Boris Johnson urges parents to send children back to school in September
The Prime Minister said the risk of contracting Covid-19 in school is 'very small' and 'it is far more damaging' for a children to remain at home in the long-term.
Boris Johnson is encouraging parents to send children back to school in September – emphasising the risk of contracting coronavirus is “very small”and that it is “far more damaging” to remain at home.
The Prime Minister has backed up the official advice of England’s top medical experts – including Chris Whitty – who have claimed that returning to the classroom next month is both safe and necessary.
The Department of Education in England has given schools the green light to welcome back pupils from the beginning of the autumn term as normal; hoping to finally steady a turbulent period for learning facilities across the country.
70 children and 128 staff were infected in outbreaks of the virus – which PHE said were most likely caused by staff members.
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According to PHE research, only two outbreaks apparently involve students infecting other students.
In an official statement released on Sunday, the Prime Minister said: “I have previously spoken about the moral duty to reopen schools to all pupils safely, and I would like to thank the school staff who have spent the summer months making classrooms Covid-secure in preparation for a full return in September.”
“We have always been guided by our scientific and medical experts, and we now know far more about coronavirus than we did earlier this year.
“As the chief medical officer has said, the risk of contracting Covid-19 in school is very small and it is far more damaging for a child’s development and their health and wellbeing to be away from school any longer.
“This is why it’s vitally important that we get our children back into the classroom to learn and to be with their friends. Nothing will have a greater effect on the life chances of our children than returning to school.”
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Why you should go to this hidden music festival in a garden centre
Thomas Melia
Manchester’s only direct-from-garden-centre music event, Green Island Festival, is returning with free tickets, big charity projects and more.
Now in its fifth year, Green Island Festival is back for 2025 and its set to be bigger and better than ever before, spread across three dates throughout the summer.
The lineup is as diverse as ever bringing in a range of acts from all over the globe such as Australia to local grassroots talents that deserve a turn in the spotlight.
I sat down with the event organisers for this one-of-a-kind music festival George and Stephan to find out why you should go to this hidden music festival in a garden centre.
What makes your festival different from any other?
George: Definitely the garden centre aspect. There’s an escapism element to it and we’re also doing pretty well at championing the grassroots scene, giving people a platform to showcase their music. We’re trying to not be super focused on one specific type of music or genre this feeds through to our lineups.
Stephan: We’ve been lucky being able to attract different age ranges from 18 and 19 all the way up to 50 and 60 year olds. The people are what make it what it is and they’ve stuck with us from day dot really, it’s one big community. Managing to get a very diverse lineup in place is important too.
Georgegetting the crowd hyped at Green Island Festival.Music festival in a Manchester garden centre? We’re in.
Who came up with the idea to host a festival in a garden centre?
Stephan: George. He walked past the garden centre and thought that’s the perfect place.
We didn’t know we didn’t know each other at first then George found my page (Me Gusta Collective) and I was fully up for it straight away, and since then we’ve been best friends. And, like, I’ve called him like, my best friend.
Manchester is known for its love of music, how did you guys fall in love with music and then eventually fall in love with festival organising?
George: It’s always come pretty naturally to both of us. Stephan’s done lots of work with Band on the Wall and I did various bits at Freight Island and Canvas when it was still open. Our favourite part is when we’re planning and scheming the flow of the festival and lineup.
Stephan: I guess our love of different types of music comes from our upbringings really. I listened to a lot of salsa and my dad used to throw events when I was a kid with family members so creating events has always been around me. I started my first night when I was 19 in Germany after I fell in love with house music and electronic music in Manchester so I feel like the path to creating events has always been laid out but it took me a while to make a living out of it.
Good vibes only at Green Festival Island 2025.Stephanperforming under his DJ alias Atiké.
Stephan, you’ve been a long time supporter of indie artists and local venues, working at band on the wall yourself. So how important is it for you to see local artists reflected in Green Island’s lineup?
Stephan: It’s so important to us. We’ve got the marquee stage which is all about local acts and our bandstand stage too. There’s High Hoops [A Manchester-based Queer club night], which has been going for years now, and same goes to Eves’Drop Collective [A group of female DJs from across the UK] that have been doing bits for such a long time, and Ruf Dug who is a no brainer for the lineup.
