Marcus Rashford says he wants to “kill the stigma” associated with asking for support with food and resources.
The Manchester United star appeared on Good Morning Britain on Monday to discuss his ongoing campaign to support children from low-income backgrounds.
The 22-year-old battled against MPs to win the right for free school meals to continue across the summer, and has now united Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Aldi with Deliveroo and charity FairShare to create a taskforce with a long-term vision to prevent child poverty in the UK.
Speaking with Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid on ITV, Rashford has said he’s managed to sit with some of the families he’s helped over the past few weeks, and he reiterated the importance of providing support to those who need it most.
'I'm driven to help as much as I can.'
Man Utd star Marcus Rashford is backing proposals to expand free school meals following his inspirational campaigning over the summer ?
Now, the footballer is encouraging anyone who might be struggling to come forward.
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“If someone is in a position to help you should be comfortable to ask, we need people to ask for help to get them the help that they need,” Rashford explained.
“I really wanted to kill the stigma of asking for help. I want it to die.”
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Rashford also emphasised some of the dangers associated with children not being well-fed.
“If you’re not eating you’ve got no energy, you don’t feel comfortable going to school.
“[Children affected] just sleep all day because they’re physically drained.
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“It can be the beginning of homelessness or crime.”
He added: “My mum never got that help when she was younger.
“It just drives me more to to help as much as I can.”
The footballer also responded to a tweet by Tory MP Kevin Holinrake earlier this month, who claimed it was a “parent’s job to feed their children.”
Rashford urged the politician “to talk to families before tweeting.”
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“To this day I haven’t met one parent who hasn’t wanted or felt the responsibility to feed their children…” he added.
I would urge you to talk to families before tweeting. To this day I haven’t met one parent who hasn’t wanted or felt the responsibility to feed their children… https://t.co/J72VyRazbF
Rashford’s taskforce is endorsing three policy recommendations of the National Food Strategy.
These include the expansion of free school meals to every child from a household on universal credit or equivalent; the expansion of holiday provision (food and activities) to support all children on free school meals; and increasing the value of Healthy Start Vouchers to £4.25 a week up from £3.10.
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Luxury Manchester gym Blok confirms permanent closure after weeks of uncertainty
Daisy Jackson
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure, weeks after the doors to the premium fitness facility mysteriously closed.
Around a fortnight ago, members began to arrive to their classes to find the gym on Ducie Street locked up and a forfeiture notice on the door – but at the time, Blok said that it was fighting to reopen.
Sadly, in an email sent to members today, its founder has confirmed that the studio is now permanently closed.
Blok – which has several very successful sites down in London – said that its relationship with its landlord has ‘broken down to a point where trust has been lost’.
The gym wrote that it’s been left with ‘no workable way forward’.
They said: “BLOK Manchester was a space built by our loyal and dedicated community. Whether you joined us for one class or one hundred, we are deeply grateful. You helped create something genuinely special in an incredible city.”
In the immediate future, they said they’ll be supporting the team of fantastic trainers who worked here, as well as looking after members.
Members will be contacted within a few hours with options and refunds owed.
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure. Credit: The Manc Group
CEO and founder Ed Stanbury said: “While this marks the end of a chapter, we don’t see it as the end of our story in Manchester. We’re already speaking with developers about potential future sites and remain committed to returning to the city when the time is right.
“Thank you for being part of our story so far. Let’s shape the future of wellness. The mission continues.”
Commenting on Blok’s Instagram post – its first in almost a fortnight – people have been sharing their sadness at the closure of its Manchester site.
One person wrote: “beautiful space, beautiful staff and beautiful community.”
Another said: “Sending love to all the instructors !! :(((( gutted”
Someone else commented: “THE BEST CLASSES. I’m gutted.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
The Manc -
14th September 2020 
