Liverpool

It’s unlikely that Elon Musk has ever heard of Southport, far less visited it. He has five or six companies to run, after all, and has been busy this week sounding off about Venezuela, Kamala Harris, puberty blockers, and why the legacy media lie to you.

So it’s probable that some ugly riots in a seaside town somewhere in northwest England will not have registered with the strange genius who may well be the richest man in the world.

And it’s equally probable that, if you told Musk that he was in some way responsible for these riots, 5,000 miles away from the seven homes he owns/owned in California, he would scoff.

But that’s how it is. When Musk decided to splash out $44bn (£35bn) to buy what was then called Twitter, he took ultimate responsibility for the speech of 350 million-odd users of the platform. And Twitter – now called X – is where a foul virus spread in the wake of the horrendous stabbings of numerous children in Southport on Monday. That virus led to the rioting the very next day – and since. And Musk enabled it.

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Musk, whatever else he is, is not a stupid man, so maybe one shouldn’t take him too literally when he proclaims Twitter to be a truth engine and the MSM a swill of lies. But I think it’s possible he is an unthinking and arrogant man who would simply shrug at what happened on his platform – and elsewhere – this week.

This is what happened: within hours of a local 17-year-old boy being arrested for the mass stabbings, untrue narratives started circulating on social media naming him as “Ali al-Shakati” – a Muslim migrant to the UK – alleging that he was on an MI6 watchlist, and that he was an asylum seeker who was known to the Liverpool mental health services.

None of this was true, but research by Dr Marc Owen Jones, an expert in digital authoritarianism, has traced how this kind of speculation rapidly notched up 27 million impressions on social media.

The self-proclaimed misogynist and alleged rapist Andrew Tate, who has nearly 10 million followers on X, posted a false image of the supposed attacker, claiming he was “straight off a boat” – even though by then the police had told us he had been born in Cardiff 17 years ago. But that, according to Tate, was a lie promoted by what he calls “the Matrix”.

One of the most prominent amplifiers of this untrue information was a shadowy organisation calling itself Channel3 Now. Quite who is behind this outfit is unclear. Investigative journalists soon found that it had started life as a place for Russian car rally videos. It may now be run from an address in Pakistan or the US. That’s the joy of Musk’s beloved “independent media” – you haven’t got a clue who half of the fabulists are.

Archive

A pensioner's simple three-word response, 'Nans against Nazis' to far-right thugs protesting in Liverpool has become a viral sensation as the UK was rocked by more unrest on Friday night in the wake of the Southport knife attack.

Little to no violence occurred in Liverpool on Friday but 71-year-old Pat from Toxteth's sign, which read 'Nans against Nazis' captured many hearts and saw her praised on social media.

"Don’t mess with Scouse nans," said Liverpool Echo's political editor Liam Thorp when sharing an image of Pat.

Another person added: "Women - mothers, wives, sisters, grandmothers, daughters, friends - Stand with Nans against Nazis."

"What a city," said another.

Speaking to the Echo, Pat said: ""It started with coming out against the National Front in the 1970s. We've got to show them we're not afraid. I've been told to stop coming to things like this but I won't stop now. These people are just vicious thugs; there's nothing political in what they're doing."

Residents are today cleaning up in the aftermath of a protest in Southport. North West Ambulance Service confirmed paramedics treated 39 police officers after violent scenes broke out during a protest on St Luke's Road in Southport on Tuesday, July 30.

The ambulance service confirmed 27 officers were taken to hospital and 12 were treated and discharged at scene. It was declared as a "major incident" by emergency services.

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Damage was also caused to a local convenience store and wheelie bins were set on fire, police said. Three police dogs have also been injured. Police Dogs Zoe and Ike have sustained leg injuries from bricks thrown at them. A third dog, PD Quga, also suffered burns to her back leg.

Photos and video seen by the ECHO showed crowds gathered around police riot vans on St Luke’s Road. A police van was also seen up in flames. Following the scenes, residents living on the road and the surrounding area have come out in force to help with the clean up.

