Up Yours Geoff and Maggie

Today, something which I had long suspected but had dismissed as paranoia and my intense dislike of the tory party was proved to be true. Papers had been released from the early eighties where Sir Geoffrey Howe had suggested to Margaret Thatcher that Liverpool, my beloved city, be left to managed decline.  It seems we were not considered worthy by the government of any financial support  during those dark days in our history.  Although officially the government did not take this path, in reality the country abandoned us.  Jobs were non existent and as people struggled to survive the media turned on us.  Scousers were now figures of fun, a stereotype which very tiredly still exists to this day.  We were all scroungers (how do you scrounge when there are no jobs I'll never know) and thieves.  Honesty was a stranger and you should check your pockets if you had the misfortune to come into contact with one of the shell suited bubble haired scallywags.

I of course knew this was all nonsense, I am a Scouser and my pride in this beautiful city and it's people knows no bounds.  There were times when it felt it could not get any worse, Heysel, Hiilsborough (now if the campaign by the families for justice is not evidence of a noble commitment to the truth, I give up), Jamie Bulger, Rhys Jones, the list of horrors goes on.  But through all these nightmares and neglect the city has thrived.  Despite all that has been thrown at us, the city has grown physically, culturally and spiritually, try keeping a good Scouser down?  It is impossible.

I started to have a think of what has been achieved since those discussions in the Cabinet Office thirty years ago, and with the help of the lovely people of Twitter this is what we came up with.  Please feel free to add your own ideas of what this city has accomplished in the last thirty years in the comments.  You don't have to be a scouser to take part, just to have an appreciation of our wonderful city.  If you have never been here, what do you dream of seeing?  Lets celebrate this fantastic and special please and Geoff and Maggie, UP YOURS!

The Garden Festival

Larks in  the Park

Beatles Festival

Capital of Culture 2008

Liverpool Pride

Africa Oye

Liverpool Lantern Parade

Hope Street Feast

Banksy's Rat

The Biennial

Superlambananas

Penguins

La Princess, the giant spider

The Tate

FACT

Revamp of the Walker Art Gallery

Revamp of the World Museum

The new Museum of Liverpool Life

The Maritime Museum

The refurbishment of the whole dock area including the Albert Dock

Cavern Walks

Clayton Square Shopping Centre

Queens Square

Liverpool One

Echo Arena

Walton Neurological Centre

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine 

Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation

Liverpool Women's Hospital

Alder Hey Hospital

The University of Liverpool, world class research and teaching

Liverpool John Moore's University

Hope University

LIPA

The restoration of the Palm House in Sefton Park and the Gladstone Pavillion in Stanley Park

The Unity Theatre

The rebuilding of the Everyman Theatre

Reopening of the Neptune Theatre

Phil Redmond

Jimmy McGovern

Frank Cottrell Boyce

Mal Young

Willy Russell

Alan Bleasdale

The city is the most filmed city outside of the capital and has the most listed building of any city outside of the capital.

Echo and the Bunnymen

The Zutons

The Coral

Atomic Kitten

Black

The Boo Radleys

The LAs

The Farm

The Christians

Dead or Alive

Frankie goes to Hollywood

Gomez

The Lightening Seeds

Ladytron

Miles Kane

Sonia

Wah!

The Wombats

And a million other bands creating brilliant, good, average and dodgy music.

Never mind, two cathedrals, two premiership football teams even though only one of them is good.  A veritable pantheon of actors and writers and other creatives.

And now for my personal favourite past and present:

The Hangout

Planet X

The State

Cream

Macmillans

Bold Street Coffee

Salt House Tapas

The Bluecoat

Probe Records

The Walking Seeds

Benny Profane

Brookside

Bold Street

Hope Street

Sefton Park

Top Chef

The Quarter

The grounds of the Anglican Cathedral

69A

Deja Vu

El Kilos

News From Nowhere

Victoria Gallery and Museum

The Double Negative

Ye Cracke

The Grapes on Roscoe Street

The refurbishment of St Georges Hall

The refurbishment of Lime Street Station

And the beautiful stylish people who let me photograph them.