Down to the sea in ships

I hosted an event on Wednesday at the Port of Liverpool building at Pier Head. It is a remarkable building, quite stunning and quite majestic. I was immediately struck by the inscription in the atrium, a quote from Psalm 107: "They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep."

And to give it a full exposition: "For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end. Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven."

I was interviewing the owner of the building, George Downing, who is a real character and worthy holder of Insider's Property Personality of the Year Award. If you get the chance, drop in. Downing Developments have done a marvellous job preserving the stained glass windows and restoring the natural light into the atrium from the domed ceiling.

Coverage of the event is here. Everton and Liverpool should share a new stadium, says George. And by George, he's right.

Chicken feed

David Conn writes on the Blackburn Rovers takeover in the Guardian today, link is here.

Wigan chairman Dave Whelan has been typically hard headed and realistic about it. He thinks it feels wrong. I agree. And I wonder if for football this isn't a deal too far.

What are the alternatives? Well, the trust have explored these and there aren't any, it would appear. But should the deal go through to sell Blackburn Rovers to Venkys, then I must confess to feeling a little empty about it all. They are making all the right noises about Asian support and the values of the club, but at the end of the day it’s a profile raiser for them. And they ain’t in the same league as Abramovich or the Abu Dhabi mob who bought Manchester City, so not much will change on the financial front, except the trustees in Jersey will be a shut of an asset their benefactor created all of £25m of value.

Maybe I'm looking at it too emotionally. I chose to support Blackburn Rovers as a cosy homespun and traditional Lancashire club. And never in my wildest 11-year old dreams in 1977 did I think I’d be taking my kids to see Rovers play in the top division, to cup finals, semi-finals let alone in Europe. It’s been an amazing 20 years and we all enjoyed the Walker years.

But it saddens me to think that Blackburn Rovers will become some kind of marketing arm of a chicken manufacturer from India.

There was surely the opportunity to convert the interest of the Walker Trust into a community mutual. And if this deal doesn’t go through, then I for one would support that as the next step, rather than this slightly humiliating public auction we’ve endured for the last 6 months and the uncertainty in the 10 years since Jack died.

Anyway, we're beating the barcodes. And that's always a good feeling.

Marple fireworks - amazing

The Marple fireworks were awesome this year. Brabyns Park lit up beautifully. Here's a quality pic from Steve Grace, taken from the bridge over the train station.

Fans should own football

Prior to the Rovers match against Wigan I had a quick catch up with Proper Journalist David Conn. The Guardian journalist and sometime Insider contributor was at Ewood Park to ask around about the imminent takeover. There'll be more to come on this in the next day or so, but it was good to hear his tales from the night before in Rochdale. David had been at Spotland to see FC United of Manchester win a dramatic FA Cup tie.

There can't be many football fans who don't have admiration for what the Rebels have done. Fed up with corporate football, fed up with being ripped off to service the debt of the American owners, they started their own club. I like the integrity of non-league football and the raw ambition to build a new club here. I know a couple of the lads involved and it's a great coalition of interests and characters. Communists and rapacious capitalists, joined by a passion to make it all work.

As Rovers stand on the brink of a new era of ownership, we reflected on what a missed opportunity it appears to be.

Take it away Morten

So, there we were at the world's worst service station, Rivington on the M61. We were on our way back from Blackburn Rovers v Wigan and alongside us in his BMW X6, a ludicrous car, is Morten Gamst Pedersen. Pic here.

It was a great opportunity to tell him just what we'd been talking about in the car a few minutes earlier.

Pedersen, you are a lightweight fancy dan in a muscular team of hoofers. At best you'd see a role as a midfield sweeper upper, picking up a loose ball and playing a neat short pass to one of the Dioufs. But you don't even do that well. Your long balls are too long, you can't tackle, you're not brave and you pull out of challenges. Wigan scored a goal that was ruled out. It should have counted and it was your fault. You lost the ball in the middle of the park, which led to the free kick, which led to their goal. You should have scored a headed goal as well. But the keeper saved it. Head it down, man, not up. What do you do in training, because you never get any better?

