Tory blogger Iain Dale doesn't normally feature on this blog, but he's highlighted Jon Stewart's inimitable take on "Bigotgate" (http://tv.gawker.com/5528164/jon-stewart-mocks-the-laughable-tameness-of-british-political-scandals ).
US observers are often crassly out of the loop on European politics, but Stewart's look at the moment when Gordon Brown's ignorance of live microphone syndrome confirmed Labour's hapless state is acute & well-judged. The only jarring note is the use of subtitles to accompany not just Brown's comments, but those of Gillian Duffy. Are they really so unfamiliar with regional accents in the States?
Friday, April 30, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tearing At The Bonds Of Tribal Loyalty
Around lunchtime today I Tweeted that this was the most dispiriting election campaign I could remember. It remains so, although a spark of life has been injected with what's already become known as Bigot-gate (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/28/gordon-brown-bigoted-woman ).
[It would make a great storyline for The Thick of It; just think what Malcolm Tucker would make of it.]
The uncomfortable reality in most areas of Merseyside is that immigration & the use of migrant labour has been ignored as an issue by Labour & the Lib Dems (we all know the Tories' irrelevance in the region), allowing the BNP to raise it at every opportunity. Speaking the other day to a couple of acquaintances in the white, working-class constituency of Bootle, it was clear that their hostility to Cameron's privileged upbringing & the banks' culpability over the global financial crisis was tempered by a confused & aggrieved take on the immigration issue, the result of a silence from the parties, mainly Labour, it must be said, allowing the myths peddled by the BNP to take hold.
Gary Younge penned a finely-balanced piece at the beginning of the week on the issue (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/26/we-need-an-honest-immigration-debate ). However, John Harris' take on Brown's microphone moment also makes for instructive reading (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/28/bigot-gordon-brown-gillian-duffy ):
"The incident perfectly captures a plotline that I've observed time and again, not least as we've been travelling round the country during the campaign: millions of people who are confused, unsettled, and often ragingly angry, faced with a political class that affects to feel their pain, but too often holds them in borderline contempt. What with the rise in support for the BNP -- and that great chasm that divides too much of the country from richer corners of the capital -- the metropolitan media is part of the same problem. It tends to portray them as latter-day Alf Garnetts, nostalgic for a world long gone, and fired up by the sort of prejudices that have no place in London W1 or W11."
Harris concludes with a point which helps explain the dislocation between such voters & the party to which they once pledged largely unconditional allegiance:
"This may sound tangential, but I'm rather reminded of a passage from a Tony Blair conference speech that both sets out New Labour's credo, and captured its essential pathology. ' The character of this changing world is indifferent to tradition, ' he said. ' Unforgiving of frailty. No respecter of past reputations. It has no custom and practice. It is replete with opportunities, but they only go to those swift to adapt, slow to complain, open, willing and able to change. ' That doesn't describe Gillian Duffy [the woman who confronted Brown], nor millions and millions of other people. And in this awful episode, here are the wages of that ever-festering disconnection."
There is a tendency for middle-class liberals to dismiss & disparage what are still called Labour's heartlands ( disgraced ex-Cabinet minister Geoff Hoon referred to them as "metal bashers"). Countering such lazy aspersions are the people in these areas standing up to the BNP.
[It would make a great storyline for The Thick of It; just think what Malcolm Tucker would make of it.]
The uncomfortable reality in most areas of Merseyside is that immigration & the use of migrant labour has been ignored as an issue by Labour & the Lib Dems (we all know the Tories' irrelevance in the region), allowing the BNP to raise it at every opportunity. Speaking the other day to a couple of acquaintances in the white, working-class constituency of Bootle, it was clear that their hostility to Cameron's privileged upbringing & the banks' culpability over the global financial crisis was tempered by a confused & aggrieved take on the immigration issue, the result of a silence from the parties, mainly Labour, it must be said, allowing the myths peddled by the BNP to take hold.
Gary Younge penned a finely-balanced piece at the beginning of the week on the issue (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/26/we-need-an-honest-immigration-debate ). However, John Harris' take on Brown's microphone moment also makes for instructive reading (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/28/bigot-gordon-brown-gillian-duffy ):
"The incident perfectly captures a plotline that I've observed time and again, not least as we've been travelling round the country during the campaign: millions of people who are confused, unsettled, and often ragingly angry, faced with a political class that affects to feel their pain, but too often holds them in borderline contempt. What with the rise in support for the BNP -- and that great chasm that divides too much of the country from richer corners of the capital -- the metropolitan media is part of the same problem. It tends to portray them as latter-day Alf Garnetts, nostalgic for a world long gone, and fired up by the sort of prejudices that have no place in London W1 or W11."
Harris concludes with a point which helps explain the dislocation between such voters & the party to which they once pledged largely unconditional allegiance:
"This may sound tangential, but I'm rather reminded of a passage from a Tony Blair conference speech that both sets out New Labour's credo, and captured its essential pathology. ' The character of this changing world is indifferent to tradition, ' he said. ' Unforgiving of frailty. No respecter of past reputations. It has no custom and practice. It is replete with opportunities, but they only go to those swift to adapt, slow to complain, open, willing and able to change. ' That doesn't describe Gillian Duffy [the woman who confronted Brown], nor millions and millions of other people. And in this awful episode, here are the wages of that ever-festering disconnection."
