I have had a great response to my letter in The Daily Mail on Friday 22nd August, in response to the work of fiction that former MP Edwina Currie had written about Liverpool. I also had compliments on the
photograph of me, that was down to Paul Lewis, a very good photographer. The letter in The Mail was of course edited, here is the full unexpurgated version for your perusal.
I find it a bit rich of Edwina Currie, a pensioner who left Liverpool over 40 years ago, giving us the benefit of her advice in a very poor article, that was badly researched.Liverpool retains an extremely high number of its University graduates; some 25% find work in Liverpool. A significant proportion of Liverpool's graduates make a welcome addition to the local economy by establishing new businesses here in the city. If life in the Pool was so bad the bright young things would be leaving in droves but the fact is they are not. Liverpool offers a fantastic mix of affordable housing, outstanding access to arts and cultural activities and pretty good connections to the rest of the country and Europe.
Liverpool John Lennon Airport being the fastest-growing European airport.vLiverpool is still one of the busiest ports in Britain, trading with over a hundred countries. The difference these days is containerisation. In the 1960s 20.000 people worked on Liverpool docks, as dockers loaded most of the goods. In the 1970s containerisation was introduced. One container ship being able to carry what it took 6 or 7 ships to carry previously. These days only 800 people work in Liverpool Docks. Also there were 25.000 registered seamen in Liverpool now ships get their crews from overseas, as it's cheaper. Nonetheless the port handles more tonnage than at any time in its history so it's not really
in decline is it?
In the 1960s The Ford Motor Company opened a factory in Liverpool employing 8000 people. That factory is now owned by Tata, an Indian company and because of automation; only 2000 people now work there. In the 1970s many of the British companies, such as Plessey and English Electric employed large numbers, unfortunately all those jobs were lost to overseas competition. How many of us have bought a cheap electrical item that is made in China? Every one of those items has cost a British job.
Edwina Currie critsises Militant for closing the state grammar schools, I do believe that it was the Conservative politician Rab Butler that first championed comprehensive schools. It is also 20 years since
Militant held power in Liverpool. I would compare it to Labour blaming Margaret Thatcher for all the county's ills; she has not been in power for nearly two decades so it is no longer relevant.
She is wearing rose-coloured glasses when she talks of the majestic buildings of her youth, St George's Hall, Liverpool Museum, the Walker Art Gallery, The Town Hall and many of the public building were blackened by decades of soot, remember we all had coal fires when Edwina was a girl. These buildings have all been cleaned-up, along with many others and NOW look magnificent.
She talks utter rubbish about Paul McCartney's success only coming to him in London, I presume she also means the other three or is she not aware of the fact that he was in a band called The Beatles. In the 1960s the professional recording studios were all in London, along with television and radio. The Beatles had to go to London, as that was the only place to record. For the record Paul still has a house in the area and often visits, as well as teaching at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, (LIPA) his former school that he was instrumental in turning into a world class performing arts school. Paul always attends LIPA's graduation ceremony to see the graduates receive their degrees.
There are now several excellent recording studios in Liverpool including the world famous Parr Street Studios were Coldplay have recorded several of their hits. As well as several local radio stations although these days the local talent can reach a world audience with digital technology from their own bedrooms and make a career in the music industry as demonstrated by LIPA Graduate Sandy Thom, with her No 1 hit "I wish I was a Punk Rocker with flowers in my hair".
I have it on the good authority from our teenage daughters that the music scene in Liverpool is very healthy, has Edwina not heard of The Wombats or The Zutons? I would not expect a pensioner to keep up with the present scene, any more than I would expect her to go out on a Saturday night "clubbing it" Edwina has made the point that Liverpool has the highest rate of Saturday night admissions to hospital for Alcohol-related injuries in England. When I enquired about how many of those people were not from Liverpool, I was told that information is "confidential"
I wonder just how many of those people who are injured are from the Stag and Hen parties that converge on Liverpool every weekend from all over Britain. Some of them may even be from Edwina's former Derbyshire constituency. Now I have to declare an interest here, I am a tour guide in Liverpool so it is in my interest to promote the city and get visitors coming to see the good things that are here. I must admit that visitors do come here with low expectations, 'It is a port where The Beatles came from' is most people's attitude to Liverpool.
Some are also aware that we have a couple of football teams. Overseas visitors have a much more positive view of Liverpool and make it one of the highlights of a visit to Britain. Joe Tweedy, TravelMail Editor was very positive about Liverpool after a recent visit, as was The Indendendent's Travel Editor Simon Calder. Even The Guardian's Angela Balakrishnan wrote a positive article.
