Julie Bundy

The Manchester Art Gallery has recently re-opened after a £35 million refit. The neo-classical section has now been expanded to almost twice its original size. The gallery has a number of permanent exhibitions with themed 'stories' and displays which highlight how historic and contemporary art and design has been woven into the fabric of the city. Works by LS Lowry and Adolphe Valette are complemented alongside works by artists and designers working in the city today.

Brick Lane is not the place it used to be. The hot bagel shops are still there but its proximity to the City of London and spiralling house prices have led to a proliferation of yuppie wine bars and the like. But how pleasant to come in from the cold to a trendy and neon-lit cafe to debate with an assorted company of some 50 people on whether women today have equality with men. This is the regular meeting place for the Tower Hamlets SWP Marxist forum.

Such was the hysteria at the time that US senators were forced to evacuate their offices for two months because they thought anthrax had found its way into the air conditioning system. The scare was also used to justify the military build-up in preparation for the war against Afghanistan. We were told that the person sending anthrax was a terrorist, possibly a supporter of Al Qaida or Saddam Hussein.

Dark Days is the story of a community of homeless people living in a train tunnel beneath Manhattan. These people, some resident in the cavernous tunnels for up to 25 years, literally scratch out a living in the pitch black amongst swarms of rats while high speed trains fly by. This is all very reminiscent of the folk song Dark as a Dungeon Way Down in the Mines. The rain never reaches the tunnels and the sun never shines here either - but there is free electricity and a broken pipe under which to get a cold shower.