Independent Media Association

In a live Sky News debate on misogyny, female journalist Moya Lothian-McLean discovered she wasn't being paid for her appearance, unlike her male counterpart, highlighting the very gender inequality the debate aimed to address.

LONDON (Bywire News) - In a political landscape that has been nothing short of tumultuous since 2019, the Conservative administration has seemingly found a high-cost way to reward its own inefficiency. This has involved them paying out over £1 million in severance payments to a parade of transient ministers. These facts have been highlighted in a meticulous investigation conducted by Byline Times - a sharp exposé of the financial toll political instability has wrought. Intriguingly, some of these fleeting ministers have walked away with farewell figures that were as much as seven times their actual reported salaries - a somewhat generous reward for their varying degrees of competency and time on the job. One of the more notable beneficiaries of this severance bonanza is Kwasi Kwarteng, who held the role of Chancellor for a paltry 38 days. Despite his brief stay in the Treasury hot seat, he was able to secure a severance payment of £16,876 in contrast to his salary of just £2,359. How'...

LONDON (UK Fact Check News) - Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the Labour party, has been assigned a new role as the shadow secretary of state for levelling up, according to the recent reshuffle by the party's chief, Sir Keir Starmer. She takes over from MP Lisa Nandy, who now takes on the role of minister for international development, seen by some insiders as a drop in status. Ms Nandy is said to be proud of her previous work, particularly focusing on housing and devolution, and reportedly looks forward to taking on her new role, according to sources close to her. She will still hold a place in cabinet sessions. Ms Rayner, voted in as deputy leader in 2020, was previously shadow cabinet office, dealing primarily with government protocol. Her new role comes from the reshuffle coinciding with parliament's return from its summer recess. She is expected to maintain her deputy leader role in addition to her new responsibilities. At the same time, Jim McMahon, shadow environment secretary,...

by Sarah Edgcumbe CW: mentions of suicide, sexual assault The war crime-laden conflict in Syria has not ended; Saudi Arabia (at the time of writing) continues to drop British-made bombs on Yemen; Israel is once again escalating its policy of state-sanctioned slaughter of Palestinians; the Taliban have taken control of Afghanistan, reducing armed violence, but increasing the risk of persecution and repression; Bosnia is teetering on the edge of a relapse into conflict; violence in the Central African Republic is ongoing; human rights abuses in Eritrea and Ethiopia continue. These are merely a few examples of the conflicts and instabilities which blight the lives of civilians who otherwise simply wish to live a life of safety, health and happiness.  Safe routes of asylum to the UK should be available to all who need them, not least because Britain is complicit in an untold number of conflicts and repressive governments around the globe. Yet of all those who require support and pr...

IMPRESS continues to put IPSO to shame as it shows how a responsible and accountable media regulator should behave.

LONDON (Bywire News) - The Media Reform Coalition has launched what they, alongside us all at Bywire, hope will help to reform the media landscape as we know it in the UK. As part of their BBC and Beyond campaign, MRC has launched a Manifesto for a People’s Media, which includes a series of innovative ideas to help democratise our media.  The manifesto looks at a large/substantial/significant amount of data from conversations with organisations and individuals, and all the notes from 9 Town Hall events, where attendance totalled approx. 30,000 people. According to MRC, the manifesto will help to create, “A system where significant new public investment and new forms of participation ensure that our media are independent, accountable, democratic, and for everyone.” Currently, our media is predominantly owned by billionaires with only their own interests at heart. As previously found by MRC, in 2021 just three companies dominated 83% of the national newspaper market, creating a concentr...

The broadcasting regulator says it will act quickly against any regulator whose media coverage fails to live up to sufficient standards over Ukraine.

News about university staff’s pension fund shows just why they’re striking.

LONDON (Bywire News) - Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission President, revealed some of the sanctions that Russia would face if it invaded Ukraine. She stated that Russia would be cut off from the international financial markets and would not have access to export markets for some of its biggest export goods. The leaders of the West have refused to disclose the details of the plans they agreed to give to Russia if they invaded. Instead, they have said that they will send a military force and promise massive economic sanctions. From now on, the Russian authorities would be completely shut off from all the international markets, of course, Leyen told public television late on Sunday evening. If this happens, "all goods we make that Russia urgently needs to modernise and diversify its economy, where we are globally dominant and they have no replacement," she stated. She added that sanctions would not be imposed until after a possible invasion. This is despite repeated requests f...

Stitched Up's successful mental health 'Crafternoons' are returning thanks to new funding from the Manchester Wellbeing Fund.

Danny Moran investigates allegations that the Planning Committee of Manchester council have pre-planning meetings, which act as rehearsals for the next Planning Committee meetings where multi-million pound developments may be voted through. Guest article from About Manchester.

