Cycling campaigner Nick Hubble explains why we should take advantage of government guidance and funding to build a regional cycle network for the post-lockdown recovery. Last month the government announced a comprehensive package of measures to boost walking and cycling (“active travel”) as we emerge from phase one of lockdown. These include: £2 billion investment in active […]
Campaigners cheer bold proposals for 100km Covid-19 ‘pop up’ cycle network
Proposals to install more than 100 km of ‘pop-up’ cycle lanes across Greater Manchester are welcomed by campaign group WalkRide. The plans, if implemented, will enable more people to travel safely during the Covid-19 crisis, and will keep pollution, congestion, and emission levels low. Walk Ride Greater Manchester today welcomed news that leaders are planning […]
Covid-19 and me: my experience
Anti-poverty activist and journalist Charlotte Hughes, explains the experiences and the problems she encountered when she came down with Covid-19 and why she feels that the government let her down. Charlotte, who has previously interviewed Ken Loach, questions the motivations behind government decisions and how it affects the poor. Whilst I haven’t had a test […]
Civil rights campaigners demand urgent action after Greater Manchester Police taser a man in front of his child
Northern Police Monitoring Project, and other civil rights groups, have written a letter to Greater Manchester Police and Police Crime Commissioner Bev Hughes expressing concerns over the tasering of a man in front of his child at a petrol station in Stretford on Wednesday 6 May. GMP have referred the incident to the Independent Office […]
Food for all – could we come out of this with a bold plan to combat hunger?
This pandemic has shown how communities can effectively redistribute food, but what happens next? Guest article from Manchester Confidentials The National Food Service is a campaign group with food hall branches across the country. Expanding that network, they say, will be instrumental to tackling hunger post-lockdown. Instead of expensive restaurants for some and food banks […]
A vision for future Manchester: Local Plan consultation closes this Friday
Rising Up! Manchester Families have worked with Greater Manchester Housing Action, Climate Emergency Manchester and Steady State Manchester to formulate a response to the Manchester Local Plan. The response can be used and adapted by anyone wishing to comment on the Local Plan before the consultation closes at 5pm, this Friday 1 May. First published […]
Wythenshawe-based domestic abuse charity providing help to victims during coronavirus crisis
There has been a suspected spike in domestic abuse during lockdown. Safe Spots charity stresses that women can still get help during this time and are taking donations in order to be able to continue providing help. First published in The Northern Quota, 20 April 2020 Concerns have been raised about the potential rise of […]
Socialism and Degrowth aren’t the same thing
Mark Burton from Steady State Manchester joins the Manchester Green New Deal Podcast to discuss the limits of Growth, how Climate Breakdown and Growth interlock and how Degrowth can save us from disaster capitalism. The pandemic gripping the world has put Capitalism back into one of its classic cardiac arrests. With economies slowing to a […]
Businesses are struggling, the government’s schemes are not working and the UK economy is about to disappear
Political economist Richard Murphy believes the UK government’s business support scheme will fail to help many small and medium size enterprises survive the coronavirus crisis, and points to Europe for a workable solution. In Greater Manchester, in 2017, there were 100,510 firms fitting into the small and medium sized enterprise band, employing 1,166,740 people. I […]
Trio take over Manchester planning decisions
The coronavirus lockdown means that council planning decisions will be delegated to a small team of council officers and not subject to scrutiny by a full planning committee. The power to decide on major Manchester planning applications has now been delegated to council chief executive Joanne Roney, alongside chair of the planning committee Cllr Basil […]