- 15/12/2011
On Monday night (12th December), Liverpool City Council held an
extraordinary public meeting to vote through £30 million of
swingeing budget cuts. Despite the meeting being poorly advertised
- no doubt to prevent dissenting citizens from attending - it was
reasonably well attended. From 4pm a diverse mix of members of the
public, including anti-cuts activists, workers, trade unionists
and the unemployed gathered outside the town hall in the cold and
rain, waving placards and chanting. |
- 8/12/2011
Wednesday 30th November, 2011 saw the biggest one day strike in
the UK for a decade. Unions had called members out to support their
demands that the government rethink plans to reform public sector
pensions. It is claimed that 2 million people went on strike throughout
the UK. |
- 30/11/2011
After spending time in London helping to start Occupy London and
then visiting both Occupy camps there regularly it was good to see
Occupy Liverpool finally set up camp at the base of the Wellington
Monument by the Walker Art Gallery and St. George's Hall. I spoke
to a few campers and visitors about why they were there and what
they thought about the Occupy Movement. |
- 29/11/2011
The BBC are considering cuts that will disproportionately and drastically
affect local radio, leading to stations sharing programmes regionally
for part of their schedule, and sharing an "all-England"(?!)
local radio show in the evenings. Radio Merseyside would lose staff
and programmes, including Folkscene and other music shows, and community
programmes. |
In the fourth seminar in the CCSE Critical Research Seminar Series
Joe Sim provides a critical analysis of the urban disturbances that
occurred in August 2011.
Thursday 1st December 2011 from 5pm – 7pm at 68 Hope Street,
L1 9BZ. Attendance is free.
|
Lecture by Professor Sam Davies at The Refectory,
St Nicholas’s Church, Chapel Street, Liverpool on Wednesday
23rd November at 2pm.
The causes, progress and key events of the strike have been analysed
in some detail in previous literature. In this lecture Professor
Davies will shift the attention to the ordinary rank-and-file citizens
of Liverpool who were involved in the strike, not only the strikers
who participated directly, but also those who were caught up in
the accompanying civil disturbances.
|
Featuring Billy Bragg, Akala, Sound of Rum
on Friday 25th and Saturday 26th November from 8pm at The Picket
Liverpool.
Since taking over the running of the Left Field at Glastonbury Festival
in 2010, Billy Bragg has made an effort to showcase young artists
who are mixing pop and politics. The Left Field in Motion Tour will
take that concept on the road, with a ticket price pegged lower
than usual in an attempt to connect a new generation to the power
of music with something to say.
|
- 10/11/2011
While all and sundry, politicians and royalty display their Red
Poppies in public at ceremonies to remember Britain's war dead,
Britain, Israel and the US are ramping up proposals to bomb Iran.
This is while Britain spent a reported £1.7Billion this year
bombing Libya and killing thousands of civilians, but really for
regime change and to send a decisive message to China to get their
investment out of Libya. |
- 19/10/2011
I visited the London Stock Exchange in the summer and I thought
then it was the right place for a protest. A few months on and I
found it would be occupied along with about eight hundred other
occupations all over the world. Cities including New York, Berlin,
Athens and Rome were standing together against a world which has
become so hostile to people's needs. |
- 14/10/2011
Windmill Wholefoods/Liverpool Green Co-op has been given notice
to quit their premises by the end of October. They thought they
had a new shop lined up, but this was dependent on securing finance
and they are trying to spread the word about their situation to
as many people as possible in the hope that they can make the most
of any help that people may be happy to offer. |
- 11/10/2011
On Sunday, I was on Westminister Bridge in London when around 3,000
other
supporters and NHS defenders blocked the bridge, in an act of anger
and civil disobedience. Why are we angry? The bill for NHS reforms
that our Government has been rushing through Parliament threatens
to rip apart the patients before profits values our NHS currently
holds and has been heavily condemned by health professionals. |
For anyone aspiring to be a writer, wanting to see a new play in
development or wanting to work with the UK’s leading practitioners,
Everyword 2011 new writing festival is a two-week whirlwind of events,
readings, discussions, debates and workshops. This year the festival
moves to the Playhouse taking full advantage of the different spaces
around the building, including the exciting reopening of the Playhouse
Studio, from Monday 7 to Saturday 19 November 2011.
|
- 29/9/2011
The 4th annual Bold Street Festival, held over the weekend of 24th
– 25th September, was a huge success for the organisers and
a testament to the effectiveness of great community spirit. The
attendance of 20,000 easily surpassed last year’s figure (14,000)
and demonstrated how a community of independent traders, working
with City Central BID, can produce spectacular results from a small
budget. |
Robert King - The Story of a Black Panther. This will be introduced
by Prof. Joe Sim, then a screening of 'In the Land of the Free',
followed by questions and answers with Robert King. Convicted of
a murder he didn't commit, Robert King was sentenced to life without
parole and spent 29 years in solitary confinement (a 6ft x 9 ft
cell) in Louisiana's Angola prison until his release in 2001.
