Liverpool Local Government Elections 2012, a campaign manager's view

A new day has dawned, has it not? 

Or to be a bit more precise, rather a lot of new days have dawned since May 3^rd. 

I can see that I have had a lot of visitors this week, most of them I suspect were looking for my views on the Local Election results and the Campaign for Mayor of Liverpool. 

(Photo caption: Boss, we only seem to have these bundles of red votes on our table, and we have been counting for ages, is that right?)

I can only apologise for my tardiness. After an intensive campaigning period, I did need to give some time to my business, now that it is my principle source of income. I have had four new clients in the last fortnight at Local Marketing Liverpool, but you didn’t come here to read that, I know. You want to read the goodies about Liverpool City Council, so I shall set to forthwith. 

Let’s start with the Mayoral Election. 

Despite all the bravado across the letters pages of the Liverpool Echo over the last few months, the people did indeed vote for Labour’s Joe Anderson. As the Guardian helpfully sets out, 

“Liverpool has voted in its first directly elected mayor, with Labour's former council leader Joe Anderson winning by a comfortable margin. To loud cheers from the party faithful, the Labour candidate was declared mayor just after 4am at the Liverpool Tennis Centre in Wavertree, after taking almost 60% of the vote.

Independent Liam Fogarty came second with 8,292 votes, leaving the Liberal Democrat candidate, Richard Kemp – who was first elected to Liverpool council in 1975 and was confident of gaining the runner-up spot – in third place with 6,238 votes. The Conservative Tony Caldeira came seventh.

The turnout was just 31.7%, with 101,301 Liverpool residents voting in the mayoral election. Of them 58,448 opted for Anderson, giving him 57.7% of the vote.”

The full election results were reported on the Liverpool City Council Mayoral Election Results website and you can see that 8 of the 12 candidates lost their deposit (5% of the vote cast required to save £500) – including the Conservative Party, although any student of Liverpool politics would not be surprised to hear that. 

Personally I too did not find anything surprising about the way the votes were cast. I did attempt to predict the mayoral ballot results (and did not do too badly but I have thrown away the paper and cannot recall exactly where I had each candidate. I didn’t have Liam in second, but I think I did have him the Greens, Tony Mulhearn and the LibDems broadly on the same with the rest a bit further down the list. ) Irrespective, it was obvious to any observer that with such a big field and a popular front-runner, most candidates would be bunched up at the bottom, and so it came to pass. 

It is a matter of great joy to me as a passionate defender of Equality and Diversity that the far right parties did so badly. I would like to think this result sent the message “Don’t bother to come back ever, we don’t want you, never have, never will” but history has shown that they are eternal optimists who never really truly go away. As I write I am reminded of David Mellor in 1997 “Up your hacienda, Quiggins, Whitby and Rimmer.”

So that was the Mayoral elections, the people of Liverpool voted for a trusted pair of hands, for a man who shared their own vision of a resurgent city. And let us all join in wishing Mayor Joe the very best of luck and fortune as he pushes on with his Labour agenda for Liverpool. 

And then we come to the Local Elections in Liverpool 2012. What wonderful results, again. I seem to have been writing that since 2006, 6 years of solid Labour gains. 

Of the 30 seats up for grabs, Labour won 27. That made 10 gains.

We were thrilled. Only 9 of them were on our key seats list. Even with our optimism running high, we had never dreamt of winning Woolton, particularly because the Tory/LibDem coalition cuts resulted in us having to close both their library and their swimming pool (both very old and although attractive, far too expensive to bring up to 21^st century legal standards).  We also never expected to win Church (and we didn’t) or St Michaels (Green), Tuebrook and Stoneycroft (Liberal Party). 

So while the media may have said that Cressington was the shock result of the night, where Labour’s Mary Aspinall, (a new rival to Tina Gould as the one of the best turned-out councillors in the city) beat the LibDem leader of the opposition, Paula Keaveney, we fully expected to take that seat, having taken the first one, under the radar, the previous year. Paula’s tweets made it obvious that she was fighting back, lots of reports of door-knocking in “South Liverpool” which was brand new for any LibDems for the last decade, so we knew she was putting up a fight, but it was always going to be too little too late, while her party nationally is in a disastrous coalition with the Tories.

Our 9 targeted gains included all the remaining seats in Walton constituency and West Derby constituency (barring T&S), along with Greenbank and Mossley Hill in Riverside constituency and Wavertree and Childwall ward in Wavertree constituency. We hit them all. 

Whilst everyone in Wavertree CLP was keen to see Richard Wenstone succeed, we did not expect a victory in the Church seat, so once he was selected as candidate, we asked him to manage the delivery of his campaign utilising only his local party members. However we were impressed by his candidature and the efforts that Church ward Labour Party members were putting in, such that we took a decision in early April to join him, where we could, and where time allowed, to have a bit of a go. It was not truly with any expectation of victory, but we did have a great number of activists so we could spare a few, we have always believed in rewarding effort with support and you never know! Actually he did surprisingly well without actually making it. This one of the few seats where the LibDems made an effort.

Indeed, one of the more interesting features in these elections was the way in which the LibDems had pulled right back and were defending so few seats. Of the 11 seats up for grabs, I have calculated that the LibDems were only campaigning in any seriousness in Church, Woolton and Cressington. They gave up on the rest as far as I can determine. 

I do realise that I am only telling you what you already know, assuming you are a local Liverpool political anorak, but even so,  you should stop and think about that. 

The LibDems abandoned Wavertree, Childwall, County, West Derby, Knotty Ash, Allerton and Hunts Cross, Mossley Hill (mainly) and Greenbank .

Imagine that. Put yourself back a few years, how about 2006 when I was elected to the council, contributing to a Labour Group of only 30. There were 56 LibDems, now there are 10. 

Remember more recently, 2010, Rosie Jolly won in Wavertree with 3118 votes. Two years later Kevin White, for the same LibDem party managed a paltry 358 votes, a tenth of the amount. Now if that does not make the hair stand up on the back of your neck, I don’t know what will. 

I just want to single out a few particular results, with your indulgence. 

Kensington and Fairfield ward – consider Liam Robinson, the man that Frank Doran loved to hate and called Labour’s man from Blackpool (that is Liam who still actually lives in my street, four years later whilst Frank’s nose grew as long as the grass in the front garden of his abandoned property on John Lennon Drive). Liam won with a majority of 1944 this year after his first election where he got in by only 197 votes. (And Frank, should you happen to read this blog any time soon, good luck with the forthcoming nuptials (honestly, good on you!) and I hope life in Rainhill is going really well, but can I please ask, before I have to bring the neighbourhood ward support officer to bear, can you please sell the house, or take in lodgers, or something. It is a real eyesore and we have had a few complaints about it from your neighbours which at the moment I don’t really feel I want to pursue, but in the end I may have to.)

Picton ward – no report would be complete without mention of this seat, where in 2008 Andrew Makinson taunted candidate Tim Beaumont and me (his agent) as he held the seat by 247 votes. He talked of “Fortress Picton” and how the walls would never crumble. This year Labour elected its third councillor, Nathalie Nicholas, with a majority of 1763 votes. I am delighted with this ward in particular. It is represented by a very diverse team, as befits its population. Nathalie in particular is worthy of mention because she was a graduate of the Liverpool City Council Operation Black Vote scheme in 2008, where she shadowed Steve Radford. This was a scheme to encourage more ethnically diverse candidates to put themselves forward for office She was a member of the United Colours of Kensington Face Painting Team at that time so we had links that way, and I was happy to support her, along with Steve, as she worked through the programme. We were delighted when upon graduation she applied to join the Labour Party and it was only her work, study and family commitments that stopped her from making a serious bid for election until now. She did stand in Church ward last year but that was with no serious expectation of victory. I don’t want to say too much about Nathalie because I am hoping that the Echo and Post will feature her story in the next few months and I don’t want to steal their thunder. 
Fortress Picton is build from red brick these days, Andrew!

