Letters to the Editor - September 25th

Sep 25 2007 Liverpool Daily Post

A balanced programme

SO PHIL REDMOND thinks the BBC’s Inside Out programme on the Capital of Culture was unbalanced for not reporting enough “positives”. But it reported fairly on the two most important “positives” so far – winning the event in the first place and the belated appointment of Phil Redmond himself as, in effect, its supremo.

The rest of the programme was accurate and balanced. We are in a mess because of nearly four years of bad management and neglected financial planning.

It was also a mistake for him to say that Robert Palmer’s report for the EU on 30 previous Capital of Culture winners shows that they all made the same mistakes as Liverpool, but still managed to get things right on the night. This “so that’s all right, then” attitude will not do.

For much of the last three decades, I have reported throughout Europe and the US on the regeneration of economically distressed regions like Merseyside. The rules for success are simple.

First, there have to be leaders; second, they have to sink their differences and work together; and third, they have to have a wider vision of their community than their own role in it.

You do not achieve these things through calamitous rows between political leaders and chief officers; through alienating most of the talented people responsible for driving Merseyside’s thriving arts community; and certainly not by constraining the delivery mechanism within the labyrinthine bowels of local government bureaucracy.

The event needed a visionary leader such as Sir Bob Scott or Phil Redmond, from the outset.

To my old friend Phil, I say don’t blame the media.

Without the outspoken voices of the Daily Post and its sister paper the Echo, we would have remained at the mercy of people who clearly had little idea of what they were doing.

The Capital of Culture year offered an opportunity for a triumphant punctuation to Liverpool’s recovery.

It still can under Mr Redmond’s skilled and experienced leadership. I am sure he can count on all of us.

Ian Hamilton Fazey, Waterloo

Put the boot in

WELL done, Phil Redmond, for speaking out against BBC’s Inside Out programme.

I know things haven’t been plain sailing for us in Liverpool when it comes to Capital of Culture plans, but programmes like this putting the boot in are no help at all.

With Mr Redmond in charge, I think our future is now in safe hands at last.

K Swift, Wallasey

A great weekend

MARK, my husband, and I have recently returned from a short break in Liverpool. Mark had never visited, and I had only been once, in 1980. We came to see Billy Connolly at the Philharmonic Hall, and stayed at the Crowne Plaza.

I have hardly stopped telling people how overwhelmed I was by the welcome we received, even before we arrived, and wanted to share a few of the things that contributed to one of the best weekends we have had for a considerable time.

The young lady on the train from Stafford who was serving from the trolley was delightful, and offered to arrange for some help when we arrived at Liverpool Street as my husband has just had major surgery. The taxi drivers were all brilliant, so friendly and patient – one even returned the umbrella that I had left in his cab to the hotel.

The staff at the Crowne Plaza showed great enthusiasm and professionalism. Katie, at Est Est Est, showed that you can really make a difference by going the extra mile, while the staff on the Mersey Ferry were great, taking my husband up the slope in a golf buggy to save him walking up to the top.

All this is without the wonderful architecture, wealth of things to do and vision of what is to come in Liverpool.

We have signed up to be ambassadors, and will be back in July to see the Clippers return. Best wishes for 2008.

Louise Jackson, Devon

Still deprived

I AM sure your reader R Gallagher (Daily Post Letters, September 21) does reflect the thoughts of many people regarding Liverpool’s Capital of Culture status. A friend of mine recently spent some time in Liverpool’s Royal Hospital and on our return journey from visiting one evening we got a bit lost.

Some of the areas we passed through looked no different than they did 30 years ago with steel shuttered run-down shops and boarded-up houses.

When my friend became more mobile, we ventured out walking in various areas of the city.

He tells me the amount of rubbish and dereliction he saw appalled him.

I do wonder what many of the ordinary citizens of LIverpool think about the vast sums of money spent in recent years on some very doubtful projects and sometimes monstrous artworks, while sections of a once-great city still suffer such deprivation.

J Beswick, Frodsham

Devastating effects

WE READ with great interest David Bartlett’s article in the Daily Post (September 20) on Liverpool homes now costing nine times the average salary. The spin put forward, however, on the Liverpool Pathfinder’s priority being to increase supply of affordable housing, defies common sense.

As residents of the Welsh Streets of Liverpool 8, we are experiencing first hand the devastating effects Pathfinder is having on our neighbours, who are now having to leave their very affordable, but demolition-condemned homes for new ones built by Pathfinder, only to find themselves in debt and financial hardship as never before.

The homes the Pathfinder wants to demolish here are indeed half the price of many of the houses it plans to build in their stead. They are exceedingly flexible to alter towards any modern creative slant, and especially affordable for first time buyers, if the current demolition price tag was lifted off them. The answer is not finding a “new” path, but rather in treating the old paths with respect.

Welsh Streets residents

Phone crackdown

RE: THE latest crackdown on drivers using mobile phones (Daily Post, September 22). This is good news indeed.

I see so many drivers negotiating roundabouts and busy road junctions while using their mobiles and have wondered if any action was being taken.

I look forward to there being many more such police operations, and hope that the fear of being caught might at last convince those who ignore the law and common sense.

I often cycle to work, and one of the scariest things is to see a driver in my path who is on the mobile. While he is already doing too many things at once, has he seen me? Will his actions be predictable? Not to mention the people who want to answer the phone and so stop in the middle of the road while they do so. I have seen this bizarre manoeuvre more than once

Wendy Clements, via email

Favourite daughter

NO MATTER what your kids get up to, you never stop being a parent, do you? I wonder what old Ma Liverpool would have had to say around 7 o’clock last Friday morning? Something like this, perhaps?

“Well, Lizzie – you may be 40 years old and a Queen to boot, but you’re still our favourite daughter and it’s lovely to see you home again after all these years. Where have you been all this time, you dirty stopout?

“Yes – we know you’ve popped in from time to time, but that’s not the same as seeing you back in your old berth at last.

“We also know that you’re a grown-up adult now, and we don’t want to keep you tied to our apron-strings. You’ve your own life to live, after all.

“But always remember – you were conceived here, even if you were born in Glasgow, we love the bones of you, and there’ll always be a big hug and a good old Scouse cuppa to welcome you home again any time you like.

“Happy birthday, sweetheart!”

Dominic Ion, Greasby

Wonderful QE2

I CANNOT tell you how delighted I was to visit the Pier Head last Friday and see the great QE2 moored up there.

It was like going back in time. What a wonderful atmosphere there was down there, too, with all the people refusing to be deterred by the appalling weather.

I look forward to many more occasions like this next year and for the future.

L Simpson, Wavertree

Terminal work

BARELY has Liverpool’s cruise liner terminal been open for business and already there is talk about it being upgraded.

Now I don’t mean to appear a pain here, but is this not a breathtaking case of shortsightedness on behalf of our city planners?

Why, oh why, was the terminal not built as a full terminal in the first place? Surely this would have made more sense than to have to start more work.

J Nash, Crosby

Happy memories

MY DAILY walk along Hoylake promenade was brightened up this week by the sand yachts competing in the European Sand Yachting Championships. The sight of all those brightly coloured sails racing over the sands was quite uplifting.

I do hope our visitors from Europe take back happy memories of their stay in Wirral.

J Morris, Hoylake

Bank crisis

IN THE wake of the rush on Northern Rock, I thank staff in the Church Street branch for their help and courtesy during that crisis.

Most of the staff seemed to be young and female and under pressure, yet remained calm and professional, although I expect there were a few tears behind the scenes. I wish them well for the future.

Robin Bird, New Brighton