Recently by Mark Thomas

It was great, and not a little surprising, to see England perform so well in their 4-1 away win against Croatia last night.
I also thought, though, that it was quite instructive to hear the way the Serbian supporters reacted as it became clear they were to lose their first ever home competitive international fixture.

The radio airwaves and website forums of Merseyside have been buzzing with angry reaction to our announcement that we are shifting printing of the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo to Oldham.
Much of the indignation stems from misunderstandings, so today we would like to set the record straight.
Our newspapers will continue to be researched, written, designed and created in the heart of Liverpool, to provide the best and most in depth news coverage of Merseyside. Hundreds of people will continue to be employed by us here in Liverpool to achieve that.

I couldn't help but feel a little bit sad this afternoon, as I wondered back up Old Hall Street towards the office from the sandwich shop and saw a Superlambanana being put on a low loader ready to be towed away.
The 10 week Go Superlambananas festival is drawing to a close, and over the next couple of days the 120 Superlambs are being collected up from their locations across the city.

This is agony! I have just had a sneak preview of a secret that is going to blow everyone away next month, and I can't tell you what it is.
For a journalist, this is a subtle form of torture. We want to tell people exciting and interesting things that they don't already know. It's how we make our living, but more than that, it's our passion - the buzz that drives us on.

I took a trip to Royal Birkdale last night, after being invited to the Golf Writers' Annual Dinner, and it has certainly whetted my appetite for the weekend ahead.
We were entertained by speeches from Peter Allis, Europe's Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo, and reigning Open champion Padraig Harrington - a fantastic line-up for a golf nut like me!

The Liverpool Daily Post recently picked up an award for its innovative newspaper website, liverpooldailypost.co.uk
We won it because we are constantly innovating, taking advantage of the latest technological breakthroughs to keep our historic brand at the forefront of the digital revolution that is sweeping the newspaper industry.

China seems to have been flitting across my personal horizon quite a lot over the last week or so.
We've all been moved by the coverage of the earthquake tragedy in Sichuan, with the focus on individual human stories managing to personalise so effectively the enormous, almost incomprehensible death toll.

I'm on the warpath. I make no apologies. If you can't use a blog to have a damned good rant from time to time, then what's the point of having one?
The target of my ire is the unbelievable, moronic idiots who managed to turn my morning dog walk today into a rather unpleasant experience.

It has been a while since we have had a local election in Liverpool that has produced much in the way of drama or excitement, but this year always promised to be different, and it did not disappoint.
The Liberal Democrats have had a tough year, dominated by the fall-out from the Mathew Street fiasco, and Labour seriously fancied their chances of resting the city away from overall Lib Dem control.

LOOKED at from the perspective of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), the national strike – the first in 21 years – will no doubt be considered a success.

The walk-out by thousands of teachers closed or partially closed up to 8,000 schools in England and Wales, forcing working parents to stay at home or find childcare. In Liverpool, every secondary school except one was closed.

Meanwhile, thousands of school children will have no doubt enjoyed an unexpected extra day off from the classroom.

But, as far as everyone else is concerned, what exactly has this strike achieved?