George: When it comes to headliners there’s only a handful per day and the rest of Green Island [Festival] is pretty much grassroots music. Paying a fortune for each act isn’t the only way to bring a lot of people together and sell a lot tickets, people are interested in grassroots more than ever.
Tickets are quite reasonably priced, too, with children and under 13’s getting free entry, what made you decide to offer this?
Stephan: We want to make this festival available for families so you would have to pay for every kid to get in, it ends up being so expensive.
George: We worked pretty hard on finding the perfect price point for the festival so it can operate but not break the bank because it’s pretty crazy how expensive tickets are getting now.
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Children and under 13’s can get into Green Island Festival for free.The wonderful Green Island Festival team.
What made you choose a lineup that spans lots of different sounds, rather than sticking to a few main genres?
Stephan: We come from a background of music purists who listened to lots of records to a lot of records. I was listening to African bands who are fully authentic much like grassroots music it’s raw. , raw, it’s fresh. We’ve been able to come up with a lineup that fuses African music, Latin music, sounds from the Middle East with ska, house, drum and bass, even jazz. We know exactly what we want to hear.
George: It’s the appreciation of music across the spectrum, there’s so many different facets to it, and we programme a solid lineup that incorporates all of them. We love a challenge and we love feeding the energy throughout the day, leading to the last little crescendo at the end.
You also give attendees the option to donate £1 to Eat Well MCR with every ticket bought, how important is this charity to the pair of you?
George: We know Kathleen [Co-founder of Eat Well MCR] quite well, she’s always been a huge supporter of us so we do what we can to support whatever she’s got going on. We managed to raise quite a bit of money for them last year. Also, when you’re buying food from our vendors you can add a donation for this initiative which last year 90% of everybody that ordered food added on £1 or more which was very nice to see.
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We also work with Play It Green where we have a levy on our ticket and 50% goes to them so they can plant trees around the world. We want to make our festival more sustainable in the long term and eventually be net zero.
Stephan I know you also have a DJ alias, Atiké, how excited are you to play the festival alongside all acts?
Stephan: I can’t wait, I’m doing a b2b set with Little O who is amazing. I met her on Bandcamp, now we’re playing together. I went all over Dublin to see her and because I grew up in Ireland it’s quite nice to kind of reconnect with that side of me. I asked her if she fancied doing a b2b set with me and she was all for it. We bounce off each other so well.
If you could describe green album festival in three words, what would you choose? George: Inclusive, friendly, vibrant. Stephan: Sunshine, diversity and friendship.
Tickets for ‘Green Island Festival 2025’ range from full price to low-income and neighbours tickets at just £12.50 and entry for children under 13 completely FREE – Get ready to grab your tickets for Green Island 2025 HERE.
Featured Images – Publicity Pictures (via Supplied)
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Chris Brown tour WILL go ahead after singer released on £5m bail
Daisy Jackson
Chris Brown’s tour looks set to go ahead after the R&B star was released on bail today.
The singer is set to play four nights at the Co-op Live in Manchester as part of his Breezy Bowl XX tour.
But the tour was thrown into doubt when Chris Brown was arrested at the luxury The Lowry hotel just weeks before his first live dates.
He was arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm on Thursday 15 May and remanded into custody.
Today, it’s been announced that the ‘Forever’ star will be freed from prison in time for his world tour – but he must pay a £5 million security fee to the court.
The 36-year-old will be able to continue with his tour as part of his bail conditions, Judge Tony Baumgartner told the court.
He’s currently facing a charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, relating to a bottle attack at a London nightclub two years ago against music producer Abe Diaw at Tape nightclub.
Abe Diaw has alleged that Brown ‘smashed him over the head with a bottle’ in the attack on him, at around 3am at Tape nightclub.
Chris Brown has 10 UK tour dates in the pipeline as part of his ‘Breezy Bowl XX tour’, which includes four at the Co-op Live on 15, 16, 24 June, and 3 July 2025.
The Manc -
24th August 2020 