There is a tendency for middle-class liberals to dismiss & disparage what are still called Labour's heartlands ( disgraced ex-Cabinet minister Geoff Hoon referred to them as "metal bashers"). Countering such lazy aspersions are the people in these areas standing up to the BNP.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Warren's War Zones
Election campaigning continues apace. Yet amidst the bombast, bluster & bullshit, there are disconcerting sounds of, well, not contrition or remorse exactly, more like an embarrassed clearing of the throat, a muffled sigh, a sotto voce aside.
Home truths are beginning to be acknowledged by those whose state of denial has been so deep as to be subterranean. Wayne has long pointed out how, inter alia, the disfigurement of the city's waterfront blocks the view of the Three Graces. The response until now has varied from an embarrassed silence to an exercise in juvenile name-calling. However, the pretence is starting to slip & Wayne expertly dissected its threadbare nature earlier today (http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/04/mann-island-is-penny-finally-dropping.html ).
Another area where the Fib Dem council is inching dangerously close to a mea culpa concerns housing. Warren Bradley blurts out the obvious to David Bartlett in this morning's Oldham Echo (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2010/04/26/council-leader-warren-bradley-we-ripped-heart-out-of-liverpool-communities-100252-26317085/ ).
Bartlett is moved to observe that Bradley's comments are "frank". Well, yes & no. It certainly puts the Fib Dems' Bread & Circus approach to the city in a stark context hitherto ignored by Oldham Hall Street. However, it also seeks to deflect at least some of the blame onto Whitehall & the quangocracy: "The council, national government and (regeneration agency) English Partnerships probably bit off more than we could chew.
"We announced six renewal areas, and in hindsight we should have done it one by one. Completing one area and then moving onto the next."
Bradley's tactic is totally transparent, admit mistakes, but imply that Labour & English Partnerships are at least equally culpable. This is election time, don't forget.
The man who is to local history what Jeremy Clarkson is to cycling goes on to deliver some choice comments which act as incriminating evidence in the case against the Fib Dems' reign of misrule in the city:
"You can't rip the heart out of the community and promise them something in 15 years time.
"I just don't think it is correct, but we are where we are. We have now got the job of rebuilding communities and giving them reassurance.........
"We should have landscaped areas so that people didn't feel they were living in a war zone".
That's some self-confessed record of ruin to play at the voters, isn't it? As well as the civic vandalism of what's still mystifyingly called a World Heritage Site & inflicting Grovesnor-pool in the process, Bradley & his cohorts have neglected whole neighbourhoods not fortunate enough to live in the city centre or in Fib Dem wards. The war zones have been left to fester.
Home truths are beginning to be acknowledged by those whose state of denial has been so deep as to be subterranean. Wayne has long pointed out how, inter alia, the disfigurement of the city's waterfront blocks the view of the Three Graces. The response until now has varied from an embarrassed silence to an exercise in juvenile name-calling. However, the pretence is starting to slip & Wayne expertly dissected its threadbare nature earlier today (http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/04/mann-island-is-penny-finally-dropping.html ).
Another area where the Fib Dem council is inching dangerously close to a mea culpa concerns housing. Warren Bradley blurts out the obvious to David Bartlett in this morning's Oldham Echo (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2010/04/26/council-leader-warren-bradley-we-ripped-heart-out-of-liverpool-communities-100252-26317085/ ).
Bartlett is moved to observe that Bradley's comments are "frank". Well, yes & no. It certainly puts the Fib Dems' Bread & Circus approach to the city in a stark context hitherto ignored by Oldham Hall Street. However, it also seeks to deflect at least some of the blame onto Whitehall & the quangocracy: "The council, national government and (regeneration agency) English Partnerships probably bit off more than we could chew.
"We announced six renewal areas, and in hindsight we should have done it one by one. Completing one area and then moving onto the next."
Bradley's tactic is totally transparent, admit mistakes, but imply that Labour & English Partnerships are at least equally culpable. This is election time, don't forget.
The man who is to local history what Jeremy Clarkson is to cycling goes on to deliver some choice comments which act as incriminating evidence in the case against the Fib Dems' reign of misrule in the city:
"You can't rip the heart out of the community and promise them something in 15 years time.
"I just don't think it is correct, but we are where we are. We have now got the job of rebuilding communities and giving them reassurance.........
"We should have landscaped areas so that people didn't feel they were living in a war zone".
That's some self-confessed record of ruin to play at the voters, isn't it? As well as the civic vandalism of what's still mystifyingly called a World Heritage Site & inflicting Grovesnor-pool in the process, Bradley & his cohorts have neglected whole neighbourhoods not fortunate enough to live in the city centre or in Fib Dem wards. The war zones have been left to fester.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
He Said What?!
"Look, you've punished us enough about Iraq, right?"
Foreign Secretary, David Miliband (http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/apr/23/david-miliband-interview-labour ).
No, David, we haven't. Right?
Foreign Secretary, David Miliband (http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/apr/23/david-miliband-interview-labour ).
No, David, we haven't. Right?