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Norman Wallis, owner of Southport Pleasureland, is helping clear the rubble. He told the ECHO: "We're all coming together to try and help the people in Sussex Road and the area to clean up for the mess that was made by all those people, those thugs, that came into their street.

"They just totally destroyed the street, pulled the walls down, pulled fences down, set cars on fire, just terrible. We're all coming together to just try and help as a community."

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Cathy McGrath has been out on the clean up since 7.15am this morning. She said that the town should be grieving. Speaking to the ECHO, she said: "I feel just angry and upset really. I went to the vigil last night and it was beautiful for the girls and the children and then you see last night.

"Those people don't represent the community, these people represent the community. They've spoilt it really and that's why I have come out today."

Fundraising:

• Swifties for Southport on JustGiving, for Alder Hey, the children's hospital
• Southport Dance Group Emergency Fund on GoFundMe, for the victims and their families

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/15538192

Nigel Farage has been condemned for his response to the Southport stabbings, with the husband of murdered MP Jo Cox accusing the Reform leader of “inciting a riot”.

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On Tuesday afternoon, before the riots began, Mr Farage had posted a video to social media responding to the attack, questioning why the incident was not being treated as terror-related and asking whether the “truth is being withheld from us”. He also asked whether the suspect, who is 17 and has not been identified, was being monitored by the security services.

In a statement the same day, Merseyside Police had stressed the “incident is not currently being treated as terror-related”.

Hitting out at Mr Farage’s response, Brendan Cox said: “Imagine your response to the death of three children being to peddle conspiracy theories that incite a riot.

“This is why Farage deserves the label far-right. Everyone who is associated with him, has normalised him or promoted him should be ashamed. This is vile.”

Ms Cox, the former Batley and Spen MP was killed by far-right terrorist Thomas Mair in June 2016, a week before the EU referendum took place.

Labour MP Jess Phillips also criticised the Reform UK leader, claimed he was “grifting” and pointing out that he failed to turn up to Parliament for a statement on the incident.

Ms Phillips, the MP for Birmginham Yardley, said: “Nigel Farage could yesterday have had the questions, he claims are unanswered, answered if he had bothered to turn up to parliament and ask them during the statement on the incidents in Southport. He didn’t turn up, he grifted instead.”

Supporters of the English Defence League have thrown items at a mosque during a protest in Southport this evening, according to police.

A police riot van has also been set on fire as crowds, believed to include supporters of the far-right group, gathered at a protest that turned violent in the Merseyside town. One police officer has also suffered a broken nose after being hit with a object thrown by the crowd.

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Video on social media showed more police arriving in Southport, where officers with riot shields are in a stand-off with protesters. Some police officers were seen walking through crowds with police dogs towards lines of officers who are stood in front of police vans. Debris can be seen on the ground around the vans while police have been using their shields to deflect missiles thrown from the crowds. Smoke canisters have also been used. Multiple police cars and vans, blue lights flashing and sirens blaring are patrolling local streets, with hundreds of onlookers gathering in the area.

One witness at the scene said a man has been seriously injured after being hit by a flying object. They said: "A man knocked on our door screaming for help, his head was split open and pouring with blood. He was asking for a towel to help stop the blood. Someone had thrown a brick towards police and it hit him in the face. It was terrifying, my young child was stood behind me and seen it."

Fundraising:

• Swifties for Southport on JustGiving, for Alder Hey, the children's hospital
• Southport Dance Group Emergency Fund on GoFundMe, for the victims and their families

Police were forced to appeal for people not to speculate online about the Southport stabbing after an incorrect name for the suspect was shared on social media.

After the attack, which left three girls dead and five fighting for their lives, misinformation spread on social media, claiming that the 17-year-old unnamed suspect was an asylum seeker.

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Police were said to be monitoring reports of a far-right rally potentially taking place in Southport on Tuesday evening amid concerns that false information could fuel community tensions.

