Can an anti-abortion group exist at the University of Manchester?

Dear Millers, welcome to this week’s Mill briefing, the only email in the universe in which a row among students about abortion will appear alongside a story about an Ancoats ramen place calling out an influencer for demanding free food. 

That’s the kind of dizzying variety that has led an astonishing 42,355 of you to join our mailing list in the past few years, and you’re all very welcome. A warm welcome to those of you in Westminster who grabbed a pew at the back after our appearance at the House of Lords last week, where Joshi told an esteemed committee of peers about the state of local news and what can be done to fix it. 

“Mr Herrmann, you looked extremely annoyed,” said Lord McNally, a former advisor to James Callaghan. That followed a series of exchanges in which The Mill’s founder gave a rather different account of things than the big media executives sitting next to him, leaving the committee’s chair “a bit baffled”. Press Gazette has reported on the hearing and you can share Joshi’s Twitter thread about the practical steps to improve local journalism.

Over the weekend: we published a wonderful piece by Ophira Gottlieb about Rice & Three, the classic Thali-style lunch option that has been fuelling the city for the last 40 years. Ophira visited some old-school favourites, like This & That and Yadgar Café. “Ask any Mancunian their thoughts on the supposedly famous canteens,” she writes, “and they’ll either bang on about their favourite one for the better half of an hour, or have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.” 

Sapna, one of our members, called it an “Absolutely amazing article” and local hospitality maven Thom Hetherington tweeted: “Another great article from The Mill. I've had a 30 year love affair with rice n three. Props to Ophira for recognising the superb Cafe Marhaba.” The comments are full of great foodie recommendations - dive in if you’re a paying Miller. 

Last week, members got an essay about how Manchester’s flatness makes the city feel more claustrophobic, and a dispatch from Rochdale the day after George Galloway’s victory in the town’s by-election, after a very tumultuous campaign. This week, we dig into campaign donations in local politics, review a book that says Manchester has sold itself to property developers and visit a peculiar wedding venue in Bolton. 

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☀️ This week’s weather

A much drier week with some welcome sunshine accompanied by seasonal temperatures. 

Tuesday 🌤️ Partly cloudy with sunny spells. Light winds. Max 11°C. 

Wednesday ⛅️ Lots of sunshine in the morning then cloudier during the afternoon. Max 11°C. 

Thursday ⛅️ Breezy and dry with hazy sunny spells. Max 10°C. 

Friday 🌤️ Windy and chilly with sunny intervals. Max 10°C. 

Weekend ☁️ Remaining windy and chilly with large amounts of cloud, especially in the east. Temperatures will peak in high single figures. 

You can find the latest forecast at Manchester Weather on Facebook — daily forecasts are published at 6.15am.

The big story: Can an anti-abortion group exist at the University of Manchester?

Top line: There were protests last week against an anti-abortion society at the University of Manchester. Pro-choice students say the existence of the society makes them feel “unsafe” and want to see the group disbanded, but the Student’s Union say this isn’t possible. 

Context: While anti-abortion university societies aren’t unusual — the majority of Russell Group universities, 18 including Manchester, have them — when Manchester Pro-Life was established with the Student’s Union in mid-January, it received instant backlash.

• Last month, a Reddit post about the group highlighting its almost exclusively male membership sparked so much outrage the group deleted its Instagram account.

• A petition to get the society dissolved received 18,000 signatures, but the SU says it can’t disband the society because it isn’t doing anything unlawful.

The group released a statement acknowledging the society’s gender imbalance, saying: “We recognise that our committee lacks gender diversity, this was not intentional but simply a result of the society's rapid creation before we had a support base of members.” 

Details: Last Thursday evening, the society was having its first meeting with a founding talk from the committee (which now includes one woman). Hundreds of students gathered outside the Zochonis building in protest, chanting “pro-life? That’s a lie, you don’t care if people die,” and booing society members as they were escorted out by police. 

• Footage showed several men fighting, followed by reports of violence at the protest. It appears those involved weren’t protesters. 

• The “Stop Manchester Pro Life” group claimed the violence came from “a couple of drunk boys who were kicked out of the SU bar” attacking protesters.

Officers at the SU told us that students protesting against each other is hardly outside of the norm. “Pro-life societies have formed at other SUs before, and this stuff has happened, but it normally works out okay,” says Robbie Beale, the union’s officer for activities and culture. “We do this kind of thing quite a bit, and at Manchester, we find these things happen in a bigger way than elsewhere; we have very energised students.” Beale and the SU will be meeting with protesters later this week.

Bottom line: In an Instagram post following the protest, Manchester Pro Life said they’d “continue to boldly stand up for life and free speech on campus”. More demonstrations agains the group are expected this week (hopefully minus the SU drunkards this time around).