The Adelphi is critised for a notice in the bedroom in which Edwina stayed during a visit in 2006. "All electrical items removed from this room to be paid for" as if it was a cheap hotel were all the guests were thieves, not a nice welcome, according too Edwina. Has it not occurred to Edwina that people must be stealing the kettles and that is why the notice is there? The locals do not stay in The Adelphi, it must be those Stag and Hen parties, possibly from Derbyshire, who want a souvenir and could not pull the "Penny Lane" sign off the wall, so settled for a kettle. Edwina could have moved to another hotel we now have some of the top hotels in the country here in Liverpool. Personally I would recommend The Hope Street Hotel, travel magazine Conde Nast rated it as one of the top "boutique" hotels in the world. Some of the recent guests have been, American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Film Director Quentin Tarantino and Actor Ewan McGregor.
I had the misfortune of having Edwina Currie as a passenger on the Magical Mystery Tour. She was researching Liverpool for a turgid novel she was writing. Edwina had turned up for the tour with her mother and daughter in tow and started to stamp her foot and became very rude when she discovered that, surprise, surprise the Magical Mystery Tour to all the Beatles sites in Liverpool is popular and had sold out. There were no seats available for her mother and daughter.
Edwina had booked a seat for herself but had not bothered to book another two seats. She wanted to know why when there was a demand that there was not another tour that day. I explained that an extra tour was
put on when there was demand. On this particular day there was not a high enough demand to run an extra tour.
Edwina called me "ridiculous" when I said that two people were not enough to run an extra tour. he Magical Mystery Tour is approximately 2 hours long and the tour Edwina was on was my third tour of the day. I did tell her that if she carried on there would be a spare seat on the tour, the irony of which was lost on her. In the end she left her relatives to enjoy the attractions at the Albert Dock while she took the tour.
Liverpool is enjoying a huge surge in popularity due to being European Capital of Culture. There have been many successful events, including the Gustav Klimt exhibition at the Tate, the Tall Ships visit and the surprise hit of culture year the flocks of Superlambananas, just come see the lambs. Liverpool, despite what think tanks, who have never been here, may say, is on the up. The largest new shopping development in Europe opened in May this year, you can shop till you drop and not just in WAG shops like Cricket, but Debenhams and the largest John Lewis in the country. These shops would not be here if they though Liverpool was a terminal case.
When Liverpool is shown on television it is always boarded up houses, a good example of this was on the BBC programme "Alexi Sayles Liverpool" Sayle, another pseudo Scouser, who has not lived here for 40 years, showed the terrible houses in Anfield by Liverpool Football Club.
He did not mention that the reason the houses were all boarded up is that this area is a Housing Renewal Area" and is part of The Heartlands Initiative, the brain child of former ships steward who sailed out of
Liverpool, John Prescott. He had this wonderful idea to demolish swathes of cities, not just Liverpool, and replace them with modern houses. The reality was that whole areas of Liverpool in Anfield, Dingle and Kensington houses were compulsory purchased, boarded up and left to rot. Whole communities were destroyed because of that stupid man, Prescott. It would be sensible and cheaper to refurbish than to
demolish these houses, but very little is happening. Governments should not have initiatives, let alone one that John Prescott has had.
So Edwina you are wrong about Liverpool. The Universities, we have three, not two as you stated. Didn't you know about Hope University, it's in Childwall, that's the area you lived in. The crime rates show
that Liverpool is one of the safest cities in England. You are 3 times more likely to be a victim of crime in Londo than on Merseyside.
There is not a shortage of decent places to stay. We have some of the finest restaurants in the country. Try the Everyman Bistro if you ever bother to visit again. To be honest Edwina you do not know Liverpool. You are not a Scouser. You do not speak like a Scouser. You do not act like a Scouser, A true scouser will always defend Liverpool, what is it the Yanks say “My country right or wrong”
Thankfully you are not in charge of Liverpool, which is why in your blissful ignorance you can sit on the side lines making snide and ill informed comments about a city that you know Little about. No change then, from when you were in politics. I also hope that what ever you are paid for your article you have the decency to donate to a charity.
"It's a Wonderful Life"
(Thu 02/12)
TURN IT DOWN.
(Thu 11/11)
Do we need another Beatles book.
(Mon 11/10)
President or Pope, who is most welcome?
(Mon 16/08)
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