Letters to the Editor - October 15th

Oct 15 2007 Liverpool Daily Post

Architectural disaster

FURTHER to Mrs Arabella McIntyre-Brown’s reply to my letter in the Daily Post on Thursday.

She says those who want Liverpool's cityscape unchanged are a perennial chorus throughout the city’s history, going on to quote voices of dissent when the Liver Buildings were built.

I have spent hours on end researching the debates that were entered into by real architectural ambassadors, who left us a legacy of a world heritage site.

There is no evidence whatsoever that the Liver Buildings were protested against. They were built with pride, as was the Cunard and the Port of Liverpool. They were built to be icons.

The same letter said Jesse Hartley’s Albert Dock probably roused rage and venom. No, it did not. And, in the late ’70s, when those brave people such as Quentin Hughes and Charles Hubbard gave their efforts for free to save this building from demolition, it was they who they had the foresight to be 20 years ahead of their time.

Were they stuck in the mud? No. This is now a place being ravaged by badly-designed architecturally poor sheds. Just look at the flats on Kings Dock, then swing around to the new construction on Chavasse Park and there is no architectural argument to be made.

The front cover of nearly every book on Liverpool shows the views of Mann Island, soon to be destroyed with three black granite grotesques. There is no argument about it. We are in the throes of an architectural disaster unfolding before our very eyes.

If there were any decent buildings being proposed, I would be pleased, but as it is we are watching the destruction of some of the most outstanding world views. This letter writer needs to take off her blinkers and see that those people who understand our assets and want them retained in the future are the true forward- looking people of this city.

Dr Anthony Small, via e-mail

New Brighton facts

IN RESPONSE to the letter from Ray Goode, New Brighton deal (October 10), I have to put the facts right. For a start, there is no other developer wishing to invest in New Brighton. We have, over many years, put out feelers, including responding to developers that the opposition to this scheme said were interested. Out of seven, only two replied, and they were not willing to take it any further financially.

With regard to the assertion that committees of Wirral Council have done nothing for 30-odd years, in the last 11 years we have had numerous schemes with various companies (remember the Ocean Dome proposals?) that unfortunately have come to nothing, but it certainly was not for the want of trying. This is the only viable scheme that we have had and that is the reality.

We are putting a Lido back, not as big as the previous one in the scheme that was refused following the public enquiry. We are also having an outdoor public performance area and plaza and we have also saved the Marine Lake, but all of this has to be tempered by the fact that, in this day and age it has to pay – don’t forget business entrepreneurs built New Brighton in its heyday.

I agree with Ray that we do need those elements and I am confident that will happen, but the only way we will get them is by creating the conditions to ensure that tourism and leisure developers wish to invest in the first place as they do with this scheme.

Cllr Pat Hackett, Wirral Borough Council, New Brighton Ward

Plagiarism

WITH reference to Mr Joe Moran, UKIP branch secretary, and his party laying claim to the original idea for the inheritance tax threshold being raised (Letters, Thursday, October 11), based on the claims of David Cameron that it was a Tory idea and not a Labour initiative.

I must admit, I was paying attention to some of UKIP’s fresh ideas in the political arena but, if Joe and Co are going to fall into the trap of resorting to the levels of the "big two" with monotonous and childish petty claims of plagiarism, they should know that they are the politics of the playground and turn the average voter away.

Surely every interested party/ person in the country could lay claim to the idea that it would be sensible to raise the inheritance tax threshold, to reflect the rapid rise in the value of even the "average" home. I myself suggested a raising of the threshold, to close personal friends in 2001, predating UKIP’s suggestion by three years, so I lay claim to the original idea for the idea.

Rob Preston, Independence Party, Bromborough

No copyright

ARE the Tories completely stupid? They are now complaining that Labour has "nicked" their policies on inheritance tax. I am sorry, but since when has there been a copyright on policy?

Following the boost to the Conservatives after they announced plans to raise the cut-off for inheritance tax, of course Labour was going to come back with their own version. The best thing the Tories can do now is take the moral high ground and carry on campaigning, not get caught up in childish accusations of copying.

P Owen, Warrington

Surgery times

AT LAST we are hearing that doctors’ surgeries are to become more accessible to people who work during the day.

When you go for medicines at the pharmacy, it often feels that the people actually paying for their prescriptions are in the vast minority – but, if you do work, heaven help you trying to get an appointment while not disrupting your workplace.

When I changed doctors recently, and in need of a routine prescription, I was offered an appointment in the middle of the day or a week-long wait.

The NHS walk-in centre can’t help with such matters – I found out after an hour-long wait – and for a simple medication I was advised to call an out-of-hours doctor or go to A&E. Most of us don’t want to waste the time of emergency services for something that is routine, but the archaic hours offered by GP surgeries make it impossible.

In times of all-night supermarkets and pharmacies that open until late, we need GP provision that prioritises a couple of hours in the evening or early morning for workers.

Jean Slater, Birkenhead

In rhyme

A FRIEND of mine told me that his teenage daughter, while in France, was asked to translate some pop song lyrics into French. This proved to be very difficult as modern pop and rap songs have practically meaningless verses, or are too lewd for classroom discussion.

Wouldn’t it be a good idea if primary schools, in addition to their weekly reading hours, also had, say, a Gilbert and Sullivan hour to teach youngsters the rudiments of good lyric writing and how to apply it to proper music?

WS Gilbert’s lyrics were regarded as the template and inspiration for all the clever and humorous popular songs that followed them, especially lyricists like Cole Porter and Johnnie Mercer.

This musical and lyrical foundation could be gradually built on until the children were given mild doses of grand opera in Year Six (albeit in English translation).

If children were to get to grips with expressing interesting ideas about life in witty ways that are rhythmically and in rhyme suitable for putting to music, then surely this would improve the quality of pop songs in years to come, for all our benefit.

E Maxwell (Mrs), Allerton

Low rates

YOUR correspondent Cllr Steve Munby claims that the city council spends money regardless of value or prudence (Letters, October 8). In reality, nothing could be further from the truth with year-on-year service improvements and low council tax rates.

He also reminds us of the disastrous Militant years using a quote from Hegel. The fact is that the city’s finances were almost destroyed by Militant when they borrowed £78m between 1984-86 from Swiss, French and Japanese banks, with further interest payments of some £15m. This has now been fully paid back by the Lib-Dem council.

Incidentally, it would be a refreshing change to actually see a Labour group budget eventually – they haven’t produced one for years. It’s not surprising that Cllr Munby isn’t complaining much about the massive debts which the London Olympics in 2012 will leave, nor the likely cuts to be made to cultural services in Liverpool and across the UK to pay for it.

Cllr Laurence Sidorczuk, Chair, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, Picton Ward

Strand work

I HAVE noticed over recent weeks a number of letters from readers complaining about the roadworks on The Strand. Have you people ever tried driving into Manchester at rush-hour?

Anyone who has will agree that driving down The Strand is a leisurely country drive in comparison. The approach to Manchester from the M60, before 9am, sucks the life force right out of you.

Traffic crawls along and it is almost claustrophobic. In contrast, at least in Liverpool you have the beautiful waterfront views down one side.

K Lyons, Garston

Career choice

I AM rather appalled at ITV2 for making light of prostitution through the recent Secret Diary of a Call Girl, with Billie Piper.

As well as being absolutely dire in terms of script and plot, this show makes the case that prostitution is an acceptable career choice. It is not and glorifying it in this way does no good at all.

G Howell, Wallasey