And of course I delighted in the election of Helen Casstles as my own new ward councillor in Wavertree ward, bad luck to Warren Bradley who did have a pretty good personal vote after all it would seem, despite his conviction, but it was not enough to stop the progress that Jake Morrison set in train the year before. 

For information about the fabulous Childwall result, the final seat to change hands in our constituency this year – and a particularly interesting perspective on Jewish representation in the city, please see below. 

Extract from The Jewish Telegraph this week – alas the online paper does not allow for each blog to be separately linked-to, as a new one is posted, so the old one is lost. Hence I need to save this here for posterity. May 2012

End of an era as Eddie's support is in de-Clein

THE Labour landslide in Liverpool added two more Jewish councillors - although it was the end of an era when veteran Lib Dem Eddie Clein lost his Childwall seat to Ruth Hirschfield.

Ruth will be joined in the council chamber by Barry Kushner, who triumphed in Norris Green.

Richard Wenstone failed to take the prize target of Church ward, the only seat in Liverpool successfully defended by the Lib Dems.

Elsewhere, Shimrit Manning came fourth for UKIP in Picton, Lib-Dem Rachel Oelbaum was third in Speke-Garston while the Greens' Raphael Levy came second in Everton, behind Lord Mayor Cllr Frank Prendergast.

Blackpool-born, Yorkshire raised Cllr Hirschfield only became involved in the Labour Party after meeting MP-to-be Luciana Berger, who was aiming to be candidate for the Wavertree seat late in 2009.

She joined the campaign team and was elected chairman of the party in Childwall.

Last year neighbour Jeremy Wolfson was elected Labour's first ever councillor for the ward and, 12 months on, Cllr Hirschfield repeated the triumph.

A graduate in Russian from the University of Leeds, she once worked with Soviet refugees in Rome.

She works as a supply teacher, teaching English as an additional language.

She and her husband Alex, an internationally-renowned professor of criminology, have one daughter, Madeline, a first year law student at Magdalene College, Cambridge.

The family belongs to Liverpool Reform Synagogue.

Eddie Clein bowed out after serving as a city councillor in six different decades, thought to be a record in a metropolitan authority.

The 75-year-old who served a total of 43 years, said: "I will miss it terribly, it's like having my right arm cut off.

"I'll miss the personal involvement with the people of Childwall and the satisfaction of solving a constituent's problem.

"I have received lots of kind messages since I lost, including some from Labour councillors."

When first elected as a Tory in Speke in 1969, he was the youngest member in the council chamber and when ousted last week, he was the oldest.

Eddie represented Childwall for the Lib Dems for the last 28 years, during which time he served as Lord Mayor in 2000 and led the Lib Dems on the Merseyside Fire Authority for 17 years.

Eddie now intends to write his memoirs and continue to work as a pharmacist.

He still plays table tennis competitively and also tutors at an evening class at Harold House.

He is also happy to chauffeur 11-year-old grandson Jared - a top cricket prospect who captains Liverpool Boys - to matches and trials.

With no local elections for another two years, is this the end of Eddies political career?

"It's not on the agenda at the moment," he replied, adding, "but even if the heart was willing, I'm not sure if the legs would be up to it."

Eddie's defeat also means that there are no Cleins on the council when just over a year ago there were four.

Last year wife Pam and brother Paul were both defeated while Paul's wife Jan didn't seek re-election.

Paul, a former cabinet member with responsibility for education, has agreed to become one of new Mayor Joe Anderson's advisors on educational matters.

Whilst I love all of my Labour colleagues (no really, I do, honest, we are not riven in the way that people think we are, or if we are, I am oblivious to it, as I get on with everyone, pretty much), I was delighted to see some of my particular bezzie mates get elected. I won’t name names, they know who they are. And I hope some of them end up on my committee this year, assuming of course that I have a committee, don’t lets be counting our chickens. 

  

I am truly delighted to welcome the following 12 new members to our group this year (2 replaced sitting Labour councillors); Daniel Hughes, Ruth Hirschfield, Eryl Owen, Mary Aspinall, Jay Roberts, Nick Crofts, Emily Spurrell, Barry Kushner, Nathalie Nicholas, Helen Casstles, Lana Orr (who carries on a family tradition), and Mark Norris. 

And just as an aside, in E&D terms,  we sat in the pub on Sunday and calculated that we now have 32 women councillors from 72, just 4 short of 50% - although the next two (God willing, in Riverside and Allerton and Hunts Cross, if we win them and hopefully we will) will both also be women, making 34 from 74, bringing the share a tiny bit nearer. 

We also worked out that (without checking with everyone personally for their dob), 24 of our 72, that is a third, are under the age of 40. I call that impressive! 

And as for LGBT councillors, I reckon we are up to 9/72, without naming names.

We now have four BME councillors – which is rubbish, but which is getting better slowly, and we have at least half a dozen with various disabilities. 

We are not quite there yet, (or maybe we are?) but we are fast becoming the most representative group of councillors in Great Britain. 

 

It is enough to make your heart swell!

Big Lottery workshops - how to get some cash for your projects

Race Online 2012 is the national campaign set up to help millions more people benefit from access to the internet by the end of the Olympic year 2012.

Big Lottery Fund has been working closely with Race Online, Liverpool City Council, Liverpool Vision and other partners to encourage people and communities to get connected online and access the valuable networks, shared learning and opportunities.

They are investing up to £100,000 in Liverpool in the form of grants of up to £10,000 through their Awards for All programme to support the Go ON it’s Liverpool initiative.

Liverpool City Council wants to help make sure that the organisations that apply have the support and advice they need to apply for funding for digital inclusion projects.

 They are holding 4 information workshops across Liverpool in May targeted at all sections of the community.

14 May Parklands High School 4pm-7pm
15 May The Florence Institute 10.30am-13.30pm
22 May Broadgreen International School 4pm-7pm
25 May Everton Football Club 10.30am-13.30pm
For more information and to book your place, contact:events.nw@biglotteryfund.org.uk or call 0161 261 4616.

Please note that places are limited to one person per organisation.

Liverpool Labour on the campaign stump

A pretty good team out in Liverpool tonight, campaigning for a Labour victory for Mayor and in the local elections, 2012.

You will remember no doubt that last year, Warren Bradley, then the leader of the LibDems suggested that Labour were "snooing" the streets of Wavertree with all sorts of outside help. This photo shows that we can "snoo" anywhere, anytime, and we don't need outside help! Liverpool Labour - a force to be reckoned with (and this is only some of the people we had out tonight, there were members knocking on doors all over the city). Thank God for the good weather this evening that kept the papers dry.

I am so proud of everyone who has worked so hard and put in so many hours, with such good humour.

Thanks everyone!

PS None of us have the slightest idea what "snooing" actually is, or what it means, but since Warren's outburst it has become synonymous, in Labour parlance, with large groups of activists taking the campaign to the public on the doorstep.

Big day for Deane Road Jewish Cemetery, Kensington this week

From this to what?  Wait and see! Not long now...

This is a terrific "before" photo, believe me!

On Thursday the Deane Road Cemetery Committee, an arm of the Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation, Princes Road Synagogue, will be handed the keys to a beautifully restored cemetery.

I may cry, we may all cry!

I promise there will be photos and we are already hard at work on our programme of pilot open days and pilot school visits, prior to the official opening in September during National Heritage Month. I will let you know as soon as there is news of when you can come yourself to marvel.

