Letters to the Editor - 12th May 2008

May 12 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

Blessed with good fortune

READING about the Burma cyclone victims in the Daily Post (Friday, May 9) made me realise, not for the first time, how incredibly lucky we in this country are.

It is so easy to become irate over delayed trains or the price of fish going up in the supermarket, but we do live relatively easy lives in a free country where there is no shortage of food.

Irrational weather is very unlikely in the UK, and this is something we should be grateful for.

We have floods, of course, and the odd small hurricane, but gen- erally the worst we have to put up with is getting drenched because we left our umbrellas at home.

It is so easy to forget our good fortune until terrible stories like this one remind us, but wouldn’t it be better to feel happy about our lives all the time?

We are truly blessed to live in this country, where we are free to go where we please and do as we wish, and where there is a fair police force and (generally) good public transport.

I would ask your readers to think about this the next time they feel disgruntled with their own lives.

Mrs Pearson, Aigburth

Poor show

ART IN the Age of Steam promised to be a great show at the Walker Art Gallery.

It probably is a great show. It was a great show for the first two galleries: fascinating, interesting, stimulating.

But what happens when you enter the “third” and final gallery? You open the door only to be blasted by loud cowboy-type music.

What is this all about, you wonder? What is the connection with the paintings on display?

You continue viewing the paintings. The music changes but continues to irritate. Eventually you realise . . . the Walker has tried to go modern.

You reach a screen showing extracts of railway themed film. “Brief” encounter it was not. Grim encounter, more like.

I can see what the Walker is trying to do. But it is not working.

A trip up the M62 to the Lowry will show how it should be done. Film should be displayed outside the main gallery in the education area.

Don’t we all want to view paintings without the din?

Jim Morris, Wallasey

Fine event

I DOUBT there will be a finer event in this culture year to equal my visit to the Casa Club on Tuesday, May 6, to see a live performance of a version of the socialist classic book, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.

This marvellous adaptation had six brilliant actors playing multiple parts in a swift-moving performance.

Having read and re-read the book many times, it was a joy to see the characters given life in an absorbing night's entertainment.

My congratulations go out to everyone involved in staging a unique event, writer of adaptation and director Tom McLennan, the cast of brilliant actors, to The Casa for hosting the event and to the trades unions and councillors whose idea it was.

And, finally, I feel privileged to have witnessed a quite brilliant individual performance by local actor Shaun Mason, who recently finished performing in "Stags and Hens" at the Royal Court.

The lad's a star-in-waiting.

PR Jones, Wirral

Witness appeals

WHY aren’t Merseyside Police using dates or any other details to jog people’s memory on their Witness Appeals on roads?

A board has appeared at the dangerous junction between Altcar Road and the A565, in Formby, which simply says: “Witness appeal – ring 0151 777 5730”.

I would just like to point out that it is likely to be difficult to remember the number to phone and if you are not sure what on earth the witness appeal might be to, you’re unlikely to ring.

Witness appeals in newspapers and on TV carry more information – for example, that it was an accident and it happened at approximately such and such a time on a specific day. It seemed to me that this sign is rather going through the motions.

Also, this is a very dangerous junction, with lots of people in powerful cars using to speed along, and more needs to be done to make it safer for all users.

JM Rogers, Formby

Less than kind

SOME of your recent correspondents have been less than kind in their challenges to Lib-Dem councillor Nadia Stewart.

These are the same people who welcomed Beatrice Fraenkel with open arms, when she became a Labour councillor in Cressington, of all places.

I think Labour were lucky to get the extra seats they did, but did not deserve to win the election, as it was not a case of one individual not telling us how she would vote in the future, but a whole party which did not say what they stood for, other than knocking the Lib- Dems.

That way, they didn’t have to defend their Government’s awful attack on the poor, which the rest of the country saw fit to condemn.

Jane Knut, L8

Party votes

WHY IS it that Liverpool people do the opposite of the rest of the country?

I refer to the recent local elections, where we saw the Labour share of the vote fall behind even the Liberal Democrats, as voters punished Labour for things such as the 10p tax rise for the poor.

In Liverpool, voters decided to have a go at the ruling party locally, rather than nationally.

Was this because of things Labour said locally, because I recall them making all sorts of promises?

One of them was to get Michael Shields out of jail, I believe, and yet, once the election was over, the Prime Minister’s Office said there was nothing that could be done.

Derek Marsden, L7

Political defections

AS A current member of the Labour Party, I would normally be shocked at such letter from a Labour leader as the one from Joe Anderson on Thursday, but not in the Labour Party of today.

Cllr Anderson claims that he was going to expel Cllr Stewart from the Labour party. Well, Cllr Anderson, you could not have done what you do not have the power to.

I don't recall you complaining when Rosie Cooper joined your group on the eve of a election, or did you refuse Cllr Frankel? No, you didn't, Cllr Anderson, and finally I did vote Labour in the elections but I will not be voting Labour again while you lead our party.

J Cotting, Walton

Television face-off

WHILE I have every respect for their venerable solicitor, I found it amusing to read of Rex Makin’s disgust over Sir Alan Sugar’s “bullying” of one of the contestants on his show, The Apprentice.

I watched the show and found it hysterically funny, the contestant in question set himself up for such an attack and it was most definitely said in jest. I find it interesting also to see that the Jewish website was actually thankful to the show for raising the profile of Jewish issues.

Having said all that, I tell you what would be entertaining – a Rex Makin/ Sir Alan Sugar face-off, that would make great television!

SB, West Derby

Constant criticism

I AM not surprised that the man- agement of National Museums Liverpool have given their “Friends” notice. Indeed, they have been very patient with this group. The problem goes back dec- ades, with the Friends only sup- porting museum initiatives of their own choosing, refusing to change with the times and const- antly sniping at the Museums.

As Keeper of the Merseyside Maritime Museum, I was obliged (until 2003) to attend the Maritime Friends’ committee meetings – it was like a kangaroo court. Never any praise, just constant criticism.

MK Stammers, Keeper Emeritus, Merseyside Maritime Museum

Food passions

RE: A NEW dish for Liverpool (Daily Post, May 7). Simon Collard is an inspiration to the world of cooking. Simon is a close friend of mine and, from the very first day I met him, I realised how very passionate he was about food.

His attention to fine detail is second to none, and I was not at all surprised to hear that he had been short-listed for this fine competition.

Simon has worked in many colourful and exquisite restaurants, including the Naval and Military Club, Mayfair, London and West Tower Country House Hotel, Aughton, near Ormskirk. The different techniques and styles he has acquired during his journey of cooking make him what he is today, a truly remarkable and unique chef.

Jacqui Cave, via email

Don’t drop Scouse

SO SOMEONE has decided we need a new dish for Liverpool (Daily Post, May 7). What is wrong with the old one? I was brought up on plenty of pans of Scouse cooked wonderfully by my grandmother and not quite so wonderfully by my mother (bless her, she tried).

I am sure the Mersey Partnership are just having some light-hearted fun with this whole thing, but I feel it would be appalling if Scouse were to be dropped in favour of sea bass – as much as I like the fish myself.

E Quigley, Wigan

Sculpture plans

RE: THE proposed sculpture for St Helens (Why the Long Face? It’s a work of art for the M62, Daily Post, May 8). I hope it is simply a case of the scaled model version not doing it justice, because so far I am not won over. I understand that this artist is critically-acclaimed, so I will be reserving judgment on it for the time being.

Whatever happens, I am delighted that St Helens is being given the opportunity to participate in something that will bring interest to the area and provoke debate.

I look forward to seeing future updates on the sculpture and, of course, the finished article.

F Manners, St Helens