Upper Tribunal says ALL bedroom tax decisions unlawfully determined

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

Manchester City Council (100% Labour) constantly complains about Central Government, whilst it is happy to unlawfully enact the bedroom tax.  Putting many Manchester residents into deeper poverty and even homelessness.  Manchester is one of the most deprived cities in the UK, with the lowest life-expectancy for males.  And all Manchester City Council is concerned about, is throwing money at the usual property developers, like Urban Splash and Ask Development

Source: Upper Tribunal says ALL bedroom tax decisions unlawfully determined

Pat Burke, Ancoats, Manchester

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

It was with sadness that I heard Pat Burke had died on the 26th November 2014.  Pat Burke had been active in Ancoats for many years, recently supporting Ancoats Dispensary Trust, in its efforts to save Ancoats Dispenary.

img007 She was involved, with other Ancoats residents in the occupation of Ancoats Casualty, which took place between February 1987 and March 1989.  They were fighting to stop the closure of the casualty department, which the local Health authority had decided, had to close.  The story of the sit-in, is told in ‘Stitched Up! – Action for Health in Ancoats’ (Dunne, M.C., 1993).  Pat was one of the editorial group, along with Phil Burke, Joe Cromer, Jean Grey, Cathy Jackson and Craig Russell, which met regularly between 1991 to 1993.  There were two copies of ‘Stitched Up!’ available in the reference section of Central Library.

Local people's Commemmorative Plaque of the Sit-In

The last of years, she has been supportive of the Save Ancoats Dispensary Group, now Ancoats Dispensary Trust, in their efforts to save the old building from demolition.  Pat Burke’s Health Profile from ‘Stitched Up!, is below;

Pat Burke Pat Burke Health Profile

Dunne, M.C. (1993) Stitched Up! – Action for Health in Ancoats, Rochdale Alternative Press. 1993 Church Action on Poverty.

The Republican, Issue One

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

An interesting article about the Peterloo Massacre and one of the important people Richard Carlile, fighting for democracy in the UK. Something that is still, sadly lacking, due to the ‘first-past-the-post’ system.  Unfortunately, far too many middle-class, so-called socialist, think Marxism is the only socialist movement the UK had. Marx plagiarised the work of early British, French and German socialists, to produce a work of contradictions.

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republican1

The Republican Issue One

The Republican was first published on this day, August 27th, 1819.  Its creator was Richard Carlile, who was one of the intended speakers  at the St Peter’s Fields reform meeting before the yeomanry transformed the occasion into the Peterloo Massacre.  Shocked by the spectacle of unarmed men women and children being cut to pieces just because they wanted to hear a bit more about democracy, Carlile wrote an account of the event for Sherwin’s Weekly Political Register which led to his instant prosecution.

The Prince Regent also put pen to paper.  He took the initiative of writing personally to congratulate the troops on how promptly and efficiently they had put the plebs to the sword.

(You see, soldiers who slaughter civilians aren’t committing a crime.  People who point that soldiers slaughter civilians are the real criminals.)

Carlile changed the name of his paper to

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Peterloo Massacre 195th Anniversary

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

August 16th was the 195th Anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre, and a commemoration of the event was held on the 17th August 2014, on Windmill Street on the edge of the original site.  A number of different groups had walked in from other parts of Lancashire to represent the original marches to join the Peterloo Rally. 

The Middleton contingent walking up Southmill Street towards Windmill Street, passing, what was the Free Trade Hall.
The Middleton contingent walking up Southmill Street towards Windmill Street, passing, what was the Free Trade Hall.
A couple of the replica banners from the Peterloo Rally August 16th 1819
A couple of the replica banners from the Peterloo Rally August 16th 1819

Maxine Peake had appeared the year before at the Manchester International Festival, doing a reading of Shelley’s Masque of AnarchyDSC_0008. 

The Maxine Peake started the proceedings.
The Maxine Peake started the proceedings.
The Deputy Lord Mayor of Manchester started the reading of those innocents killed on that inglorious day.
The Deputy Lord Mayor of Manchester started the reading of those innocents killed on that inglorious day.

A number of Ancoats Dispensary Trust and supporters, were at the event. 

A number of Ancoats Dispensary Trust and supporters were at the event.
A number of Ancoats Dispensary Trust and supporters were at the event. 

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Germany’s aggressive push for a clean-energy future (+video)

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

Manchester City’s council leader Richard Leese,  went to Copenhagen in 2009, waving a piece of paper, ‘Manchester – A Certain Future‘.  Supposedly outlining how Manchester would become a green city and reduce its carbon emissions.  It has become a worthless piece of paper, just as Neville Chamberlain’s, ‘Peace in our Time‘, was mocked by Hitler.  All the while, he has ignored good examples of how this can be achieved, such as in Freiburg, Germany.  Who have managed to embrace renewable energy and energy efficiency, without destroying its historic architecture.  Is it because the Greens are the largest party in their town council?  Unlike Leese in Manchester, who has cleared acres of social/council housing and historic buildings, to build his energy inefficient ivory towers.  Woking, Surrey, is about the only UK town or City, that comes anywhere to Freiburg, in renewable energy and efficiencies.  But Richard Leese has delusions of grandeur, which are fuelled by his sycophantic colleagues and business people.  And instead of looking towards best practice, just blames other councils for not get their act together.

Germany’s aggressive push for a clean-energy future (+video).

Can Wind, Water and Sunlight Power New York by 2050? – NYTimes.com

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

An interesting article in the New York Times about a report into the possibility of New York being energy efficient without fossil fuels and nuclear energy “Examining the Feasibility of Converting New York State’s All-Purpose Energy Infrastructure to One Using Wind, Water and Sunlight,”: .  The author of the article did call into question

– Does New York State need — for its own sake or the environment’s — to be an energy island? A lot of economists, and environmental analysts, would say no.

Yes it does need to be an energy island, on economic and environmental grounds, something environmentalists have been calling for.  A move away from large centralised power stations, fossil fuelled or nuclear, and to more smaller, localised power sources: Sustainable_community_energy_system.  Case studies of Sustainable Woking can be found at: Sustainable Woking case studies.  It took just one council official to drive this initiative through back in 1991 and yet Manchester – A Certain Future since its fanfare launch in 2009, has achieved exactly, nothing!  It is amazing what can be achieved with some effort and enthusiasm.

Can Wind, Water and Sunlight Power New York by 2050? – NYTimes.com.