tag:,2008:/622 2007-09-21T07:48:07Z UK's senior serving arts critic and the ECHO's longest-serving journalist.... Movable Type Enterprise 4.21-en tag:lifeofriley.merseyblogs.co.uk,2007://156.25107 2007-09-21T07:44:42Z 2007-09-21T07:48:07Z

The government is treating Liverpool's Capital of Culture as some provincial village fete. Evidence is provided not only by the snub to any further central funding - that's all beingheld back for the 2012 Olympics - but by the...

Joe Riley The government is treating Liverpool's Capital of Culture as some provincial village fete. Evidence is provided not only by the snub to any further central funding - that's all beingheld back for the 2012 Olympics - but by the refusal to stump up the extra £10m needed to police the 08 calendar. Hundreds of thousands more people are expected as tourists. All the chief constable is asking for is money to provide 200 extra cops. Are we meant to wait for a disaster to happen and then examine the cash flow in the Whitehall accounts. For rest assured, the government will not consider itself responsible for any Capital of Culture disaster, nat ural or otherwise. tag:lifeofriley.merseyblogs.co.uk,2007://156.24376 2007-09-13T06:02:18Z 2007-09-13T06:16:06Z

The appointment of Phil Redmond as artistic chief for 2008 is far more than a gesture to more direct Scouse involvement in 2008. It will revolutionise the process....

Joe Riley The appointment of Phil Redmond as artistic chief for 2008 is far more than a gesture to more direct Scouse involvement in 2008. It will revolutionise the process. Redopnd is a hands-on trype of person. His time at Mersey Television proved that. He gets things done, and done well. So when he says he wants things done with the 2008 programme - some fine tuning to add events or fill in gaps - the culture company crowd will be jumping to attention. Or Redmond himself will want to know why not. The 'bypass' operation of power was needed, given serious comunication problems twixt council, culture company and the old culture company board. Ironically the term bypass equally applies to elected representatives who have been less hands on that required. Rather than councillors now calling the tune (and indulging in political in-fighting) Redmond's appointment creates a direct action (and accountability) line between himself, and chulture company chief executive Jason Harborow and his staff. With Redmond's natural expertise, plus the financial know-how of new culture company chairman Bryan Gray (also chair of the Northwest Development Agency), there is no real need for councillors to require anytying other than te be regularly informed of actions, changes, costs and any other concerns - on a daily basis. Redmond and Gray are the new decision makers. As yesterday's ECHO front page made clear, Jason Harborow andhis staff "will come under the direction" of this new slimmed down board structure. Very different from merely reporting to the board. tag:lifeofriley.merseyblogs.co.uk,2007://156.23769 2007-09-06T12:31:33Z 2007-09-06T12:45:11Z

Strange economics. The budget for the Mathew Street Festival was overspent by £80,000 (to the tune of £480,000 and rising!) despite the scrapping of outdoor events....

Joe Riley Strange economics. The budget for the Mathew Street Festival was overspent by £80,000 (to the tune of £480,000 and rising!) despite the scrapping of outdoor events. With council and culture company managmement like this (plus a no more cash message from Whitehall) who needs outside experts to advise on anything? Thus I was genuinely delighted to attend this week's Philharmonic pre-season briefing, which showed that in-house skill and know-how are winning through. I'm talking here of the day to day management of programming and the overall expertise and vision to see it through. The same compliment can justifiably be paid to National Musuems Liverpool and Tate Liverpool who are progressing with an excellent agenda. But two minuses I encountered this week. The confirmation in an interview with Liverpool-born Jude Kelly (who ran West yorkshire Playhouse up to being the best theatre in Britain; then did the successful artistic input to the 2012 London Olympic bid, and now runs the South Bank complex), that she had interviewed to join the 2008 team. So why isn't she aboard? How can anyone responsible for making appointments have missed this unprecedented opportunity to welcome home Britain's most able arts administrator and director? Secondly, the view of doyen Liverpool composer John McCabe, also internationally renowned as a pianist, that he has not been involved (apart from during the bid) with any of the actual 2008 eventing altough he "would like to have been." How much more Liverpool and Merseyside talent was ignored, or just plainly missed in the so-called international trawl for 2008 talent? The mind boggles. tag:lifeofriley.merseyblogs.co.uk,2007://156.22537 2007-08-22T07:53:28Z 2007-08-22T08:08:46Z

Even the best knicker elastic in the world cannot measure up to the challenge of maintaining the decorum of those at the centre of the Capital of Culture row. Something's got to give. And soon....

