Extinction Rebellion are creating a new paradigm for environmental protest. Their four day Northern Uprising across Manchester city centre last weekend raised awareness of the climate crisis we are in and the urgent need to act now. This uprising paves the way for the International Rebellion which starts on the 7 October. Extinction Rebellion’s Northern […]
Police force admits agreement to share information about protesters with DWP
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has admitted that it has a written agreement to share information about disabled people and other activists who take part in protests with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Disabled activists have expressed alarm at the confirmation, which came despite previous denials by the force and DWP that any such […]
Greater Manchester plan for jobs, homes…and the environment?
After several delays the Greater Manchester Combined Authority has published the new draft of its Spatial Framework. The previous version, published in late 2016 met considerable criticism, especially from groups campaigning on green space but also from other quarters, including our own critique of its assumptions of accelerated “economic growth”. On the other side the […]
Greater Manchester Spatial Framework sees Salford green belt destruction
The Revised Greater Manchester Spatial Framework has been published – and is already meeting huge opposition, particularly in Irlam where 1,600 dwellings are being proposed on Green Belt land north of Irlam Station, with only around 150 designated for social rent. “Utterly shameful…We are going to be surrounded by development – Port Salford one side, […]
‘Honk if you hate moor fires’: Manchester residents want clean pensions
On Friday afternoon local residents demonstrated outside the Greater Manchester Pension Fund’s annual general meeting in Tameside demanding the fund divest its holdings in fossil fuel companies. Organised by Fossil Free Greater Manchester, a coalition of organisations and individuals, the protesters presented remnants from the recent moorland fires on Saddleworth Moor and Winter Hill to […]
Big Oil stains greenwashed away with science festival funding
The Manchester Science Festival 2018 began yesterday with the ‘Electricity: The spark of life’ exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry (MSI), and met with a growing current of fury and opposition to the oil industry funding behind it. Amidst the admirable educational aims of the exhibition, which focuses on the ‘powerful force’ of […]
The Mayor’s Green Summit: a balance sheet
Guest article from Steady State Manchester: I attended the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Green City Summit on 21 March: here is a quick review. The event was, as you’d expect, a mixed bag, with good and bad aspects. It is too soon to make an assessment but here, from a Viable Economy perspective, are the important […]
MEP Afzal Khan challenged on eve of controversial trade deal vote
Manchester’s Afzal Khan, former Lord Mayor of the city and current MEP for the NW of England, has received thousands of messages asking him to reject the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). Khan told local campaigners last Friday he was still undecided on whether to vote for or against CETA, the controversial Canada/EU trade […]