Officers have confirmed the suspect arrested was born in Cardiff. It is understood his parents came to the UK from Rwanda, with his father believed to be a black belt in karate.

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Sunder Katwala, director of the think-tank British Future, said a fake news channel seemed to have invented a false name and story.

Mr Katwala said:“There are different types of bad faith actor spreading misinformation at pace in heightened circumstances.

“There may be low quality feeds masquerading as news sites, even scraping social media rumours to produce AI-generated content.

“There can be more deliberate networks of extreme actors, including far-right groups and foreign intelligence actors.”

Within hours, social media posts repeating the fake news, had gained millions of likes and engagements.

Archive

A Merseyside town has been named as one of the best places in the UK to live by the sea.

The Sunday Times released the list this week, which includes the Sefton town of Waterloo among its 20 top seaside locations. It ranks among Penzance, Nairn and Ballycastle.

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The Sunday Times said: "The greatest attractions here are the 100 life-sized cast-iron figures that make up Another Place, Antony Gormley’s mesmerising installation which has transformed the huge sandy Crosby Beach into one of the country’s most uplifting spectacles — even more so if you spot one of the dolphins that are increasingly regular visitors to the Mersey.

"But there are more down-to-earth attractions in this unpretentious beachside enclave that’s less than 20 minutes by reliable Merseyrail train from the centre of Liverpool. There are good schools, a lively selection of bars and restaurants clustered around the station on South Road and the lovely Plaza Community Cinema.

"Best of all is a useful stock of Victorian and Edwardian houses, which are both closer to the water and cheaper than in Waterloo’s better-known neighbour, Crosby. A four-bedroom place with a view of the beach will cost £350,000-£400,000. An extra £100,000 will secure a spot right on the beach."

The average house price in Waterloo is £213,198. Only last year, The Sunday Times named Liverpool as the best place to live in the northwest and singled out Waterloo as one of Merseyside's "best districts".

The upward intonation, the guttural “ck” and even the cheeky comeback to win the argument: at just 19 months old, baby Orla has mastered the crucial elements of speaking like a scouser.

Impressively, the toddler who featured in a viral video this week appears to have done so without the need for actual words.

A clip posted on TikTok, and now viewed more than 20m times, shows Orla babbling in a Liverpudlian accent as her babysitter, Olayka, tries and fails to coax her into taking a nap. Scientists say that the cute exchange is also a vivid illustration of the processes by which babies acquire language – and the surprising role of accents.

Babies are so tuned in to the musical ups and downs of speech that even as newborns they cry in distinctive ways that reflect the languages that they have heard while in the womb.

In one 2009 study, Prof Kathleen Wermke, a pioneer in the field of speech development at the Würzburg University in Germany, found that French infants tend to wail on a rising note and German babies favour a falling melody and other patterns have been seen for Mandarin, Swedish and African languages. “When I started 40 years ago, if I told people I was recording babies crying and making high-pitched sounds they’d look at you and think ‘Is this really science?’,” she said.

It was around 5am on Thursday, December 12, 2019. This bleary-eyed correspondent was sat with colleagues in the Liverpool Echo offices after a dramatic and exhausting night. We had watched as Labour's heartlands around the nation had tumbled like dominoes in what could only be described as an unmitigated disaster for the party.

Boris Johnson, a man largely reviled in this part of the world, had gleefully swept up seats in the North East, in Lancashire and around the country as he marched on towards an 80-seat majority. But despite the Conservatives' devastating pummelling of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party, there was one corner of the country that failed to be convinced - anything but.

As is so often the case, Merseyside refused to follow the national trends, in fact it largely rejected them outright. In Liverpool, the red rose party increased its vote share - comfortably returning five MPs in the city. In Wirral former swing seats were easily won by Labour as heartlands in Knowsley and Bootle remained strong. The only flash of blue on the Merseyside map was in Southport.

