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.
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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.
“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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Police search for Moors murder victim Keith Bennett resumes as ‘skull is found’
Daisy Jackson
Police are back searching for Moors Murder victim Keith Bennett after a skull was reportedly found.
12-year-old Keith was snatched by notorious serial killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley in 1964.
The pair’s victims were five children, Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey and Edward Evans, all aged between 10 and 17 years old at the time of their murder.
The victims were buried on Saddleworth Moor, but Keith’s remains have never been found.
Now a major breakthrough may have come from an author, Russell Edwards, who alerted police to ‘potential human remains in a remote location’.
Myra Hindley and Ian Brady – the serial killers behind the Moors Murders, including Keith Bennett
Specialist GMP officers have now begun initial exploration activity but say it is ‘far too early’ to confirm if human remains have been discovered.
Officers have also updated Keith’s brother Alan Bennett, who was just eight years old when his sibling vanished and who has dedicated much of his life to solving the mystery of the missing body.
MP Force Review Officer Martin Bottomley said: “At around 11.25am on Thursday 29 September 2022, Greater Manchester Police was contacted by the representative of an author who has been researching the murder of Keith Bennett, a victim of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.
“Following direct contact with the author, we were informed that he had discovered what he believes are potential human remains in a remote location on the Moors and he agreed to meet with officers yesterday afternoon to elaborate on his find and direct us to a site of interest.
“The site was assessed late last night and, this morning, specialist officers have begun initial exploration activity. We are in the very early stages of assessing the information which has been brought to our attention but have made the decision to act on it in line with a normal response to a report of this kind.
Saddleworth Moor, where the search for missing Keith Bennett has resumed. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
“It is far too early to be certain whether human remains have been discovered and this is expected to take some time.
“We have always said that GMP would act on any significant information which may lead to the recovery of Keith and reunite him with his family. As such, we have informed his brother of the potential development – he does not wish to be contacted at this time and asks that his privacy is respected.”
A further GMP statement published by the Manchester Evening Newsadded: “We have always said that GMP would act on any significant information which may lead to the recovery of Keith and reunite him with his family.
“Officers met with Mr Edwards yesterday evening (29th September) and he was able to locate a site of interest and provide us with further details of the work he has been carrying out.
“We are at the very early stages of assessing the evidence which he brought to our attention, but have taken the decision to excavate an area of land with a view to determining what lies there.
“It is far too early to be certain whether human remains have been uncovered, but out of respect for Alan Bennett, who we regularly maintain contact with, we have informed him of this potential development.
“Alan does not wish to be disturbed at this time and we would ask that his request for privacy is respected.”
Featured image: GMP
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Question Time audience stunned as first-time buyer says mortgage quote DOUBLED
Danny Jones
Thursday night’s Question Time audience could be heard audibly gasping after a fellow crowd member revealed that her mortgage quote had doubled followed the recent mini-budget.
Taping in Manchester on 29 September, the current events and politics programme was discussing property when would-be first-time buyer Rabia revealed that her mortgage offer had jumped from an initial amount of 4.5% interest to a shocking 10.5% in just a matter of days.
As you can see in the incredible clip, both the audience and the panel are taken aback at the revelation.
The gasps from the audience as this woman reveals she’s received a revised mortgage offer of 10.5%. pic.twitter.com/a5Nb1co8al
The Greater Manchester resident said she is desperate to know what the government’s plan for mortgages is as following the latest revision, she says she simply cannot afford to put the money down on her first home.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer weighed in on the social media reaction, quote tweeting the clip from his party’s own account and stating that “the Tories must get back to Parliament and reverse their kamikaze budget” as the current economic mess is being “paid for by working people”.
The government’s economic chaos is already clobbering those like Rabia who're trying to get a mortgage or to re-mortgage.
This crisis was made in Downing Street but it’s being paid for by working people.
The Tories must get back to Parliament and reverse their kamikaze budget. https://t.co/bw8B2TOUgl
To make matters worse, Rabia was given no clarification from her lenders, only that they were pulling her offers. Conservative MP and Minister for Local Government, Faith and Communities, Paul Scully had little information to offer her either, simply stating it is a short-term effect and that the market will stabilise.
Scully was subject to an entirely different reaction from the audience as well after his blind attempts to defend Prime Minister Liz Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng were met with laughter. Conversely, Richard Bacon was met with applause after he labelled the mini-budget “absurd”.
As if the anti-Tory sentiment wasn’t already at a high, the chancellor’s mini-budget – which saw the corporations, bankers and the generally wealthy benefit ahead of the working class – has seen fresh calls for a general election to be held as soon as possible.
Beyond declaring a so-called £2,500 limit on energy bills (which many have warned isn’t a guaranteed cap), there was seemingly very little in the way of policy that
For those still unclear as to what was announced in the divisive mini-budget, here is a quick summary:
Speaking in a speech at the Labour conference in Liverpool on Tuesday, Starmer said that the government “haven’t just failed to fix the roof, they’ve ripped out the foundations, smashed the windows and now they’ve blown the doors off for good measure.
Sam Ormiston -
13th November 2020 
