software. Software that liberates people. First in a series of stories reporting on the Lush Summit 2018. Our lives are becoming increasingly enmeshed with and dependent on digital software, […]
Burnham’s battle to end rough sleeping by 2020 – can he do it?
Andy Burnham’s pledge to end rough sleeping by 2020 played a large part in the campaign which saw him become the Mayor of Greater Manchester ten months ago. Burnham inherited a growing homelessness and housing crisis which has seen the level of rough sleeping rise 13-fold in Manchester since 2010, with the problem escalating quicker […]
The Meteor in print: pick up your copy today
The Meteor is proud to present our first special edition in print, which covers our latest exploration into the increasing crisis of homelessness in Manchester. The growing problem is obvious to anyone walking through the streets of Manchester where rough sleeping has increased 13-fold since 2010. Greater Manchester’s Mayor,Andy Burnham, described the rising numbers as […]
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. […]
Manchester is putting Housing First – and the results look good
This article is part of ‘The Meteor Explores: Homelessness in Manchester‘ series. Decadence, procrastination and occasional nudity. It would be tricky to explain some of our private domestic activities to an imagined third-party observer, but anarchic indulgence is for many the wholly necessary backend to the economically functional front which the aforementioned observer would probably wish […]
Manchester rejects post Brexit toxic trade deals with Trump
Do you fancy tucking into a turkey bathed in chlorine for your Christmas dinner? British academics think that may be a question we have to ask ourselves due to future trade deals with the USA, post Brexit. Chemically disinfected Christmas turkeys, with chemicals not meeting current safety standards, is just the latest scare story worrying […]
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 […]
Austerity: the false economy increasing homelessness (part two)
Second article in ‘The Meteor Explores: Homelessness in Manchester‘ series. Part one of this story can be viewed here: The safety net of the ‘cradle to grave’ welfare state, implemented by Atlee’s government after the Second World War, is becoming increasingly threadbare due to the economic and humanitarian degradations of austerity. Increasing numbers in the […]
Austerity: the false economy increasing homelessness (part one)
First article in ‘The Meteor Explores: Homelessness in Manchester‘ series. Part two can be read here. Homelessness is often described as a complex problem, usually by those tasked with reducing it, and there are no doubt a multitude of factors that contribute to someone becoming homeless. But there is a common theme to the rise […]