Letters to the Editor - August 28th

Aug 28 2007 Liverpool Daily Post

Give power to the people

BISHOP James Jones was there in Croxteth on Thursday to help give comfort to the family as best he could – and how many of us want with all our hearts to do that. His interview with Gordon Burns on BBC1 North West on that day reminded me of what the Bishop said in his inaugural address at his enthronement. That the parish was to be the epicentre of, and the pre-eminent influence in, his diocesan ministry.

Margaret Bailey, the Croxteth ward councillor and resident for 30-plus years, in her interview too was saddened almost beyond words, but agreed with Gordon Burns that although much good work had been done in Croxteth, there still was so much dereliction and neglect.

Both interviews reminded me that in the aftermath of the Toxteth turmoils of the eighties, the then Labour leader of Merseyside County Council, Keva Combes, asserted with some anger in a BBC radio programme that city councils, and Liverpool’s in particular, were not good and effective instruments of local governance.

Since then, we’ve had Scarman on Toxteth and Brixton, the Church of England’s "Faith in the Cities", and communitarians from Seattle to Sydney advocating what Peter Hain in his Liberal days of the seventies applauded: neighbourhood democracy backed with money.

"If the object is to create a series of self-managed neighbourhoods with a genuine transfer of power to communities, it will only come about when the power structure is confronted through radical political action" – Community Politics, John Calder Ltd (Publishers), 1976.

Eric Copestake, Moreton

Ruled by thugs

WHAT is really pathetic is that (having listened to several news programmes and interviews about the murder of the little boy in Croxteth) not one person in authority so far has pointed out that nothing will change until laws and attitudes are altered so that children and teenagers can no longer say to teachers and police officers: "You can’t get me."

What a terrific message to the thugs who increasingly seem to rule our society. What a way to teach the coming generation that it has no responsibility for anything.

Dr Spock recognised shortly before his death that his dictum that children can do no wrong had been a disaster – and how right he was.  Add to that criminals who can actually sue their victims who try to defend themselves, and life in Britain these days is like a long stay in Alice Through the Looking Glass.

No wonder the British are leaving in droves.

Evelyn Campbell Smith, Greasby

Enough is enough

WATCHING the news last night, I, like countless others across the country, was so very deeply moved by the harrowing interview given by the parents of 11-year-old Rhys Jones.

I can’t imagine the ordeal the Jones family is going through, but what I witnessed was the all-too painful, raw emotion of Rhys’s mum as she spoke about what had happened to her son and how she’d cradled him in her arms as his life slipped away. Through her tears and her husband’s words their deep sense of loss, pain and bewilderment was delivered to the nation.

"Our son was only 11, our baby. This should not happen; this should not be going on. I just want them caught.

"Please, someone, somewhere must know who has done this."

Every word she uttered was a basic truth, that’s why it registered so painfully. What is happening? How could this horrendous act have happened? And someone somewhere must know who’s done this and come forward.

There has to be a time when we all must come together and say "enough is enough". When the vast majority of good men and women have to join together to say; this is no longer acceptable, we want better for our generation and future generations. That time is now.

Now is the time to send out a very clear message of what is acceptable in our society and what is not.We need clear boundaries, deviations from which won’t be tolerated.

And when a court, jury and judge issue a length of sentence, then that should be the length of sentence, not half of it, or less, the sentence served should be that specified. Education and rehabilitation is vital – and so, I believe, is a form of reparative service or work. Those who have harmed society, taken away from it, must find a way to make amends and put something back into it.

Esther McVey, Conservative Parliamentary candidate, Wirral West Constituency

Information, please

CAN I, through your newspaper, ask Merseyrail where the extra buses and trains were during peak hours on Friday?

I appreciate this is a difficult time for Merseyrail, as they have been faced with an unexpected problem and have had to take many trains out of service but the information being fed through to passengers at stations last Thursday was sparse.

I use the train regularly to travel from my home in Waterloo to get to work in the city centre. As I paid for my ticket at the station, I was informed there weren’t enough trains to run the usual service but, when I asked why, I was told they did not know.

At work, I checked the Merseyrail website to find out what time the trains would be running and according to the journey planner they were still every 15 minutes. When I got to the station, there was no sign of any extra buses or information about any extra trains. I got to the platform and saw my train pulling out of the station, but I was pleasantly surprised to see another Southport train within 10 minutes.

However, during the peak rush hour on Friday morning, all the trains were once again running at 30-minute intervals.

I’m sure I am not the only one who would like a little more information to be made available to passengers so we can plan our journeys a bit better.

G Thomas, Waterloo

Selling the city

WITH reference to the recent article about The Mersey Partnership and Ms Rogers (August 22), I have reservations and concerns about our 2007 and 2008 promotions.

Can you, like me, understand why we are not being seen or heard on local and national TV and Radio? I can see that London (Notting Hill), Manchester (Gay Pride) and Glasgow (various current festivals) are all there.

I have seen that there is an advert posted on City of Liverpool Tenders for a Temporary Contracted Promotions Team. I must ask us all to think about this.

Temporary? Contracted? I think we should and must have a permanent position within the city department to constantly promote us.

This is a failure to address the fundamentals of good Marketing and PR.

I do not want or believe we need an Out-of-Town PR Consultancy to come in and burn up our precious limited resources and funds. We must have local people permanently and passionately presenting and representing us whenever and where-ever possible.

George Gibbons, Orrell

Keep the Vale Belle

I REPLY to Cllr Kent’s letter. The MWDA, which is controlled by her party, Labour, continues to push for this site which is close to residential properties, an educational facility, and a food processing factory.

Both Labour councillors have been informed that the offer of the lease for the site has been withdrawn on my request.

Although hundreds of names in opposition for the site have been submitted by myself, MWDA seem hell-bent on proceeding with their application.

I am fairly sure that the application will be refused as MWDA has not even consulted with housing providers such as CDS and Arena and, even if it is approved, has nowhere to go.

Interesting to note that, although a motion from myself and ex-Cllr Phillips was put forward at a Neighbourhood Committee for an alternate site, the MWDA has not responded.

This is the third time Labour has tried to put a dump in my area, other sites – Caldway Field for a weigh station and a proposal for an incinerator plant on Lee Manor.

Notice that proposals for sites of this nature come from people who do not live here in Belle Vale Ward.

Cllr Tom Marshall, Belle Vale Ward councillor and resident

Set an example

GRASS verges in Aigburth have recently been mown . . . are council staff, therefore, exempt from gathering the cuttings for recycling like all other the householders in the city?

Practise what you preach would seem to be appropriate.

Brian Phythian, via e-mail

Happy Birthday

I WOULD like to wish Liverpool a happy 800th birthday.

I am just a lowly resident but I have lived here all my life and I am proud to be from this great city.

I will be out to watch the special celebratory pageant and I hope that all other residents will be too.

It has been an 800 years of mixed fortunes, but the city is still standing and Scousers are still like no other people on Earth.

We stand up for what we believe in, and we pull together in times of crisis.

Those are things we should be celebrating along with charters, fine buildings and a history of shipping.

So I say it again: Happy birthday, Liverpool.

GK, Aigburth