Read All About It? Already Done So
Murdoch's titles are still rightly reviled on Merseyside. However, it's possible that some, at least, will sneak a glance at the front page of tomorrow's News of the World. It has the story everyone who follows Liverpool Football Club has been talking, texting & emailing about in the last 24 hours (if you don't know the story to which I refer, you'll have to wait, as the lawyers are still involved apparently).
It'll also be interesting to see how the Oldham Echo handles the story; its coverage of the local football clubs rarely veers from the adulatory, fawning & sychophantic. This is because it gets "access" in return, ie., an anodyne, cliched quote from one of the players or the manager which can be filed under the "stating the bloody obvious" category.
At least Murdoch's rag can't claim the story as an "exclusive", even though it'll slap that tired tag across the page. The story has been all over the web like a rash since yesterday afternoon.
It'll also be interesting to see how the Oldham Echo handles the story; its coverage of the local football clubs rarely veers from the adulatory, fawning & sychophantic. This is because it gets "access" in return, ie., an anodyne, cliched quote from one of the players or the manager which can be filed under the "stating the bloody obvious" category.
At least Murdoch's rag can't claim the story as an "exclusive", even though it'll slap that tired tag across the page. The story has been all over the web like a rash since yesterday afternoon.
An Irrelevant Issue
Given the change in the Lib Dems' poll ratings since Nick Clegg's performance in the first TV debate (& the paranoid reaction of Murdoch's minions as they barged into the Independent's offices the other day), it seems strange that one of their spokesmen should revisit a tired & dated topic.
Don Foster, Lib Dem spokesman for culture, media & sport, has made some approving noises about the return of terraces to football stadia (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/poll/2010/apr/22/1 ). This is despite the fact that all-seater stadia was a key feature of the Taylor Report in the wake of Hillsborough.
This subject is of little or no relevance at a time when the bigger issue of football club ownership is one that Foster & his colleagues should consider.
Don Foster, Lib Dem spokesman for culture, media & sport, has made some approving noises about the return of terraces to football stadia (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/poll/2010/apr/22/1 ). This is despite the fact that all-seater stadia was a key feature of the Taylor Report in the wake of Hillsborough.
This subject is of little or no relevance at a time when the bigger issue of football club ownership is one that Foster & his colleagues should consider.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
On Board The Overland Odyssey
Andy Hunter's blogging about Liverpool FC's trek to Madrid (http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/apr/20/liverpool-atletico-madrid-travel ). Seems like the media are enjoying the leisurely journey across the continent more than the manager & players. Thanks to an Icelandic volcano, highly paid (& underachieving) footballers are experiencing the novel sensation of travelling by public transport.
It seems strange that the long journey began at Runcorn; I know that Lime Street can be soulless & crowded, but Runcorn?! Rafa, Stevie G, Carra, et al could have stopped off at the Yankee Bar on Lime Street for a pint before departure. Then again, knowing the Yankee Bar, maybe it wouldn't have been a good idea.
It seems strange that the long journey began at Runcorn; I know that Lime Street can be soulless & crowded, but Runcorn?! Rafa, Stevie G, Carra, et al could have stopped off at the Yankee Bar on Lime Street for a pint before departure. Then again, knowing the Yankee Bar, maybe it wouldn't have been a good idea.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
The Dame Of Dereliction's Domain *
With the possible exception of Liverpool Wavertree, the city's constituencies are, as ever, devoid of debate & canvassers in this election campaign. It's hardly surprising, given the city's political make-up over the last 30 years or so; rock-solid Labour seats are taken for granted by both the parties & local media. After all, what's the point of speculating on the Tories' chances in Walton?
It's a trend of thought discerned earlier this month by the Electoral Reform Society in a sarcastic missive, as David Bartlett observed (http://blogs.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/dalestreetblues/2010/04/electoral-reform-society-says.html ).
However, in the wake of Thursday's televised election debate, the Guardian's Jon Henley decided to visit the Liverpool Riverside seat, hoping for some deviation from the apathy which has now become the seat's striking feature (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/17/nick-clegg-debate-liverpool-voters ).
Despite the sub editor's headline for Henley's piece ("Britain's most apathetic voters enlivened by challenge to Labour hegemony"), there was little enthusiasm for Nick Clegg or anyone else for that matter. Moreover, while Henley clearly attempted to sketch a representative image of the seat, there were a couple of howlers:
"Riverside is a mixed constituency. To the north is the city centre, and some of Liverpool's most famous sights: the Royal Liver building, the Albert docks. Billions have been pumped into a regenerated waterfront, a fine new arena, a conference and exhibition centre, a shopping mall, even a cruise terminal.
"In the south, there are well-to-do wards like leafy Aigburth. In the middle is Toxteth, scene of the 1981 riots and now a depressed and depressing place, whole swaths of its streets slated for demolition. Unemployment in the constituency stands at 12%, with pockets far higher; a 2007 study found half the children in Liverpool Riverside living in poverty."
Leaving aside Henley's use of the euphemism "regenerated" for the waterfront, the "fine new arena" which still regards stewarding as an optional extra at the concerts it hosts, & the cruise terminal (another time, another blog post altogether), his grasp of the constituency's layout is incomplete. Certainly, the seat is "mixed", something touched upon by John Harris when he visited the constituency (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/video/2010/mar/01/labour-liverpool-harris ).
