anyone see this?

[ktetch]

This video on the Guardian site, about Liverpool Riverside.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... ool-harris

Made me sick to my stomach. Could be a prime area, if we could target people well.

[epriezka]

I just think this was a shabby example of journalism - asking lazy questions that generate predictable answers from 'ordinary people'. In other words, they picked people who would give the 'right' answers and then made doubly-sure by editing the video so only the right answers were presented.

I lived in Liverpool for 4 years so some of these people resonate with my memories of the place. But then, there were plenty of people in Liverpool who don't fit this one-sided story of people moaning about the docks closing and the need for unions blah blah. Towards the end of my time in Liverpool, I worked in an insurance business. There's plenty of them in Liverpool. Why not talk about voter apathy with some Liverpudlian fat cat financial exec who this year will be enjoying yet another enormous and ill-deserved bonus? Because that does not fit the stereotype of what Liverpool's all about.

"Look at these buildings" froths the journalist, lamenting how this impressive architecture of the past is a sign of a city has now "fallen on the wrong side of history". Then we get a shot of the Royal Liver building, with the famous Liver birds on top. This building is the headquarters of Royal Liver Assurance. Ahem. How does the UK plc make so much of its cash these days...? Rightly or wrongly, the British economy is heavily reliant on financial services, and that sector is also a major part of Liverpool's economy. Only a few weeks ago Royal Liver were in the news because of fears they need to be saved via a take over. Royal Liver's problems seem to be related to being under-capitalized and failures to exercise proper control over a loss-making subsidiary operation. So, that's at least one historic Liverpudlian business whose problems don't fit with the generalizations presented by the Guardian.

I also fondly remember 'The Casa', though it used to be a wonderfully seedy dive called 'Casablanca' when I lived there. It was always full of lefties and was a regular target for organized crime... happy days.

Meanwhile, Ricky Tomlinson is considering fighting a Liverpool seat for the Socialist Labour Party: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/merseyside/8500319.stm. Come the end of this Guardian fluff (The Beatles, 'there's no werk!', Derek Hatton, the ferry 'cross the Mersey, magical mystery tours, Lime Street Station...) I needed to borrow Tomlinson's catchphrase: "my arse!"

[rancidpunk]

I loved the frothing loons still ranting on in the comments about Tory's raping the area. Seem to be stuck in 1997.

[epriezka]

Seem to be stuck in 1997.

Now you sound like Boris Johnson.