Liverpool and Merseyside are used to thinking differently, of doing things differently when it comes to the mood of the nation. This time around, things are a little different. This time, that sea of red is blemish-free. With the Southport seat going to Labour for the first time in its history, the Tories have been banished from Merseyside completely and it can be fairly stated Labour's surge to power has been built on the seeds of hope that remained in this region when so many other strongholds had fallen

The redevelopment of Lime Street in Liverpool by British studio Broadway Malyan has been named the country's worst new building in this year's Carbuncle Cup.

Organised by UK magazine The Fence, judges chose the Lime Street redevelopment as the "very worst new building in Britain", since the competition was last run in 2018.

"From the very first viewing, two of our panel had this as their number one selection, and as the longlist was narrowed to a shortlist, this hideous bit of architectural misadventure continued to stick out," said The Fence in the award announcement.

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"A bunch of developers have been allowed to knock down a happy, eclectic row of buildings – including the much-loved, sorely-missed Futurist cinema – and replaced it with such nothingness," said Architectural Record contributor and jury chair Tim Abrahams.

"Such banality that their only option is to cover it with a screen, upon which they have drawn portraits of those same old demolished buildings," he continued. "Greed has rarely looked so greedy."

Liverpool Garston

In the redesigned Liverpool Garston seat, current MP Maria Eagle is expected to easily remain in post, with a projected 73.9% of the vote. YouGov predicts its a close run for second place between Greens and Lib Dems, followed by Reform and a last place for the Tories.

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Liverpool Wavertree

It is a similar prediction in Wavertree, where Labour are expected to win 72.7% of the vote and retain the seat. The Greens are currently in a healthy second place, with 15%. The Lib Dems are third, followed by Reform and the Tories are last on just 1.4%.

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Knowsley

Knowsley will have a new MP for the first time in nearly 40 years and looking at the YouGov poll, this will be a Labour MP. The party are predicted to scoop up a huge 75% of the vote. The Greens are currently in second with 8.5%, just ahead of Reform UK, who are on 7.2%. The Tories and Lib Dems are battling it out for fourth place.

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Bootle

Labour are projected to win 73% of the Bootle vote and keep the seat red. The Greens are just ahead of Reform in the battle for second place according to the MRP poll. The Tories and Lib Dems are bringing up the rear.

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Southport

When it comes to Merseyside, many eyes will be on Southport. The seat has been held by the Tories since 2017 and has never been held by Labour. Keir Starmer's party will be delighted to see YouGov project that they will win the seat with 51.6%.

The Conservatives are currently back on 29.5%, with Reform set to take a chunk of their vote with 8.2%. The Lib Dems, who have held this seat many times before, are currently back in fourth place, followed by the Greens.

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Birkenhead

Birkenhead is set to elect a new MP, with Mick Whitely departing the scene. Things are looking good for his replacement as Labour's candidate, Alison McGovern, who is forecast to scoop up 63.2% of the vote. The Greens, who have seen good results in Birkenhead in local elections of late, are back in second on a predicted 13.3%, ahead of Reform, the Lib Dems and the Tories in last.

Time Out has released its first ranking of the World’s Best Cities for Food according to locals, with Liverpool landing 11th on the list.

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Time Out editors included only the highest-scoring city for each country to ensure the list reflects culinary cities globally. Liverpool bagged itself the 11th spot on the list, fending off competition from the likes of Spain, Portugal and France.

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Explaining its decision for Liverpool's ranking, Time Out wrote: "With everything from cult street food vendors to contemporary small plates, it’s no wonder locals were full of praise for their city’s food scene. Their go-to dish? Scouse, of course. This meaty stew is so beloved in Liverpool, it gave the city’s inhabitants the ‘Scouser’ nickname.

