With thousands of housing units being built in across wards including Deansgate, Piccadilly and Ancoats, central areas of Manchester have now become a key investment ‘hot-spot’ for profit-seeking finance that cares little for local communities. This rampant speculation, surge in international investment and links to rising rents, displacement, homelessness and destruction of heritage and culture […]
The hidden shame of period poverty
Half the population of the world are women. It is, therefore, safe to say that a large proportion of that population have periods. So, why is the issue of menstrual care still so taboo? Why do people still feel awkward and embarrassed by their period and feel that it should be something that should be […]
Immigration detention centres have no place in Manchester or the UK
Refugee Week takes place every year across the UK, and is a nationwide programme of arts, cultural and educational events that celebrate the contribution of refugees to the UK, and encourage a better understanding between communities. This year on it’s 20th anniversary it ran from 18 to 24 June, yet over this same 20 years […]
I experienced the Home Office ‘hostile environment’ – I’m still here because I am white
I was born in Newfoundland, Canada in 1961. My mum was English, a nurse, who went to work in Newfoundland in 1954. It was there she met Dad, who is Canadian. They married in 1960, I was born the following year. In 1963, we came back to the UK, and settled down in Middleton, where […]
We stand together – do we really?
Just over a year ago, 22 people lost their lives and 120 were injured at the Manchester Arena Attack. It was a horrific hate driven act of mass murder, and my heart goes out to everybody affected. One year on, 15,000 people gathered in Albert Square to pay their respects. The power and energy created […]
McStrike is the tip of the iceberg: unionisation is needed across the hospitality industry
Manchester’s McDonalds workers are leading the way against poor pay, working conditions, and lack of union recognition in the hospitality industry with their ‘McStrike’ on 1 May at the Oxford Rd store in the city centre. But there is still much work to be done in getting other hospitality workers to organise. The Meteor had […]
Why we students should back our lecturers on strike
If ever there was a situation when students and academics should be thinking as one, this is it. Coverage of the dispute between university tutors and management is focusing on the proposed cuts to pensions. But what is largely being overlooked is that the whole situation is a result of the creeping commodification of higher […]
Inside the outside: living on the streets of Manchester
“Spice victims!” a well dressed woman said as she walked past us in Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester, where we were sat together, wrapped in sleeping bags at the entrance of a bank. It was late in the evening as late winter was turning into early spring. At this time of year, it is still cold, yet […]
Why is the Labour Party falling out over Haringey?
Haringey council leader Claire Kober announced she would stand down last week, following an intervention by Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) into the dispute within the Haringey Labour party over a controversial regeneration plan with Lendlease, a private developer with a dubious history. Kober was determined to press ahead with a plan that had been […]
‘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, […]