http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1023421_the_two_sides_of_manchester
Part of this post was based on an announcement yesterday, and will in part combine two points, but as the news is the same, I will relate them together.
Iain Duncan Smith’s Report on the breakdown of families in Britain, and its huge impact on society is one of the freshest, starkest and most breathtaking announcements in many years. We have for years allowed social problems in Britain to continue to grow, without doing anything to stop the root cause, the effects are staggering.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7084044.stm
In the above article, the impacts on Manchester are shocking. Teenage Pregnancy is TWICE the national level, and the proportion of men entering hospital due to the effects of alcohol is the second highest in the country. Manchester students have the second worst truancy rate in the country, only one in four teenagers progress to University, and there are SEVEN gun-related incidents EVERY DAY. Manchester is a great city, but increasingly it is dividing into two, one of extreme affluence, and the other of staggering poverty.
Manchester’s transformation over the last 20 years has been amazing. The City Centre is a buzz with life, and draws thousands of people too it every year, such as myself. I came to the city as an 18 year-old student straight from his A-levels, and after university stayed, as the city is, well, great. However, there is the other side to the city. It is the estates where children aren’t given the opportunity to show their potential. It is the city where one in fourteen girls have been pregnant before they reach the age of 18. It is a city where gun crime is rising, and the incidents of murders through a gun is becoming worryingly more common news. The fact is that Manchester has had a New Labour Government for over 10 years, and a New Labour Council for decades. However, after all that time, the divide continues to grow.
That is why I support the announcement yesterday of a new Co-operative Movement. This movement won’t be based on socialist dogma. It will be about encouraging co-operation for all, for the better of everyone in our community. Manchester is an example where its work could transform the whole city like the city centre has been in the past 20 years.
The whole of Manchester needs to co-operate more, and share ideas, rather than be dictated to from Whitehall or Town Hall. Just think how together what we could transform - schools, hospitals, regeneration projects. Lets bridge the divide in Manchester, and build a better future for all of us, not just those in affluent new flats in the city centre.
