Apologies for the blog silence in recent weeks... since the New Year I've all been incredibly busy.
I hope you all like the re-designed web site and my thanks goes to Daniel Nicolson and his colleagues at Class Action Media for all their hard work on that score.
So, we are well into 2009, Liverpool is no longer European Capital of Culture and we can start to take stock of what it all meant and what its legacy will be. Liverpool - a World City was the ambition and I get the sense that it has worked!
Certainly it gave the city a new spring in its step and that feeling of self-confidence has trickled-down. We can all feel proud to be from Liverpool - the city that was the best-ever Culture Capital.
I genuinely think that the city's reputation on the UK and world stage has been given a huge boost. You can sense that business people are proud to be associated with Liverpool no longer need to feel apologetic when saying their business has its headquarters in the city.
What we need to do now is to act like a World City and people will soon get used to the idea.
The main chance has got to be tourism. We have now got some brilliant hotels in Liverpool and a great offering of sights to see, museums and art galleries, bars and restaurants. All this was not true 10 years ago.
For a start I think we need to start advertising Liverpool as a tourist destination at main-line railway stations and in holiday supplements.
Then we should have posters in all the places that have direct flights to John Lennon Airport - places like Bergamo (Milan) Rome, Paris, Dublin.
It would all be money well spent.
One little gripe I still niggling me about '08. You may recall that I was a late convert to the cult of the spider "La Princess". It was a huge success and demonstrated, along with the Matthew Street Festival, that what the people of Liverpool actually want are large-scale open air events.
What I can't understand is why they have not re-instated to roundabout in Old Haymarket, at the entrance to the Birkenhead Tunnel. We are left with something that looks like failed giant Lego set experiment.
Could the responsible bodies at the "Town Hall" extract their digits and put it back the way it was please?
Closure of the CUC in Liverpool - sad day
(Tue 03/01)
Banksy the religious bigot
(Thu 29/12)
The Big Yin is on his way... I can't wait
(Thu 10/11)
A tale of two museums
(Tue 30/08)
Rosie Cooper - we need more politicians like her
(Mon 06/06)
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