Before David Scott became Argh Kid, his dream was to have a career in music. Ten years later, he has been invited to be the Poet Laureate at Kendal Calling festival, named UEFA’s Official Poet, written a film for Manchester United FC and last weekend was invited to host The British Sound Project – a […]
Christopher Eccleston reads Riot Act at Peterloo Memorial
Guest article from the irrepressible Salford Star: Hundreds of people gathered in Albert Square, Manchester, for the annual commemoration of the Peterloo Massacre. Christopher Eccleston was loudly booed as he read the Riot Act from a window in Manchester Town Hall, while Maxine Peake relayed a message from Salford director Mike Leigh, who is currently […]
‘Our Sam – The Middleton Man’: Community needed to help bring Middleton’s most famous son back to life
“In ten minutes from the commencement of the havoc the field was an open and almost deserted space. The sun looked down through sultry and motionless air. Several mounds of human being still remained where they had fallen, crushed down and smothered. Some of these still groaning, others with staring eyes, were gasping for breath, […]
The Historical Echoes Of The Peterloo Massacre
Originally published on the Morning Star website. On 16 August 1819 Mary Fildes and members of the Female Reform Society marched to St.Peter’s Fields in the centre of Manchester with many other people to angrily demand the end of political corruption , hunger and unemployment. The women said, “Every succeeding night brings with it new […]
Days of Hope: Manchester’s Mary Quaile reports on her visit to the Soviet Union in 1925
The year 2017 is the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution and it is difficult today to understand the hope that the revolution gave to ordinary women and men across the world. One of those women was Mary Quaile. An Irish immigrant who left school at 12, and, because of her commitment to improving […]
Engels: the journey home (part two)
Guest article from Manchester’s Now Then Magazine. This article follows Part One, which can be found here: The first part of this article previewed the unveiling in Manchester of a statue of communist pioneer Friedrich Engels as part of Manchester International Festival. But that statue, brought from the former Soviet Union by Turner Prize nominated video artist […]
Engels: the journey home (part one)
Guest article from Manchester’s Now Then Magazine: “A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of communism”. So begins The Communist Manifesto. The spirit of its authors, the political philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, can still be found in Manchester, the radical city that inspired them. Nearly 170 years after the book’s publication and exactly […]
How do you explain it to a kid?
“How do you spell condolences?” It’s the morning of the 23 May 2017. Last night a bomb went off in Manchester Arena. When I’d fallen asleep, there were conflicting rumours about what had happened. It still seemed possible that the ‘bang’ was a burst balloon or a faulty speaker. This morning I’m on the other […]
Al Nakba 1948 : Manchester remembers the ethnic cleansing of Palestine
In 1948 a massive humanitarian disaster began when around 750,000 Palestinian Arabs were expelled from British Mandate Palestine by the actions of Israeli forces during the creation of the state of Israel. On the 13-14 May Manchester Palestine Action (MPA) commemorated those events, calling for solidarity and support from individuals and organisations to bring an […]
Guide to Supplementary Voting and candidates in the GM mayoral election
The big day for Greater Manchester is upon us tomorrow, the 4 May, when we vote for our first democratically elected mayor of the region. Supplementary Voting will be used in this election rather than the First Past the Post (FPTP) system used in parliamentary and local elections. You may not be familiar with the […]