Around a dozen University of Manchester students occupied a university building in Fallowfield as part of ongoing rent strike protests yesterday.
Students representing UoM Rent Strike, Students Before Profit and 9K4WHAT have taken up residence in the currently empty Owens Tower on Wilmslow Road, in a stand against university management.
Yesterday evening, the students occupying the tower had their WIFI cut off by the university and were temporarily deprived of receiving food and other essential items.
However, after involvement from local MP Afzal Khan, the internet was restored in the early hours of the morning.
I have been informed that the WiFi is back on in Owens Park Tower.
He said: “The welfare of students should be everyone’s number one priority.
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“I hope @OfficialUoM will reach out to students and de-escalate tensions.”
Protestors have said that they feel like they have been neglected by the University, and are demanding a 40 per cent reduction in rent for the remainder of the 2020/21 academic year.
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UoM Rent Strike
One of the occupiers, Ben McGowan, 18, is a first-year politics student at the University of Manchester.
Speaking to The Manc, he said: “The way the university has treated students is deplorable.
“Firstly, they told us we would receive face to face teaching and then backtracked on that within a week of us moving in. Then hundreds of us had to isolate with little support.
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“The state of the accommodation is awful too. There’s been rat infestations as well as leaks and floods in some of the halls on campus.
“We will not leave until (Vice Chancellor) Nancy Rothwell meets with us and agrees to our aims. The least that university management could do is agree to meet us and hear what we have to say.”
OCCUPATION ALERT:
At 10am this morning a group of students from students before profit and rent strike UoM went into occupation of the Tower in Owens Park. These are our demands, support our occupation! @UM_UCU@ucu_solidaritypic.twitter.com/4nGGPCoxLF
UoM Rent Strike’s original demands, announced on October 5, are as follows:
A rent reduction of at least 40 per cent, for the remainder of the academic year 2020-21.
To offer all students no-penalty early release clause from their tenancy contracts, for both this and the next academic year.
Increase the standard of support for students in halls of residence, this includes food, laundry and post for isolating flats; better security and faster responses to complaints about standards of living e.g. broken fridges.
Mr McGowan, who lives in Fallowfield’s Oak House accommodation, also said he wanted a refund on rent paid for December as new Government guidelines meant he had to leave the accommodation, but the university had “refused to engage.”
In an open letter addressed to Nancy Rothwell, the occupiers said: “Even amidst the calls for transparency between the governing body and the students, you have still failed to provide us with a meeting to merely discuss these demands, much less to implement them.”
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Mr McGowan added: “University management have a duty of care over their students.”
“If they are not willing to meet with us to discuss their concerns then they are failing in their role.”
A University of Manchester spokesperson said: “We are aware of the protest by a handful of students in an empty residential building.
“We have made it clear to them that they shouldn’t be there and that they may also be in contravention of current national Health Protection Regulations.
“We are already engaging with elected Students’ Union representatives about many of the issues being highlighted by the protestors.
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“The University is fully committed to freedom of expression.”
Mr McGowan said that they have enough food to last them a while, and they will continue to occupy the tower block until their “basic demands” are met.
In an updated statement, a University of Manchester spokesman said that the Vice Chancellor has agreed to meet students over the weekend to discuss their concerns.
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Salford confirms another ex-player as new CEO of phoenix rugby club
Danny Jones
As Salford turns the page of a new chapter in its rugby league history, ex-Red Devils player Ryan Brierley has been announced as the new chief executive officer (CEO).
His appointment was confirmed on Wednesday, 24 December, giving Salford rugby fans some fresh hope over the festive period.
Brierley, who played as a full back at Salford Red Devils from 2022 before leaving for Oldham RLFC halfway through last season earlier this year, follows fellow former player Mason Caton-Brown in returning to the team in a leadership capacity.
Sharing the news on his own social media, he wrote: “Incredibly honoured to announce I have been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Salford RLFC.”
His official statement goes on to read: “I would like to place on record my gratitude to the board members Malcolm Crompton, Mason Caton Brown and Paul Hancock for this opportunity. I would also like to thank the RFL and Salford City Council for their continued support.
“Lastly, but most importantly, to the Salford fans: what we had to go through last year was heartbreaking. I think I can speak to the wider Rugby League community and echo the sentiments of all fans that no club should ever go through that experience.
“Thank you for letting me lead this organisation into a new era. I’ve always said Salford people are my people and I will protect this club, with its best interests at heart. It is important [that] expectations are managed, and patience is required.”
He signed off by simply asking for the same support he was afforded as a fan, adding: “I have no doubt in my mind that you will go above and beyond, it’s just what Salford fans do…”
Led by the aforementioned Caton-Brown (a retired winger who played for the Red Devils between 2014-26), as well as another pair of directors in Hancock and Crompton, the Salford phoenix club has officially been given a Championship license for 2026.
Although relegation from the Super League and liquidation after 152 years were dark days for the club, this new consortium has already provided fans with some promising signs.
Besides saving the Salford sporting institution from total extinction, having previous members of the old outfit who know the bones, the stadium, the culture and the city so well is obviously a big bonus.
For now, it is a race against time to get a squad ready for the season opener against Brierley’s last team, Oldham – though contracts for a head coach and several players have reportedly been “pre-agreed”.
Featured Images — John Moorhouse (via Geograph)/supplied (via Rumpus PR)
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Netflix drops the first trailer for upcoming Peaky Blinders film
Danny Jones
It looks like Christmas has come early for TV drama fans and cinephiles, because Netflix has officially dropped the first trailer for the upcoming Peaky Blinders movie.
Popcorn at the ready – even the teaser alone has got us fired up.
ln just 70 seconds, they’ve managed to pull us right back in, and we cannot wait to see Cillian Murphy back in full-on Tommy Shelby mode.
Not exaggerating when we say we have LITERAL chills.
As you can see, they certainly haven’t scrimped on the budget with the first-ever feature-length Peaky Blinders film, neither in terms of production value nor the cast.
Then again, having already hosted the likes of Sam Neill, Tom Hardy, Adrien Brody, Anya Taylor-Joy and others in the series itself, as well as going on to become one of the most successful BBC shows of all time, they were never going to.
We’re sure you spotted plenty of them for yourselves, but the debut trailer for The Immortal Man gives us not only our first glimpses of now Oscar-winning Murphy, 49, back in the saddle (both figuratively and literally) but also fellow blockbuster Irish actor, Barry Keoghan.
Other big names set to appear in the movie – set for a limited release in theatres before launching exclusively on Netflix – include Rebecca Ferguson and Tim Roth. It still remains unclear, however, as to how any of these characters will knit into the new season.
It’s also worth noting that the trailer shares a little snippet of the historical context, this continuation of the Shelby story is playing into, as we see what looks to be Nazi figures meeting on screen.
Creator Steven Knight has already confirmed that the plot will fast-forward some years to meet back up with Tommy at the outset of WWII and his ancestral home of Birmingham during the Blitz.
Having already confirmed 6 March as the theatrical release date ahead of it going live on Netflix a fortnight later, the anticipation was seriously starting to ramp; this latest look has only added to the tinderbox of excitement.
What do you make of the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man trailer, and will you be watching it?
Sam Ormiston -
13th November 2020 
