This summer Manchester will mark the anniversary of a public pro-democracy demonstration on August 16, 1819, and its now infamous and bloody response from the authorities. In the aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo (1815), such...
Read MoreOver the course of 14 feature films Mike Leigh has covered a wide range of subjects, from the disastrous opening of a French restaurant and the fall of a post-war abortionist to an adopted daughter tracking down her birth...
Read MoreThe name of Peterloo is bandied about so much these days that it would be tempting to forget there was never any such place. It was in St Peter’s Field, close to the heart of what is now Manchester city centre, where...
Read MoreGoing to school in Manchester I learnt about the Peterloo Massacre because the leaders of Manchester City Council, in those days at least, thought that we should know about a key event in the campaign for the vote which had...
Read MoreBeing a tourist in your own city is an unusual and dislocating experience. Like most urbanites, I never really take the opportunity to explore the nooks and crannies of my home town. We all say “I can do it any...
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