Cities are recognising the dangers of speculation and big capital: what will Manchester’s politicians do next?

With thousands of housing units being built in across wards including Deansgate, Piccadilly and Ancoats, central areas of Manchester have now become a key investment ‘hot-spot’ for profit-seeking finance that cares little for local communities. This rampant speculation, surge in international investment and links to rising rents, displacement, homelessness and destruction of heritage and culture […]

Bluedot Festival celebrates sounds, science and sustainability

Manchester University’s Jodrell Bank Observatory, the site of many scientific discoveries which has been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, will once again host the award-winning Bluedot Festival of discovery this weekend. Proceedings kick off in spectacular fashion on Thursday 19 July when the Halle Orchestra perform ‘The Blue Planet in Concert’, a special […]

The hidden shame of period poverty

Half the population of the world are women. It is, therefore, safe to say that a large proportion of that population have periods. So, why is the issue of menstrual care still so taboo? Why do people still feel awkward and embarrassed by their period and feel that it should be something that should be […]

Manchester bands rock German festival in intergalactic style

The long-standing, alternative, anti-capitalist and strongly anti-fascist Fusion Festival was this year graced by storming sets from two of Manchester’s most beloved underground electronic music bands. Held on a former soviet air base in Lärz, North East Germany, Fusion Festival is billed as four days of ‘holiday communism’. With a strong ethos of diversity and inclusion, […]