This wonderful resting place of some of the Victorians who truly made Liverpool great will be a jewel in the city's Heritage Crown. And to think it is in Kensington, somewhere which has not enjoyed the best of reputations in the last 30 or so years, is a dream come true for me. I know that Kensington, and its neighbour, Fairfield, are great places, with lots to offer, but it wont just be me saying that soon, it will be an army of eager enthusiasts.

People will travel from around the world, not just from the UK, England or the city itself, to learn more about these very influential Victorians who helped make our city great.

If you ask a politician why they got involved, the vast majority of them will all tell you the very same thing, "to make a difference", but it is not always easy to identify in a positive and obvious way, where you made that difference, I look forward to having something I can point to and say "I helped achieve this".

I have already begun initial work on my next big Heritage project, which will be for Fairfield, and will put that area firmly on the heritage trail too, but I will just have to leave you in suspense for now, because I cannot begin that project until this one is properly resolved - expect more news in the autumn!

60th anniversary party for Kensington All Saints Brownies

Liam, Wendy and I were delighted to take part in the 60th birthday party this evening for the Kensington All Saints Brownies. They were officially inaugurated as St Phillip's  Brownies on April 23rd 1952 and share a diamond jubilee with the Queen who they would love to meet when she visits Liverpool next month (more of that later, ssshhh, it is still top secret, but you know that if Wendy (being the czar for all things relating to Culture and Tourism in Liverpool) can  help to make that dream come true, she will...)

We joined in all the games and party fun, with Liam in particular enjoying the skipping and tin can stilts (so fast he was a total blur!) while Wendy was a wizz on estimating how long a minute is, without looking at a clock. I was the victor in the competition to pick up as many jelly beans with a pair of chopsticks as possible in 60 seconds (30, have a go yourself, let me know how you did!) A sign of a Chinese food lover, methinks. We did let the Brownies win most of the competitions though, honest!

It was really lovely to see that along with all the Brownies and Rainbows (tiny pre-Brownies that we didn't have in my day, when I was a Sixer in the Sprites for St Andrews, Tamworth, Staffordshire) and some visiting Guides, lots of former Brown, Tawny and Snowy Owls from that 60 year history turned up too.

Congratulations and well done to the current leaders, and all former leaders, and all the existing and previous Brownies. I did speak to one lady, aged 31, who has two girls in the Brownies today, and reminisced with me that she was a Brownie in the same pack 21 years ago.60 years of terrific service and great fun for girls from Kensington and Fairfield, never to be under-estimated.

I was particularly interested to hear that the Brownies had been set a challenge to perform a good deed every day for the last 60 days and record them, and that so many had brought in their returns showing they had succeeded. Bravo!

We had a whale of a time and we look forward to welcoming Brown Owl at future Kensington Youth Forum meetings to make sure that we are all working together to provide the best facilities and opportunities for all the children and young people in the ward.

Irrelevant? Or bureaucratic abuse?

A row rages as to whether Ged Fitzgerald, Liverpool's Returning Officer should have been able to dictate to Mayoral candidates as to the content of their "leaflets".

When I say leaflets, really it is a small brochure, published by the Council, paid for with tax payers money, and distributed by the council, allotting two pages to each candidate to talk about what kind of a Mayor they would be if elected. In General and European elections, candidates are given a free delivery of one leaflet (although they have to pay for the design and print themselves), courtesy of the state, and I think I am right in saying the content is checked by someone attached to the Post Office on behalf of the state, before they are sent.  This is presumably an equivalency.

This brochure is not the same thing as the leaflets you pay for yourself and post through letterboxes yourself. The Returning Office has no power over those really. If you get something wrong you will either be sued by an opponent or visited by the police.

Ged asked Tony Mulhearn and Steve Radford to make small changes to their leaflets as he said the content fell foul of electoral commission rules through being "irrelevant".

This has been primarily contentious because one of those "irrelevant" elements was a salvo against Liverpool Direct, the council's joint venture with British Telecom. There are those who have suggested that a conflict of interest might exist with the Returning Officer in this matter. Another involved the NHS, which apparently is nothing to do with Local Government. I am not sure what the Adult Social Care and Health Select Committee would make of that, or the Drug and Alcohol Team, the plans for Public Health in the Localism Bill, etc....

There are those arguing vehemently, that the Returning Officer should have just published what people gave him, and if the content was irrelevant, poor or annoying, then the voters would have been able to vote accordingly!

That sounds fine, until you realise that there was a potential for the BNP or the NF to write stuff about immigration, or homophobia etc, which would have offended everyone in the city, at the tax payers expense. And the row then would have been immense! How dare the council pay for this disgraceful propoganda, people would have said.

However, in either case, left or right, generally I am not in favour of censorship, I think the public are much more sensible than people give them credit for and will vote accordingly. So, far be it from me to upset the Returning Officer, being an Agent and all, but I think he should have printed whatever he was given.

Finally, as an aside, I do think that people should restrain themselves from criticising The Chief Executive, as this is not his role in this affair. We have to have a Returning Officer and traditionally he is the Chief Executive, but that doesn't mean that the job is done with a CEO hat on.

Edit: Having now got a copy of the brochure in my hand, I see that the BNP candidate has included a quote from a so called Reverend, saying "we need to protect our national identity from the threat of Islam".
Now if anything was deserving of censorship, that was. If anything was "irrelevant" (and what a curious word the Electoral Commission have used there), then this was. I am curious that this was allowed to stay while the suggesting that Government had plans to infest the NHS with private companies, was not.

So there are two controversial issues here, one is about the Electoral Commission allowing for Returning Officers to censor material and the other is around the skill of those Returning Officers to manage that censorship.

I remain convinced that all material should have been published and that the Electoral Commission was wrong to invite ROs to interfere. We have the same problem with council motions and debates too. Some motions are not accepted as they are not relevant to local government, while others are allowed, which plainly are national or european matters. And of course we are not allowed to use the name "ConDem" of this Government whilst in the Town Hall, the only phrase, so far as I know that is banned.

Free speech, it is the only way. Let the people decide which voice they listen to.

Titanic - romantic tragedy and last bastion of true class division

I have been fascinated by RMS Titanic all my life

Indeed in my sitting room I have a reproduction of an old promotional poster advertising tickets for the maiden voyage, a gift from my step-father, alongside a small painting of the White Star Line building on the Strand - the streaky bacon building which my good friend Caci  bought me for my birthday last year.

As an avowed lover of Art Nouveau (and Art Deco which was to follow), I know that I would have been in raptures over the interior of this beautiful ship, should I have been able to take a stroll around the magnificent rooms inside.


And who doesn't love the idea of Atlantic crossings. Very rich people taking the sea air and crossing to their New York homes in the most palatial and lavish accommodation. Middle class people, loving the chance to observe their betters, aping their dress and dreaming of dining with the captain. And the steerage passengers in third class, clutching each other in anticipation of a new life and wealth in a new country where everyone could be equal, depending only upon their propensity for hard and profitable work.

The idea of the Titanic is irresistible, a truly huge ship, the largest man made moveable structure in the whole world, on the day of its launch in April 1912. Titanic because it was named after Titan, enormous, colossal and immense.

And so they set sail, on 10th April, from Southampton, heading to Cherbourg in France and then on to Cobh, Cork, Ireland to pick up the final set of 123 passengers before the cross-ocean trip to New York, USA. They left Cobh at 2pm on the 11th April on the trip of a lifetime, sadly that was the literal truth.

The sun set on the 14th, people went about their business on board, the first class passengers dined with the captain, before going off to bed. The second class passengers ate in some of the ship's many restaurants, and the third class passengers in steerage counted their blessings and danced together in their community hall below decks, thinking of their friends and family left behind, but looking forward to the possibilities that the new world would bring to them.

