Monday, March 29, 2010

National Spotlight On Waterfront's Mutilation

As Wayne mentioned earlier today (http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/03/museum-of-liverpool-radio-4-take.html ), the Friday edition of Radio 4's You and Yours programme featured a piece by Winifred Robinson, Liverpool-born & bred, on the squat monstrosity that will be the Museum of Liverpool (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/listenagain/friday_previous.shtml ).
Wayne is quoted in the piece, as is NML Director David Fleming, who does his best to convince a rightly sceptical Robinson of the carbuncle's merits ("we're really very pleased with the exterior," he enthuses).
However, Fleming audibly flags when presented with some further questions. The man who thought nothing of giving Port of Liverpool building owner Downing £750,000, ten times the original estimate for the museum's construction breaking a covenant (http://condensedthoughts.blogspot.com/2010/02/calculating-cost-of-cracked-covenant.html ) is also disingenuous.
"Much opposition?" Robinson asks him.
"No, not really," Fleming breezily & brazenly replies.
It's also significant that Professor John Belchem from the University of Liverpool doesn't question or dispute Robinson's suggestion that Liverpool has fallen into the trap of becoming a theme park, something the city, as well as others, wished to avoid after the 80s recession.
For good measure, Belchem suggests a spot of "retail therapy" at Grosvenor-pool.

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