And then you scored a screamer. A free kick that caused mayhem that floated in at the back post. Did you mean it?

Do you really think we said any of that to him. A middle aged man with his 11 year old son? Articulate in private, mildly star struck in person. No, of course we didn't. We didn't say anything in fact. MGP seemed happy. But then you would wouldn't you?

And one of the reasons is there's this very amusing advert for fruit. This enigma is a superstar in Norway, he gets to do adverts for fruit. What's that all about?

Here's his own blog here. Where, in his words, "we played a shit first half".

Some cool stuff

Look at this - Makeamixa - make a mix tape, just the like old days - but with a modern digital twist. From those wonderful people at Magnetic North in Manchester.

My pal Charlotte Bacci has opened a wool shop in Manchester. Check out Purl City Yarns.

Don Draper says "what" a lot. Hat tip: The Word

Some lush winter knitwear from Albam Clothing. Toasty. They sell a few Albam pieces in Oi Polloi on Tib Street.

New wool Wier Hats from the Casual Connoisseur.

Roger Cashman's spirited defence of Rosso.

Tomorrow's World introduces the possibility of the world's first mobile phone in 1978. (Hat tip: The Word)

Some pics and stuff from a day trip to Lancaster by Red Bricks and Coal.

Cafe Culture in Marple - love it

There's been a bit of competition in the foodie scene in Marple. I would hazard a guess it isn't anything like as acrimonious as the store wars in Rose Hill.

Toast deli has opened a new shop on the corner of Derby Way, just along from All Things Nice, itself a recent opening. Both are run by lovely passionate people who want to serve new and interesting food. I've been enjoying some bacon butty banter with the owner on Twitter and he's taken up a suggestion to punt his wares on a daily basis on the social networking site.

I do love All Things Nice. The owner, who also runs an outside catering business, The Travelling Gourmet very kindly shares recipes and tips. There's a lovely buzz in the cafe and the deli whenever I go in, which is too infrequently.

Also good news is that Toast has turned the Market Street shop, which was always too pokey for my liking, into a lovely, moody wine emporium. The staff also seem to know what they're talking about. I enjoyed  a aromatic Barolo 1994 from there last week. They also stock the wine that defied the infidels - Chateau Musar, from Lebanon. Beautiful.

One casualty appears to be that Deli Select on Hollins Lane has closed. Does anyone know what has happened here?

PS - Update 4/11/2010 -  The guy at Deli Select is in business with the guy at Toast.

Get well soon Danny Baker

This blog wishes Danny Baker all the very best of luck in his battle with cancer. His statement was full of the wit and wisdom we've come to love him dearly for: "Once the quacks have soundly thrashed this thing I shall return like a rare gas and as if out of a trap."

North face - Spooks in far fetched shocker

As the current series of Spooks drives headlong into a dramatic conclusion can I confess to feeling a little out of patience with the script writers. It is a ludicrous complaint to level at a series built on the very foundation rock of preposterous flights of fancy, but I just can't buy into the current Lucas North story.

Let me explain. Spooks is essentially a character-based drama set in a workplace. As it's a domain that deals with issues none of us have any experience of, we have to suspend any sense of realism or believability. No, that's not my issue. I just can't get my head around the simple identity theft of Lucas North's life by "John". It doesn't square with any of the actions and desires and sacrifices hitherto made by the same character. Or MI5's vetting procedures. As a storyline it has lost its way completely.

This is shame, I like Iain Glenn's character Vaughn Edwards, good murky wheeling and dealing at the fringes of Spookdom. Glenn is also superb at the bluff and double bluff he brings to each scene.

So, I'm still hooked, still buzzing from it and can't wait for next week's episode.

As for Harry and Ruth. Get a room. Please.

That's why they're champions

There really will be very little to stop Chelsea this season. Blackburn Rovers out played them and harried them for the first half, but lost a lead. In a more even second half, a winner looked more likely from Rovers than the champions. But they have Anelka, Drogba and any number of sharp eyed attack minded midfield players. Rovers had Jason Roberts. I've said before that several passages of Rovers match reports can be written before the game - Grella limps off injured, Pedersen ineffective, Robinson brilliant, Roberts misses one-on-one with keeper and blasts wide.

