A student accommodation platform is calling on the government to provide urgent financial aid to students and halls during the national lockdown.
Housemates – backed by Allied Students and Herbal Hill Studios – is arguing for more support at institutional and private levels; enabling rebates for any students who’ve paid for accommodation they’re not allowed to use.
The platform stated that university students are already facing “an extremely difficult start to their working life due to the pandemic and recession” and that immediate government intervention is required to remedy the situation.
Lydia Jones, founder and CEO of Housemates, said there is real risk of “a knock-on effect that will impact the higher education and PBSA sectors, local university towns and greater economy for years to come.”
Lydia stated: “Students have been blamed and dismissed a lot during the pandemic by Government and higher education institutions, often being described as irresponsible, immature or childish, and with some institutions suggesting they should treat lockdown as a ‘retreat’.
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“Yet, when it comes to attending university, they are adults – they leave their homes to travel hundreds even thousands of miles to make a life choice and commitment to education. They are then asked to sign contracts and take on huge debts and legal liabilities.
“It is unacceptable for them to be treated differently from other consumers, especially when they are crucial to the future of our economy and need urgent support to enter the working world.”
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UoM Rent Strike
Danielle, studying at UWE, said she has spent a total of 16 days in her halls but is still being overcharged.
“They are offering students two weeks of a rent refund, but have phrased this as 50% off of four weeks rent,” explained the student.
“We won’t get any actual money back too – only credit for our last instalment and that discount won’t apply until around April anyway.
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“It’s simply not enough and I feel like we are being treated like cash cows rather than humans.”
Housemates said it is hoping to improve the situation by launching a new service in March 2021 – whereby students can request and pay for their selected accommodation dates at a time that suits them.
The company said the solution will provide flexibility for students whilst helping operators fill occupancy for the academic year despite low consumer confidence.
IMAGE: David Dixon / Geograph
Meanwhile, rent protests are still continuing across the UK – with UoM Rent Strike holding a national rally earlier this week.
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The series of protests have been described as “the largest student rent strike(s) in 40 years”.
According to protestors, campaigns are due to take place across 55 university campuses throughout 2021 – with £2,000 already raised via JustGiving for resources.
Uom Rent Strike – alongside Students Before Profit and 9K4WHAT – took up residence in the deserted Fallowfield Owens Park tower block back in November to campaign for a rent cut after problems experienced in semester one.
The University of Manchester’s initial peace offering – a two-week rent reduction – was dismissed as “a slap in the face“.
But the students finally left after settling on a 30% rent reduction for the period up to Christmas.
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University of Manchester admitted that 2020 hadn’t been the year “any of us would have planned and we know we haven’t got everything right” – publishing a five-point accommodation pledge to students in response.
UoM also stated: “Students living in University accommodation who have not returned to that accommodation since the national lockdown announcement on 5 January will not pay any rent until the end of the current restrictions or the date that they return to their accommodation in Manchester.”
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NHS to start screening patient health records in a bid to catch one of the most ‘lethal’ cancers
Emily Sergeant
Hundreds of GP practices will begin combing patient records to offer urgent tests to those most at risk of one of the deadliest cancers.
It’s all in a bid to catch pancreatic cancer sooner rather than later.
Pancreatic cancer is the fifth most-common cause of cancer deaths in the UK each year, with only 7% of people living for five years or more after diagnosis.
Most people with pancreatic cancer only recognise symptoms when their disease is at a late stage, so this is why the NHS wants to reach out to people as early as possible through its new screening initiative so they can get the best treatment available to them.
GP teams are set to start scouring online patients records to identify people over 60 who have the key early warning signs of pancreatic cancer – including being recently diagnosed with diabetes and sudden weight loss, as it’s said that around half of those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer have been diagnosed with diabetes recently.
The symptoms of pancreatic cancer are usually not noticed until it’s at an advanced stage, so we need to find new ways to pick it up.
We’re working to seek people out who might be unwell without any symptoms, so we can provide people with the most effective treatment. https://t.co/6rlFVGN6UW
Even if a patient’s weight is not recorded, GP teams will reach out to patients to check they have not ‘unexpectedly slimmed down’ and offer them tests if they have new onset diabetes.
More than 300 GP practices across England will begin using the initiative – with dozens rolling it out now, and the rest due to be up and running in the autumn.
While GP teams already know the signs to look for, this new screening scheme provides almost £2 million in targeted funding to help practices reach out to those most at-risk and give patients the best chance of being diagnosed earlier.
NHS is starting to screen patient health records in a bid to catch one of the most ‘lethal’ cancers / Credit: RawPixel
When the practices taking part in the three-year pilot find the signs and symptoms they’re looking for, they will then contact patients and send them for urgent blood tests and CT scans to rule out cancer.
“Pancreatic cancer is responsible for so many deaths, because patients don’t usually notice symptoms until the cancer is at an advanced stage, which is why we need to find new ways to pick it up,” commented Professor Peter Johnson, who is the NHS’s National Clinical Director for Cancer.
Health Minister, Karin Smyth, added: “As someone who has faced cancer personally, I know all too well the fear that comes with a diagnosis and the precious value of catching it early.
“This targeted approach to identify people at risk of one of the most lethal cancers could give more people a fighting chance and spare the heartbreak of countless families.”
Featured Image – RDNE (via Pexels)
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Chester Zoo named one of England’s most popular tourist attractions with 1.9m visitors
Emily Sergeant
Congratulations are in order, yet again, for Chester Zoo… as this time it’s been named one of England’s most popular attractions.
Merely months after being named the UK’s best zoo for the second year running, thanks to receiving more than 11,000 ‘excellent’ reviews from TripAdvisor, Chester Zoo has now got itself another prestigious title, as a major VisitEngland (VE) report has ranked it the third most-visited ‘paid for’ attraction in England – and the most visited outside of London.
The national tourist board for England gathered information from a total of 1,373 attractions across the country, and ranked the UK’s biggest charity zoo as the third overall in terms of popularity, with a whopping 1.9 million visitors in 2024 alone.
The Tower of London took top spot with 2.9 million visitors, while the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew was second place with 2.3 million visitors.
When it comes to free attractions, on the other hand, it wad the British Museum that claimed the top spot with 6.5 million visitors, while the Natural History Museum (5.9 million visitors) took second place, and the Tate Modern (4.6 million visitors) got third.
So as you can see, the south and London in particular is a pretty dominating force in England’s tourism industry – which is why it’s even more impressive to see Chester Zoo ranked so highly.
The new VE title also comes after the zoo was recently given £4 million of lottery funding to help ‘transform’ the local environment and restore wildlife habitats across the Cheshire and wider North West region.
Not only that, but if course follows Chester Zoo’s unveiling of its new immersive experience named Heart of Africa, which is the the largest zoo habitat ever created in the UK and is home to 57 iconic African species.
Chester Zoo has been named one of England’s most popular tourist attractions with 1.9m visitors / Credit: Chester Zoo
“As a major international wildlife charity, everything we do is focused on supporting global conservation,” commented Chester Zoo’s Commercial Director, Dom Strange.
“Whether it’s caring for highly-threatened animals and plants, making scientific discoveries, influencing Government environmental policies, impacting the National Curriculum to better connect young people with nature, or our conservation efforts in around 20 countries, we’re fully committed to protecting endangered species for the future.
“But none of this would be possible without our visitors.
“Every person who comes to the zoo for a fun and inspiring day out is helping to fund our vital work, so we want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported us and helped us to rank so highly in VisitEngland’s latest report.”
The Manc -
28th January 2021 