|
- 6/9/2011
Tracey Dunn reports from the Royal Liverpool Hospital on Prescot
St. on the demo to support the NHS. A blustery and at times rainy
day didn’t prevent over 100 people from turning out to condemn
Andrew Lansley’s Health and Social Care Bill. |
- 24/8/2011
George Clarke is a young architect making a series about empty homes
in Britain as well as working on the 'Restoration' TV show for Channel
4. He arrived with his crew just after monsoon weather had hit the
street. Channel 4 have commissioned the show to highlight the amount
of empty homes which could be lived in and that we have so many
people in need of decent homes. |
- 24/8/2011
Over 100 people packed into the Eldonian Village Hall on 15th August
for a remarkable 100th anniversary commemoration. The meeting was
to honour Michael Prendergast and John William Sutcliffe, who lost
their lives on 15th August 1911 when they were shot by soldiers
on the nearby Vauxhall Road. Local historians Ron Noon and Sam Davies
spoke and introduced a number of other speakers. |
- 16/8/2011
Over 100 people gathered on St George's Plateau on Saturday 13th
August to mark the 100th anniversary of Liverpool's Bloody Sunday.
The rally was called by Liverpool Trades Council. The meeting was
opened by Liverpool Socialist Singers' rendering of Power in a Union
and local singer Alun Parry's tribute to the Limerick Soviet. |
- 12/8/2011
Following a 10% cut in legal aid fees for refugees seeking asylum
in the UK, the UK best known legal firm that are helping asylum
seekers and refuges in their various cases, the Immigration Advisory
Services (IAS), has closed all its doors within the UK as the firm
has been undergoing in administration. |
- 4/8/2011
The Daily Mail has a long history of printing right-wing, bigoted,
racist and homophobic comments. As if these aren't enough reasons
not to buy The Daily Mail, it now has a weekly column by Kelvin
Mackenzie. Mackenzie was the editor of the Sun when the Hillsborough
victims were vilified. It seems he has found his natural home at
The Daily Mail. |
- 29/7/2011
Laura Naylor interviews Max Rubin and Simon Hedger from Lodestar
Theatre who produce The Liverpool Shakespeare Festival. This year
the festival features Romeo and Juliet at the St. George's Hall
from 25th August - 11th September and ends with "Come and have
a go if you think you're Bard enough!", a production of Richard
III featuring 25 theatre companies and 100 actors! |
- 20/7/2011
Visitors to the opening of the new Liverpool Museum were greeted
by a union demonstration against low pay. A third of museum staff
earn less than £15,000 per year and most cleaners have to
survive on £450 per month. |
- 15/7/2011
A world full of conflict and oppression will always produce refugees.
We can think of Albert Einstein who had to flee from the Nazi regime
or former Chelsea player Mario Stanic who escaped the Bosnian War.
Appalled by the stories they had heard from people at Asylum Link
Merseyside, a group of activists decided to take action. They just
gathered for one hour of silence every month to protest against
the local detention centre and to raise public awareness. |
- 11/7/2011
The long saga of the proposed demolition of beautiful Victorian
houses on Cairns Street (Off Granby Street, L8) went onto a new
phase today as the demolishers turned up. But the remaining residents
on Cairns Street and supporters from the surrounding streets (primarily
elderly women), put a stop to the demolition, by blocking the way
of both demolishers and police. |
- 11/7/2011
This event at Liverpool’s Static Gallery on Thursday 4th August
brings together two Liverpool bands each of which share the capacity
to create soundtracks for imaginary movies of the mind. Coupled
with projected visuals and compelling samples this is sure to be
an unforgettable experience. |
 - 7/7/2011
The Reverend Billy will be in News from Nowhere on Tuesday 12th
July at 6.30. and then at the , 13 Shaw Street on 13th July, 7pm (quote promotion code
'BILLY2011' when buying tickets and get 2 tickets for a fiver instead
of £10 full price!)
Check him out
exorcising the Demon 'monoculture' from the cash registers at Tesco
on Bold Street a few years ago.
|
- 1/7/2011
The Insurrection at Liverpool’s FACT saw many artists perform
to an appreciative crowd of people but when Spain’s Tibi &
her cello performed an electrifying and impressive set the people
in the room were in numbers not seen since the opening night of
the event. |
- 15/6/2011
The long awaited debut album by Emily and the Faves is released
through the band’s own label next week, with a launch party
gig taking place this Friday at the Static Gallery. Nerve met up
with front woman Emily for an interview. |
- 27/5/2011
Michelle McKay interviews Daniel Cutmore, manager of Look 11 Photography
Festival Liverpool. Daniel speaks eloquently about various aspects
of Look 11, including special mention at the end about photographer
Tim Hetherington who was recently killed in Libya. |
- 20/5/2011
Tracey Dunn attended a two day Forest Garden course in Shrewsbury.