Joe Riley Even the best knicker elastic in the world cannot measure up to the challenge of maintaining the decorum of those at the centre of the Capital of Culture row. Something's got to give. And soon. How can there be a reasonably perceived 2008 celebraton when the elected leader of the council, Warren Bradley, is calling for the head of the council employee (Jason Harborow) charged with making the city's culture year an international success. It makes a Punch and Judy show look like a vicar's tea party. tag:lifeofriley.merseyblogs.co.uk,2007://156.21959 2007-08-15T09:45:47Z 2007-08-15T09:51:22Z

In my enthusiasm for the Empire Theatre's recent youth training production of Summer Holiday (the musical based on the Cliff flick) I set out on a very dangerous journey - to name all the principals....

Joe Riley In my enthusiasm for the Empire Theatre's recent youth training production of Summer Holiday (the musical based on the Cliff flick) I set out on a very dangerous journey - to name all the principals. I named all - but one - the actual female lead Meg Williamson. This, not least,. because Meg's picture credit in the programme was a solo shot, whereas most of the others were in groups. And we al know (don;t we?) about trying to read programme credits in the dark. So, although you didn;t get a deserved mention in the newspaper review, you get pride of place in my Blog mention of what was a very commendable venture by all concerned. Well done again, everybody - and particularly Meg Williamson! tag:lifeofriley.merseyblogs.co.uk,2007://156.21950 2007-08-15T07:47:43Z 2007-08-15T07:57:51Z

How does it feel, one wonders, to stick around heading up a company that has lost the confidence of its directors, is declared to be in need of daily baby minding by the leader of the city council, and is...

Joe Riley How does it feel, one wonders, to stick around heading up a company that has lost the confidence of its directors, is declared to be in need of daily baby minding by the leader of the city council, and is increasingly mocked/and/or loathed by the public at large? Of course the salary could play a part. Otherwise, you'd be hiding somewhere further away than Osama, wouldn't you? Am I talking of Jason Harborow, chief executive of the Culture Company, or his ultimate boss, Colin Hilton, chief executive of the council? That's what will make the independent inquiiry into the Mathew Street debacle more of a show trial for crimes against the humantities. Meanwhile, stunning news from the waterfront. No, not another building plan that won't come to fruition, but rather a scheme to remove and stun fish from the docks for the big Liverpool 08 concert and temporarily accommodate them elsewhere. And how much is that humane little exercise going to cost? Surely it would be better to hoik them out, drop them into hot batter (a feeling already understood by culture and council bosses) and feed the five thousand spectators. tag:lifeofriley.merseyblogs.co.uk,2007://156.20326 2007-08-02T12:19:25Z 2007-08-02T12:44:15Z

In view of today's extraordinary news - the cancellation of the Mathew Street festival - I have postponed a blog on the subjects flagged up in today's ECHO regarding high court sentencing and theology (will return to those at...

Joe Riley In view of today's extraordinary news - the cancellation of the Mathew Street festival - I have postponed a blog on the subjects flagged up in today's ECHO regarding high court sentencing and theology (will return to those at a later date, no doubt). Instead, the all-consuming issue is the fiasco of the Mathew Street Festival. All too often nowadays, particularly in national politics and sport, we hear of calls for resignations following some almighty mistake. This is not always necessary. But it becomes so, if a particular issue is likely to so impinge on the general perception of an individual or organisation that it is likely to affect the way it or they are perceived on a permanent basis. That - and that foremost - is the reason why the failure to stage a Mathew Street Festival at such a late stage - must be a resignation issue. It is a social, financial, political and public relations disaster beyond our imagining. It would be impossible to do worse damange to Liverpool's internaitonal profile, with tens of thousands of tourists booked and paid up to visit from all parts of the world. The mind boggles how 100 people working full-time at enourmous expense managed to irreversibly destroy their credibility. This worldwide blog will hopefully broadcast the lack of confidence we in Liverpool now hold in those who have allowed this situation to develop ( I say that as the city's arts editor for 36 years). These duffers will be for ever tainted - right through 2008 and beyond into the history books - with the consequences of their costly and ultimately unproductive strategy concerning Europe's largest free music festival. But exactly who should go? The chief executive of the council, the council leader, or the head of the culture company? One or all? For all must accept a degree of blame for this monumental error of judgement, which has brought such a disasterous result. What we have seen demonstrated is a masterclass in incompetence. Certainly, in most walks of commercial life, heads would roll. There is no reason whatsoever to argue otherwise in this case. If they have people to speak in their defence, then they had better produce them quickly. For both the council and the culture company, this is the day of reckoning - and from where I sit it's been a long time coming. tag:lifeofriley.merseyblogs.co.uk,2007://156.19554 2007-07-25T13:46:05Z 2007-07-25T14:11:53Z

