Latest missive in the cruise wars between Liverpool and Southampton
I have been criticised in some quarters for responding to Gareth Lewis from the Southern Daily Echo after he suggested that Liverpool wanted to steal Southampton's cruise trade.
I wrote a defence of Liverpool and pointed out Liverpool's achievements compared to Southampton.
This was taken as me acting as some sort of stirrer or agent provocateur in the so-called "cruise wars" between Liverpool and Southampton.
Now Mr Lewis has gone even further than his first column that started the whole thing.
Liverpool has an unfortunate stereotype associated with it.
A damnable and unfair reputation for pinching the hubcaps and wheels off cars and leaving them propped up on bricks for the shocked owner to discover on his return.
It's not fair. It's not right. And any of you out there chuckling at the thought should stop it at once.
But, right now, today, this loathsome calumny has some small merit.
That once great city on the Mersey has designs to make off with great big chunks of Southampton's cruise business.
Like shell-suited scallies in the night on some sink estate confronted with a rashly parked luxury motor, they have eyed this jewel in Southampton's crown with rank envy and resolved to have it for their own...
So what form should a response take?
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David Bartlett
City editor of the Post and Echo covering politics, regeneration, and urban affairs.
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For crying out loud! No response is necessary. This isn't a playground. This isn't even a footie match. And it certainly isn't a war. Why do people in this city always feel they must retaliate, jabbing their finger, belly out, chin out, with name-calling bluster. This fruit loop from the Southern Echo is no different from 'scouse patriot' journos on the Post & Echo. They all just want a free ride on the back of local pride. It sells papers, stirs people up, sets everyone clucking while more important things slip through unnoticed. I bet the private firms, Peel & ABP, are just loving it too: all this free attention to their commercial interests. If the journos in Southampton want to dupe their readers with this kind of tosh, there is no reason why we should stoop to join them
Ignore the Southern Softie. His childish comments say more about him than you ever could.