However, while Aigburth, one of the few middle class enclaves in the city, is in the south of the seat, Toxteth is not in "the middle". Nor is the city centre the northern-most point in the seat; Henley fails to mention that north of the city centre are the Vauxhall & Kirkdale areas, where the levels of deprivation match those of Toxteth. Apart from Aigburth & the city centre, the constituency stands as a sobering indictment of New Labour's inability & unwillingness to transform such areas over the last 13 years.
Perhaps the muted response that Henley encountered in relation to Nick Clegg can be explained by the record of Clegg's mates in the Town Hall; what greater disincentive to engage with local politics could there be than Warren Bradley's antics over the last few years. Prior to Bradley, Mike Storey & Trevor Jones' record similarly induced disillusion. When a locally elected representative such as Bradley can declare brazenly: "The [city] council is now seen more as a company than as a local authority, and we have conducted ourselves in a way that is appropriate to a major development" (http://condensedthoughts.blogspot.com/2010/02/putting-con-into-confidence.html ), you realise why so many are apathetic on the streets of Toxteth & Kirkdale.
* Wayne's affectionate description for Riverside's Labour MP, Louise Ellman.
It's a trend of thought discerned earlier this month by the Electoral Reform Society in a sarcastic missive, as David Bartlett observed (http://blogs.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/dalestreetblues/2010/04/electoral-reform-society-says.html ).
However, in the wake of Thursday's televised election debate, the Guardian's Jon Henley decided to visit the Liverpool Riverside seat, hoping for some deviation from the apathy which has now become the seat's striking feature (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/17/nick-clegg-debate-liverpool-voters ).
Despite the sub editor's headline for Henley's piece ("Britain's most apathetic voters enlivened by challenge to Labour hegemony"), there was little enthusiasm for Nick Clegg or anyone else for that matter. Moreover, while Henley clearly attempted to sketch a representative image of the seat, there were a couple of howlers:
"Riverside is a mixed constituency. To the north is the city centre, and some of Liverpool's most famous sights: the Royal Liver building, the Albert docks. Billions have been pumped into a regenerated waterfront, a fine new arena, a conference and exhibition centre, a shopping mall, even a cruise terminal.
"In the south, there are well-to-do wards like leafy Aigburth. In the middle is Toxteth, scene of the 1981 riots and now a depressed and depressing place, whole swaths of its streets slated for demolition. Unemployment in the constituency stands at 12%, with pockets far higher; a 2007 study found half the children in Liverpool Riverside living in poverty."
Leaving aside Henley's use of the euphemism "regenerated" for the waterfront, the "fine new arena" which still regards stewarding as an optional extra at the concerts it hosts, & the cruise terminal (another time, another blog post altogether), his grasp of the constituency's layout is incomplete. Certainly, the seat is "mixed", something touched upon by John Harris when he visited the constituency (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/video/2010/mar/01/labour-liverpool-harris ).
However, while Aigburth, one of the few middle class enclaves in the city, is in the south of the seat, Toxteth is not in "the middle". Nor is the city centre the northern-most point in the seat; Henley fails to mention that north of the city centre are the Vauxhall & Kirkdale areas, where the levels of deprivation match those of Toxteth. Apart from Aigburth & the city centre, the constituency stands as a sobering indictment of New Labour's inability & unwillingness to transform such areas over the last 13 years.
Perhaps the muted response that Henley encountered in relation to Nick Clegg can be explained by the record of Clegg's mates in the Town Hall; what greater disincentive to engage with local politics could there be than Warren Bradley's antics over the last few years. Prior to Bradley, Mike Storey & Trevor Jones' record similarly induced disillusion. When a locally elected representative such as Bradley can declare brazenly: "The [city] council is now seen more as a company than as a local authority, and we have conducted ourselves in a way that is appropriate to a major development" (http://condensedthoughts.blogspot.com/2010/02/putting-con-into-confidence.html ), you realise why so many are apathetic on the streets of Toxteth & Kirkdale.
* Wayne's affectionate description for Riverside's Labour MP, Louise Ellman.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Marking The Anniversary
Unlike last year the world's media weren't at Anfield in significant numbers on today's Hillsborough anniversary. This year's memorial service was more low-key, less political in nature. The attendance, too, was down on last year. However, the attendance of 30,000 twelve months ago was in many ways a one-off.
Credit to the Guardian's Sachin Nakrani for a perceptive & measured appraisal of today's service (http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/apr/15/hillsborough-disaster-liverpool-memorial-service ).
Credit to the Guardian's Sachin Nakrani for a perceptive & measured appraisal of today's service (http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/apr/15/hillsborough-disaster-liverpool-memorial-service ).
Monday, April 12, 2010
Potholes & Promises
Long before the freezing temperatures in January worsened the state of many roads the situation in Liverpool was pretty dire; as a cyclist I've often thought of Rice Lane, Great Homer Street & a few other thoroughfares as downright dangerous, if not potentially lethal for anybody on two wheels.
The cycling organisation CTC has compiled a list of UK local authorities' records on dealing with hazards caused by potholes (http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/league-table ). It shows that Liverpool is ranked 145th out of 212 local councils, with just 24% of reported hazards dealt with.