We know to our cost, ever since they filled in the Cavern and replaced it with a pretend one, that it is not in Liverpool's interst to meddle with Beatles history. The more that is left intact the better -...

Joe Riley We know to our cost, ever since they filled in the Cavern and replaced it with a pretend one, that it is not in Liverpool's interst to meddle with Beatles history. The more that is left intact the better - and that include's Ringo's old two-up, two-down. The catalogue continues: we nearly lost the Strawberry Fields gates, the Penny Lane road sign eventually had to be placed at a height equal to the Eiffel Tour to avoid theft - and now, we stay in that very location for the next episode. The owner of the Sgt Pepper restaurant on the roundabout - a building and plot immortalised in the song, Penny Lane -- wants to add an extra storey. The irony is that public demand for food and drink is possibly going to overwhelm the need to keep the building "behind the shelter in the middle of a roundabout" beloved by Fab fans worldwide, as intact and same-looking as possible. The restaurant owner knew what he was inheriting when he moved in. The fact that disabled access requirements have robbed him of valuable retail space is nobody's problem but his own. If he doesn't like it, he can get back to wherever he once belonged. And whoevever takes over needs to recognise the significance of the site and Let It Be. tag:lifeofriley.merseyblogs.co.uk,2007://156.19544 2007-07-25T13:39:46Z 2007-07-25T13:46:01Z

Notice all all departmental heads - ofwhatever company - who think they have cover.......

Joe Riley Notice all all departmental heads - ofwhatever company - who think they have cover.... I rang a well-known Liverpool arts organisation at 10am the other day (any earlier is pre-dawn in the luvvies' world) to be told by voice message: "This is.....I am on leave until July 23. In my absense please phone....... I [phoned.....to hear on their voice mail: I am not in the office until July 24" Upshot. Nobody to speak to - and on the day that a press release from the aforesaid organisation had arrived announcing details of their latest projects. What was that old joke about not being able to find Hamlet in a cigar factory? I jest. But if the people concerned - or any of their ilk - are reading this, DO regard it as your wake-up call. Believe me, you could never sruvive inthe big outside world. tag:lifeofriley.merseyblogs.co.uk,2007://156.19060 2007-07-20T06:59:38Z 2007-07-20T07:34:58Z

Hurry, hurry, hurry, while old stocks last. Pilgrims journeying down Watling Street - aka Church Street, which is taking longer to lay than a Roman road - will notice that the excavations incorporate sets of tracks. Yes, you've guessed right....

Joe Riley Hurry, hurry, hurry, while old stocks last. Pilgrims journeying down Watling Street - aka Church Street, which is taking longer to lay than a Roman road - will notice that the excavations incorporate sets of tracks. Yes, you've guessed right. Old tram tracks, buried during the early 60s and now surely part of our industrial heritage? No so. They're merely being removed and thrown in skips. Ironically, the plan still technically exists to revive Liverpool's 21st tramway, kicked into touch by the government when central funding rose from £170m to £238m. Cue new Alun Owen drama, Last Tram to Kirkby). But bonkers Merseytravel never accepted thst the scheme was dead. It remains in their strategy plan detailing intended work through to 2011. Meanwhile, back at Westminster, a report from former Thatcherite Minister for Merseyside, Michael Heseltine, suggests that councils could keep money back from a special business rate to pay for the trams - an idea already torpedoed by new Tory leader Big Dave. No need to get excited anyway. The guy who would be able to make this happen is none other than nouveau chancellor Alistair Darling - the man who killed off Mersetram in the first place and is certainly no fan of the scheme, even under ideal financial conditions. So the fiasco continues....and just where did all those new rails purchased for the 21st centuury trams go? tag:lifeofriley.merseyblogs.co.uk,2007://156.18475 2007-07-13T13:41:52Z 2007-07-16T07:47:11Z

I was unable and unwilling to devote further space in my ECHO column this week to engage in a game of ping-pong with the Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, replying to his published letter (July 6) regarding my article about...

