The Mancunian Way: The Manchester paradox

Hello

Affluence and squalor have long existed cheek by jowl in Manchester. In the boom days of the Industrial Revolution the pretty Georgian terraces of the rich rubbed shoulders with the hovels and lodging houses of the poor.

Fast forward 200 years and little has changed.

In today’s Mancunian Way we’ll look at two contrasting stories which highlight how the gap between the haves and the have nots is as wide as it’s ever been.

Elsewhere we’ll visit the new sperm bank where donors are given VR porn headsets. And we’ll catch up with the indefatigable Figen Murray as she walks from Manchester Arena to Downing Street to demand action over proposed new anti-terror legislation in her late son's name.

Canvassing opinion

If you’ve walked past Manchester town hall in the last few weeks you’ll have noticed the camp of red tents that sprung up under the arches. Initially handed out to rough sleepers during the spring storms, the tents morphed into a protest camp and then an impromptu community, according to organiser Emma Leyla Mohareb.

She said the camp would be in place until the town hall agreed to 'a deal for a solution to open buildings' for rough sleepers. "They have two buildings that are used for staff training," she said. "They could put some mattresses in there."

But the council raised concerns about the safety of the gathering, saying it was ‘run by activists' and that 'vulnerable people had been caught up’ in it. And yesterday council officers and Greater Manchester Police visited the camp in St Peter's Square and on Mount Street to 'engage' with people living there.

That led to 51 people being moved into temporary accommodation, taking their tents with them, a council spokesperson said. Another 40 people had already been accommodated.

Five people refused the offer and have remained in the camp. Around 12 tents were still up at the time of writing. You can read Ashlie Blakey’s report here…

High five

The paradox of Manchester’s housing crisis was encapsulated yesterday when it was also revealed that Deansgate is one of the UK’s most expensive places to live outside of London. Less than 400 yards away from the homeless camp, the average rent is a staggering £3,766 per month, according to a study by Rightmove.

It follows reports last month which showed how the average rent in the city centre had risen by 37.8 per cent over the last three years - from £776 a month in December 2020 to £1,069 in December 2023.

And although Manchester still has some way to go before it starts to rival London prices, an indication of just how expensive the city has become can be found in the fact that all the other places in the top five were south east commuter towns. Property writer Phoebe Jobling has more here

'Putting our country at risk'

The campaigning mother of Martyn Hett - one of the 22 victims of the Manchester Arena bombing of 2017 - is walking to Downing Street to demand action over proposed new anti-terror legislation in her son's name. Figen Murray, 62, said the country was 'being put at risk' by delays to Martyn's Law, which would require venues and local authorities in the UK to have preventative plans to mitigate against terror attacks.

But despite years of campaigning the Bill is yet to get beyond draft stage, writes Paul Britton. On May 7, Figen will walk from the Arena to Downing Street, arriving on May 22 – the seventh anniversary of his death and the attack.

“The Prime Minister and senior government ministers have reassured me that they are committed to introducing this game-changing legislation, but almost five years on from their first commitment, the draft legislation still hasn’t been tabled,” she said. “This is putting our country at risk.” Read more

Giving good headsets

A sperm bank that provides VR porn headsets and free therapy sessions has opened its doors in Manchester. Based in Manchester Science Park, the centre run by Danish firm Cryos, has a premium subscription to PornHub and is equipped with state-of-the-art tech that offers donors an ‘immersive experience’.

Apparently it follows clinical research from Cryos that showed the use of VR porn can improve quality and increase sperm count by up to 50 per cent. Donors are paid £35 per donation.

Imogen Clyde-Smith’s done the maths and she writes that means if three donations are made a week donors can receive up to £420 a month. But the rigorous screening process means that only 5 to 10 percent of applicants are accepted. Read more

Weather etc

Thursday: Sunny intervals changing to cloudy by lunchtime, 10C.

Roadworks: There’s a lane closed eastbound on the East Lancs Road at Astley due to roadworks. Expect delays until May 18.

Manchester headlines

Fire tragedy: Some utterly tragic news from Wigan where a family has paid tribute to a little boy and his dad who died in a house fire. Four-year-old Ethan Mason passed away in hospital yesterday morning after the blaze ripped through his home on Warrington Road in the early hours of Sunday. His dad 45-year-old Barry Mason also died after he ‘ran back inside to save his little boy'. More here

Tweets probe: Anti-islamic tweets which appear to have been posted by a Conservative local election candidate in Trafford have been taken down along with her profile on X, formerly known as Twitter. The Tories have launched a probe after the posts by Natalie Shalom came to light. Read more

Bomb squad: A controlled explosion was carried out by the bomb squad after a ‘device’ was posted through a letterbox in Monton. A number of homes were evacuated after the scare on Tuesday night.

Worth a read

“It sounds like the ominous revelation from a horror movie, and for many families it was,” writes Lee Grimsditch. Back in the early 2000s, Tesco decided to build a brand new supermarket on the site of an old graveyard in Cheetham Hill.

Wesleyan Cemetery, which was in operation for 150 years before being closed in 1968, was the resting place for more then 20,000 people. So it was proposed around 2,000 graves would be dug up and the bodies re-interred at Bury cemetery, six miles away, with land then used as a car park

But the news made many furious, and deeply distressed many living relatives of the dead. Lee has more here…