It isn't just a matter of concern to those on two wheels, but to motorists generally & pedestrians too.
Next time Warren Bradley or any of his cohorts rhapsodise about their record, bear that statistic in mind.
The cycling organisation CTC has compiled a list of UK local authorities' records on dealing with hazards caused by potholes (http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/league-table ). It shows that Liverpool is ranked 145th out of 212 local councils, with just 24% of reported hazards dealt with.
It isn't just a matter of concern to those on two wheels, but to motorists generally & pedestrians too.
Next time Warren Bradley or any of his cohorts rhapsodise about their record, bear that statistic in mind.
Allegiance & Alienation
Recommended reading: Marina Hyde's look at the situation surrounding both Liverpool & Everton football clubs & how it has affected the Walton area (http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/apr/12/football-supporters-election-votes ).
Thursday, April 08, 2010
Desecration Row
So you thought it couldn't be that bad. Maybe, you mused, all the objections to the building work at Mann Island have been alarmist. Well, here's the vision which will be foisted upon us. Grotesque is the first word that comes to mind. Wayne's already delivered an appropriate verdict on the monstrosities which will help further deface the waterfront (http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/04/mann-island-artists-impression.html ).The bureaucrats at Unesco should discreetly check down the front of their trousers, for it seems they didn't have the balls to oppose what has happened on what is laughably described as a World Heritage Site.
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
When Truth Isn't The Only Casualty Of War
Anguished hand-wringing has been the predominant response of most people to the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan. However, there are moments when it should be replaced by a righteous rage & anger; Bush's war for oil in Iraq was notable for having a pliant mainstream media, eagerly lapping up the official line in return for the juvenile thrill of being "embedded". The culprits weren't just the usual suspects, but the BBC & New York Times, too.
Over the Easter weekend Wikileaks (www.wikileaks.org ) posted a video online showing a horrific incident in Baghdad in June 2007. Two Reuters journalists were spotted by a US Apache helicopter. Convinced that the cameras the two journalists wore around their shoulders were weapons, the order was given to kill. In the last few days the Pentagon has gone into full smear mode, accusing Wikileaks of being hostile to the US & implying that it's little better than a terrorist website. Such desperation is contemptible, yet understandable when you view the video; what you see in the video is a war crime, the US personnel delighting in their bloodlust & ignorance. Even when it transpires that there are two children badly injured, one US official remarks that the "terrorists" shouldn't have brought their children with them.
The video is, naturally, sickening. However, the anger it generates should be channelled at the US for sitting on it for so long while lying about its details:
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0405/video-shows-forces-firing-killing-reporters/ .
Over the Easter weekend Wikileaks (www.wikileaks.org ) posted a video online showing a horrific incident in Baghdad in June 2007. Two Reuters journalists were spotted by a US Apache helicopter. Convinced that the cameras the two journalists wore around their shoulders were weapons, the order was given to kill. In the last few days the Pentagon has gone into full smear mode, accusing Wikileaks of being hostile to the US & implying that it's little better than a terrorist website. Such desperation is contemptible, yet understandable when you view the video; what you see in the video is a war crime, the US personnel delighting in their bloodlust & ignorance. Even when it transpires that there are two children badly injured, one US official remarks that the "terrorists" shouldn't have brought their children with them.
The video is, naturally, sickening. However, the anger it generates should be channelled at the US for sitting on it for so long while lying about its details:
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0405/video-shows-forces-firing-killing-reporters/ .
Monday, April 05, 2010
Adios, Rafa
A litany of promises, excuses & hard luck tales since the start of the season. Too many points dropped. It won't wash anymore. If Benfica win on Thursday (& I expect them to), watch the Kop turn on Rafa; the scales will drop like rain. The manager has long since lost the dressing room. Further proof of this came yesterday when Torres was substituted (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTbN1ksDTds ).
Mid-table mediocrity beckons for Liverpool Football Club.
Mid-table mediocrity beckons for Liverpool Football Club.
Saturday, April 03, 2010
Four Wheels Good, Two Wheels Bad
The blogging postal worker Roy Mayall gave his own dry take on proposals by Royal Mail to end deliveries by bicycle on the Guardian's Comment is Free pages last Wednesday (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/31/postal-service-cycling-environment ).
Fossil fuels are energy's version of analogue TVs, peak oil yield is imminent & Obama made real investment in green technology a precondition for the US administration's bail-out of the auto industry. However, Royal Mail wishes to dispense with bicycles, viewing them as archaic, & replace them with more vans. Inspired thinking, wouldn't you say?
Roy Mayall's blog: http://roymayall.wordpress.com .
Fossil fuels are energy's version of analogue TVs, peak oil yield is imminent & Obama made real investment in green technology a precondition for the US administration's bail-out of the auto industry. However, Royal Mail wishes to dispense with bicycles, viewing them as archaic, & replace them with more vans. Inspired thinking, wouldn't you say?
Roy Mayall's blog: http://roymayall.wordpress.com .
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
A Take On Two Cities
Before Murdoch erects a paywall around his titles it's worth reading a piece in The Times by Stuart Maconie which could be viewed as a compare & contrast exercise regarding Liverpool & Manchester (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article7075464.ece ).
