As part of MULE’s feature on the Welfare Reform Bill, set to be trialled in Greater Manchester towards the end of 2010, Hazel Kent looks at who’s likely to be hit hardest by the Government’s latest welfare-cutting masterplan. Read more
Asylum Seeking Playwright released from detention
MULE has been following the story of community campaigner and playwright Lydia Besong since December, when she was taken into detention just days after her debut play premiered at The Zion Centre in Hulme. Lydia arrived in the UK in 2006 with her husband, political campaigner Bernard Batey, after fleeing persecution in Cameroon, to claim [...]
Kick-starting Manchester’s regeneration game (again)
Public money is streaming into private property developers but despite the bail out companies are not required to build extra affordable housing. Andy Lockhart investigates the Northwest companies receiving funds, missing deadlines and continuing to sell at a premium.
North West Development Agency celebrates 10 years
You might have noticed the name North West Development Agency appearing all over MULE recently – it’s under pretty much every public-private stone you overturn. It puts a lot of money into regeneration, and is part of the New East Manchester Ltd partnership. It’s been funding the National Football Museum, it’s given money to United [...]
Dispatches from Copenhagen IV: Good Cop/Bad Cop
In our final dispatch from the protests that took place on streets of Copenhagen last December, John Sandiford gives his account of the tactics employed by the Danish Politi (police force).
Dispatches from Copenhagen III: Gearing Up for New Politics
In another of our Copenhagen protest articles, Tom Jeffery recounts his experience of the practical side of radical politics: from the barricades to bicycle workshops…
Dispatches from Copenhagen II: Being a Protest Medic
The MULE continues its coverage of December’s Copenhagen Climate Change Summit (COP-15) with a dispatch from Manchester’s Sarah McCulloch, who acted as Medic for the Climate Camp group.
Dispatches from Copenhagen I: Manchester Climate Action
It may seem like a long time ago now, but the Copenhagen climate talks held in December last year continue to cast a shadow over the future of the planet. Monumental in their failure to achieve anything resembling the kind of agreements needed to tackle climate change, the talks showed how the current global political [...]
Conservatives 2.0
With the Tories still setting the political agenda in the run up to the election, Alex Nunns examines what a Cameron government might actually have in store for us.
Still working for a Nuclear Free City?
The University of Manchester’s Dalton Institute is to receive over £8 million of investment from the Government to support the civil nuclear industry, in a deal announced this week by Business Secretary Lord Mandelson as part of the government’s plans to create a low carbon economic area in the Northwest. Yet the development will [...]
Manchester Academies
Manchester’s education system is going through a dramatic period of change. Two new controversial academy schools opened in September with at least two more to follow in 2010. However, the recent track record of academy schools suggests that Manchester’s education revolution may not be all it’s cracked up to be.
Who's Afraid of the Swine Flu?
Media hype has infected many with swine flu fatigue. But the current pandemic poses a very real danger to human health, one which raises serious questions about the modern industrial farms that ‘fast track’ the evolution of viruses dangerous to people.
The EDL: The BNP’s Useful Idiots? (Part 2)
The second part of Ragnor Ironpants look into the links between the English Defence League (EDL) and the BNP…
The EDL: The BNP’s Useful Idiots? (Part 1)
With the EDL meeting up the road in Leeds a week back, Ragnor Ironpants digs below the surface to find what’s really behind this new phenomenon.
Just Say No…10 reasons to not get an ID card
It’s pretty clear that most of us won’t be signing up to the scheme when it’s launched, but just in case you were undecided here are ten reasons why you shouldn’t….
ID – Behind the Card
With the ID card pilot set to hit Manchester this autumn, Dave Page from Manchester NO2ID tells us exactly what we’ll be getting.
Terror Culture
You’ve probably seen the billboards: A bustling town centre under the watchful eye of a CCTV camera – “A bomb won’t go off here because weeks before a shopper reported someone studying the CCTV cameras.” Another shows a wheelie bin with cleaning products poking out with the line, “these chemicals won’t be used in a [...]
Football and Big Business: Is Another Way Possible?
So another Premier League season is about to start. Last year yet again the top four was made up of the same four clubs who generate the highest revenue. Is the virtual monopolisation of English football by wealthy businesses inevitable, or are alternatives possible?
The Madness of Cityco
In the last issue of the MULE we looked at several powerful institutions that run Manchester. Below, Tim Hunt talks to Morag Rose about one of those featured, Cityco, and sees how playing in the streets has become a subversive act.
What Future for Charities who Invested in Icesave?
When banks started to go belly-up the government moved fast to shore up the gaps. But for charities and public bodies who lost millions in the Icesave crash, the future is still uncertain.