Nerve 20 - Letters Page

Letters Page

Dear Nerve,
After reading the Punk Princess article in issue 19, I thought about the princess stories that I grew up with. These included for example Cinderella and Snow White. Princesses taught me very valuable lessons. The princesses in my stories were kind, sweet and vulnerable. They were put into difficult situations, which they met with grace. Grace is a beautiful thing.
Maybe the world would be a beautiful place if we could all find and release our ‘inner princess’ (men and woman alike). What I do have a problem with, as regards role models, is the brat-tish behaviour portrayed by young girls in so many TV programs. This brat-like behaviour is similar to the behaviour displayed by the antagonists in many princess stories i.e. the ugly sisters and the wicked stepmother. In the stories the antagonists have traits like greed, selfishness, jealousy and vanity. They mirror the materialistic world-view that we have been indoctrinated by. I see the princess as an inspirational character. Maybe courage, inner beauty and grace can see us through difficult situations that we may meet and lead us to a charmed and happy ever after.
Michelle Richards

City Dealers up to tricks

Just before the Liverpool Mayoral election Nerve received an anonymous letter about the relationship between Joe Anderson and business interests in the city. We can’t publish this letter – it is unsigned, but we thought our readers ought to be aware of this issue, so we printed the extract below:

Dear Nerve,
I’ve enclosed a letter to the Liverpool Echo from former Labour MP, Peter Kilfoyle, which suggests less than transparent dealing with Anderson and the billion pound waterfront development on the River Mersey. I would guess that [Frank] McKenna, who has set himself up in the City as a business consultant (Downtown Liverpool), will be the conduit between Peel Holdings and Anderson. There is also the unhealthy relationship of ex Tesco Boss Sir Terry Leahy who, along with Anderson, sits on the Board of Liverpool Vision and is the co-author along with Michael Heseltine of the ‘City Deal’.(1)

Nerve followed up references sent by our anonymous letter writer. We found some interesting detail about the role of the new mayor as a business leader, and Peter Kilfoyle’s Echo article draws a direct link between the position of Mayor, which,”...replaces the job of council leader, with added powers” and the “parallel consolidation of economic power illustrated by the rise and rise of Peel Holdings.”(2)

Kilfoyle adds: “Enterprise Zone status has been given by Government to Peel’s sites. That means huge tax breaks, funded by the taxpayer. However, Peel’s plans stretch ahead for decades - who knows what will be the case in forty years time?”

Nerve found that the £10 billion Liverpool Waters and Wirral Waters schemes appear to have foundations of sand. Peel’s own website says:

“With regard to the current economic downturn we are now slowly creeping out of recession. It is anticipated that the first phases of Liverpool Waters will begin detail design in 2012, by which time it is expected that the economy will be well into recovery.”

“Although we are now in a period of uncertainty due to the “credit crunch,” the wider economy is stabilising and the Liverpool/Wirral economy will only grow in the longer term.”(3)

So much for the ‘double-dip’ recession.

Peel admits: “It is true that there are presently more apartments in Liverpool city centre than the market can sustain.” Yet Peel still aim to build 25,000 luxury homes next to some of the poorest wards in the UK. But don’t worry because:

“Liverpool Waters and the wards adjacent to the site are within the New Heartlands Area. Therefore the wards in question are in receipt of significant levels of public investment to address a wide range of housing and social problems.” They don’t seem to have noticed that regeneration (New Heartlands project) has been curtailed.

Deals have been done between politicians and businesses based on fictitious forecasts for economic growth. Meanwhile this ‘City Deal’ means that Liverpool will become a testing ground for forcing people into low paid jobs and the new benefits system:

“In tandem with DWP proposals for the Work Programme and Community Action Programme, Liverpool should run pilots that require benefit claimants to take part in community based work in order to receive their benefits.”(4)

“Liverpool will also be one of the first places to work with government to pilot the new Universal Credit scheme.”(5)

So, the ‘Deal’ for us getting a Mayor most of us didn’t want, is that people in Liverpool get used as guinea pigs in a social experiment. The pay-off is £130m, nearly all of which will go into the pockets of unaccountable businessmen who are given more power. Meanwhile our local democracy is diluted even further.

Unsigned letter sent to Nerve
The increasing concentration of power on Merseyside’ Peter Kilfoyle (Liverpool Echo)
How will the Recession affect progress?’ liverpoolwaters.co.uk
Rebalancing Britain - Policy or Slogan? Liverpool City Region, building on its strengths.’ Terry Leahy and Michael Heseltine, commissioned by David Cameron
City Deal.’ liverpool.gov.uk. The Universal Credit Scheme is part of the Welfare Reform Act. It will provide a single streamlined benefit that will ensure work always pays. (http://tinyurl.com/65owodg)

For more on Peel Holdings see: Peel under the spotlight by Katy Brown, Nerve 18.

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