Manchester City Centre Management Company are planning �1000 fines for skateboarders. Somehow, and I can- just- see the link, this is supposed to crack down on teenage drinking and drug dealing. Perhaps they’d be better off targetting the drug dealers and the shops that sell alcohol to the underage?

Skateboarding is banned in the city centre, but there have been no facilities provided as alternative locations. MCCMC’s rather pathetic argument is that there is a skate park under the Mancunian Way, which would hold more water if they didn’t immediately add that it hasn’t even opened yet. They should at least stop being twats and run this campaign when there’s somewhere else for the kids to go. I’d be all for lifting the skateboard ban in some small part of the city centre as well, possibly with a curfew.