A very good peice david I agree.one thing we musnt do though is credit peter kildoyle with any influence.whatsoever.he is university hated in the local party and his pathetic attempts to get at Jane k are as selfish as they are transparent.what an insult from kilfoyle as well to the 94 members who voted.

The piece doesn't overplay a thing.

It is well known that Luciana's candidacy was forced through by her great friend and mentor Jane Kennedy.

It is seen not only by members of the local Labour party, but by members of the general public at large, to be a total slap in the face to common, decent Labour supporters

Um... How can it be forced through when local party members overwhelmingly voted for her to be their candidate?

Having met Luciana myself on several occasions, I can say she is a very impressive operator. I'm sure other Wavertree members were equally impressed - BECAUSE THEY VOTED FOR HER!!!

Peter Kilfoyle is becoming the 'new' Bob Wareing, a sour & embittered old man. We had the same complaints from the same sources when Stephen Twigg was selected, again overwhelmingly by the local membership. Something rather troubling is beginning to emerge from all this, namely that an influential section of the Liverpool Labour Party remains largely unreformed. It doesn't like 'New' Labour; nor OMOV; nor all-women shortlists. It doesn't trust the members; it prefers committee stitch-ups; it's blokish and, when frustrated, a little thuggish too. In fact, it's Joe Anderson to a 'T' - suspicious of women, scared of the intelligent, and comfortable only in the company of street scousers. It's a narrow insular world-view that rank-and-file Labour Party members in Liverpool, to their great credit, are clearly rejecting. Long-term this will be good for Liverpool. Meanwhile however, the purge of the bruisers has to continue.

As a member of the Wavertree Labour Party I can also state that Luciana Berger was by far the most energetic of the candidates (with respect to Wendy and Joyce) she has for many years campaigned within the constituency and understands the issues that affect the area and the action required to tackle them. Also there are only eight students that are Labour party members in Wavertree so it would be ludicrous to suggest that segment of the constituency ensured Luciana’s nominations as PPC. Furthermore, those who have meet Luciana have all be impressed by her knowledge of the city and particular her insight and understand of the constituency itself which ensured her the support of many Labour supporters who have lived within the constituency for many years. In relation to the comment “student politician” I would say that was far from the truth, Luciana has served for many years in a number of demanding environments and has collected a vast amount of experience which will benefit the people of Wavertree for sure.

Although Peter is entitled to his view it seems he had not weighed up the impact such remarks would have, remarks based on prejudices and word of mouth I suppose without actually meeting Luciana in person.

Having now read Rob Merrick article which was slighty sneery in my opinion.

I cannot belive he has said and I paraphrase

"she went round signing students up"

Now the clear implication of this is that these "students" then voted for her in the selection and it had some bearing on the outcome

Errant nonsense. You have to be a member of the labour party for a year before you can vote in any selection. Should she have signed up 10000 students she still would of got 90 odd votes.

Very disapoining reporting Mr Merrick, do feel free to comment should you wish to respond.

well "paula" you were told wrong.

and there is no such thing as a lib dem selection

that why half the lib dem group are related to each other (or divorced)

Perhaps they will produce a bar chat or con david into publishing some dodgy figures to further illustrate their vapidness.

You know its an intresting thing the Liverpool Lim dems

I genuinly have some respect for some national Lib dem figures (williams, ashdown, cable)

But the nasty smear driven politics they promote in Liverpool are sickening

Im only glad they are on the way out in May

Who'd of thought it eh? From Flagship council to sad rump.

Erm no we can't Tom, sorry. How about you do us a bar chart about Labour Tweets, and how Lib Dems tweet almost as much as Labour, and how the Tory's can't tweet here? With the usual array of misleading figures and 'creative' mathematics?

Wavertree Scamp must be under some stress at the moment I guess.

Their posts always go way over the top with the banter.

Anything you want to share?

Bang on the money, Katie. Well said. And perfectly said about Wendy Simon - and Colin Eldridge too: OK at local politics, out of their depth at the national level. Labour simply has more talent available; it doesn't need to select dismal chumps like Colin Eldridge, or frankly Wendy Simon. All credit to the members in Wavertree for having a bigger vision and a more generous view of potential than the Old Labour dinosaurs or - it must be said - the policy-free, perpetually sneering, nationally unelectable and thoroughly incompetent LibDems

Labour's Lucy was selected to represent the people of Wavertree - of all faiths and none. Any group which does not want to speak to her about her views, isn't giving her a chance!
The girl has already been attacked by Kilfoyle and the Lib Dems (strange bedfellows) and the media and she has only been a candidate for five minutes.
For God's sake whatever happened to Scouse fairplay and standing up for the underdog?
Give the girl a chance!
If you don't like her views or her values, fair enough. But you don't even know what they are yet. Go and ask her!
I have every confidence she will win people over.
I am also heartened by the support shown on here - and by the fact that Party members in Wavertree have shown they are sentient, sensible beings who can make their own rational judgements about the best candidate for the job, thank you very much.
To question their decision is patronising in the extreme.
This was not a stitch-up, or has been eloquently and persuasively pointed out, a 'student shoe-in'. Utter nonsense.
The girl won it on merit. Now get behind her and keep the Lib Dems out.
PS Although i love Ronnie de Ramper's comments normnally, his comments about Joe Anderson are seriously mis-placed and do not help the cause that Ronnie believes in.
People consistently underestimate Joe, which is why he has got to the position that, with a fair wind, he will be leading the city in a few months time.
And that will be a no-nonsense breath of fresh air. He is not anti-intellectual or a bruiser. On the contrary, he is a kind and thoughtful man. Looks is deceiving, as someone once said.
And, in any event, politics is not a beauty parade, it is about values and commitment and determination. And Joe is without parallel in all of those areas.