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’.
“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.”
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.
“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.
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.
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.”
News
Spanish journalist rubbishes reports of Barcelona debating ending Marcus Rashford’s loan deal early
Danny Jones
Spanish journalist Guillem Balagué has come out to rubbish reports that FC Barcelona have been considering ending Marcus Rashford’s loan deal early.
The well-known football reporter, who regularly works with the likes of Sky Sports, CBS Sports, BBC and more, is one of many to have publicly decried false claims made about the Manchester United loanee, who joined the La Liga giants at the start of this summer.
Barca themselves are also said to have quashed the rumours, with Balagué’s quotes having now been widely circulated online.
Speaking via X over the weekend, the 56-year-old put it simply: that the rumblings are nonsense, reassuring that the club have plenty of faith in his abilities.
Absolutely rubbish that Barcelona is planning to end up early @MarcusRashford loan deal
Barça told his representative that they have a lot of confidence in Rashford’s potential and that they believe he will recover as a top player
As you can see, the Catalan-born RCD Espanyol fan also chose to publicly align himself with former England footballer, Gary Lineker, who has suggested that a targeted and discriminatory narrative against Rashford has developed in recent years.
Though he didn’t state it verbatim, Balagué added: “No more to say, apart from the fact I agree with Gary Lineker and his treatment by some media.”
In case you were unaware of what he’s precisely referring to, Lineker said in a chat with the Man United forward on his The Rest Is Football podcast that he believes Rashford “wouldn’t face the same criticism if he was white.”
Having also made the move from Britain to Barcelona back in 1986 (spending a total of three seasons there), the 64-year-old knows plenty about adjusting from playing in one country to another.
You can see the interview in full here.
The interview was conducted shortly after Rashford’s loan deal was completed, and he had plenty to say about his boyhood team.
Responding to Balagué’s social media post, one commenter wrote: “This nonsense is coming from racist journalists in England who refuse to leave [Rashford] alone. They bullied him when he was in England, especially during times when he seemed unhappy.
“Now, these haters have followed him to Barcelona. Rashford is one of the kindest players in the world, but these clowns just won’t let him live his life in peace.”
It is worth noting, however, that the original reports in question and ultimately aggregated by media across Europe and here in the UK come from a domestic outlet, El Nacional.
While he is yet to rediscover the form of his peak years in United red at the Camp Nou, he is now entering what are traditionally seen as the ‘prime’ period in a footballer’s career and did show more positive signs on loan at Aston Villa during the second half of the previous campaign.
At 27, there is still plenty of time to turn things around; that being said, after being brought back into the national team and with his parent club holding an option to buy clause for around a reported £20 million, the question remains whether he will be returning to Old Trafford at the end of the term. Speaking of…
How Greater Manchester ranks as NHS ‘league tables’ are published for first time ever
Emily Sergeant
A ‘pioneering’ new system of league tables revealing the best and worst performing NHS Trusts has been published for the first time ever.
This marks a new era of ‘transparency’ and ‘accountability’ in the NHS, with the league tables delivering on the Government’s promise to drive up standards, tackle variation in care, and ensure people get the high-quality service they rightly expect.
Every trust in England – from urgent and emergency care, through to elective operations and mental health services – will be ranked quarterly against ‘clear and consistent’ standards.
“This is not just about data, it’s about delivery,” the Government says.
Letting patients and the public access more data will help to drive improvement even faster. It will support them to identify where they should demand even better from their NHS.
Read more about the new league tables on overall performance for NHS services across England ⬇️ https://t.co/e8DYNakbfR
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) figures reveal that four out of five of England’s 134 ‘acute’ hospital trusts are considered to be failing.
Among the best-performing hospitals in the country was Manchester’s specialist Cancer hospital, The Christie, which was actually ranked in an impressive third place, while across Greater Manchester as a region, the highest ranked trusts were Tameside and Bolton, which came in 58 and 59 respectively on the list.
Manchester University Foundation Trust, in the heart of the city centre, came in 71st place.
The rest of the region’s trusts all came in the bottom half of the rankings – with Stockport at 86, Wigan at 92, and finally the Northern Care Alliance at 116.
NHS ‘league tables’ ranking every trust have been published for first time ever / Credit: Stephen Andrews (via Unsplash)
Sadly, it was revealed that more than half of the 20 worst general hospitals are in the north of England, but it is London that dominates the top half of the table.
“These league tables will identify where urgent support is needed and allow high-performing areas to share best practises with others, taking the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS,” explained Heath Secretary, Wes Streeting.
“We must be honest about the state of the NHS to fix it.
The Manc -
28th January 2021 