Forest Gardening is about working in harmony with nature using no
pesticides or fertilizers. It utilizes companion planting like planting
pear trees or strawberries next to each other as they help each
other grow. |
- 16/5/2011
On Monday 9th May a lively protest took place outside the ATOS HQ
in Old Hall Street, Liverpool, where people stood outside The Plaza
campaigning against the organisation’s attempt to stop people
claiming sickness benefits by declaring them fit for work. |
- 10/5/2011
This year is the 30th anniversary of the Toxteth Riots and Writing
on the Wall put on a commemorative day and night at the Kuumba Imani
Centre in Liverpool 8. Featuring a talk from Bonnie Greer, a discussion
on "Back to the Future, Riots Then & Now", Maria O'Reilly,
founder of Liverpool 8 Defence Committee, told harrowing true stories
of racism and police brutality. Other speakers were Levi Tafari,
Kevin Sampson and Billy Hayes. |
The Nerve Centre at FACT is finished now but to read interviews
and reviews and see photos and films of some of the events there,
including Jo Bywater, 20lb Sounds, Juve, Jazamin Sinclair, Mashemon,
Tibi and Her Cello go to the .
- -
|
- 2/4/2011
After the amazing success of last year’s , when an unprecedented fifty thousand people attended the
festival, the event is gearing for its Twentieth Anniversary. Held
in Liverpool’s iconic Sefton park over the weekend of the
18th and 19th June, expectations for 2011’s event are already
building. Nerve met up with Festival Director Paul Duhaney to discuss
this year’s event. |
- 31/3/2011
Whilst Manchester has long had a reputation for bands who deal in
dark or melancholy subject matter, groups from Liverpool have tended
more towards the optimistic. The rise of Super-Cannes however may
change this received wisdom as the band tap into the same vein of
angsty noir-pop as The Doors and Radiohead. After a long gestation
period in the practice room and a slow trickle of gigs the group
are now ready to take their music to the masses. Nerve met up with
them for an interview. |
- 24/3/2011
The Liverpool For Japan website has been set up to bring together
the various events happening around Liverpool in response to the
earthquake and tsunami which occured on 11th March 2011 in the North
East Japan.
It will list any fundraising events, spiritual events, messages
of support, suggestions for how you can help etc. |
- 24/3/2011
Film director Ken Loach and actor Mark Womack were in Liverpool
recently for the premiere of their movie "Route Irish,"
which tells the story of a man who comes home from Iraq but is unable
to leave the war behind. Nerve interviewed them at FACT Picturehouse.
|
- 24/3/2011
Lisa Marie White reports on the march through Liverpool on 12th
March 2011 to celebrate International Women's Day. |
- 10/3/2011
In an era when digital recording, editing and mixing has made music
making vastly easier, thankfully there are always those who want
to push the new technology as far as it can go. Fo’netiks
are one such band, utilizing every available bit of technology they
can lay their hands on, whilst keeping one foot firmly rooted in
the need to play live. Along with their stunning visuals, the three-piece
stand as positive proof that innovation amongst Liverpool bands
is alive and well. Nerve met up with them for an interview. |
- 8/3/2011
Tracey Dunn reports on the 100th Anniversary of International Women's
Day held at the London Borough of Havering's Technical College on
Saturday March 5th 2011.