The headline to Maconie's article, however, could be a case of a sub-editor at Wapping wishing to throw a lighted match into an open can of petrol: "Manchester vs Liverpool: which is best?"
That said, Maconie has no wish to act as agent provocateur, rather his take incorporates a (very) potted history of the origins of the rivalry, beginning with the Manchester Ship Canal & continuing through to the obvious subjects of footballing & musical rivalry.
Maconie sees little wrong with the new Museum of Liverpool, commenting that "the concrete wave of the building looks good to me."
When charting recent hotel developments for both cities, Maconie concludes with a wry observation:
"For years, the weary wayfarer's choice of affordable affluence was the Adelphi in Liverpool or the Britannia in Manchester; both blousy painted ladies of a certain age. Now the connoisseur of the complimentary shower cap is spoilt for choice, from Hope Street Hotel and the new Hilton in Liverpool to the City Inn, Malmaison and Lowry in Manchester.
"I once saw Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand in the bar of the latter sharing burgers and Cokes. I hope the food was as delicious as the irony of multimillionare footballers eating gourmet fast food in a five-star hotel named after the visual laureate of the northern underclass."
*Thanks to Wayne for emailing me Maconie's article.
The headline to Maconie's article, however, could be a case of a sub-editor at Wapping wishing to throw a lighted match into an open can of petrol: "Manchester vs Liverpool: which is best?"
That said, Maconie has no wish to act as agent provocateur, rather his take incorporates a (very) potted history of the origins of the rivalry, beginning with the Manchester Ship Canal & continuing through to the obvious subjects of footballing & musical rivalry.
Maconie sees little wrong with the new Museum of Liverpool, commenting that "the concrete wave of the building looks good to me."
When charting recent hotel developments for both cities, Maconie concludes with a wry observation:
"For years, the weary wayfarer's choice of affordable affluence was the Adelphi in Liverpool or the Britannia in Manchester; both blousy painted ladies of a certain age. Now the connoisseur of the complimentary shower cap is spoilt for choice, from Hope Street Hotel and the new Hilton in Liverpool to the City Inn, Malmaison and Lowry in Manchester.
"I once saw Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand in the bar of the latter sharing burgers and Cokes. I hope the food was as delicious as the irony of multimillionare footballers eating gourmet fast food in a five-star hotel named after the visual laureate of the northern underclass."
*Thanks to Wayne for emailing me Maconie's article.
Monday, March 29, 2010
National Spotlight On Waterfront's Mutilation
As Wayne mentioned earlier today (http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/03/museum-of-liverpool-radio-4-take.html ), the Friday edition of Radio 4's You and Yours programme featured a piece by Winifred Robinson, Liverpool-born & bred, on the squat monstrosity that will be the Museum of Liverpool (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/listenagain/friday_previous.shtml ).
Wayne is quoted in the piece, as is NML Director David Fleming, who does his best to convince a rightly sceptical Robinson of the carbuncle's merits ("we're really very pleased with the exterior," he enthuses).
However, Fleming audibly flags when presented with some further questions. The man who thought nothing of giving Port of Liverpool building owner Downing £750,000, ten times the original estimate for the museum's construction breaking a covenant (http://condensedthoughts.blogspot.com/2010/02/calculating-cost-of-cracked-covenant.html ) is also disingenuous.
"Much opposition?" Robinson asks him.
"No, not really," Fleming breezily & brazenly replies.
It's also significant that Professor John Belchem from the University of Liverpool doesn't question or dispute Robinson's suggestion that Liverpool has fallen into the trap of becoming a theme park, something the city, as well as others, wished to avoid after the 80s recession.
For good measure, Belchem suggests a spot of "retail therapy" at Grosvenor-pool.
Wayne is quoted in the piece, as is NML Director David Fleming, who does his best to convince a rightly sceptical Robinson of the carbuncle's merits ("we're really very pleased with the exterior," he enthuses).
However, Fleming audibly flags when presented with some further questions. The man who thought nothing of giving Port of Liverpool building owner Downing £750,000, ten times the original estimate for the museum's construction breaking a covenant (http://condensedthoughts.blogspot.com/2010/02/calculating-cost-of-cracked-covenant.html ) is also disingenuous.
"Much opposition?" Robinson asks him.
"No, not really," Fleming breezily & brazenly replies.
It's also significant that Professor John Belchem from the University of Liverpool doesn't question or dispute Robinson's suggestion that Liverpool has fallen into the trap of becoming a theme park, something the city, as well as others, wished to avoid after the 80s recession.
For good measure, Belchem suggests a spot of "retail therapy" at Grosvenor-pool.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Peel's Press Gang Plan
When someone is losing the argument & won't take no for an answer, despite logic & law being against them, they're usually advised to grow up, or leave the pub & sober up. Unfortunately, Peel Holdings has cast itself in the role of the recalcitrant reveller, adamant it's right & that it won't back down over its plan to use public money for a commercial development (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2010/03/19/liverpool-s-pier-head-could-become-a-base-for-cruise-liners-100252-26065361/ ).
Needless to say Warren Bradley & his merry men (they've been drinking in the same bar as Peel) & Oldham Hall Street are back on board, just as they were during their juvenile game of name-calling with Southampton (http://condensedthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/09/oldham-echo-fight-arranger.html & http://condensedthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/10/oldham-echo-fight-arranger-round-two.html ).
