New stadium not a cowshed

I WOULD just like to express my disappointment with Cllr Warren Bradley. He called Everton’s proposed new ground a cowshed, and said that it was being built in a small town outside Liverpool.

If he has looked at the graphics presented by Everton it is far from a cowshed. To then denigrate Kirkby is well below the belt. I am sure he has upset people on Knowsley Council, people he may have to deal with in a professional capacity.

He also said that the current Everton board members have taken the club as far as they can and should look for new investors.

At the end of the day Everton is a private business and the board runs the affairs in the best way it sees fit, I have not heard Bradley criticise other Liverpool businesses.

What if the Everton board said: “Well we have been dealing with Liverpool City Council on a new ground for over year and they have failed to deliver on another big project?”

I do not think Mr Bradley’s conduct has been fitting as that of the civic leader of Liverpool, and he has let the people down by expressing himself in such an unprofessional manner.

Michael Gee, via email

A good manager

AFTER reading your obituary (Daily Post, July 25) which gave details of the “business” methods employed by Don Arden, who managed pop groups such as the Small Faces, I was struck by the thought of how lucky the Beatles were to team up with Brian Epstein.

He may have made occasional mistakes, but he was always a gentleman, who put the interests of “his boys” first.

For long, people have argued about whether the Beatles would have made it without him.

I think they would because they had so much natural talent. However, there is no doubt that he assisted them with his connections and business acumen.

Also, he respected the artistic integrity of the Beatles at a time when pop musicians were not taken seriously.

But that was a very talented generation, producing so many good songwriters. The Small Faces were a very fine group, but it seems that Arden didn’t see them as much more than a useful little earner.

It is interesting to see how the Beatles are now revered in a way not enjoyed by the rivals, with the possible exception of the Rolling Stones.

Sympathetic management through the days of their early success turned out to be very important, not only for the Beatles, but for Liverpool.

G Mahoney, Walton

Wasted time

NOW that the six month German presidency of the European Union is over, it is abundantly clear that this time has been wasted on getting the dreadful European constitution back on the rails.

The outgoing Tony Blair and the new Prime Minister Gordon Brown have both asserted that no referendum is needed on the new document, since “there is only a minimal transfer of powers and sovereignty from the nation states to the European Union”. I could not disagree more with both of them. It is the duty of David Cameron and every elected Conservative to ensure that a referendum on this new constitution is held.

The Republic of Ireland is holding a referendum because their head of government is clear that this is a significant transfer of powers that demands the voice of the people be heard. He is right. The people of the United Kingdom must be given the same opportunity.

We don't want more and more of our powers thrown into the hands of unelected bureaucrats in Brussels. We want a government that will stand up for British interests.

It is time to stand up for Great Britain, its Christianity, its institutions, protection of its borders from illegal immigrants and more crucially the preservation of the British way of life.

Cllr Martyn Barber, Conservative, Crosby

Driving age

RE. YOUR recent debate on whether the driving limit should be raised from 17 to 18.

I do not really see how much of a difference this would make to young people’s driving. After all why is someone who is 17 and 11 months going to be less dangerous than an 18-year-old?

However I have to say I think that the suggestion that young drivers should be banned from carrying passengers between the ages of 10 and 20 after 11pm at night and setting a zero drink drive limit for new drivers are excellent ideas.

At the moment the biggest fear for parents of adolescents must surely be that they will be killed on our roads.

And there is no getting away from the fact that young drivers – especially young male drivers –are the most likely to be involved in car accidents.

It is no good sitting back and just hoping that youngsters behave responsibly, he time has come to act and implementing these recommendations would be a great start.

J Wavers, Ormskirk

Animal experiments

THE Home Office has announced that British researchers conducted more than 3m experiments on animals in 2006. This is the fifth year in a row that the number of animal procedures has risen.

More than 3,000 primates were experimented on, despite huge public and political opposition.

The latest statistics also show a massive hike in the use of genetically modified (GM) animals, who are supposed to mirror human disease and reaction more closely than non-GM animals. The use of GM animals has revealed itself to be hopelessly inefficient and crude. Some 70% of the time when a GM animal intended to replicate a human disease is created, it does not “perform” as expected.

Kate Fowler-Reeves, head of campaigns, Animal Aid

Human catastrophe

WHY does Frank Field MP think it is OK to stoop to the level of the BNP with his comments that it’s immigration to blame for the increase in terrorism in the UK?

Is this to deflect his feelings of shame regarding his government which is drenched from head to toe in blood from the five wars they’ve had in 10 years? Wars that he supported even though our intelligence services told Blair would increase the risk of terrorism.

Before you go picking on immigrants Mr Field, perhaps you should remember Blair’s propaganda, “that we are there to help the Iraqi people” and if this is the case then shouldn’t you be arguing that we should allow in to the UK some of the 4m refugees from there that the war has caused? Don’t you know there is a human catastrophe taking place in Iraq?

Mark Holt, Chair, Merseyside Stop the War Coalition

Wrong location

IT IS good news that the enthusiasm of people in St Helens has won them the opportunity to have a piece of sculpture designed by a world-renowned artist.

The images of what he has created in Chicago show imagination and humour and I can well see why they are popular, but I can’t help wondering if the edge of a motorway is the best place for such an epic piece of art, particularly if it is in anyway animated as the fountains in Chicago are.

Motorway driving at high speeds requires great concentration if safety is a priority and even the Angel of the North is a distraction as it looms ahead when you drive by. Imagine, then, if everyone is waiting for the “kinetic” element of this design to burst into life or, if you are unaware of the installation, the shock if some part of it suddenly bursts into life.

Surely more prestige would be attached to St Helens’ achievement if the artwork was placed somewhere in the town where people could come and visit it, bringing in tourist money, rather than on the outskirts where you can see it on your way to Manchester or Liverpool without bothering to stop and where it might be the cause of an accident.

D Welton, Warrington

Town invigorated

HAS anyone been to Warrington lately? What a different place it is now from the tired old commuter town it had become. With the opening of the new Golden Square shopping centre, the town has really been invigorated and it is a joy to see.

I lived in Warrington for many years before moving “down south” for work reasons but recently popped back there for a family engagement and was so pleasantly surprised. There are now great high street chains, coffee shops, restaurants – all the things you would expect of a growing town.

I also noticed that the powers-that-be have had the foresight to secure their investment with a little television advertising – well done.

G Williams, Surrey (formerly of Great Sankey)

Go back to quality

WITH reference to all of these phone scams and falsified competitions, is it not time the BBC scrapped all these commercial enterprises, stopped chasing ratings and went back to producing the sort of quality programming, it was once famous for?

We have got enough dross on the commercial channels but at least we don’t have to pay for that every year, unless of course we choose too by way of Sky, digital TV etc

If the BBC wants to go on behaving in this fashion then it is time it said goodbye to licence money and competed on a level playing field with ITV et al.

P Walker, Widnes

No local workers

WOULD somebody from Merseytravel please explain to the Merseyside council taxpayers why they are using an architect from Belfast and a contractor from Manchester to construct the new ferry terminal in Liverpool?

Once again we will probably see a building site in the city with no local workers employed and more of our money pumped into the Manchester economy.

R Gordon, Leasowe