City-based writer Alice Porter said: "Liverpool is perhaps better known for its nightlife than its food, but a clutch of brand-new foodie ventures have earned the city a newfound rep for its dining scene. This is largely down to homegrown talent: local chefs like Paul Durand, who opened Michelin-mentioned Manifest in 2022, and Sam Grainger who owns small-plates spot Belzan and Mexican taqueria Madre. All are well worth making the journey to Liverpool for."

A woman has sent a big thank you to the people of Merseyside for their "non-stop kindness" during a recent visit.

Christine Veitch, 75, from Cumbria, was on her way to visit her poorly brother in Neston when her train to Liverpool Lime Street terminated at Preston, leaving her in a rush to get the next train to the city

Speaking to the ECHO, Christine said: "We all got thrown off at Preston with six minutes to get the next train. We had to rush across the station onto an alternative train, which was already crowded."

It was then the "wave of kindness" began. She said: "First of all, I was offered a seat, which I was more than grateful for. I'm a pensioner, but I'm not a doddery old lady or anything, so that was nice to begin with."

Then a kindly stranger called Keith sat next to her and gave her reassurance about her onward journey. Christine said: "We got chatting, and I mentioned I was worried about whether or not I'd make it to the train for Neston. He said to me, 'don't worry pet, I'll take you'."

Keith guided Christine through Lime Street Station, then checked the timing of the trains and waited until she was safely on board before waving her off on the platform. "He was so so kind," said Christine. "He even gave me a kiss when he left!"

But it didn't stop there. Keith passed on the kindness baton to a lady called Jane, who was waiting on the same platform as Christine at Bidston. Christine said: "We got on the train and she saw me looking at a piece of paper I'd brought along with my journey times on. She said to me, 'I know where it is you're going - I'll tell you where to get off'.

When they arrived at Neston, a couple of lads lifted Christine's case off the train for her, and Jane showed her to the high street, from where she was able to make her own way to her brother's house.

The organiser of a Viking festival has sought legal representation amid a row over events set to clash on the upcoming bank holiday weekend.

Two different Viking-themed festivals are due to take place on Wirral at the end of this month. The Wirral Viking Festival, to be hosted at Leasowe Castle on May 25 and 26, promises to be "an immersive, inclusive, family friendly event that celebrates the Norse heritage of the Wirral peninsula."

Meanwhile, an event described online as Wirral Viking Festivals - Brimstage Farm will be held between May 25 and May 27. That event is organised by a local re-enactment group, the Wirral Vikings, also known as Wirhalh Skip Felagr.

Solicitors for the Leasowe event's organisers described the proposed Brimstage Farm event as a "flagrant breach" of their intellectual property rights. The Brimstage event is set to include combat displays, crafts and a "viking village."

Speedo Mick, whose full name is Michael Cullen, is best known for walking the length and breadth of the UK for charity in his unique attire.

He has also swum the English Channel and climbed four mountains as part of his fundraising activity.

"I'm absolutely thrilled," Mr Cullen said, adding that the Citizen of Honour certificate would take pride of place in his front room.

He added: "I'm over the moon about it because it's from the city of Liverpool it makes it all the more special to me.

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Mr Cullen has raised money for over 120 organisations including charities which support disadvantaged young people and homeless people as well as mental health and wellbeing projects.

He said it was a way to thank the people who helped him with his own mental health challenges.

Bootle is ready to rock and roll after a major new music and arts venue officially launched last night.

Salt and Tar made its long-awaited debut with a sun-soaked event overlooking the canal in Bootle town centre.

To mark the occasion, surprise guests Red Rum Club performed live to an excited crowd who were able to enjoy an evening of music, family activities and plentiful street food options.

The launch party represented the opening salvo in a jam-packed events programme this weekend including the Bootle International Festival which will feature worldwide cuisine and a host of live entertainment The event has been organised by more than 15 local community groups and entry is open and free to everyone.

In addition, guests will also be able to see Bollywood dancing, Congolese music and public workshops put on by the Ukrainian Welcome Centre. Sunday will see more talent from Bootle and Beyond who are all set to take to the stage as part of Salt and Tar’s Live Lounge.

