Award-winning north Manchester rapper Aitch is giving away free train tickets to help under 25 year olds get to gigs and festivals across the UK this summer.
The new initiative, called The Aitch-S2, pokes a bit of fun at the government’s scrapped northern HS2 scheme and says it aims to ‘rebalance cultural accessibility outside of the M25’ to ‘spotlight bubbling music scenes across the UK.’
Running for eight weeks between July and August, the alternative travel scheme will release hundreds of train vouchers worth up to £100 each.
The idea is to give under-25s the ability to cover their rail travel costs to music events in different cities – helping young music fans to balance the return of music events and festivals post-Covid with the rising cost of transport and living.
His Aitch-S2 initiative hopes to make a difference by removing some of the financial barriers that might restrict people from making the most of the first summer since the lifting of restrictions.
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As a northern artist who is known for supporting rising stars in his hometown of Manchester, Aitch is evidently passionate about regional scenes, talents and cultures and says he wants to help people ‘break out of their city limits’.
Speaking on his involvement in the Relentless Aitch-S2 scheme, he said: “I’m really excited to launch The Aitch-S2 with Relentless – there’s so much amazing culture around the UK, but for young people to experience it, they need to break out of their city limits, which is hard to do when it’s so expensive to travel outside your hometown.
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“I don’t want anyone missing out on what is going to be a summer to remember, so this initiative will help young Brits get back out there and have fun, no matter the location.”
Image: Supplied
The launch of the Aitch-S2 initiative marks Aitch’s second year heading up the Relentless Without Limits campaign, which aims to inspire the next generation to live, dream, dance and create without limits.
As part of this year’s without limits campaign, Aitch fans will also be able to win a day with the rapper via an on-can promotion that will be running from August.
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The Aitch-S2 travel scheme will run for eight weeks from 5 July to 26 August.
Under 25s can apply from anywhere in the UK for free travel across the national rail network by visiting www.aitch-s2.com, with travel vouchers worth up to £100 allocated on a weekly basis.
Feature image – Supplied
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NHS rolls out new ‘life-extending’ ovarian cancer drug for first time in 20 years
Emily Sergeant
The NHS has approved a new ovarian cancer treatment for the first time in two decades.
From today, hundreds of women with ‘hard-to-treat’ ovarian cancer could benefit from a new life-extending drug on the NHS called mirvetuximab soravtansine, and it will be offered to patients living with whose disease has unfortunately stopped responding to standard chemotherapy treatments, providing them with new hope of extra time to live.
The rollout of the drug on the NHS follows a major global clinical trial involving eight NHS hospitals, which showed that the treatment delayed cancer progression and prolonged survival – with patients living 16.5 months on average compared to 12.8 months with chemotherapy.
One patient said the treatment enabled her to get on with life ‘rather than spending it in bed recovering from the side effects of chemotherapy’.
So, how does it work then?
The NHS has rolled out a new ‘life-extending’ ovarian cancer drug for the first time in 20 years / Credit: rawpixel
Well, the drug combines a ‘homing’ antibody with a cancer-killing medicine – often described by scientists as a ‘biological missile’ or ‘trojan horse’ therapy – and it works by attaching to ovarian cancer cells that have a protein called folate receptor alpha (FRα) on their surface, before releasing a cancer-killing molecule which destroys the cell from within.
The treatment is given intravenously, via a drip, over two to four hours, once every three weeks.
The drug may also have ‘more tolerable’ side effects than traditional chemotherapy, with the treatment aimed more precisely at cancer cells than chemotherapy.
The NHS estimates up to 400 patients in England each year could benefit.
“This represents the most significant breakthrough in NHS treatment for these hard-to-treat ovarian cancers in over two decades, commented Professor Ruth Plummer, who is the NHS’s national clinical lead for cancer drugs.
“We’re delighted it will now offer hundreds of women much-needed hope of precious extra time with their loved ones.
“It is part of a growing wave of more targeted cancer therapies which, by homing in on specific features of cancer cells, are helping us improve patients’ lives.”
Featured Image – Stephen Andrews (via Unsplash)
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Count Binface says he’ll put a £2 price cap on Wigan kebabs if he wins the Makerfield by-election
Emily Sergeant
Count Binface is officially running in the Makerfield by-election and has now shared his hilarious manifesto with the public.
Price-capped Wigan kebabs and 99p ice creams, cyclists being forced to ride unicycles if they break the Highway Code, and the renaming of HS2 to ‘FFS1’ are just some of the declarations being made by Makerfield by-election candidate, Count Binface.
In case you’re not up-to-speed on the Makerfield by-election coming up on 18 June – which was called after Labour’s Josh Simons announced he was standing down – there are now a total of 14 hopefuls set to contest the parliamentary seat.
Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, is by far the most well-known candidate in the running, alongside other names like Conservative’s Michael Winstanley, Liberal Democrats’ Jake Austin, the Green Party’s Sarah Wakefield, and Reform UK’s Michael Kenyon.
But Burnham is not the only big name… there’s also Count Binface too, of course.
Count Binface – previously known as Lord Buckethead – is the alias of comedian and perennial candidate, Jonathan David Harvey.
He announced his intentions to run for the Makerfield seat last month, before officially publishing his manifesto today (3 June), which includes 20 pledges – some serious, others less so… we presume.
On a more local level to the Makerfield area, if Count Binface wins the by-election, he has pledged to re-phase the traffic lights on Liverpool Road to ease congestion, increase the free parking limit at the Gerard Centre to three hours, and to make Galloways’ Full Monty Bin Lid breakfast the country’s new national dish.
And then on a more comical level – yes, even more comical than a new national dish – this is where you’ll find pledges like making sure there’s WiFi on trains that works and also ‘trains that work’ too, as well as the bringing back of Ceefax teletext for all Greater Manchester residents, and the increasing of points for tries in Rugby League from four to five ‘in line with inflation’.
Oh yeah, and there’s the promise that Count Binface will be the UK’s entrant to Eurovision in 2027, let’s not forget that.
Anyway, like we said, the Makerfield by-election is coming up on 18 June, and you can find out more information about all the candidates on the Wigan Council website here.
Georgina Pellant -
5th July 2022 