It is a matter of very familiar record that at 11.40pm, the "safest steamer in the world" hit an iceberg and then sank below the waves a few hours later.

We all know that at least 1500 people died on the ship (some estimates put that figure at 1600) and that 710 were saved.

What is not always clear is just how the class system came into play as the ship went down. Class generally determined where on the ship passengers should sleep, how much they paid, what they ate and how important they were deemed to be, not just to the efforts that the crew might expend upon them during the crossing, but in the end, as we shall see, to those with the power of life and death.

Because of cost-saving, the ship was equipped with only about half the number of required lifeboats, a capacity of 1300 for 2200 passengers, and even when launched and put to sea, there were approximately 500 empty seats that could have been taken - so the huge death loss was inevitable. This was the first and most obvious failing in any rescue attempts.

Add to this the fact that the water was freezing (hence the ice-bergs) so those who jumped or found themselves on the surface of the sea during or after the sinking, lived for only a few minutes at a time, dying almost instantly of heart attacks and hypothermia. This meant that unless you had a seat in a lifeboat, you had almost no chance of survival. Only 13 of those in the water were helped into life-boats. It is a bitter irony that the half-empty lifeboats that had rowed away from the ship and sat on the water watching it sink, were extremely reluctant to come back and fill up those empty 500 places because they feared that the survivors in the water would swamp the boats. Had they acted more quickly, they could have saved more, without the swamping fears they were so worried about.

Given the limited number of seats available in the life-boats, the senior members of the crew decided that they needed to give those places to women and children.  So a look through a list of those who were lost and those who were saved, clearly shows that women and their children were in a much stronger position than their menfolk.

97% of women in first class were saved, but 67% of their menfolk perished.

But the evacuation into the lifeboats was not quite as "women and children" friendly as this headline might suggest. 54% of third class women perished, along with 66% of their children.

And the upper class men did considerably  better than their counterparts elsewhere on the ship, 33% of first class  men were saved but only 8% of second class male passengers and 16% of the third class male passengers. 

The lifeboats were stored on the upper decks of course, in an area of the ship ordinarily out of bounds for steerage passengers and it is also a matter of record that gates that would allow passage throughout the ship, between decks, remained locked for the journey to keep the classes apart. Some of these gates were opened, but many were not, as crews were focussed on waking and alerting the first class passengers while the steerage passengers slept on, unaware.  

Consequently, when the decision was made to launch the lifeboats, the first class passengers were in a good position to take advantage of them. All the evidence shows that senior crew members encouraged the saving of not just women and children, but first class passengers first. 

Of particular note amongst those who perished were the Italian waiters led by Mr Gatti,  none of whom survived. These 50 crew members were hand picked from the finest restaurants in the country, to serve on this most impressive ship in its prestigious restaurants.

And then we must pay homage to the 549 crew members from Southampton who perished. This brought devastation and loss to hundreds of families in the city who depended on them for family income and who were brought low into poverty as a result of their loss. It is hard to imagine a loss of this scale, we lost 96 fans in Hillsborough, not all of them from the city of Liverpool, imagine 6 times that number, all from one place, bread-winners all.

It has been alleged that even in death the class system held sway. When it came to retrieving the dead from the sea in subsequent days, there was insufficient embalming fluid and kit for all of the dead bodies, so when the supplies were overwhelmed, it has been reported that a decision was taken to embalm the first class but bury the third class at sea or bring them to shore untreated. There are those who dispute this, but it has been generally reported that the first class passengers were embalmed, second class were sewn into shrouds and third class passengers were simply gathered together.

What the Titanic owners, crew and passengers could not have known was that this prejudicial class system was only a tiny few years away from being blown apart. The First World War saw the end, for most, of the Upstairs, Downstairs system of service, servants, cow-towing, fore-lock tugging and deference. This may be an over-simplication of the effects of the war, and undoubtedly it merits an essay of its own, but it is true to say that after fighting and perishing in huge numbers, at the hands of ineffective and poorly organised staff officers with hopeless campaign plans, the natural order of the working classes taking blind instruction from their betters would never be accepted again.

The most reported outcome of the sinking of the Titanic was that, in future, laws would dictate that all ships that set sail should include a number of lifeboats equal to the maximum number of passengers. But it is also true to say that never again would a system be accepted where your chance of rescue would be dependent upon the colour of your money or your title.

It was an honour to attend the civic memorial service to the lost passengers (and their families and friends) in Liverpool Anglican Cathedral on Sunday night, the 100th anniversary of the sinking. The most famous ship in the world may have been built in Belfast and launched in Southampton, but it was Liverpool that she carried on her stern.

Louise's new web film for Local Marketing Liverpool

I am very excited to announce the publication of my new promotional marketing web film, for my business, Local Marketing Liverpool.

It will be on my business website, Local Marketing Liverpool,  in the next few days once my web designers have had time to incorporate it.

I will be advising all my clients that a good quality web film is a great asset to any business who want to get ahead of the crowd. I am looking forward to your comments.

Liverpool Mayoral Elections 2012 - Runners and Riders

You will find the final list of Liverpool Mayoral Candidates here for the 2012 elections

And as I suspected, they are all male

There is going to be an interesting battle between the National Front and the British National Party between who is the most unacceptable, unattractive, unrepresentative and failed candidate of the election. And of course Putting England First and UKIP wont want to be left out, fighting for the right wing fascist vote, between the four of them they will be lucky to scrape a deposit. But of course it does not work on a cumulative basis so hopefully all four will be out of pocket, although I suspect UKIP will come second in several ward level contests behind Labour (because they are good at disguising their true purpose and aim for the populist vote).

At the other end of the spectrum there is Tony Mulhearn standing as a Trade Unionist which is a bit odd really as most of the other candidates will be enthusiastic TU members themselves.

And John Coyne is having a punt for the Greens, interesting that they chose him and not Sarah who would have been popular, a woman, their leader, and not associated historically with the LibDems. I am sure they had their reasons and he will fight a clean fight.

And there is a couple of independents it will be interesting to hear from.

For me the only name that stands out on the list as worth voting for is Joe Anderson, but then you would expect me to say that.

PS There are two sitting councillors standing who dont really deserve the oxygen of publicity, or if they do, then they would both concede that they don't deserve it from me personally, so I shant be referring to either of them.

Liverpool Local Elections 2012 - Runners and Riders

Please see here a list of all candidates standing for election to Liverpool City Council on May 3rd 2012

There are 30 Labour, Conservative and Green Party candidates.

Of particular interest is the failure of the main opposition party, the Liberal Democrats, to field (once again) a full slate. In 5 wards of a possible 30, or 16.66% of the total,  the party that was running the city as recently as 2010 will fail to offer a candidate for voters to support.

There are two BNP candidates, this year in Belle Vale and Wavertree (home to the controversial Cricketers Arms function rooms)

The English Democrats which are virtually indistinguishable from the BNP and include former BNP candidates are standing in five wards.

There are two Independents, one of which is Warren Bradley, convicted last month of electoral offences with a £1000 fine

There are 25 Liberal Party candidates, which one should not mix up with the Liberal Democrats, a very different animal altogether (although no more successful).

And there are various other candidates, very likely to be also-rans, for your consideration.

Your comments are welcome, but I know where my money is.

Finding the right estate agent in Liverpool

Well it has been a journey, and I feel I ought to share it with you for future potentials vendors. (Yup, that is me, now officially a vendor!)

I have always had very strong views about what makes a good estate agent. Let me begin with what does not make a good estate agent - and which helped guide me with my choice.

