Manchester City Council paid 392% more on emergency B&B accommodation for the homeless in 2016/17 than it did in 2011/12. The increasing costs are due to a huge rise in the number of nights accommodation per year paid for by the council in their attempt to reduce the rising levels of homelessness; a pattern seen […]
Refugee tells of the silent genocide consuming the Congo
Barly Koyangbwa speaks powerfully of the horrors engulfing the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in an interview with RAPAR, the Manchester charity fighting for human rights. It is a harrowing tale covering systematic mass rape, burned villages, ethnic cleansing, state sponsored terrorism and corporate greed stalking hand in hand with government corruption. You may be […]
Hulme community activist evicted after long battle with social landlord
Ringing last orders, on the bell acquired from the now closed Grants Arms pub in Hulme, Captain Cae 0s was evicted from the flat he called home in the Bentley House estate in Hulme (AKA The Redbricks). This was the culmination of an epic struggle with his social landlord, dating back to early 2015, when […]
Disability History Month focuses on art and activism
Disability History Month commenced in Manchester with a celebration of disability and art at Manchester’s Central Library last Friday. A strong component of the event was its focus on the synergy of activism, art and disability. So it was particularly apt that local singer song-writer Dennis Queen performed live at the event, and films of […]
Lifeshare, the homeless charity facing homelessness needs help
Manchester homeless charity Lifeshare is in need of a new home due to the controversial development plans for Angel Meadows. Up to 756 private rented sector apartments will be built there under the control of an offshore tax haven registered company called Far Eastern Consortium International Ltd. Due to the development, Lifeshare’s home for over […]
Greater Manchester councils accused of ‘fuelling the fire’ of climate change
Greater Manchester’s local authority pension fund is ‘Fuelling the Fire’ of global climate change by heavily investing in the fossil fuel industry, claims a consortium of environmental campaigners. Describing the GM fund as being “the dirtiest in the UK” due to the £1.8 billion invested in “climate wrecking companies”, which is over 10% of its […]
Designer donates his heart to benefit Manchester
Manchester based designer Liam Hopkins is auctioning off his Manchester Heart sculpture, in aid of a local charity. Liam created the piece the day after the terror attack in Manchester Arena in May this year. It joined the many expressions of love made by Mancunians in response to the bombing, overpowering those of hate which […]
Tory conference ends to a wall of sound and silence
As Theresa May delivered her car crash of a closing speech to the Conservative conference, where she was handed a joke P45 by a prankster, anti austerity campaigners outside the conference venue met the end of the conference with a wall of sound, delivered by pots, pans, drums, whistles and a powerful sound system. Meanwhile […]
Demo against Tory conference sees 50,000 march through Manchester
The streets of central Manchester filled with 50,000 people opposed to Tory government policies, The Peoples Assembly estimates. The national demonstration, on the 1 October, drew people from across the country including, trade unionists, anti-frackers, refugees and campaigners supporting the multitude of causes the government continues to ignore. All were determined to let the Conservative […]
Fighting unemployment, poverty and austerity
The authors of austerity are in town for their annual Conservative party conference. With their refusal to halt the roll out of Universal Credit it looks like they may be doubling down on their poverty-inducing agenda. But three speakers at a Mary Quaile Club event provided evidence that the forces of iniquity can be resisted […]