July 2007 Archives

I had a rare experience for a journalist today - on the receiving end of an interview instead of asking the questions.
And as if that wasn't scary enough, it was for television, and the interviewer was that larger-than-life son of Liverpool Alexei Sayle.

Ok, this whole Everton stadium row is getting a bit tedious now, so I'm going to have one last quick go at the subject, and then move on to other topics.
I can't let some of the comments being posted on this blog go without a response, though. Thanks again for the supportive ones, and to the rest of you, it is such a mixed bag of the genuinely concerned and passionate and the quite clearly unreasonable, cynical and blinkered that it is very hard to come up with a collective response. I need to say something though, so that regular readers don't believe that some of the rather ridiculous criticism of our journalists has any basis in reality.

Well, I asked you for your views, and you have certainly let me have them! I have had a steady stream of responses to my last blog entry on Friday about Everton FC's Kirkby stadium proposal.
Thanks very much to everyone for all your feedback, even to the one or two of you who decided rather sadly to go for abuse rather than constructive debate.

It has been fascinating to watch the debate unfold this week around Everton's plans for a new stadium in Kirkby.
The club has had to stay quiet for a long time while opponents to its plans have been free to criticise loudly, so it must be a relief for the Everton hierarchy to finally be able to put their side of the argument.

I spent an interesting hour this morning talking with some Liverpool teenagers about what they perceive as the negative images of young people we portray in the media.
I'm pleased to say they didn't pick out the Liverpoool Daily Post for particular attention in this regard, but it was a lively debate, and one that left me with some food for thought.

Conservative party leader David Cameron visited the Daily Post offices today, as part of a whistlestop Liverpool tour.
He was also the main speaker at the CBI's Merseyside Celebration Dinner at St George's Hall last night, an event at which I was a guest.

I was deeply saddened to hear today of the death of George Melly, at the age of 80.
He was a wonderful writer, a great wit, and an exceptional live entertainer, who never forgot his Liverpool roots.

At last, some activity today on the Premiership transfer market locally, with Liverpool signing Fernando Torres for a club record £26.5m while Everton's patient pursuit of £4m Phil Jagielka finally bore fruit.
It is always a difficult time of year for our sports team, because a lot of less reputable newspapers and websites are buzzing with rumours, many of which are little short of silly, about which players might be on their way to Merseyside.