A good estate agent is not the one who agrees to market your property at the greatest possible asking price. They are simply flying a kite and it will be you who has to wait around for about three months with few viewers and no offers, until the agent suggests you reduce the price to something more market friendly. If you actually want to sell your home then you should start with the right asking price, not end with it.

A good estate agent is also not the one who is only open during traditional working hours, when all your potential buyers are at work too. Is that clear enough? A good estate agent is one who is open when the buyers are looking, which is evenings and weekends. A very good estate agent is open 7 days a week, and in my experience that is rare.

A good estate agent is not the one who does not have an answering machine to take messages when they are closed. People ask to view properties on a whim. They are bedazzled with a fine array of choices, particularly if they use sites like Rightmove and they will attempt to engage with your agents then and there. If they are looking on a Saturday tea-time and your agent is closed until Monday morning with no answering machine, then your potential buyer will line up appointments to view someone else's lovely home instead and forget about yours.

A good estate agent is not the one either who having been sent an email request to view your property, leaves it four days before replying to the potential buyer. Oh yes, believe it or not, as a potential buyer as well as a seller, I have been very disappointed by the response rates of some Allerton Road estate agents to get back to me to arrange viewings, even three working days after my enquiry.

A good estate agent should not expect you to carry out all the viewings unless you particularly want them to, but should be geared up to undertake accompanied viewings if you are not available to do them yourself - maybe you are away from home, working long hours or on holiday for instance.

And a good estate agent should be competitive, they should not ask the highest price for selling your property, nor mislead you by suggesting that they can sell for a cost they know they will not be able to honour.

So, now that we are clear about what we need and want in a good estate agent, how did the various offices manage on my check list?

I started with a good firm, based on Allerton Road, a nationwide chain. They responded very quickly to my request for a valuation and the man who came to assess the property was a good representative for the firm and recommended one final improvement to the "dressing and setting" which I agreed with and subsequently organised. He also negotiated his best selling price with me, which was less than the advertised price. We agreed that if I went ahead with them it would be 1.25%  (It is always worth haggling, that is rule number 1). They also do accompanied viewings if required.  Unforunately this firm is not open 7 days a week but they did well on all the other counts.

The next firm who came to call were a local Liverpool family based firm with one shop on East Prescot Road. The man who came to assess the property was a little bit prefunctory and failed to say anything pleasant or encouraging about my house - and I do think a little bit of flattery goes a long way. They are only open 6 days a week, see no benefit on being open on a Sunday and were dismissive of my views about the need for an answering machine - they don't have one. Their selling fee was only 1% and the representative was keen to add a property in my area to their portfolio. Their website was also out of date. They don't do accompanied viewings either. So for all that they were cheap and a local family firm which would be an attractive option for me, I didn't feel I would get the best service from them.

The third firm were an internet based firm from Manchester with no shop front at all. I thought I should try the full range of options so included them in my research. They were charging 1.95% which was nearly twice as much as most of the other estate agents and they also wanted me to put the property on the market for 10K less than I believe it could achieve. However, they are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week which if you have a ready to sell property at a realistic if not actually under-selling price, and if you are in a hurry, this would be a bonus. They also advertise on 150 websites, rather than the usual half a dozen of  the office based companies.

The fourth firm were another big estate agents on Allerton Road, and one that is currently offering 0% fees. Definitely one to see. However, they did not respond to my request for a valuation for 4 days and neither did they follow up my request to view certain of the properties they had on sale. I had to push for both. They are only open 6 days a week and again they do not have an answering machine. The woman who came to do the valuation was a great ambassador for their firm and I really liked her, but the customer service on offer was very poor. They also admitted to me that the 0% fees offer had a shelf life of only 3 months, and if you didnt sell your house in that time, all bets were off. Not impressed of Wavertree, I pressed on.

Thoroughly dissatisfied and fed-up, I approached the fifth firm. Sutton Kersh of Allerton Road. They sent Beverley Sutton to value my property and negotiate with me. And glory be, this firm is open 7 days a week, and they have an answering machine and they do accompanied viewings if necessary. They responded quickly to my requests to view other properties and generally offered the level of customer service you would hope for. Beverley was positive about my  home and took photographs, with my involvement and support, which showed off the property to its best advantage. We also had a good conversation about a reasonable selling price, taking into account that they had a property already up for sale on my road. They were clearly in the running, and then we came to selling fees. I told her what I had been offered, accurately and for each other firm, and she tapped a few figures into her calculator and came up with a selling price which is most likely to be less than 1%, it being a fixed fee.

So, I have gone with Sutton Kersh, the cheapest, the best customer service and the most market-oriented.

Have I made the right choice? It is probably too early to tell, but what I can say is that having signed the papers on Monday, I have already seen two viewers and  another is due tomorrow, the board is now up, the property is on rightmove, they also offer a 3D floor plan which I have not seen elsewhere and I am generally very impressed. Also Tim Beaumont recommended them to me.

So fingers crossed I am with the best

And what a shame that so many other agents fall short of what we need.

Details of my lovely home can be found here

An ode to Francis Maude

A wonderful ode, by a good friend of mine (not a party member) who wishes to remain anonymous. I think it is mighty fine, hope you do too.

To the tune of Robin Hood (for those old enough to remember black and white children's telly)

Francis Maude, Francis Maude, giving crap advice,
Francis Maude, Francis Maude, doesn’t know what’s right,
Scorned by the bad, scorned by the good,
Francis Maude, Francis Maude, Francis Maude . . .

He suggested storing explosive fuel illegally,
Invited motorists to stockpile unnecessarily,
Misinformed the public and embarrassed his department,
Cast doubt on his ministerial appointment.

Francis Maude, Francis Maude, giving crap advice,
Francis Maude, Francis Maude, doesn’t know what’s right,
Scorned by the bad, scorned by the good,
Francis Maude, Francis Maude, Francis Maude . . .

He stood before the cameras with an agenda in his head,
Didn’t think through what he went and said,
Failed to reassure or give good advice,
He encouraged panic buying with half baked advice.

Francis Maude, Francis Maude, giving crap advice,
Francis Maude, Francis Maude, doesn’t know what’s right,
Scorned by the bad, scorned by the good,
Francis Maude, Francis Maude, Francis Maude . . .

Where are the women?

I read a list today of all the candidates so far declared for the Liverpool Mayoral elections.

Ten names, all male. All white as far as I know too, although I may be mistaken. Not absolutely all middle-aged, thankfully, but pretty nearly so.

And not a woman's name amongst them.

This disturbs me greatly.

I guess I need to stave off the critics and the finger-waggers right from the off by saying I firmly believe that Joe Anderson is the right candidate for Labour and the best person for the job, even if he does happen to be a bloke. I am behind him 100%. Okay? Hey, you at the back, did you make a note of that?

But I cannot help be utterly miserable about the fact that no women have put their names forward.

There are good women in this city, good political women, I know there are. Three of our five MPs are women, very nearly  half of the Labour councillors are women, the leader of the Green Party and the leader of the LibDem Party are both women and Hazel Williams was widely thought to have been a particularly good Lord Mayor.

We also know that Jane Kennedy is keen to put her name forward as Labour's candidate for Police Commissioner, so at least that contest - in Labour terms - will have a woman showing passion and commitment, whether she wins the nomination (and the election) or not.

But where are all the women in this election for Mayor?

The biggest job on Merseyside, with the potential of the biggest mandate in the country - for a short while at least - after Boris Johnson (or Ken hopefully). 300,000 eligible voters will mean the winner in this election has more weight behind them than any MP...

So why have no women put themselves forward?

Have we no ambition? Are we scared of a big job? Do we think we would be wasting our time? Does the degree of public scrutiny put us off? The fish bowl that Cherie talked about? Do we not want to read comments about our skirt length or the colour of our lipstick or hair or age or the size of our bum? Is that it? Is it because we think it is a foregone conclusion? Do women not like to waste time on an election (or other campaign) they cannot foresee victory in?

