News

Mancunian Matters • 20th October 2021

"It seems just another Spinningfields" - The plan set to whitewash Manchester's modernist gems

The UMIST campus, one of Manchester’s most striking examples of modernist architecture, is under threat of redevelopment after plans were revealed to turn the site into a brand new £1.5billion ‘regeneration hub.’

The UMIST site was built between 1962 and 1968 and was the home for the University of Manchester’s Institute of Science and Technology. This cluster of dashing white modernist structures now only sit to mark the ignition site of Harold Wilson’s ‘white heat of technology.’

After a merg

Mancunian Matters • 4th October 2021

“We’re not happy and we need to keep saying so”- Manchester protests annual Conservative Party Conference

Thousands of protesters marched through Manchester to protest the arrival of the annual Conservative Party Conference set to start on Monday.

A wide array of voices, from CND to UNISON, came out on Manchester’s streets to remind the conference goers bused in from Westminster that conservative politics are not welcome here.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will wade into Manchester under the slogan of ‘Build Back Better’, which is new political shorthand for improving social care, tackling crime an

Mancunian Matters • 31st January 2021

Northern anger at 'scandalous' food parcels set against continued economic decline

The recent disgust and anger of inadequate food parcels has now sparked debate over the outsourcing of Government affairs to private businesses. A debate that highlights the ugly and gruesome operation of capitalism.

The now infamous photos taken by deflated mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles showed how little was included in these food parcels. Parcels that were only begrudgingly handed out, after a hard-fought campaign by footballer and leader of the opposition, Marcus Rashford.

The tweet wh

Mancunian Matters • 16th February 2021

Manchester MPs praise vaccine rollout but questions remain

The UK’s vaccination programme has been a cause for celebration in nearly a year of bleakness and mourning.

Monday 15th February saw the UK reach the significant milestone of 15 million people vaccinated, this encompassing the top four priority groups.

A ‘make do and mend’ attitude of plucky British-ness has surrounded the vaccination programme.

As everything from sports stadiums to gothic cathedrals have been used as vaccination centres.

While health workers have “jabbed like there’s no tom

Mancunian Matters • 13th December 2019

General Election 2019: Red Wall intact, just about, in Denton and Reddish as Gwynne clings on

Labour has held on to the seat of Denton and Reddish for another election, one of few spots in the Red Wall that has stayed intact in a day of national decimation for Labour.

However, in a rather familiar trend in this year’s election, the Tories crept up on the Labour majority, Denton was no exception.

Brexit ambiguity in an area that is sure of its Brexit persuasion, resulted in Andrew Gwynne’s majority to be hacked down by 13.5%, the Conservatives increasing their vote share by 6.1% in the

Mancunian Matters • 2nd March 2021

Stockport student runs 232km for charity in touching tribute to ‘selfless’ grandma

A student from Stockport has raised £856 for Save the Children after running 232km in one month in memory of his grandma who passed away in January.

Ethan Bayley decided to run 5k every day in February for the charity, which was close to his late grandma.

Beryl Thompson, who died at the age of 91, was a devoted supporter of children’s charities across her community throughout her life.

Ethan, 19, ran 92km over his target for the month and finished off the last day of February with a four-hour

Mancunian Matters • 30th September 2020

US Presidential Debate: An autopsy of a night of despair in Cleveland

America is broken. Cut from its moorings, it sails aimlessly not quite sure where its going, what it wants to look like or say to the world. America is like the class no teacher wants to teach.

The students are throwing paper balls at each other. Some, hurling abuse from one side of the class to the other. Others trying to start a fight. The quiet kid is burning the textbooks.

A kid sat at the back loads a semi-automatic rifle whilst a girl at the front is preaching the benefits of pacifism, r

Mancunian Matters • 18th November 2021

Cultural revival at the Manchester Arts Fair after one year hiatus

The Manchester Arts Fair, a grand exhibition of work from 130 galleries, is to open tomorrow November 19 at Manchester Central.

Founded in 2008, the Arts Fair has given young artists a spotlight (and a stall) given their close links with the Manchester School of Arts and other art schools in the city.

But on the other side of the stall, the fair is a chance for art-savvy customers to buy a wide array of paintings, sculptures, sketches or prints.

However failing that, one could just walk aroun

Mancunian Matters • 18th November 2021

Manchester hit after the North given the boot over HS2 trackbacks

The North of England has been deprived of much needed and previously promised rail improvements and extensions after the government announced a curtailing of HS2 and an all-out scrap of the Northern Powerhouse project.

This will be seen as another U-turn on the report card of the Johnson government after the Prime Minister had promised wide-ranging rail network improvements which would aid economic inequality, travel times and encourage business growth in the North.

It is a tactical ploy which

Mancunian Matters • 11th November 2021

“We’ve got to make sure conflicts don’t happen again” – Manchester remembers on Armistice Day

Manchester residents remembered those lost in British conflicts today at the Manchester War Memorial Cenotaph at a moving two minutes silence.

This year marks 100 years since the poppy was taken up as a symbol of remembrance following the First World War.

‘The Last Post’ rung through St Peters Square alongside the sound of cannons going off in the distance to mark Armistice Day.

John Jinks, who served in the Royal Engineers 9th Regiment said at the Cenotaph today: “People died 100 years ago a

Mancunian Matters • 27th April 2020

Review: Lost Lanes North – a delightful little cycling book

With 2020 dragging on, we’re told to stay indoors for ever more weeks. We’ve been resigned to looking at the great outdoors through Perspex window or the gap in bedroom curtains for most of the day.

It seems no better time then for a book that celebrates the blissfully simple pleasure of being out in the countryside on two wheels.

Lost Lanes is the brainchild of Jack Thurston. A series of books that chart cycle routes on quaint lanes and country paths throughout the country.

Its next edition