Letters to the Editor - 17th July 2008

Jul 17 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

Character will be eroded

I WAS very interested to see Mr Brocklebank’s item (DP, July 15) about the state of Edge Lane, which has depressed me also for many, many months.

Not so much that it is all boarded up, but the wilful wrongheadedness that leads to this once smart area (albeit a long time ago) being destroyed for – well, what exactly?

We all know that where buildings have been replaced in Liverpool and its suburbs, they are almost inevitably worse. Nothing that will replace Edge Lane and its adjoining streets will be any visual improvement on those houses that have stood the test of time for more than 140 years.

Many of these old properties are fine, characterful buildings, which with proper maintenance and upgrading would doubtless serve their occupants for another 140 years.

Who is behind all this needless regeneration, which, as Mr Brocklebank says, comes at a time when the government is looking to build 3m extra homes?

My hunch is that this is all driven by a cabal of demolition companies and construction firms, made possible by government quangos keen to keep themselves in jobs by meddling where no change is needed.

Once this calamity has happened, Liverpool’s special character will be eroded and, as Mr Brocklebank has also said before, we’re rapidly turning into the Milton Keynes of the North.

S Watkinson, via email

Accept change

WHAT is wrong with people in this city, why can’t they just accept that things change, surroundings change, buildings change and styles of architecture change.

And we have to change with them. I am so sick to the back teeth of hearing people like your correspondents E Cartwright and Ted Armstrong (Letters, Wednesday) whingeing about how the “beauty of our city has been sacrificed . . .”

What beauty? Yes, the Three Graces look pretty smart, but before the planners behind the Mann Island development and Liverpool One and One Park West came along (not to mention numerous other people prepared to invest their cash in our mess of a city), huge swathes of Liverpool city centre were boarded-up eyesores.

We should not kid ourselves, yes, the World Heritage Site is beautiful, but it was far from perfect. People like these two bang on about heritage, but a city cannot live on heritage alone, it needs to move forward, it needs people to want to live in it, it needs businesses and retail and leisure and Liverpool is going to get that now.

And if that comes at the expense of a few old buildings, then so be it.

Alex Carrington, Waterloo

Fantastic Arena

WHATEVER the merits of other building projects timed to coincide with our Capital of Culture year, the Echo Arena goes a long way to correct other blunders.

I went on Saturday night to see Diana Ross and it was a fabulous night out. Not only is it attracting legendary names to perform there, it looks fantastic and there are a host of mid-price restaurants to visit nearby.

My one gripe would be the parking – it takes far too long to get out of the multi-storey after a big performance.

Otherwise, top marks.

Christine Morris, Hale Village

Brilliant concerts

I HAVE been lucky enough this year to get to three of the Summer Pops concerts at the Echo Arena, and they were all absolutely brilliant.

I saw Paul Simon, Duran Duran and my children bought me tickets to see Diana Ross at the weekend as a birthday present.

I just want to say that I think the Summer Pops are one of the best things to happen to Liverpool, and it is so fantastic now to have the Arena down on the waterfront and to be able to wander for a drink or a bite to eat before or after the concerts.

It looks like the organisers have really got their work cut out for themselves next year trying to top this one.

Steven Moores, Widnes

Beauty revival

WHEN I read about the Miss New Brighton contest being revived (Catwalk Beauties Bring Glamour Back to Resort, July 16) I felt a wave of disappointment.

There is a good reason that beauty contests have been edged out of mainstream TV, although it might not seem evident to some of the entrants at the time.

The depressing basis of the competition is women being judged on how pleasing and titillating they appear to men, something that in every other sphere women have had to battle against for years.

Emily Pankhurst would be sighing with frustration.

We seem now to be going backwards with the ultimate ambition of so many girls being to land themselves a footballer, so spending vast amounts of time and money in nail bars and tanning salons.

Is the revival of a beauty contest really what we need?

AH, via email

Famous ship

THE recent Tall Ships supplement for their visit this week is outstanding, and a credit to the writers and photographers at the Daily Post. But I wonder how many readers are aware that one ship is a famous film star?

The Christian Radich, from Norway, was the star of the film Windjammer which was made in the special widescreen process Cinemiracle. This was a Cinerama type of presentation shown in Liverpool during the 1960s at the Abbey Cinerama theatre, in Wavertree.

The Christian Radich took part in the first around the world Tall Ships race, and the film featured the sea cadets during the race. This film is 50 years old this year and was shown at the Widescreen Weekend as part of the Bradford Film Festival during March.

Only one copy of the film survived, but the colour has faded and the film stock is now in poor condition.

It can be seen in one cinema in Europe, and that is at Pictureville, in Bradford, which is the last Cinemiracle Cinerama venue.

Mike Taylor, projectionist, Cinemiracle/ Cinerama Society

Just punishment

MAY I concur with the recent letters for bringing back the death penalty. The only just punishment for murder is the death penalty. Jail should be for manslaughter, not murder.

Death penalty serves not just as punishment but as a deterrent. Ever since we stopped the death penalty in the 1960s, the murder rate has increased. The murder rate is much lower in countries such as Japan, Saudi Arabia and China where the death penalty is enforced. (America is a bad example as they don't execute all murderers.) God ordained the death penalty for Ancient Israel also.

It was used in our country for centuries until the awful 1960s; in this same decade, we legalised abortion. Human life was devalued with these decisions. The results are 200,000 abortions each year and a higher murder rate, and almost each day we hear of more teenage murders. The EU will probably refuse us bringing back the death penalty; however, they won't mind us making abortion easier – incredible inconsistency and hypocrisy.

David Thomas, Hoylake

Not equal

ATTEMPTS by A Molyneux (Letters, June 23 and July 14) to portray the Soviet Union and the USA as honourable equals do not wash.

Most historians – including Russians – agree that Stalin murdered at least 20m of his own citizens and had a Gulag system that cruelly enslaved many millions more. Like it or not, the USA is a democracy, yes, with plenty of faults, but hardly to be mentioned in the same breath.

As for the Second World War, yes, the Soviet losses were enormous, and incomparably higher than ours, but they were at least partly responsible for its outbreak, with the Molotov/Nazi pact followed by the traitorous stab in the back for Poland.

All the countries under the Soviet yoke got rid of Socialism at the first possible opportunity.

BW Hale, Upton

Stop being prudish

IT COMES as no surprise to me that sexually transmitted diseases are on the increase in Merseyside (“City a hot spot for sex infections”, Daily Post, July 15).

Schools and authorities have really taken their eye off the ball on this one, and continued to be all moralistic when they need to be practical.

Young people are having sex. That’s a fact and, although it would be better if they weren’t, I think it’s time to accept that and move on to teaching them the importance of safe sex.

If condoms were made available in schools, in a way that pupils, particularly girls, would not be too embarrassed to ask for them, then teenage pregnancies would be drastically cut and there would be fewer young people contracting these nasty diseases.

We should stop being prudish and start getting to the heart of the matter.

P Hughes, Wavertree

A role model

PEOPLE should start leaving Cherie Blair alone. She is a role model to women everywhere and there ought to be more like her.

Instead, she is treated with derision. You can’t fault her successful career, so let’s criticise the way she looks on photos. A man would never be dealt with in this way.

As well as being a top barrister, she is a mother and wife to one of the most famous people in the world.

This would be too much for many people, but she managed to make it through with few hiccups and we should all admire what she has achieved.

D O’Brien, via email

Photos of children

I READ in the press this week that a man trying to take pictures of his own children in a park found himself being ordered to stop by other parents who accused him of being a pervert. If this is what society has now come to, then I truly despair for our future.

Mrs AL Lyon, Ainsdale