Deja-Vu

As the rubbish is swept away from the city's streets & the bars reduce their prices to normal levels, it's worth noting the selective verdict on the Mathew Street festival by the Oldham Echo. In an editorial which might as well have been unearthed from last year (perhaps it was) the Echo triumphantly declared the entire weekend to be an unqualified success (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/views/our-view/2010/08/31/voice-of-the-echo-mathew-street-festival-comes-of-age-and-what-a-party-100252-27167647/ ).
Quite how a festival which unapologetically panders to nostalgia can "come of age" is something to ponder, as is the Echo's inane claim that the city somehow still doesn't make the most of its Beatle connections.
Pricking the bubble of self-congratulation & denial are some of the comments posted by readers in response to a pathetic PR piece (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2010/08/31/mathew-street-the-sun-shines-for-a-festival-to-remember-100252-27169178/ ).
It seems that for the second year in a row, there were numerous incidents of missile-throwing at the Mersey Tunnel stage. Despite repeated appeals from the stage for the drunken dregs of Merseyside society to stop their idiocy, the day was marred for those at the Tunnel Stage. I witnessed just some of the lunacy there last year; clearly the authorities learned nothing from it.