Who might have stood? Paula Keaveney, Sarah Jennings, Hazel Williams, Maggie O'Carroll, Kath Flanagan, Caroline Kenyon, Joan Burnett, Babs Hennessy, Eithne Brown, Carla Lane, Colleen Rooney, hell, even Cilla Black and Ann Robinson might have thrown their hats into the ring. One of our MPs might have resigned to stand, like has happened in other cities elsewhere in the country.  I don't know who I think should have had a go, but I had hoped to see a few women's names in the hat.

Perhaps like me they all want Joe Anderson to win and that is why they have not put their names forward. But forgive me, much as I would like to think that he will command every woman's vote in the city, I cannot help but think there is more to it than that.

What is putting off Liverpool women from pushing to the front?

And why did I find it so hard to think of prominent women in Liverpool even to add to my imaginary list of candidates?

I do sincerely hope that when Joe becomes our first Liverpool Mayor as he surely will, he will make it his business to elevate and promote women in the city - I don't mean that literally within the council, I mean that he will hold up women as good role models. That he will seek out, encourage and push good women to the front, encouraging them to become the leaders and heads of our Chamber of Commerce, our Universities, our Media, Police Force, Fire Service, MerseyTravel, the LEP, the Hospitals, Museums and Art Galleries...

This is the best city in the country, possibly in the world - but it has fallen short in this one regard, we are not giving the young women and girls good role models and we are not showing the truly equitable face that I am sure we do possess. It is not a man's city, but you could be forgiven for thinking it so.

PS Talking of Maggie O'Carroll, I was rather disturbed to see that although she was sitting next to Joe at his press conference (which perhaps explains why she isn't standing), she was not name checked in the Echo report or the caption or quoted in any way. Not even "Mystery blonde with Joe".... What is that all about? Why didn't the newspapers name her? Do they not know how important she is to all the women in our city?

Sixth Form Bursaries

Are you a teacher or a governor in a school with a sixth form?

If so, please will you ask your Head how they have decided to best spend the new bursaries in your school. Have you targetted just the pupils on free school meals? What about other pupils on low incomes who don't have school meals? How have you targetted it? Have you spent it on transport/buying travel passes for instance? or text books? or stationery? or uniforms? or have you given it to the pupils for them to spend, etc

Please will you let me know as the school where I am a governor is looking for some good practice in this area.  Thanks very much

Budget message from Ed Balls, Labour's Shadow Chancellor

Photo by Getty

George Osborne used to say “we are all in this together”. Well, not any more.

Because today he gave a Budget where - as Ed Miliband said in the House of Commons - millions were asked to pay more, so millionaires can pay less.

In tough times the choices this Tory-led government is making tells you everything you need to know about them.

They prove that George Osborne and David Cameron are totally out of touch with what life is like for people in our country.

At a time when bills are going up for families on middle and low incomes George Osborne has added to them all. Fuel duty is going up this summer, even though petrol prices are at a record high. He’s even added to the cost of a sausage roll from Greggs.

And at the very same time the Budget gave a tax cut to the very richest people in our country. Just 14,000 people earning £1 million or more will get a Budget boost of over £40,000 each year.

David Cameron and George Osborne could have used the money to cut fuel duty or reverse unfair and perverse cuts to tax credits – which will see thousands of working parents better off quitting work from next month. They could have used the money to reduce the cuts to police officers or help pay the down the deficit.

Instead they chose to cut taxes for the 300,000 people earning over £150,000 - the richest one per cent. How can this be the right priority now?

Whatever he says about increasing the income tax personal allowance a family with children earning just £20,000 will still lose around £253 a year from this April.

And shockingly he slipped out a £3 billion tax raid on pensioners over the next four years. Nearly four and a half million pensioners who pay income tax will lose an average of £83 per year next April. And people turning 65 next year will lose up to £322.

And all this comes from a government whose economic policies have utterly failed on jobs, growth and the deficit.

Of course there have to be tough decisions on tax, spending and pay. But we won’t get the deficit down unless we have a plan for jobs and growth to get our economy moving again and get people off the dole and into work.

And that was the gaping hole in today’s Budget. It wasn’t just unfair, it had no plan for jobs like Labour’s plan which includes a guaranteed job for every young person out of work for more than a year – fully funded by a tax on bank bonuses.

Instead in Tory Britain unemployment is at a 17 year high, with a record one million young people out of work. Our economy has stalled as America races ahead. And this slower growth and higher unemployment means the government is set to borrow an extra £150 billion to pay for this economic failure.

George Osborne's plan has failed. Trying to raise taxes and cut spending too far and too fast has backfired. And with his tax cut for millionaires he is piling insult upon injury for millions of families and pensioners across Britain.

In the Budget debates we will vote against this unfair tax cut for millionaires, but we need your help. Let's get out campaigning on the doorstep for Labour's five point plan for jobs and growth and to reverse these unfair cuts to tax credits – before it’s too late.

Yours,

Ed

Liverpool Waters will directly benefit a local construction workforce

Email from Councillor Nick Small, Cabinet Member for Enterprise and Skills explaining the benefits particularly for jobs with the passing of outline planning permission for Liverpool Waters. Something he describes as "fantastic news for the city".

Under the Lib Dems, the Council refused point blank to include local labour under Section 106 agreements; something Labour campaigned for in opposition for many years. Instead the Lib Dems preferred to use Section 106 powers for parks and open spaces. This meant that the city didn't maximise on the jobs when Liverpool One, the Cruise Liner Terminal and the Arena and Conference Centre were built. (This means that we have been able to insist that a good proportion of jobs which come as a result of the scheme must go to local Liverpool people - LB). (The LibDems used the same powers only to say that official cash "sweeteners" from developers must be spent improving parks and open spaces - not an unreasonable thing in itself - but they could have insisted on much more than just that when contracts or planning permission was being granted in the city. They too could have insisted on builders using a proportion of local labour in the workforce rather than let everything go to Manchester firms - LB)

Liverpool Waters is the first major planning scheme that the Council has agreed a detailed scheme of targetted recruitment and selection with a developer as part of the Section 106 agreement.

This new model has separate stretch targets for (1) the four wards of North Liverpool, (2) the Council's priority areas across the city, (3) the City of Liverpool and (4) the City Region and these targets will be monitored regularly by the Council and Peel.

More importantly than this perhaps, the relationships we've developed with Peel over the last 20 months mean that we've got their buy-in to work together to exceed these targets. Even before planning permission was in place we've been talking in detail to Peel about delivering training, apprenticeships and jobs, should they have been successful.

This will ensure that those communities that need it the most will benefit from the 17,000 direct construction and end-user jobs created by Liverpool Waters.

We're using this same model with other major development like the Royal, Alder Hey and University of Liverpool - total investment of £1.6billion.

This demonstrates what can be achieved by a progressive Labour Council working in partnership with business.

Help! Need to find a decent estate agent

It's that time again when I have to engage with estate agents. You may recall the nightmare I had last time when I was moving house. You would think I would have learned by now, having moved so often, but I never cease to be disappointed by estate agents and their total lack of customer service.

Day one: I go to the estate agent I think I may choose to sell with. It is Saturday at 4.30pm, the lights are on and there is a woman sitting at a desk inside, but the door is locked. She shakes her head at me and indicates that they are closed. I get back in the car and because I can see the phone number on a poster, I call them to see if I can leave an answering machine message asking about making an appointment for them to come round. The woman inside does not answer the phone and no machine kicks in.  I drive away having failed to make any contact with them. What if I wanted to make a bid on a house I had just visited? Or wanted to make an appointment to visit a house? The impetus is clearly on me to persevere. Is this good customer service?

