A report from the Mancunion reported a large drop in students numbers and one article mention 3 student halls of residences in Fallowfield were empty: http://mancunion.com/2012/09/27/fallowfield-hall-empty-after-drop-in-student-numbers/. They even had an article about the rise of Asian Universities, another reason student numbers in Manchester will go down. The Daily Telegraph also had an article about the large number of course vacancies and especially mentioned Manchester Metropolitan University: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/9574429/Universities-still-advertising-vacancies-before-term-starts.html.
And with the planning department and committee refused planning permission for a student block on Coupland Street; 095082/FO/2010/S1 and another on Boundary Lane: 099782/FO/2012/S1 until the need for further student commendation was proven.
Both Manchester Metropolitan University and Manchester University both opposed these developments with a statement;
‘The statement essentially indicates that there is a real danger of overprovision within Manchester resulting in a high level of vacancy. This is influenced by the introduction of the full £9000 tuition fee for undergraduates, an 8% reduction in applications to higher education and the trend for more local students to live at home. MMU has seen 27% reduction in application from first year students to live in halls’.
So where is the requirement to build student accommodation on Birley Fields? And I thought it totally hypocritical of our councillors who were against these applications whilst still supporting the Birley Fields proposals.
We have a duty to protect the vulnerable but this Government is doing it’s best to ensure the vulnerable suffer for the crimes of those in Power.
From The Rev Paul Nicolson, Taxpayers Against Poverty, 07961177889
Called by Single Mothers’ Self-Defence, Taxpayers Against Poverty, WinVisible
COUNCIL TAX BENEFIT CUTS = THE NEW POLL TAX
Worse than Thatcher! Oppose all benefit cuts and sanctions
Stop this Halloween Horror!
Vigil & protest: 12.30 – 1.30pm
Wednesday 31 OCTOBER
Opposite Parliament – Lords’ entrance
Old Palace Yard, Abingdon St SW1 – Westminster tube
All welcome
THINGS YOU CAN DO
Come and raise your concerns on the Vigil ♦ Bring your own placards with issues you are concerned about ♦ call radio shows and your local press about how you will be affected ♦ Lobby your MP – find your MP here ♦ Contact your local councillors and ask for a borough-wide public meeting to oppose welfare reforms
On Wednesday the House of Commons will debate the Local Government Finance Bill which proposes to cut 10% of the grant local…
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Urban Splash’s vision for New Islington.
From Urban Splash’s own site: New Islington you can see from their images from their master-plan, they had no intention of preserving Ancoats Dispensary.
Looking towards the centre of this image, just to the right of the grey and blue building is the site of Ancoats Dispensary but it has been replaced by another building.
And in this image, just to the right of centre, the Chip building can be identified. And in front of the Chip Building, Ancoats Dispensary has been replaced. These images are from an Urban Splash web-site dated 2011, which shows Tom Bloxham and Urban Splash were not being truthful, when they said they were looking at options for Ancoats Dispensary. It is obvious to most people, that they had other plans for the site of Ancoats Dispensary. And if you view the time-line for Ancoats Dispensary, the roof was damaged as far back as 2005 and no attempt made to repair it. Nor did Manchester City Council exercise their powers to repair and compulsory purchase powers to remedy such deliberate neglect/
This is how Denmark became a World leader in wind turbines, through grass-roots community initiatives encourage by Government. We need to move away from wasteful large energy plants to more, smaller community energy plants.
This is a guest post by Agamemnon Otero, co-founder of Brixton Energy and Repowering South London.
Solving our energy problems calls for a rethink of our energy investment, generation and distribution systems. It asks us to look beyond blaming the big energy companies or individual consumer habits, to focus on creating an affordable system where all energy users are the key to the solution, as opposed to ‘the problem’.
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Unfortunately, since the 1990s under Stringer’s and Leese’s control, much of Manchester’s heritage has been destroyed. To make way for glass, concrete and steel buildings that are not fit for the 21st century. Many of them lying empty or only partially occupied. A tram system that displaced the railway and not the motor-car. Manchester has become one large slum in the making.