My eldest lad plays at left back and we both kept a close eye on Ashley Cole today. He was incredible. When Chelsea attack he plays very far forward; more an out and out winger than an overlapping left back. The other player for them that stood out was Mikel. Nothing fancy, nothing fussy, but he passes so well.

Parc Life revisited

At the risk of sounding like I repeat myself, my verdict on Center Parcs is pretty much the same as it was this time last year after our half term break. The link is here, but I said the staff are great, the other people are nice, but it's starting to get a bit tatty. Well, it's even more in need of love and attention and a bit of investment. On the plus side it has universal wi-fi now, but the other changes were all cost cutting measures. The canyon slide in the pool is now an unmanned free for all, which is fine.

Ironically, the news over the weekend was a hint that the Forestry Commission would sell off land to leisure developers like Center Parcs. Ecological vandalism, it has been called. Honestly, I think the Whinfell Forest is pretty well looked after. But it seems like an odd idea.

An open letter to Balaji Rao and the Venky's people

Let's go round again. In June I wrote an open and welcoming letter to Saurin Shah, one of the supposed bidders for Blackburn Rovers. In August, I wrote a slightly updated one to Ahsan Ali Syed. Even then I had a natural suspicion of anyone who blabs before a takeover is complete and felt something wasn't right. Bizarrely, he has been probed, prodded and investigated and looks like he has not been able to complete the deal afterall. However, he has made some very generous donations to Blackburn charities.

Here's an open letter to the latest bidder, reported as Venky's, an Indian-based poultry company. And here is Alan Nixon's story in the Mirror, detailing the strategy. There is talk of a tie up with an international agency. This is a worry. But, hey, forever positive, here goes.

Good luck in your efforts to buy our wonderful football club! I just wanted to mention a few things that might not pop up in your commercial due diligence.


First of all, thank you for conducting your negotiations with grace and privacy. The other lot made a mockery of our club by sounding off. Your interviews have also been polite and respectful, without bravado. That is the way of our club and I think it puts a positive marker down.

Fans are realists, we know football is changing. We know football is a global industry with television audiences expanding in your home country. But don't be fooled into thinking anyone will want to come and play in front of empty seats. Make sure the club is looked after too.

Our fans are the future of this club. Their loyal support has kept this club in a special place. To make it work for you, you need to engage with them and help that support grow even more. That doesn't mean walking round the pitch shaking hands and signing autographs, it means involving supporters in the running of the club as a community asset. Be open to any positive suggestions that may come your way on this.

The fans are frustrated at the moment because there haven't been any new signings. The manager is frustrated too. But make sure we sign the right players.


Exciting young players connected with an emerging sports agency are one thing, players who play with pride are another altogether. Don't let agents and middlemen turn your head. And please don't use this club as a feeder club or be used as a commission earner for these sharks.

Be patient. Our local talisman, David Dunn, is an injury prone genius. Our goalkeeper was a reject who was written off but has missed out on the World Cup because he plays for an unfashionable club. But they are stars. Our stars. So is Phil Jones - a teenager from Chorley. They are adored. And Steven N'Zonzi, our player of the year, is a young man plucked from obscurity, who has just signed a new contract.

Our fans are usually right. When Jack Walker owned the club he didn't like a certain type of flash player and blocked some transfers. There are players who just aren't Rovers players, learn about that and treasure it as a core value. Rovers fans like a solid centre pair, a free scoring forward and attacking football. We're not getting that at the moment, which is frustrating the fans.

