Like Toto in the Wizard of OZ, the coronavirus crisis has pulled back the curtain to reveal the inner workings of our society. The precarity of the vulnerable and how many of us are much closer to that vulnerability than we realised. The new light has revealed who’s work is truly essential and how deeply […]
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 […]
Manchester’s self-employed react to Chancellor’s aid package
Self-employed people in Manchester voice their concerns on the aid package announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak. The coronavirus pandemic lockdown in the UK has brought economic hardships to many, but the self-employed were ignored in the earlier government aid packages. Over the last 20 years, self-employment has been a growing area of the workforce. In […]
Coronavirus pandemic: housing activists call for more protection for tenants in Greater Manchester
Renters reliant on sick pay are at risk of eviction during the COVID-19 pandemic. Housing activists in Greater Manchester are calling for more protection for those in the Private Rented Sector affected by the coronavirus and for the homeless to be housed during the crisis. Dismayed at the lack of protection offered to private renters […]
77% of residents living in Greater Manchester cladded high rises concerned about fire risk
A survey of private renters, social renters and owners undertaken by Greater Manchester High Rise Task Force, led by Salford City Mayor, Paul Dennett, underlines the confusion and potential panic felt by those living in high rise properties and living with the risk of fire. Never mind coronavirus and floods, residents are still living in […]
EARTS Fete 2020: celebrating European art and artists in Manchester
The UK may have left Europe but Manchester is standing by its Europeans with this eclectic city centre arts fete, hosted by EARTS, exhibiting the best of European artists living in Greater Manchester. Europia Art Collective are to celebrate their first birthday in Manchester this weekend with a pop up event at Whitworth Locke on […]
Salford City Council set to approve subsidy for English Cities Fund
Salford City Council is set to approve an outrageous £4.752million subsidy to the English Cities Fund, or ECf, to build a 23 storey block of apartments off Stanley Street that will feature ‘no affordable housing’. The ECf, is a partnership that includes the financially massive Legal and General company and Muse Developments, and the funding […]
2020 Housing Vision: an opportunity to act against the housing crisis
There is widespread concern that our new Conservative government will do little to alleviate the housing crisis, that has become more severe over the last ten years while the Tories have been in power. This event hosted by organisations fighting for housing rights, aims to guide the hand of national and local governments to do […]
One in 23 deaths in Greater Manchester is now linked to air pollution
One in 23 deaths in Greater Manchester is linked to long-term exposure to air pollution, new research shows. Research from Centre for Cities has revealed that one in 23 (4.3%) deaths in Greater Manchester is linked to long-term exposure to air pollution. The only area in the North West with a higher proportion of air […]
Mayor Andy Burnham announces plans to make Greater Manchester a ‘Co-operative Zone’
Making progress on his previous promise to make Greater Manchester “the most co-operative region in the UK” Andy Burnham releases the report to turn that plan into a reality. Mayor Andy Burnham announced plans to turn Greater Manchester (GM) into a designated ‘Co-operative Zone’, with dedicated resources to offer business advice and support for new […]