Joe Riley I was unable and unwilling to devote further space in my ECHO column this week to engage in a game of ping-pong with the Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, replying to his published letter (July 6) regarding my article about him (July 5). But as, in that letter, the bishop refers readers to his website for his 'real views', so I now publish a full account of what actually happened. I reported confusion in the printed media and on radio and television after a Sunday newspaper (the Sunday Telegraph) reported James Jones and the Bishop of Carlisle, Graham Dow, as saying that the recent floods were the judgement of God. The bishops both say the headline misrepresented them - and my article also reported the bishops to that effect. (However, reading the letters page of the Sunday Telepgraph on July 8. it was clear that the previous week's article had already 'damaged' public opinion). I further reported that the bishops' view was that if man meddles with the climate, there are consequences. Nowhere did I use the world judgement - just as Bishop James had not. In other words, at this point, all my article had done was to report the intitial confusion and reported both bishops' response. There then followed my own opinions about James Jones's previsiously expressed views on gay clergy (after the Jeffry John/Oxford Diocese fiasco in which Bishop Jones had gone on record saying Jeffrey John's appointment as Bishop of Reading would be wrong) and then, included the painful (but correct) reminder that there are a number of gay clergy in his own diocese. I finished by giving my personal take on the so-called 'theological' views of other churchmen and public figures. As an independent journalist I reserve the right to indulge in robust criticisism when I regard the views of others to be either misinformed or plain stupid. I have no requirement to "respect" those views if I think they are outmoded or outdated. What I objected to about the bishop's epistle to the ECHO was that he implied my courteous manner in speaking to his office and seeking to confirm his true views (and those apparently misrepresented in the Sunday Telegraph) was that I had indulged in some falsely fawning manner to get the information. I am naturally polite when dealing with contacts and making legitimate journalistic inquiries. Journalists don't have to be creeps and indulge in the politics of politics. The inference that I had behaved in such a way is wholly uncalled for. I had, in fact, confirmed in my article that the bishops (not least based on James Jones' Radio 4 Thought For the Day transcript which was forwaded to me) had said they had been the victims of misrepresentation. To imply there was a single syllable of factual error in my column was also incorrect. The bishop's haste to reply - his PA was on the phone to the ECHO within three hours of publication of my column - is interesting to say theleast. Although I uphold the principle of the right to reply in such matters, I at least expect the reply to contain some new or 'corrective' information. I have no time for letters which appear to have been written purely because the writer does not like what has been written about them. Although these are valid as an exchange of opinion, in my view they fall outside the 'right' to reply. I say this because I sense that theological subjects may well feature in future columns, and those who would deem to take issue need to know the difference between a choice to publish a response and an obligation to do so. tag:lifeofriley.merseyblogs.co.uk,2007://156.17799 2007-07-05T16:29:29Z 2007-07-05T16:43:25Z

I've written some tributes in my time: actors, singers, composers etc. Very often concentrating on the quality and quantity of their work. That's an exercise which can be undertaken quite objectively, even without knowing someone personally....

Joe Riley I've written some tributes in my time: actors, singers, composers etc. Very often concentrating on the quality and quantity of their work. That's an exercise which can be undertaken quite objectively, even without knowing someone personally. But when George Melly's death was announced this morning, circa 9.15am, there were two immediate requirements. 250 words in 10 minutes for a first edition page one/turn to page two news story, immediately followed by a 450 word tribute for the second edition (deadine 45-minutes later). Daily journalism - particularly evening newspaper journalism - requires the utmost speed - something which many other journalists, and certainly magazine and book authors, just do not have to contend with. However, although there is the need to proceed with speed, writing my tribute to George was a heart-felt exercise. Quite simply, he was a great chap who lived life to the full: intelligent, outrageous, funny, uncompromising: a truly technicolor character. He belonged to the era before dreadful political correctness clouded each and every action and judgement in life. How ironic that he expired the week of the ban on smoking in enclosed spaces, which he would never have approved of. Further, here was a man who had once advertised Benson and Hedges cigarettes (although his favourite smoke was always a cigar). Yes, he did die primarily of lung cancer (which he refused to have treated), And he was 80. and he did have one hell of a life. Better that than dumbing down, eating peanuts, sitting cross-legged in a commune, and living to be 99. As George Bernard Shaw declared: There's no point in trying to live for ever. You just won't succeed. RIP George, and I'll raise a glass of vino to ya tonight. tag:lifeofriley.merseyblogs.co.uk,2007://156.17048 2007-06-28T06:38:00Z 2007-06-28T06:44:13Z