The season can seem long and a grind. When we lose at Liverpool, draw at home to Sunderland and lose at Stoke it tests your faith. We're fourth from bottom. So, you will look at these wealthy players who don't seem to be able to perform and despair. But you have to stick with it. Form can dip, the manager can seem negative and grumpy, but at heart he's a good man. There are voices amongst the fans who want him out, Don't listen to them. Stick with it. He has a good scouting network, he finds gems, like our player of the year. Don't get your head turned by younger managers with fancy methods, something good is building at Rovers. The Academy at Brockhall is a treasure trove. Extend it. Make it the place the best kids want to come to. That's the place where investment is needed.

Blackburn is a multi-racial town, but Rovers supporters are mainly white working class men. This has changed a bit over the years, but don't expect to see much of an affinity with the local Asian population without a long hard effort to win hearts and minds and don't expect them flocking overnight. The current marketing and management team have been focused on shoring up what we have, but with your help greater links with India, with Asian communities and with other sports can expand Rovers as a brand.

You will have seen other owners of football clubs in the Premier League see their dreams shattered because they splash the money and lose it. Rovers have a heart and soul and a family spirit that is very much in touch with the roots of East Lancashire life. But it is just one aspect of our community. Build on that, extend deeper into that, and build the links with your own heritage - it could well yield commercial rewards and enable this club to move further forward.

Be realistic about what that could be. Be modest, be strong, value quality and there is a good chance that in the future there could be a statue of you next to the one of Uncle Jack.

Enron - How?

Doing what I do, the story of Enron and its collapse like a house of cards into a sea of oil was the most incredible story of our times. It was all the more remarkable that it took business magazine journalist Bethany McLean to first ask the question that no-one else would - is Enron overpriced?. Not an analyst, a regulator, a bank, or even a whisteblower from within, but a magazine journalist from Fortune.

The story has been made into a feature length documentary and a stage play. I saw it at the Lowry last night and it's terrific. A brilliantly staged production with some powerful devices to tell the story - the monsters in the cellar to represent the off balance sheet SPVs that Andy Fastow set up, for example.

It's a test for us as storytellers to make these tales compelling, but a test too to keep asking questions. Ironic that one of Enron's slogans was "Why?" the question that keeps being asked retrospectively is "How?"

The first cut is the deepest

There's nothing to celebrate about the government's deficit reduction plan. The billing that this was the moment that the public sector workers would learn their fate was always fanciful - it's not government by Radio 5 Live. There will be much to work through now, and much more detail to implement. But there is some comfort in the fact they're getting on with it. It had to happen. Every party supposedly understands the need to make the cuts. The question the Labour Party can't answer is which departmental spending cuts would they support now, and which ones  they wouldn't implement. That's the beauty of opposition though. It's not a privilege afforded to the Liberal Democrats, many of whom aren't naturally inclined to govern, just to make speeches.But they're now going to have their resolve tested.

Speaking of which, these set piece occasions always skim the surface and lead to pundits uttering the inevitable - "the devil is in the detail." 

Science budgets are protected, but the projects that were named were all in the South. It hopefully tilts the argument towards carbon capture and other green technologies being centred on the North.

There was a nod in the direction of rail improvements, but with price increases for tickets. The projects that have been identified initially were for electrification. I'm not sure that's the best use of resources. What about the Todmorden Curve, or the small improvements for massive gain that the Northern Hub will deliver? Details, details.


And what about those exciting plans for Local Enterprise Partnerships? They must have been in his speech when the sound went down. Or maybe not.

A sorry lot

AA Gill in the Sunday Times (behind the paywall) has re-ignited the Manchester Food Is Crap debate again. He reviewed Rosso, Rio Ferdinand and Mahmoud Kamani's Italian restaurant at the top of King Street, chosen one assumes, because it's a living breathing symbol of that blingy, WAG, faux gangsterish side of the city centre. "A sorry lot," he observed. First, I've not been to Rosso, so I'm in no position to defend it. Second, he's clearly a bit of an arse, but he plays the role well and would therefore have enjoyed the backlash in the Manchester Evening News, here and on Manchester Confidential, here.