I will be letting you know how things progress, I know every day will hold frustrations, but in the meantime, which of the many agents, ideally on Allerton Road, would you recommend I try?

I do! Gay Marriage

There are many voices raised against the idea of gay marriage, so I thought I would give you a few short bullet points on why those voices should be celebrating instead.

1. There is an argument from some that marriage is for the procreation of children and gay marriage fails that test. But hey, lesbians and gays can be parents too. I have lots of gay and lesbian friends with children - whether their own natural children or born through IVF or other supported assistance. And funnily enough, I have lots of straight friends with children too, some their own natural children and some born through IVF or other supported assistance.









2. There is another argument that says that gay marriage in church is not acceptable to God. But I would argue that surely He prefers the idea of gay Christians marrying in church (and believing in the service) than He does the idea of atheist heterosexuals getting married in church, just because they think it would make a nice back drop for the photographs.

3. Homophobes accuse the gay community of being sexually lax, loose, easy and without discretion or morality. I shall have to leave aside just how distasteful and inaccurate that view is, if you don't mind. And ask instead why they would then object to two gays or lesbians getting married and making a commitment only to each other - wouldn't that settle the objection?

There is so much more I could say but I wanted to be punchy.

(And I ought to say that if you are going to marry your gay partner and you want some help with a great florist who loves doing gay weddings, do get in touch)

In the dog house - LibDem resignations pile up

I have steered away from outright local Party Politics on the blog for a few years, since I was so royally done over by members of two of the opposition parties in Liverpool who didn't like my "in your face" criticisms of their political tactics.

They cost me more than they will (thankfully) ever know, which means they are not able to be as smug as they might have liked, and I shall say no more than that.

But tonight I am giving myself a "by".

Tonight I want to say something about the Liberal Democrats on Liverpool City Council and the electoral situation they find themselves in.

At the final meeting of the Full Council tonight (there are still plenty of Select Committees to come though), a list of various LibDem councillors who had decided to stand down/retire was announced. I think I am right in saying that, apart from Woolton (so this does not apply to Barbara), they were all councillors whose colleagues had lost last year.

I have long been an advocate for those candidates who know they will lose, to instead retire rather than fight a hard campaign to no effect. I have always thought it must be better to go with dignity, thinking that if you had stood you might have bucked the trend, but without putting it to the test, and it would be disengenous of me to say anything different now. And of course if you stand down, you get a tribute at the final council meeting, something defeated councillors never get. (And why not? Shouldn't we try to be generous in those circumstances and give them a nod at the first council meeting after the election?)

I would also say that most of the retiring councillors have done a pretty good job as community representatives even if their politics stank. So all credit to them.

Most of the LibDem councillors who are staying courageously to fight for their seats will be unsuccessful. I wont cry about that but I admire them for taking the fight to us - and I absolutely understand it. Good for you for putting your record to the test. Some of the people who I expect to be defeated have been, by all accounts (bearing in mind I have only been on the council for six years), decent hard-working individuals who have done their best for a very long time.

I suspect there will be the need for a new leader of the opposition in May, I put my money on Pat Maloney for what it is worth (who is himself not averse to the odd unsuccessful Standards Board complaint about yours truly). Richard Kemp, the other obvious challenger, will just have come third or fourth or even fifth in the Mayoral Campaign (not second - I am taking bets if you are interested). So I don't see how the tiny rump of LibDems will be able to choose him. Paula and I have worked together very regularly on all sorts of things and although we are not friends, I do really respect her for the stance she has taken on many issues, and I think the LibDems would have done well to have chosen her to lead them some years ago. Good luck to her and her work at Edge Hill University.

I also think that the one-time "third largest party on the council", the Cleins, will be entirely finished after May 3rd, which can only be to the detriment of good humour and independent thinking within the council chamber and the select committees. I have always got on well with the Clein clan (or at least those who have sat on Liverpool council, rather than certain offspring) and although I am going to be absolutely thrilled to welcome fantastic new Labour colleagues in their place, I shall continue to retain a  small regret that both could not have been accomodated simultaneously.

And of course there is another big name in Liverpool that is certain to be defeated in May, assuming the powers that be allow him to self-nominate - otherwise it is an enforced retirement. A man who I have always believed was well-meaning and put the hours in, but was the unwitting puppet of a stronger egotistical man who always believed he could take his crown back in due course (but of course he lost his seat and all bets were off). The councillor he left behind in his image will not win the next election, and we all know that. So I want to pay tribute to him too as he leaves the political stage. I don't think we have ever had a cross word, I really quite like the guy and I know he knows that and I am always pleased to see him when we bump into each other.

But one of the names of those retiring really made me mad - and I am sure he has taken this particular action precisely to piss me off. Well done. I am pissed off. I refer to Little Lord Fauntleroy as our leader has been wont to call him. I am quite sure that his deliberations about whether to stand and fight, or whether to slink off with his tail between his doggy legs, were taken very much with me in mind. He knows that I so desperately wanted to see his fortress finally toppled, not by dirty tricks, or reporting people to standards committees or boards, or putting out lies on leaflets, but at the ballot box. And I am as certain as I can be that he has decided flight rather than fight because he knew this was going to be my finest hour.

He said in his speech tonight that he  may come back and stand again, sometime in the future. Bring it on, Dude, I will be here waiting, wherever you pop up. It doesn't have to be in this city. You could try your hand anywhere in the North West and I will be there to chase you off. I hope that is clear.

And finally I would like to speculate about  how many LibDem candidates will be found to put their names on ballot papers in the city of Liverpool.

I am aware that there are many seats, with only 7 weeks to go, with no named LibDem candidates and of course we all know the difficulties some LibDems got into last year about putting names forward for seats where there was no obvious candidate - of which I shall say no more.

I am looking at 30 wards and thinking the LibDems will be lucky to field 20 candidates

There you are, that is my final prediction.

I would have preferred victory through democracy, but will take victory through apathy if that is all that is on offer.

Inspired by the Global Entrepreneur Congress Liverpool 2012

Louise with Chuka and Luciana

What a truly exciting time to be a business woman in Liverpool!

My business,  Local Marketing Liverpool, is really thriving, I am signing up at least one new client a week, which feels amazing. I am doing so well in fact that I have now handed in my notice in my (part-time) paid employment and from mid April I will be fully self-employed.

Lots of exciting new clients wanting a whole host of different marketing support. Pretty much each new client wants a new service, so I am continually adding to the list of services on offer.

And this week, to mark this special time for me, the city of Liverpool - and the lovely Andy at Liverpool Vision in particular, kindly agreed to host the Global Entrepreneurs Congress so that I could launch into this new period of my life with inspirational contributions from Richard Branson, Terry Leahy and Lord Heseltine to name but a few. (You just have to love the way Liverpool always comes up trumps for its citizens - remember how Dolly Parton came over to sing for me on my birthday? It seems you only have to ask nicely...)

The speakers were fantastic, I feel perfectly primed to take the leap - and what was particularly gratifying on a couple of occasions was to hear these world business leaders giving messages to the audience that I give to my own clients. So it is great to know that I am on the right page of the book! There was some discussion about the need to assess the competition closely, to understand a potential customer's needs and address your offer to meet that need... and other things that form the basis of all my initial sessions with my own clients. So not only am I inspired to begin the journey in true earnest, but I am reassured that I am on just the right track!

There is a lot of talk in the business world at the moment about the importance of having successful professional entrepreneurs mentoring new and young businesses. I could really get into that. Perhaps I could persuade one of today's speakers to stand up for me? Could Liverpool deliver that for me too, do you think?