I have spent much of my journalistic career encountering fake celebrity: bit part actors who have made it to a couple of episodes of The Bill or Coronation Street, and whose theatre programme biographies say: Theatre includes....followed by the titles...

Joe Riley I have spent much of my journalistic career encountering fake celebrity: bit part actors who have made it to a couple of episodes of The Bill or Coronation Street, and whose theatre programme biographies say: Theatre includes....followed by the titles of the only two obscure shows they have ever been in twixt having to wash dishes for a living. But then there is true celebrity - and true goodness. Both manifest quite clearly in the visit to Liverpool by South African Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The Centre for War and Peace Studies at Hope University is to be named after this great man who was in the vanguard of the fight against apartheid. He has an undoubtedl spiritual presence. Desmond Tutu is quite simply as good as humanity gets. And he is a celebrity, in that people can justifiably celebrate bothhis life and achievements. tag:lifeofriley.merseyblogs.co.uk,2007://156.14998 2007-06-08T12:14:59Z 2007-06-08T12:28:52Z

It is the best of times. It is the worst of times. Forgive me for askign what the Dickens is going on over medical cures, food standards and health warnings....

Joe Riley It is the best of times. It is the worst of times. Forgive me for askign what the Dickens is going on over medical cures, food standards and health warnings. First: Auberon Waugh persuaded me that the prime decade of existence came when a person reached their 50s: No mortgage, no kids at home, even no kids needing to be kept at university. Just a tidal wave of discretionary spending to indulge in So far, so good. But whey is it that every medical breakthrough - and there were said to be seven on offer this week alone - and even every cure for baldness, cannot be accessed for at least 10 years. It is always 10 years, just as every chunk of ice which drops off Antarctica is "the size of Wales." It gets worse: the food chain is now a constant source of grievance. Adverts for whol-fat milk are likely to disappear from children;s television because of confusion. Asda is limiting its new commercials to skimmed varieties after its whole-fat milk fell foul of Food Standards Agency guidelines. It gets worse. Whitehall mandarins now want a label on every bottle of wine (and every alcoholic beverage) about the risks to unborn children and the need to drink "respopnsibly." Can't blame Brussels for that one: French and Italian parents introduce chilkdren as young as seven to wine with their meals. And the final insult this week? Traditional camembert cheese is in danger of dying out after two of the largest producers have ended the 200-year custom of making it with "raw" milk. Premium camembert - the oly sort worth eating - is made from unpasturised, unsterilised lait cru, mainly from Normandy cows. Come come. There's more to life than Dairylea spread. tag:lifeofriley.merseyblogs.co.uk,2007://156.14241 2007-06-01T11:36:56Z 2007-06-01T11:44:25Z

Ask any politician what is their greatest asset - and they'll more than likely say loss of memory. How else does Tony Blair explain his tented summit with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi - aka Mad Dog - which resulted in Britain...

Joe Riley Ask any politician what is their greatest asset - and they'll more than likely say loss of memory. How else does Tony Blair explain his tented summit with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi - aka Mad Dog - which resulted in Britain signing an arms deal? The Libyan leader is not only laughing all the way to the bank. He has probably fallen off his camel en route. I'm sure the good people of Lockerbie will join me in contragulating the prime minister on his initiave. Then there's the Litvinenko business. We accuse a former KGB agent and ask for his extradition. The agent says it was all the fault of M16. Prime minister's are paid to know the facts andnot tolerate the conjecture. So what's Number 10 saying to that? Nothing, of course. President Putink is already annoyed enough with the West for reintroducing the arms race. Meanwhile the African - sorry, British - prime minister continues on his way with a far ewell tour that would have sufficed for Gracie Fields. Except that this week, the long-dead Rochdale warbler was declared to have been rewgarded as an alien by the British civil service. Just like Tony Blair, in fact.