Like many other UK citizens, I owe my existence in this country to family members who migrated here. My father and his family sailed here from India in 1948, escaping the horrors of partition, to settle in Farnworth. My maternal grandmother migrated from Ireland to Salford, seeking to escape the grinding poverty she grew up […]
Manchester MP accuses Boris Johnson of Islamophobia and calls for full inquiry
Boris Johnson has been accused of Islamophobia by Manchester MP Afzal Khan, who supports the call of the Muslim Council and other Conservative Muslims for a full inquiry into Islamophobia within the party. Johnson’s remarks comparing Muslim women wearing burqas to “bank robbers” and “letterboxes” have received widespread condemnation, with politicians across all parties demanding […]
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 […]
Manchester 1, Tories 0: Take Back Manchester Festival outperforms conference in the rainy city
“Get off your arse and do something..” sang the Commoners Choir on Saturday night, at a Partisan pre-protest party entitled ‘Fuck the Tories’. The following day, an estimated 50,000 people got off their collective arse to demonstrate outside the 2017 Conservative Party Conference, under shared slogans of ‘No More Austerity’, ‘Scrap the Pay Cap’ and […]
Corbyn storms Glastonbury as Momentum North West celebrate positive GE2017 result
Saturday afternoon in the Frog and Bucket, Oldham Street, Manchester and its buzzing! I doubt even the atmosphere at Glastonbury with Jeremy Corbyn’s energising appearance can beat it. More than 250 Labour activists from all over greater Manchester and beyond are gathered at a Momentum North West meeting to analyse the General Election result. Two […]
Emotions run high at GM mayoral hustings on the housing crisis
Mayoral candidates for Greater Manchester (GM) were left in no doubt about the dire effects of the housing crisis on its citizens at a hustings to discuss the issue. The panel were bombarded with questions and statements, often with distressing accounts of individual cases, over a broad range of issues including poor housing conditions, the […]
Greater Manchester marches to save our NHS
An estimated 250,000 people travelled, from all over the UK, to take part in the #OurNHS – National Demonstration in London. The demonstration organised by The People’s Assembly and Health Campaigns Together called for: “A fully funded, publicly owned, NHS & social care service. No cuts, no closures no privatisation. End the pay restraint for […]
Newton Heath residents baffled by council blocking of fully funded public building renovation
Residents of Newton Heath were left in shock at their local council’s decision to block the proposed renovation of a dilapidated property in Brookdale park for community use, which would have come at no cost to the council budget. Community members have since launched a campaign urging local councillors to reconsider the proposal from Newton […]
Mayoral candidates for Greater Manchester on the fire brigade
Our innate fear of fire is justified: it can kill and maim with frightening speed. Since 1826, when Manchester first adopted a local authority provided fire brigade, there has been a steady increase in the brigades effectiveness in fighting fires and saving lives. But now the fire brigade’s advances appear to be heading in the […]
Mayoral candidates for Greater Manchester on the environment
Air pollution produced in Greater Manchester (GM) has both local and global effects. Air pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter, which are produced in vehicle exhaust fumes, contribute to the ill health and death of many in the region, while the carbon dioxide produced as a result of travelling in vehicles or using […]