Tomorrow I will be at another event with LGBT businesses in Liverpool where I hope to delve further into my plans for marketing for and to the community.

And I also took some time out over dinner on Sunday to talk to Chuka Umunna, Labour's Shadow Business Secretary about my plans for marketing world domination. I am not sure quite what he made of me, to be honest.

"Richard Branson in Liverpool just for you? Wow!"

And finally I have been working with Alun Parry at Web Films About You to create a film for my business website, following me at work, talking to some of my clients and explaining more about what I can do for local Liverpool businesses. There may also be a short film made up of my customers giving in depth testimonials. I will share the films with you when the work is finished.

Truly exciting times, inspiring, breath-taking, daring, I am really loving every minute.

Still banging the drum after 20 years

20 years ago this weekend, as a wide-eyed innocent, politically naive, totally inactive member of the public (albeit one that had voted, scrupulously, in every available election since attaining my majority), I woke up to party politics (and local democracy) in a big way. Actually it was not just a big way, it was a genuinely life-changing event.

On Sunday it will be the 20th anniversary of the day when John Major went to see the Queen to ask her for permission to call the next General Election. He was the Conservative/Tory Prime Minister of Great Britain (having beaten Hezza and Maggie in a ballot in 1990 for the poisoned chalice).

In 1992, 11th March fell on a Wednesday.

I was home from work, still dressed in my corporate navy blue uniform as a member of the Administration team at Stevenson of Oxbridge Ltd, in fact I think I may even have reached the heady heights of Administration Manager by then. It was tea-time and I was watching the BBC news. Ironically, that was probably the last time I ever found myself with sufficient time to watch that particular news programme because my free time was about to be given over to the Labour Party.

You have heard all of this before and I wont rehearse it again, sufficient to say that I was instantly energised by the forthcoming General Election to volunteer to help with the forthcoming campaign. I found my local Labour Party and I joined in. And the rest is history.

This Sunday I will be celebrating my 20th anniversary as a Labour Party activist in company with other like-minded members and with my friend and local MP, Luciana Berger, in a Wavertree restaurant. We will all be meeting with other shadow ministers, local supporters and members over food and a drink and engaging in all that political conversation that we so love. This is not an event organised on my behalf, indeed I only realised the significance of the date after I had accepted the invitation, but it will be a fitting celebration all the same.

I am this year the Campaign Manager for the six wards within Liverpool Wavertree and I have only two tasks.

Simply, my role is to facilitate the election of six Labour Councillors in six wards, and to elect Joe Anderson as Liverpool's first elected Mayor for Labour.

And if the support that Liverpool Labour Party has already enjoyed in Liverpool Wavertree since the campaign was developed is anything to go by, we are on the path to victory.

Huge numbers of Labour Party members are engaging in delivering leaflets, knocking on doors, phoning voters (don't  you just love "free calls" mobile phone contracts?) and sharing good ideas about possible visits for the Mayoral and Local Council candidates over the next 8 weeks.

Although the LibDems (who?) have always liked to pretend that we succeed in Liverpool only when people "pour in from outside", "snooing" the local area, the fact remains that almost every volunteer, this year like every year, and just like me 20 years ago, lives locally and feels the passion that has them active every day.

I do hope that we are nurturing some members during this historic campaign in Liverpool in 2012 that will be here in 20 years time and can be writing their own blog about how it all started for them. I look forward to reading their entries in 2032.

Joe Anderson, Labour's Mayoral candidate goes online

Joe Anderson, Labour's Mayoral Candidate

As you may have seen in the press, Joe has been selected to be the Labour Party candidate for the Mayoral election this year, something I know he is looking forward to getting stuck into. And, in order to keep you up to date with the goings on of the campaign, he has joined the world of social media!

You can follow him on Twitter: @joeforliverpool

He is on Facebook: www.facebook.com/Joeforliverpool
And we have a new website too: http://www.joeforliverpool.com

In 4 Life - a play staged at Edge Hill Youth Club

I have been sent details of the following event.

Thursday 8th March starting at 6pm at Edge Hill Youth Club (The "Boysy"), Durning Road, Edge Hill, Liverpool.

A play 'IN4LIFE' written by Carol Cullington and directed by Carol Cockram, exploring the role gang culture plays in the lives of young male and females. It was commissioned by the Home Office and is cast with young offenders.

Everyone is welcome, parents, residents and all young people over 11 years of age.

Don't miss it, it is free.

Youth groups should be accompanied by youth workers or other responsible adults.

For more information please call 0151 263 2921

HMS Liverpool visits for a final time

HMS Liverpool, a Royal Navy ship, is visiting her spiritual home this week, for the final time.

Due to be decommissioned at the end of March, the Type 42 Destroyer will be berthed in Liverpool until Monday.

Councillor Wendy Simon, Cabinet Member for Culture, Sport and Tourism (and my very good friend) yesterday attended a civic service to honour HMS Liverpool and all who have sailed in her. She explained to me that Naval ships were named after places in the UK to encourage recruitment from people from those areas. Apparently it is a fashion that has now come to an end, and there will be no replacement ship bearing the city's name after the current vessel has been decommissioned.

There is an interesting article about the ship's history here in the Liverpool Echo from last night's paper. There is a tremendous buzz around the waterfront with sailors and visitors mingling on the Pier Head, do get down there before she leaves for the last time.

I was on the famous Ferry Across the Mersey yesterday and took this photograph from a vantage point in Birkenhead. In fact I was not very far from the site of Cammell Laird's where the ship was built more than 30 years ago.

Newsham Park Fitness Club

Message from Helen Johnson

Newsham Park Fitness Club has been up and running since January 2012. There has been some really good attendance, even in the freezing weather and that funny freezing rain! We use body weight strength training techniques to re-discover your abs, firm up your legs and banish bingo wings. We also have a laugh, play some games and make new friends.

There is still space and a few weeks left on the free NHS funded club and I am trying to get as many people along to try the Fitness Club before the free places run out.











Currently there are ten free NHS funded sessions left to run at Newsham Park Fitness Club. Five more on Saturdays 10am to 11am and five more on Wednesdays 7pm to 8pm.

We have about thirty people already registered who can come down any time to make the most of this NHS funded scheme before it ends. Anybody who hasn't registered yet, come along anyway and you can register on the day. If anyone can make it Saturday 3^rd March for 10am, I am running fitness tests for a few people that missed them last week. I will run fitness tests again in five weeks time so that people can really see the good progress they have made.

We meet on the grass opposite the Adult Centre on Newsham Drive. Call or email me for further information 0151 222 2560 helen@helenshealthandfitness.co.uk

This is what Newsham Park Fitness Clubbers have to say about NPFC:

"Really enjoyable sessions", "a great way to get fit with a great bunch of people", "an instructor that makes even amateurs like me feel comfortable", "I've only been 3 times and already I can see where my abs should be".

Starting in April, I will be running Helen's Heart Healthy Program. A six week weight loss and strength training course involving structured healthy eating advice, mindfulness anti-stress techniques, online diary and strength training sessions at Newsham Park.

I hope to see you soon for a great big dose of fresh air and fitness!

Cass Associates win Small Planning Consultancy of the Year at the Royal Town Planning Institute Awards 2011

A very big well done to Peter Hamilton and everyone at Cass Associates for winning such a prestigious award. The Liverpool based firm (from the Tea Factory) were the original consultants for the successful HLF bid for Deane Road Jewish Cemetery in Kensington.

The award judges said

"Cass Associates has shown itself adept at pulling together a range of broader expertise as well as making its own professional input on projects of sometimes daunting scale and complexity. There is every sign that the consultants have met clients' needs, especially in their ability to respond imaginatively to briefs".

Well done guys, we are all very proud of you!