"I arrived to a rapidly filling
up hall and was welcomed with a goodie bag of 'International Women's
Day' themed treats including chocolates and an umbrella. My glee
was reduced however when I realised the day was hosted by London's
Metropolitan Police." |
- 3/3/2011
The normal silence of Liverpool’s financial sector after office
hours was broken by a crowd of protesters from the local community,
Unions and others outside the Town Hall, which had been re-titled
‘Peoples Town Hall’ by virtue of a well placed sticker
over the bolted shut front doors. , |
- 1/3/2011
One Man's Attempts to Find Work On Merseyside. In my attempts fo
find work, I got a lift through the Mersey Tunnel and walked to
New Brighton. "There's work there," my mate said, and
there is. It's a massive site run by Bower and Kirkland. It is a
big Neptune Development and all the vans sub-contractors have Yorkshire,
Manchester and York post codes and numbers. |
- 18/2/2011
Fresh from playing St. George’s Hall late last year and a
headline slot at the Family Folk Up gig at the Scandinavian Church,
Dead Cities are possibly the nearest Liverpool has to the likes
of The Band and Eliot Smith. Additionally influenced by nu-folk,
US punk, and George Orwell, their dystopian lyrics prove initial
appearances can be deceiving, however. Nerve met up with them for
an interview. |
- 9/2/2011
Tracey who runs her own 'news channel' on twitter informing her
followers of actions and events, writes about social media technology
and the recent uprisings in Egypt. |
- 7/2/2011
All girl trio Stealing Sheep have built up a considerable buzz in
Liverpool and beyond with their take on psychedelic nu-folk, leading
them to be placed on many ‘Ones to Watch’ lists for
2011. Nerve met up with them for an interview. |
- 4/2/2011
Photographic exhibition and video installation. The event is to
showcase the creative work produced by members of Mary Seacole House
and is an opportunity for the group to express and to share with
the public the positive changes that the Journey of Principles of
Pleasure project has brought about within their lives. Their work
is a projection of the participants emotional and cognitive journey
each has made from thoughts of I can’t to I can. The exhibition
is an invitation to the public to be inspired and to ‘Take
notice.’
February 10th - March 11th, 11.30am-6pm at the Rapid Paint Shop,
28-32 Renshaw Street. |
- 2/2/2011
Southport band Misery Guts stand as positive proof that acoustic
guitars and understated melodies can produce results as dark as
anything produced by indie guitar slingers in thrall to Joy Division
and The Cure. A fixture on the Liverpool gig circuit over the past
twelve months, the group are beginning to build up a sizeable buzz
around them. |
- 20/1/2011
To commemorative the 100th anniversary of the death of Robert Tressell,
the author of the Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, there is a tour
around Liverpool of two dramas, One Of The Damned and 21st Century
Philanthropists, plus talks by people who have been influenced by
the Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. |
- 17/1/2011
Breathe Out Theatre present Rid The World which charts the events
of the 1911 Liverpool Transport Strike led by activist Tom Mann.
Rid The World will open in the centenary year of the strike at The
Salford Lowry before going on to The Liverpool Unity Theatre from
Thurs 17th to Sat 19th March. |
- 17/1/2011
100th Meridian Theatre Company present A Crime of Compassion. Set
in Liverpool during the 1930s, George, an unemployed docker, joins
a protest march to London about the rise in unemployment. He is
subsequently arrested, branded a communist and gaoled. After his
release, George joins the freedom fighters of the International
Brigade to fight for the democratically elected government of Spain
against Franco’s Fascist coup where he finds himself trapped
in a Villa with two other brigadiers and three Spanish Republicans.
They are outnumbered and surrounded, with no way out. Do they surrender
or fight to the death?
From 9th - 12th March at 7.30pm at , 36 Seel Street, Liverpool. |
STRIKE!
A
visit to the Occupy Liverpool camp
URGENT!
Stop BBC Local Radio Cuts!
The
Fish Rots from the Capitalist Head - Riots in the wasteland of the
free
‘The
1911 Liverpool General Transport Strike Revisited’
Left
Field in Motion
Poppies
for Peace
Occupy
the London Stock Exchange
Don’t
Let Windmill Close!
Block
the Bridge – Save the NHS
Everyword
Festival
Bold
Street Festival – a Community Success Story
Robert
King - Critical Research Seminar Series at LJMU
Demo
at Royal Liverpool Hospital to defend the NHS
Channel
4 visit Cairns Street Toxteth for 'The Empty Homes Show'
Two
workers shot dead by soldiers in 1911 are honoured
Bloody
Sunday Rally
Plight
of Asylum Seekers and Refugees Augments
Don’t
Buy The Daily Mail
Interview
with Max Rubin and Simon Hedger of Lodestar
Low
Pay at New Museum!
The
Circle of Silence
Cairns
Streets blockaded, as street resistance begins
An
Interview with Tibi and her cello
Emily
and The Faves Interview
Interview
With Daniel Cutmore
Forest
Gardening in Shropshire
Demonstration
Against Benefit Cuts
Rioting
on the Wall
INSURRECTION
at FACT
Africa
Oye Preview 2011
Super-Cannes
Interview: The Sound Sweep
Liverpool
For Japan
Interview
with Ken Loach and Mark Womack
International
Women's Day Celebrations in Liverpool
The
Sound of Fo’netiks
International
Women's Day Celebrations
Protest
at the People's Town Hall
Down
And Out In Liverpool
The
Rise of Dead Cities: Dead Cities Interview
Egypt
and twitter
Stealing
Sheep: Scandinavia to Liverpool and Back Again
Principles
of Pleasure
Gather
Yourselves Together for… Misery Guts
Robert
Tressell Commemorative Drama Events
Rid
The World
A
Crime of Compassion