Artists will have the opportunity to share their music with the public in the same venue as local legends Red Rum Club and break in the stage [ie open] for Tom Jones, who will perform later this year.

Red Rum Club have been a pivotal part of getting Salt and Tar opened and have worked extensively with Sefton Council and other stakeholders - they even have a huge mural up on the wall overlooking the performance space.

Francis Doran is the lead singer of Red Rum Club and he spoke passionately about the importance of venues such as Salt and Tar. He said: "We're celebrating the launch here today and the journey we've been on to get to this point.

A £15m transformation of city docks that date back to 1765 has been given the go-ahead.

Liverpool's Canning Quaysides and Dry Docks will be revamped as part of the Waterfront Transformation Project by National Museums Liverpool (NML).

The south dry dock, built more than 250 years ago, will become accessible to the public for the first time.

The project, set to begin construction in autumn 2024, has been described as a "once in a lifetime opportunity".

Architects Asif Khan Studio and internationally renowned artist Theaster Gates will change Canning Dock into what has been described as a space for education, contemplation and recreation.

As part of the plans, supported by a £10m contribution from the government’s £4.8bn Levelling Up fund, a new stop wall will be built behind the existing timber gates in the south dry dock.

A staircase and lift will let visitors go down into the dock for the first time.

The area was used to clean and repair ships, including those that were destined to traffic enslaved people across the Atlantic.

A tree presented to the city 40 years ago to take pride of place at the International garden festival has been hacked up.

The snake bark maple tree - also known as an acer davidii - has stood in the Oriental Gardens within Liverpool's Festival Gardens in Otterspool for nearly 40 years. In the autumn, its beautiful red foliage is a sight to behold.

The tree was presented as a gift to Liverpool by the Japanese government as part of the International Garden Festival, which was held on the site from May to October 1984.

On Sunday, Kate Parry, Secretary of the Friends of Festival Gardens association, was working in the gardens when she was approached by a member of the public, who told her the tree had been vandalised. She went to investigate and saw the damage for herself.

Speaking to the ECHO, Kate said: "Half of the tree had been torn off - the part that was easily accessible by climbing onto stones. There were a couple of areas where branches had been burnt, and at the top of the cascade, branches from the tree had been piled up to be burnt."

Kate said she felt "shocked and upset" when she saw the extent of the damage. She added: "It's an iconic tree - it's our sycamore gap tree. It was an established tree when it was donated - so it's more than 40 years old."

People out walking along the banks of the Mersey were treated to an amazing sight on Monday as a pod of what appeared to be dolphins were spotted in the river.

The creatures were clearly visible as they leapt above the surface of the water together at around 5pm in Otterspool.

The magical moment was caught on camera by Dave Evans, who was walking his dog near Liverpool Cricket Club when he spotted the pod "passing by so effortlessly".

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Dolphins and porpoises have been spotted in the Mersey before. Thanks to decades of clean up work, marine life is returning to the river. Speaking to the ECHO in in 2023, John Sanders from the Mersey Rivers Trust said: "We do have dolphins, sharks and other fish starting to return into the Mersey estuary, but sewage is a big issue, we've still got these Victorian sewer systems which when heavy rain arrives, overflow into our rivers.

In 2020, at the height of the covid lockdown, several people reported seeing a pod of around 10 dolphins in Otterspool. However, according to an expert, they were probably harbour porpoises, rather than dolphins.

According to research from Savills and Telegraph Money, Hightown, in Sefton, is one of the most desirable villages in Britain to live in. The report looked at a number of aspects including highest house prices, best lifestyle factors, connectivity and aesthetic appeal.

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Hightown is desirable because it's close enough to transport including a train station, on the Southport line, but also between Formby and Crosby beach and the National Trust pine woods. The Times report said: "Commuters can work in the city and retreat to the coast where there are sandy and shingle stretches, dunes and wetlands teaming with wildlife such as natterjack toads.