Pendle prepares

Rachel's home town features in the Observer today. Nelson's demise is charted with some trepidation as the government prepares cuts. Despite Housing Market Renewal, the efforts of Ant and Vet to offer a bright future for Pennine Lancashire, jobs haven't been created and the place hasn't found a fresh purpose in the modern age. Re-reading the report seems apt now. It spoke of bottom up community action to revitalise the area as much as top down large statements and icons. More than ever it needs bold thinking.

My mate #8 - Jon Johnson

I've dabbled with Facebook and thought it wasn't for me. Being asked to "poke" young people isn't my thing really. Anyway, as I said yesterday I've piled in again. I'm glad I have for the connection to an old friend called Jon Johnson. We were mates when I lived in Western Australia in 1988-1989. He introduced me to an eclectic and bohemian crowd in a laid back city and contributed to a memorable year down under. I was thinking of him as we watched the last episode of series 3 of Mad Men last week, not for the mild Don Draper comparisons, which are real enough, but for a tangential episode with another character. Jon had a mate who followed him to London called James Martin, or so I thought. It turned out he was called something else. An engaging enough rogue, the last time I saw "James" was in Jon's flat in Holland Park as this bizarre unravelling took hold.
Another of our "crew" back in the day in Perth was an amazing character called Roy Jopson, who I shared a house with. Roy died in 2004. As I've chatted to JJ on Facebook this weekend he's recounted the detail of Roy's demise. It must have been a painful experience for Jon and other friends as they watched Roy bewildered in hospital as he reeled from brain cancer. Memories are one thing, but staying in touch with friends is much better and makes it more real.

Back on Facebook

I've registered with Facebook again. I got round to thinking I couldn't ignore it any longer. Anyway, it was instantly proven to be a good decision. I'm back in touch with an old pal now living in Tasmania. We had failed to find one another using other social media and searches, but bang, there he was. Another mate has started a new job in Dubai, and clearly uses Facebook to keep in touch much more than he uses email.

I also had a couple of chats last night with a mate in Morecambe and a bloke I know in China.

I'm going to keep it very social, much as I do with this blog I suppose. But look forward to staying in touch.

Some random October links

Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens to debate the future of faith.

Finnish news reader gets sacked for this. Harsh.

There's a very excellent music video website I've discovered. Muzu TV.

I remember the RCP. This is where they went. Nutters.


Truly great interview with Gore Vidal in the New Statesman.

A magnificently stupid polemic by John Pilger in the New Stateman.

A website that is so brilliant it defies description. But look.

Norman Geras on leftish miscalculation.

Philip Blond interviewed by Ed West in the Catholic Herald.

The Marple underworld - car causes obstruction

I was rather taken with the stunt from Greater Manchester Police to highlight EVERY incident that is reported over a 24 hour period. Apart from learning that a car caused an obstruction in Marple, we were able to sleep in our beds safely here in leafy land.

Here are the stats:

"Between 5am on Thursday 14 October 2010 and 5am, today, Friday 15 October, the force has dealt with 3205 incidents and posted details of every single one on Twitter."

The cops reported it had been a success too. Here's the MEN report. Here's the BBC.

It ticks a lot of boxes about accountability and accessibility. More of that, please. It also gets across a harsh truth that the "hard working taxpayers" don't always like to confront. Not only are there a small and irritating number of horrible people out there doing a lot of horrible things, there are also a lot of very stupid people wasting time.

But I also noticed that the chief constable mentioned the decline of local media as a reason to use new technology like the social media channel Twitter. This is a good point. The facts bear it out too. I'm sure there was a heyday when the local daily paper, the local BBC and Granada would touch everyone. All the chief had to do was make a statement and it would be reported. Everyone would share the experience, most people would have a view. It's just not like that now. There may be many more outlets, including the daily news service in our office where a hive of activity spreads a dozen or more regional business stories every morning. But overall, we know so much less.

Knowledge and engagement about public services, indeed, anything that goes on around us has never been poorer. In a world where we supposedly can know everything about a bunch of rescued miners in Chile, or the takeover of Liverpool Football Club, we are surprised and outraged at what our local police have to do on a daily basis. There have never been as many ways to tell us stuff, but there actually seems to be less understanding of more things.