An informative publication

Sep 8 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

WHAT a diverse and greatly informative publication the Daily Post produced on Friday, September 5 was.

The front page informed us about the” Invasion of Lime Street by a Giant Spider”, and alongside it an article declaring yet another massive payout for a council official, reportedly half a million pounds!

But the highlight for me was the excellent article by David Charters about one of our most respected sons, Jack Jones.

This to me typifies our city in this year of Capital Of Culture, while we can get excited and not worry about the cost of “La Machine” and extravagant payouts for senior council directors, the centre spread deals with an extraordinary Liverpudlian who I think typifies the majority of the honest hard-working people living in this city.

Jack Jones, 96 years of age, is a man of the people, the people of Liverpool, a champion of the aged, the oppressed and unjust causes, and, more importantly, a gentleman. When the Spider has crawled away and council officials have stopped being paid extravagant amounts of money, he will be remembered for ever by the ordinary people of this city,

We have our problems and adversity in this city but if you just listen to Jack Jones’s comments then it should give us all hope and strength for the future.

He says: “This is a city which produces citizens who are prepared to battle for causes which they think are right. People wear their feelings openly in Liverpool”; and “In my life, I have always believed that everybody is equal and that you should respect those who have done you a service”. Never were truer words said.

There have been some highlights and some lowlights in this year of Culture, but for me and many others this article and story of humanity and passion reported in the Daily Post will be remembered for a long time.

FK, Knotty Ash

A real crisis

AFTER reading about adults and children being traumatised by a piece of machinery, I wonder what these people would do in a real crisis. Enough said.

AJ Quinn, L11

Concert dismay

LIKE many other people, I am dismayed to hear that Paul McCartney will be giving a concert in Israel on September 24 as part of the celebrations to commemorate the founding of the State of Israel in 1948.

The Zionist ideology which justified the founding of that state openly endorsed the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the theft of Palestinian lands: farms, animals, buildings, industries and businesses, mosques and churches, airports, railways and stock, vans, cars, buses, houses, libraries were all taken.

Many villagers were massacred. Even Arab bank accounts were taken by the new Israeli State, which has never compensated the rightful owners.

In 1948, Christians were 20% of Palestinian population. Today they are 2%.

Why? Because they, like their Muslim brothers and sisters, have been driven into exile or refugee camps by the Israelis.

How can any right-minded human being commemorate such savagery?

Anne Candlin, via email

Follow the signs

I'M SURE Sir Paul will do the right thing in the Middle East. He'll see large signs saying Capital of Culture 2008.

As a loyal Liverpudlian, he'll follow those signs and, hey presto, he’ll be performing in Damascus, capital of Syria and capital of Arab culture this year.

I suspect the Israelis would then not allow him across their borders.

But, hey, Paul, don’t be afraid, you can sing about the Damascus road for years to come.

Jeremy Hawthorn, L8

Energy costs

RECENTLY, we've seen Gordon Brown dither over whether to give the poorest people a lump sum to help them with rocketing fuel prices. We've also seen Labour dither over whether to levy a windfall tax on the energy companies.

Neither of these deal with the fundamental problems of the failure of the Government to regulate the energy market – this has seen a failure to build generation capacity and, when energy companies make mistakes in buying future supplies at the top of the market, stopping them passing this mistake on to the consumer when this fails should be borne by the companies.

Although the Tories’ suggestion that people should just wear an extra jumper is not just shameful, it takes no account of the fact that a house with insufficient heating deteriorates, nor the fact that high energy costs make British companies uncompetitive.

Of course, another problem is the demand created by large-scale immigration which none of the main parties seem capable of tackling as membership of the EU means we cannot stop people from member countries coming to live here.

Mark Bill, UKIP, via email

Great performance

MY BROTHER-IN-LAW John Gaffne – from Cork – and his wife – from Cavan – flew in from their home in Sligo, in North West Ireland, to attend the Berliner Philharmoniker performance at the Phil on September 4.

I was “made up” they were coming over for this event – conducted by a Scouser, and proud to be hosting the visit, keen to show off the renovation and improvements on Hope Street, the Philharmonic Hall, the Philharmonic Pub (and its toilets) and Liverpool's transformation.

At the end of the first half performance, Tristan and Isolde, I turned to John. He was crying and he commented: "Stunning, beautiful".

Later he said: "The Berlin Phil; the most thrilling and extraordinary musical experience".

Thanks to all at the Phil, the council and Culture Company for bringing the show to Liverpool.

Philip Hayes, via email

Highways flaw

AS A MOTORCYCLIST, I have to point out a flaw in Wirral Council's highways strategy.

The Chester High Road has any number of signs pointing out the high number of fatalities there and warning people of the deaths in the past two years; perhaps if the council spent a little more money on the road, and less on the signage that is festooned along it, the number of accidents might be lessened.

Apart from the fact that these signs are distracting, the actual road surface is so poor that riding along it in a recent rainstorm proved a nerve-shredding experience.

From slippery drain covers right where a motorcycle’s front tyre goes, to pitted and worn surfacing, there are no shortage of hazards.

I know the signs are placed there with the best of intentions but, really, a little common sense in terms of improving the quality of the highway would pay dividends.

Lissa Williams, St Helens

Brown’s visit

IT WAS jolly nice of Gordon Brown to swing by Liverpool last week and tell us how impressed he was with what we have been doing for Capital of Culture year.

That will be the celebration that his government couldn’t bring themselves to give us any extra cash for.

Yes, Liverpool may well have benefited from some £4bn over the past two years, but we have had to find an awful lot more to bring Liverpool to where it is today.

Also, while I am at it, can I congratulate whoever it was who got Mr Brown to stand near the “joke box” in St George’s Hall. A moment of genius, methinks. No doubt that one will pop up on Have I Got News For You.

S Mather, Wavertree

Fast track to fame

PEOPLE moaning about the return of the Miss New Brighton beauty contest want to get with the programme.

This is exactly the sort of contest the young ones want to get in on these days. Posing in your bikini is the fast track to fame and fortune, it would seem.

Get your clothes off, whether it be for a beauty contest or in a “lads’ mag” and you are away.

The designer shoes, footballer boyfriends and free entry to nightclubs soon follows.

All most young women seem to want these days is an easy life and money. A survey last week said that one in 11 young girls, when asked what they want to be when they grow up, says a celebrity, rather than a lawyer or a doctor. It is a sad state of affairs, but that is the way the world is nowadays.

J Moore, Walton

Lost money

I CANNOT agree more with John Sankey, of St Helens, and his fear for the future of the £5 note, but I fear the epidemic may have spread to tenners also.

I have noticed that many cash machines will only give you £20 notes, and not tens, if you ask for multiples of 20, and some even tell you that they have no £10 notes.

On a few occasions, I have been in shops and handed over a £20, only to be given a pile of coins in change with the apology that they didn’t have any five or ten pound notes.

I’m beginning to think this is a conspiracy to get us to spend more money as, once you break into a note, it’s a lot easier to spend it all.

R Allen, Birkdale

Welcome news

THE news that Salthouse and Canning Docks are to be developed into better visitor attractions is most welcome. I have always found it baffling why Liverpool does not make much more of its docks. At the moment, only really Albert Dock is utilised.

For the record, though, like Jeff Cheers (Letters, Thursday) I do hope the Planet Lightship gets to stay, she is beautiful.

Mrs A Lowe, Crosby

Good people

THANK you to the kind person who handed my purse in to the railway station when I left it on the platform seats.

It just goes to show that there are still some good people in this world.

Mrs J Williams, L18