"The nearby Sefton Coastal Path provides views of sprawling farmland and coastal vistas." The Pheasant Inn, on Moss Lane, is also a much loved gastropub that has been named among the top 50 pubs in the UK, by Big 7 Travel.

The subject of the painting gazes at the viewer, alone and barefoot in loose and torn clothing. Known only as The Black Boy, his identity has been a mystery for nearly 200 years.

A museum is appealing for information about the mysterious sitter, who is rumoured to have stowed away on a ship to Liverpool – possibly to escape slavery in America – after research about the artist, William Lindsay Windus, and X-rays of the painting revealed potential clues to the boy’s identity.

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X-rays have revealed that Windus, a pre-Raphaelite artist who was only 22 when he painted The Black Boy in 1844, painted “four or five” other faces on the canvas before making the unconventional decision to settle on an individual Black child as his final subject.

“He kept working until he created this image,” said Haselden. “This is the one he wanted to keep.”

She said that Windus also paid an unusual amount of attention to the child’s dark skin tone, giving it depth. “When you look closely, you see there are pinks and reds, and that is very rare,” she added.

By portraying the child gazing directly at the viewer, Windus is trying to invoke empathy for his pitiful subject, but in a dignified and slightly confrontational way, she said. “He’s making direct eye contact, he’s holding your attention and he’s making you look directly at him.”

At the same time, Windus uses the light shining in from the right-hand side of the portrait to illuminate the child’s face and convey his innocence and purity, she said. “It’s very ahead of its time – and it’s really showing off Windus’s skills as a painter.”

In 1891, nearly 50 years after the painting was created, a listing in a catalogue claimed the boy was a stowaway whom Windus had met on the steps of the Monument hotel in Liverpool. According to this narrative, Windus took pity on the boy’s condition, employed him as an errand boy and sent his portrait off to a frame-maker’s shop. Serendipitously, a passing sailor spotted it, realised the child was his missing relative – and reunited the boy with his parents.

This charitable tale, with its unlikely happy ending, would have made the portrait more appealing to wealthy Victorian art buyers.

“It’s a wonderful story, but I’m quite sceptical,” said Haselden. “This child may have been a native Liverpudlian. Black people have been living in Liverpool since at least the 1730s.”

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The museum has put up an appeal online for information about the sitter, asking people to use a Google form to share their clues.

“When we think about Black presence in art, there is so much anonymity there,” said Haselden. “There are so many figures that are unnamed.”

As a curator of mixed-race heritage in Liverpool, she said she wanted to “do justice” to the sitter and call The Black Boy by his name. She added: “His story is central to the development and history of our city, and he deserves to be more widely acknowledged.”

Any documents relating to the Liverpool Academy of Arts in the 1840s, which Windus was a member of, and any letters Windus wrote, would be of particular interest.

The City of Liverpool, England, has unveiled advanced proposals to build the world’s largest tidal power generator on the River Mersey.

If it’s built, Mersey Tidal Power would become the largest tidal range scheme in the world. It would power more than 1 million homes for more than 120 years.

The dam-like Mersey Tidal Power would be a barrier between the Irish Sea and a tidal basin. It would be fitted with turbines and tap into one of the UK’s largest tidal ranges to generate power with two-way generation.

It would connect Liverpool and the Wirral peninsula and could become a pedestrian and cycling link across the Mersey. It could also provide future flood defense.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/9062135

Huge volumes of toxic and cancer-causing forever chemicals are flowing into the River Mersey in north-west England. With a busy, industrialised skyline and both Manchester and Liverpool nearby, it’s the second-most populated river catchment in the UK after the Thames.

None of England’s rivers are in good chemical health. The recent State of Our Rivers 2024 report from The Rivers Trust found that one of the most concerning groups of synthetic chemicals, per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS), contaminates almost every river in England.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/8393231

Atomic Pro Wrestling stages fights in venue where viewers can enjoy craft beer and get close to the action