The Students’ Union launched its new Education Assembly in an event in the Council Chambers today. The Assembly, created by Academic Affairs Officer Chris Jenkinson, aims to get students involved in improving the quality of education delivered at the University of Manchester.
ArchivePage 3 of 8
The Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and Withington MP John Leech visited the university on Thursday to speak to students and answer questions about their party. In a ninety minute session, Clegg discussed a wide range of topics, inviting those in the audience to “throw your vitriol at me” and issuing a stark warning that “politics is in a state of crisis.” He insisted that the Liberal Democrats were a viable alternative to Labour and the Conservatives and pitched much of his speech at the student audience.
The Socialist Worker Student Societies from the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University hosted their first meeting of the year on Wednesday in the Biko Builiding, where they presented their opinions on why we should all be socialists.
The meeting started with speeches from their guest speakers, Colin Smith, a member of the Socialist Worker Party and Judith Orr, editor of the magazine Socialist Review and author of Sexism and the System. Colin Smith exclaimed that we are living through an historic week and expressed his surprise that commentators from each side of the political spectrum all agreed that we are living through the worst crisis of the system since 1929 and that it is probably only going to get worse. He said that at times of crisis, you can see to the heart of the system and that the so-called free markets are not actually separated from the intervention of the state as we saw with the passing of the bail-out bill to rescue Wall Street in the Senate. He claimed that the governments of capitalist countries intervene to bail out the rich but leave the poor to suffer. Moreover, with rising rates of unemployment, thousands of home repossessions and energy and food prices going through the roof, millions of people are being pushed over the poverty line. He presented some persuasive arguments for the socialist revolution and finally urged the meeting not to sit back and watch but to resist and fight back.
Continue reading ‘Why You Should Be a Socialist’
Last night, Manchester Young Greens played host to Jean Lambert, Green Party MEP for London, and Peter Cranie, the Party’s candidate of the North West region for next year’s European election. In the one-hour discussion, about 30 young people grabbed the opportunity to gain first-hand insights into the internal running of the European Parliament from a politician who has been working for the European powerhouse in Brussels since 1999. Students asked questions and discussed issues ranging from EU and Green policies to local politics and learned how each one of us can make a difference here in the North West.
After a short introduction by Young Greens’ Co-ordinator Justine Hall in the Student’s Union, Jean Lambert started off by giving the students a short overview of how the European Parliament is structured. As she talked about her active membership of several committees including that for Employment & Social Affairs, Civil Liberties and Human Rights, it became clear that working as a member of parliament at European levels goes far beyond the usual policy debates. She emphasised the role of the EU as “central” in promoting good education and raising people’s awareness, particularly in the case of climate change. ‘It’s all very well having your targets, but if you haven’t actually got the skilled and trained workforce, you haven’t got a hope in meeting them.” With a critical eye on the Conservatives she explained that eventually “we will have to say no to business” to achieve something in climate change.
Continue reading ‘Turning green with Jean Lambert’
Acknowledged as the “most important debate in Manchester” in living memory, the controversy surrounding the proposed creation of a Manchester ‘Congestion Charge Zone’ continues to divide public opinion.
Today, the Manchester Debating Union hosted a star – studded panel to ascertain whether the charge could hope to provide a sustainable solution to crippling congestion on our fair city’s roads.
But first, what is the Manchester Congestion Charge? And how, if at all, is it different to its predecessor in London?
Continue reading ‘Manchester Congestion Charge Debate’
On Monday evening, the Marxist Radical Forum in conjunction with Manchester UMSU Women’s Rights Collective - The Riveters - hosted an event ‘Sex and the Revolution’ in the Student Union to discuss whether sex work and the revolution can go hand in hand, whether prostitution is just another form of work and whether prostitution should be decriminalised or even legalised.
UMSU Women’s Officer, Jennie Killip, got the meeting underway by introducing the four speakers; Vicky, a Religions and Theology student from the Marxist Radical Forum, and other speakers from the International Union of Sex Workers and the English Collective of Prostitutes.
On Tuesday, in another event coinciding with the Labour Party’s Annual Conference in Manchester, Ed Miliband MP (and also Minister in the Cabinet Office and Labour’s Manifesto Coordinator), along with Lucy Powell, Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for Withington, came to Manchester University’s Students’ Union to discuss the future for the Labour Party and for Britain; he reminded people of the ‘big causes’ in society and why apathy is the biggest peril for political progress. During the one-hour discussion, more than a hundred students seized the opportunity to get answers from a politician at the heart of Labour’s campaign for a fourth-term. The event was hosted by Manchester Labour Students and the Politics Society.
Following an opening speech from Mike Joslin, the current Chair of Manchester Labour Students, Miliband began to explain why he is a member of the Labour party (and specifically not the Conservatives), saying that he believes “we do things better together than alone.” Miliband attempted to stick to his principles of making politics less distant by devoting most of his time to a Q&A session rather than a long winded speech. He claimed that “unfortunately, these days we tend to have ‘talk-not-listen’ politics. But not tonight” and claimed that politics really matters as only by getting involved we can genuinely change the things in society that we don’t like. Lucy Powell addressed the audience, saying that “this [event] is in a way more important than the Conference platform because you are Manchester’s future; you are the ones who help shape this city.”
Continue reading ‘An Evening with Ed Miliband’
In another protest timed to coincide with the Labour Party conference in Manchester this week, about 100 protesters from the group “Stop Airport Expansion Now” took part in a flashmob of the town hall in Albert Square.
The group, which included three UMSU Executive Officers (Robbie Gillett, Dan Lee and Jennie Killip), converged on Albert Square at 12.45PM and revealed hidden red t-shirts with the words “Stop Airport Expansion” on the front. In particular, the group was protesting against plans to expand Manchester Airport, citing the negative impact that the aviation industry has on the environment with its high carbon emissions.
Continue reading ‘Climate Change Flash-Mob’