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A production shot from Reality or Not, an experimental film showing at Modal Gallery at the School of Digital Arts. The film, created by American-Belgian artist Cécile B. Evans, explores the distortion and production of reality, and portrays a group of teenage girls participating in a reality show.

Your Mill briefing

🌱 The concept designs for the redevelopment of Piccadilly Gardens have been completed, according to a council report. The next stage will be spatial coordination (jargon for doing the work required to get the concept ready to go to planning). We still don’t know what the new plans look like, although certain ideas (the sunken flower bed of ‘60s yore) are off the table, and the concrete pavilion we love to hate is sticking around. Last month, Mollie wrote a weekend read on this topic: Can anyone save Piccadilly Gardens?

🎒 More and more children are being homeschooled in Bolton. Figures for the 2022/23 summer term found that 470 children were being homeschooled in the borough. Mostly, parents had switched to homeschooling for physical health reasons, saying that the state school system doesn’t meet their children’s needs. Wendy Charles-Warner, chair of home education charity Education Otherwise, suggests that homeschooling during the pandemic allowed parents to “dip their toe in the water”.

🏫 The story is a little different on the other side of GM, where parents are battling to get their kids into Trafford’s prestigious secondary schools, reports the MEN. The council are having to attach a disclaimer to application forms outlining how oversubscribed these schools — North Cestrian, Altrincham Grammar, et al — already are. Some children who are in the catchment area still miss out on a place, and end up in schools a hour’s journey away from home.

🇮🇪 A new exhibition of mosaics depicting Irish icons is being displayed across Manchester, including George Best, Oscar Wilde and Sinéad O’Connor. Handcrafted by local artist Mark Kennedy, there are seventeen mosaics dotted across the city, in museums, cafés and theatres. Go deeper: Last year, we looked at how the Irish Mancunian identity is changing: Is this the end of the old Irish Manchester?

🍜 Here at The Mill we always enjoy it when a small business outs an influencer trying to pump them for a free meal. We particularly enjoy it when that influencer then doubles down, lambasting the business for their lack of gratitude in the first place. “We don’t expect much,” an influencer (kept anonymous) told Lucky Ramen, based in Ancoats. “Just a free meal to compensate for our time, labour, effort and positive energy that we are supplying you.” Sweet lord. 

🖋 And finally, following what has been one of the most divisive by-elections in recent memory, George Galloway arrived at Westminster today to be sworn in as Rochdale’s new MP. Pulling up to the Houses of Parliament, he told reporters: "I've always loved the building — the people in it, not quite so much."

Home of the week

This three-bedroom Victorian semi is a short walk from Urmston Meadows and a good local pub. £475,000.

Our favourite reads

How the housing crisis is impacting culture in Manchester — Dazed

Writer Hugh Morris and Isaac Rose, tenant organiser and author of The Rentier City, sit down to discuss the failings of Manchester City Council’s planning department, the gentrification of Hulme and the vanishing of community spaces. 

The controversy of the GMP cases of Dominic Noonan, Dale Cregan and Harold Shipman revealed — MEN

A new report sheds light on controversial GMP operations. In one instance, undercover cops allowed a 13-year-old boy to walk into a flat where a suspected paedophile was living in the interests of gathering intelligence. In another, the bodies of Harold Shipman’s victims were destroyed without the family’s consent. 

Inside Rochdale’s desperate bid to save club from extinction — The Telegraph

Simon Gauge, who is trying to save Rochdale AFC from going into liquidation (by handing over 90% of the club to outside investors), says he now finds himself the subject of abuse from supporters at football games. “The kids used to love standing in the Sandy Lane and watching the games,” Gauge explains. “But they won’t do that now because there’s abuse at me sometimes and they get third-party abuse.”

Our to do list

Tuesday

📽️ Modal Gallery is showing Reality or Not by Cécile B. Evans, an experimental film about a Real Housewives star and a group of teenage girls entering a reality TV show. It’s free to visit.

💿 Ray Lowry, the designer of The Clash’s iconic 1979 LP London Calling, is exhibiting his work at Saul Hay Gallery in Castlefield. More here.

Wednesday

📚 Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram are discussing their “part-memoir, part-manifesto”, Head North, which Mill staff writer Jack Walton covered in a very funny review recently, at St Thomas Centre in Ardwick. Expect diatribes about London’s political scene and the North-South divide. Tickets are £8.

🧵 Community space Altogether Otherwise hosts a free craft workshop every Wednesday evening, just reserve a place here. 

Thursday 

🎶 Last few tickets to see electronic artists Rainy Miller, LCY, Iceboy Violet and 96 Back at YES as part of BBC 6 Music Festival. Tickets are £18.

🗣️ Dr Cynthia Johnston is giving a lecture at the Manchester Lit and Phil, discussing the surprising mediaeval influences in the hit Netflix TV show Stranger Things. Tickets here.