When the appeal of "port wars" began to wane, accompanied by the heavy hangover reality of business as it is normally conducted (http://condensedthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/11/public-money-to-pay-for-ports-plan.html ) & the threadbare nature of Peel's case was exposed, the cheerleaders realised the game was up & silently peeled --pardon the pun-- away (http://condensedthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/12/oldham-echo-fight-arranger-licence.html ).
That said, however, I noted at the time: "It would be nice to think that sanity's finally prevailed. Don't hold your breath, though."
Well, the sanity's gone out of the window again & it's trebles all round at the bar for Peel & its acolytes; Peter Elson lost no time in the Oldham Echo to get the party resumed (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2010/03/22/shipping-lines-peel-floats-idea-of-transferring-cruise-turnarounds-to-temporary-pier-head-berth-100252-26081623/ ):
"Terrific news from Mersey Docks owner Peel and Liverpool City Council about transferring the turnaround cruises from Langton Dock to the Pier Head cruise liner stage on a temporary basis.
"This is bold new thinking from Peel which, by retaining the same number of cruises as at Langton, hopes not to antagonise rival Southampton port bosses' cries of foul over breaking EU caveats on grants used to fund the new stage. Vital, too, is the tag of it being temporary, while Peel reviews building its own stage to the north."
This "bold new thinking" could well be seen by some as a third-rate sleight-of-hand manoeuvre by Peel. It's intriguing, too, that Elson uses the word "reviews" about Peel's stage north of the Pier Head. That could be read as a non-committal stance by Peel on whether such a stage would ever be built.
Elson's piece quotes Cllr Gary Millar (yes, he's popped back into the bar, too), the council's executive member for local tourism & regeneration, & he further muddies the already brown waters surrounding the exotically-named Liverpool Waters project when he burbles that "it's a wonderful advance by Peel to test the waters. Once a temporary berth is established the public will have a perception that it shouldn't be taken away and hopefully that will focus efforts on finding a long term solution."
So, Peel is testing the waters with this plan, eh? Interesting phrase. It could be taken to mean that Peel is chancing its arm with this plan & that it could present both Southampton & the Department for Transport with a de facto, as opposed to a de jure, cruise liner development which would be sold as a fait accompli, regardless of anyone else's wishes. Moreover, I'm sure Oldham Hall Street will play its part in facilitating the public perception "that it shouldn't be taken away".
Nah, maybe I'm just being too cynical & Mark Thomas is right that this really is a "nasty & vindictive blog". Incidentally, I note from Elson's article that the first cruise liner that left the Langton Dock this week was named Boudicca, a tribute to the ancient leader whose war against Roman occupation of Britain ended in heroic failure, her corpse reportedly being buried on the site of one of the platforms at London's King's Cross station. I'm sure there aren't any parallels with Peel's prospects in its renewal of hostilities.
Yet it seems that Peel does inhabit a parallel universe in believing that if it can't convince government of their case, it'll continue with a crafty nod here, a surreptitious wink there & a rabble-rousing call to base parochialism, elbowing the famous Mersey ferries in the process, as Wayne noted last Friday (http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/03/peel-holdings-want-pier-head-stinky-ink.html ).
This is the reality which neither the Daily Ghost nor the Oldham Echo won't even allude to, as outlined by the Southampton Daily Echo (yes, yes, I'm highly aware that Southampton has its own agenda, but its points on the use of public money for a commercial operation are unarguable):
"The Department for Transport (DfT) decided against relaxing its rules on publicly funded competition to allow a full turnaround facility at Liverpool's Cruise Terminal on the grounds that it would have an 'unfair and adverse effect' on the market.
"Now officials from the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company, owned by developer Peel, are again in discussions with the city council to transfer cruises from its existing turnaround facility, a tatty dock in Bootle, to Pier Head.
"Now, however, Peel says the move would just be temporary, while it presses ahead with ambitious plans to build its own cruise terminal as part of the £5.5 billion skyscraper Liverpool Water scheme. That scheme, the largest urban regeneration project in the UK, is likely to take years, with a planning application not due to be submitted until later this year.
"In a bid to appease concerned rivals they say the number of turnaround cruises would remain the same, but ABP [owner of Southampton docks] is unimpressed arguing if they had wanted better facilities 'they should have invested in them years ago' " (http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/business/shipping/shippingnews/5077150._Port_wars__resume/ ).
Indeed. However, that won't stop Peel, Bradley's crew & those in an increasingly Mary Celeste-like Oldham Hall Street from filling up their tankards & demanding a resumption of Cruise Wars until EU rules are tossed overboard, the DfT is rammed & Peel's vessel rules the waves.
*Image courtesy of http://www.e-architect.co.uk/ .
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Showing The True Picture
Liverpool's regeneration continues apace, we're assured by the Daily Ghost & Oldham Echo. One of the instances cited is the "redevelopment" of the entrance to Lime Street station, a grotesque spectacle. Just across the road from the latest monstrosity to be presented as "progress", lies the old ABC cinema.