Preserving the heritage of the once mighty metropolis of Manchester
© 2005-2012 Look and Learn
This edited article about Manchester originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 720 published on 1 November 1975.
As its name suggests, like Rochester and Cirencester, Dorchester, Lancaster and Chester, the great city we know today as Manchester, capital of the north, was a Roman castra, or crossing place. It was established where a number of their major through-routes, to Hadrian’s Wall at Carlisle, to York, to the Dee estuary and to London, crossed.
Set the point of a pair of compasses at that crossing-place, marked by the 15th-century cathedral, and draw a circle five miles in radius, and you enclose a million people. Double that radius, and your circle encloses a population of 2,500,000, the largest concentration of human beings in one area…
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Nursing and Auxiliary staff are already overworked and under-paid. The NHS is e too top heavy with senior management and consultants.
10 days ago, I wrote about the letter that North Tees & Hartlepool NHS Trust had issued to all of its employees, threatening to sack and re-employ them if they refused to sign a variation to their Agenda for Change (AfC) contracts removing the right to unsocial hours enhancements to sick pay. As I wrote, while I appreciate – and staff mostly concur – that there is some abuse of sick leave by a small number of staff, this should be addressed via disciplinary measures on those staff and not by penalising the vast majority of hard-working staff who are likely to be absent because of stress, infections or injuries (back injuries, for example, are commonly incurred while lifting patients or trying to prevent falls) picked up in the course of their work.
If you want to see the letter in full and see the coercive tactics being employed by…
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Something most ‘right-minded’ people have believed for generations. That Israel and the US are guilty of crimes against humanity.
Russell Tribunal on Palestine | Oct 16, 2012
1. The fourth session of the Russell Tribunal continued its historic function of articulating civic protest and carrying the weight of insufferable conditions at a moment when the world society is facing its most incredible challenges. It should be noted that the UN Charter was created to emphasize the rights of people and not states.
2. The final session of the Tribunal focused on the responsibility of the United States of America (US) and the United Nations (UN) regarding the Israeli breaches of international law towards Palestine. There is now a situation in which Israel has achieved a status of immunity and impunity by their complete disregard for the norms and standards of international law facilitated by the US.
After hearing various witnesses and experts, the Tribunal has reached the following conclusions (it should be noted that invitations…
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The rotten core of the British political system, both Conservatives and Labour should be voted out.
The one-word secret of Hunt’s success:
NEPOTISM
His relationship to Virginia Bottomley…..his dealings with the British Council….his inheritance of the SW Surrey constituency….his father’s history in UK Health provision….the Health interests for whom Bottomley now works….his capture of the Health portfolio in the recent reshuffle.
♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣
Throughout his career, Jeremy Hunt’s advancement somehow always seemed to involve his path crossing that of the former Virginia Bottomley, known since 2005 as Baroness Nettlestone. Now – with the help of some initial sleuthing by regular Slogger Jackie – I can offer readers a big clue: they are cousins. Laid out below (for anyone with any feeling for the importance of meritocracy) is how still, in 2012, career progress of the type admired by David Cameron – “the leg up” – is alive and well. One where the right tie, who you know, and above all a…
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The Marcellus Shale Documentary Project, Photographing Fracking – NYTimes.com
As well as the USA, where residents are fighting the expansion of Shale Gas Methane extraction, known as ‘fracking’: The Marcellus Shale documentary project Photographing fracking. NYTimes com
it is also a problem in Australia with Coal-seam Methane extraction: http://youtu.be/wCMcr27uAg4
Funny weather we’re having… how the melting Arctic is affecting global weather patterns in a sinister way | Campaign against Climate Change
An article on Climate Change, going into some detail on why we are experiencing some very unusual weather. It is those in the Global South and the poor in the Global North who suffer most, from these extreme weather patterns. And as he states, we are now on a slippery slope downwards, which we will not be able to get back up. And what do our leaders do, more of the same, which is the cause of Global Warming. It is time, those in the Global North, cut back on their excessive consumption and waste. It is time to throw away the motor car and give up flying on holidays abroad. Because, in the end, this is going to adversely affect everyone, no matter how much money you have. You cannot eat money, gold, shares, bonds or even bricks and mortar.
patricktsudlow 