<a href="https://evolvepolitics.com/there-are-enough-empty-homes-to-solve-britains-homelessness-crisis-three-times-over-new-research-finds/" title="There are enough empty homes to solve Britain’s homelessness crisis THREE TIMES OVER, new research finds" rel="nofollow"></a>New research has found that there are now enough empty properties across Britain to solve the country’s ever-worsening homelessness crisis a full three times over. The study, conducted by Estate Agents Barrows and Forrester using official government data, found that there were a total of 735,095 vacant properties across Britain &#8211; worth a staggering £200bn [&#8230;] The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://evolvepolitics.com/there-are-enough-empty-homes-to-solve-britains-homelessness-crisis-three-times-over-new-research-finds/">There are enough empty homes to solve Britain’s homelessness crisis THREE TIMES OVER, new research finds</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://evolvepolitics.com">Evolve P...

Inspired by Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Isaiah Hull created this poem for inclusion in A Poetic Declaration, commissioned for the Ripples of Hope Festival at HOME in Manchester.

Andy Burnham promised a Greater Manchester Land Commission in his manifesto. We talk to Neil McInroy chair of the Liverpool Land Commission to see what the process can offer GM, and report the latest developments on Burnham’s promise.

The Elephants Trail is a project working in Greater Manchester to address the problems faced by people living with severe and multiple disadvantage.

By Josh Smith SEOUL - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent a message to Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulating him on the Beijing Winter Olympics as a "great victory" and saying he wanted to improve relations between their countries, state news agency KCNA reported on Friday. "The successful opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics despite the worldwide health crisis and unprecedented severe circumstances is another great victory won by socialist China," Kim said in the letter, according to KCNA. Kim said that he would "steadily develop the relations between the two parties and the two countries to a new high stage." The Olympics are due to open in Beijing on Friday. The United Nations Security Council will the same day to discuss a record month of North Korean missile tests, including the launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile on Sunday, the first test of that type since 2017. China and Russia last month delayed a U.S. bid to impose U.N. sanctions on five North Koreans,...

Jess Causby, a café worker from Manchester is one of 19 people up before the High Court today, for breaking the M25 injunction granted to National Highways in September 2021. If convicted of breaking the injunction, in this civil court trial, the defendants face being fined, having their assets seized and up to two years in prison.Activists from across the UK, concerned about the lack of government action to combat the climate crisis, took part in sit ins blocking motorways such as the M25 in London and the M56 in Manchester, throughout 2022. This caused huge tailbacks for commuters using these motorways and a considerable amount of media coverage of the protests and the widespread concern for the impacts of runaway climate change that had provoked them.National Highways and government’s response to try and prevent the ongoing protests was to take them to court and get an injunction against them, threatening them with a range of punishments if they protested again and broke the injun...

Homelessness charity shelter and Network Rail have helped over 300 homeless people in the last year at stations in Manchester and Birmingham in a pioneering partnership to help rough sleepers who often seek out the stations for shelter. The pilot project saw station staff at Manchester Piccadilly and Birmingham New Street trained by Shelter to communicate with rough sleepers at the station and refer them for tailored support and help. In Manchester the project has been running from October 2020 to 7th January 2022, and has helped 155 people, in total 316 people have been helped by the scheme across the two stations. The help and advice provided at Piccadilly saw 64 people housed, either in emergency, temporary, or secured settled accommodation. A range of other services were offered, including help registering with GPs and dentists, and setting up bank accounts. Ryan, 40, had been sleeping rough for four months around Birmingham New Street station during the pandemic. The pi...

Poet Maura Dooley is a professor of Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London. Maura’s poem was inspired by Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which codifies the right to education. Maura said: “My parents were the children of Irish immigrants. They believed in hard work and that education opened the door to a better life for their children. Learning to read and write was the bedrock of this belief. When I looked back through family records of census returns, marriage certificates, army attestation papers from earlier times I noticed the use of ‘x’ in place of a signature and thinking about what that represented in a life, gave me the root of the poem I wrote, ABECEDARIUM.” The Ripples of Hope Festival at HOME in September was held by the&nbsp;Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights UK&nbsp;charity. ABECEDARIUM Once you learn to read you will be forever free &nbsp;&nbsp;attr. Frederick Douglass X marks the spot where treasure might be found wher...

A new heritage project aims to celebrate the considerable cultural highlights of the communities surrounding Bury New Road, with a range of activities and content produced with the crowning glory of the project being the erection of a John Cooper Clarke statue on the corner of Bury New Road where he lived. Bury New Road is a commuter route for thousands every day coming into the city, with many seeing the stretch from the M60 junction in Prestwich to the city centre, as a polluted, congested and uninspiring route they have to navigate. Some potential posed the John Cooper Clarke statue could adopt. The Bury New Road heritage project aims to challenge the uninspired viewpoint held by many, by investigating the areas rich history, including links with: Friedrich Engels, Mark E Smith, John Cooper Clarke, the Chartists, Morrissey, George Best, the Jacobites, New Order, Graham Gouldman, Bobby Charlton, David Beckham, Nico and Bugzy Malone. The team behind the project say it is ab...