Derelict & left to rot over the last decade or more, the cinema stands as a curt rejoinder to the eternally deluded saps who buy the argument from the council & their PR people on Oldham Hall Street that the city is changing for the better. Once a local landmark just as prominent & popular as more obvious ones in the city centre, the cinema, along with Southport's Pleasureland complex, has been in the hands of Urban Splash in recent years. Promises have been made & grandiose plans have been outlined for both sites.
However, in an admission which makes a mockery of the numerous puff-pieces in the Echo declaring the city's immunity to a global recession, Urban Splash have now acknowledged the obvious: all their best-laid plans count for nothing when the perfect storm of the credit crunch & global downturn continues to rage (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2010/03/22/urban-splash-committed-to-abc-cinema-and-pleasureland-schemes-100252-26081387/ ).
Urban Splash's Tom Bloxham tries to sound hopeful in the Echo apologia (no byline for the article, surprise, surprise), but sounding hopeful is no business plan. Instead, he talks of something "very special" for both sites. Very special? That should fill any potential investors with confidence, shouldn't it? As the Echo meekly admits:
"In September 2007 it was announced [Urban Splash] had been appointed as the developer for the derelict ABC cinema in Lime Street.
"At the time plans were expected to be submitted to the city in July 2008 with work completed by mid-2010.
"But Liverpool Council confirmed that Urban Splash is yet to submit a planning application for the site."
Bloxham's ambiguity on the fate of both sites indicates that the situation is unlikely to change for the forseeable future. Indeed, he sounds more like a Lottery punter hoping his numbers come up:
"On both we have got lots of ideas that we are exploring and trying to come up with the best solution.
"It's difficult to move forward at the pace we want to."
Whether things are moving forward at any sort of pace is open to question, as even the Oldham Echo anxiously admitted in its editorial (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/views/our-view/2010/03/22/city-can-t-be-made-to-wait-for-regeneration-of-former-abc-cinema-in-lime-street-100252-26080650/ ).
Derelict & left to rot over the last decade or more, the cinema stands as a curt rejoinder to the eternally deluded saps who buy the argument from the council & their PR people on Oldham Hall Street that the city is changing for the better. Once a local landmark just as prominent & popular as more obvious ones in the city centre, the cinema, along with Southport's Pleasureland complex, has been in the hands of Urban Splash in recent years. Promises have been made & grandiose plans have been outlined for both sites.
However, in an admission which makes a mockery of the numerous puff-pieces in the Echo declaring the city's immunity to a global recession, Urban Splash have now acknowledged the obvious: all their best-laid plans count for nothing when the perfect storm of the credit crunch & global downturn continues to rage (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2010/03/22/urban-splash-committed-to-abc-cinema-and-pleasureland-schemes-100252-26081387/ ).
Urban Splash's Tom Bloxham tries to sound hopeful in the Echo apologia (no byline for the article, surprise, surprise), but sounding hopeful is no business plan. Instead, he talks of something "very special" for both sites. Very special? That should fill any potential investors with confidence, shouldn't it? As the Echo meekly admits:
"In September 2007 it was announced [Urban Splash] had been appointed as the developer for the derelict ABC cinema in Lime Street.
"At the time plans were expected to be submitted to the city in July 2008 with work completed by mid-2010.
"But Liverpool Council confirmed that Urban Splash is yet to submit a planning application for the site."
Bloxham's ambiguity on the fate of both sites indicates that the situation is unlikely to change for the forseeable future. Indeed, he sounds more like a Lottery punter hoping his numbers come up:
"On both we have got lots of ideas that we are exploring and trying to come up with the best solution.
"It's difficult to move forward at the pace we want to."
Whether things are moving forward at any sort of pace is open to question, as even the Oldham Echo anxiously admitted in its editorial (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/views/our-view/2010/03/22/city-can-t-be-made-to-wait-for-regeneration-of-former-abc-cinema-in-lime-street-100252-26080650/ ).
Anything In The Name Of Modernity
Recommended reading: a piece by local blogger Joe Moran on the Guardian's Comment is Free pages at the beginning of this week (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/22/modernity-public-sector-paradox-management ). Moran refers to the blogging postal worker Roy Mayall & his brilliantly acerbic account of "modernisation" in his workplace. He also delivers a finely concise assesment of "modernisation" & the motives of those behind it:
"Governments are as susceptible to groupthink as professions. And it is worth questioning the argument that all public sector employees, from postal workers to academics, are equally resistant to "change". The leitmotif of the New Labour era has been the unstoppable nature of such change: doing nothing is not an option; we can't stand still or we will roll backwards. Often this is a way of shutting off argument (who on earth would want to roll backwards?) by claiming ownership over the future and insisting this is the only way things can be - in order for markets to be free, the workers must be incentivised and coralled into line."
Whereas New Labour acolytes can only be incentivised by the lure of a few grand a day.
"Governments are as susceptible to groupthink as professions. And it is worth questioning the argument that all public sector employees, from postal workers to academics, are equally resistant to "change". The leitmotif of the New Labour era has been the unstoppable nature of such change: doing nothing is not an option; we can't stand still or we will roll backwards. Often this is a way of shutting off argument (who on earth would want to roll backwards?) by claiming ownership over the future and insisting this is the only way things can be - in order for markets to be free, the workers must be incentivised and coralled into line."
Whereas New Labour acolytes can only be incentivised by the lure of a few grand a day.
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