If Paddy Shennan's job description is "journalist", he should change it to "shameless cheerleader" pronto. The Liverpool Echo, ahem, columnist was at it again in Friday's edition of the Oldham, sorry, Liverpool Echo (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/capital-of-culture/capital-of-culture-liverpool-news/2008/09/12/sir-jeremy-isaacs-so-far-so-good-on-liverpool-s-culture-year-100252-21804900/ ) with a puff piece featuring Jeremy Isaacs, chairman of the judging panel which awarded Liverpool its Capital of Culture status back in 2003.
Shennan trills that Isaacs is "the man who, by saying 'Yes' to Liverpool, opened a gigantic door of opportunity for our born-again city."
We can argue about the size of that door (I think "gigantic" is going way too far), but there's little doubt that the Culture Company, the city council &, yes, the local media have left it slightly ajar rather than fully open.
Isaacs, mindful of Shennan's desire for positive soundbites, makes all the right noises. However, he does insert a caveat & conditional endorsement which Shennan & others would doubtless wish to downplay:
"My impression is it's too early to judge the total impact of the year but, from my observations, and from a distance [my italics], I think it has been a very considerable success."
From a distance, indeed.
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