Mikeuk

Joke of the year has to be 'Liverpool - European city of culture'.

There are some utterly ghastly places in this country, but no other city contains such an assemblage of chippy, self-centred morons. Travel only a few miles to Manchester and the people are remarkably normal - totally unlike the repulsive Scousers.

Of course there were some fine Victorian buildings in the city - many demolished or wrecked - but these were built by a civilised race of Lancastrians long extinct in Liverpool. The gnomes have taken over.

'European city of culture' is one of those ludicrous, meaningless, buggin's turn titles which is passed around from place to place every year.

It's rather like 'Car of the year'. I can still remember when this ridiculous trophy was awarded to...the Austin Allegro.

Liverpool and the Austin Allegro deserve each other.

Ian C

Agreed - Austin Allegro is best in the past.

But you are pushing your luck with Liverpudlians, and of course your definition of culture....

Mikeuk

Says it all.

Well what's yours? The last time I saw Liverpool it looked like Hiroshima after the bomb, only worse.

Why is it that whenever somebody gets themselves into a scrape (eg the guy who went to Iraq and had his head removed, and the 'teddy bear' woman) they always seem to come from Liverpool?

And why do we then hear that 'A city is in mourning'?

If they had come from somewhere sensible like Portsmouth people would just shrug their shoulders and say 'Serve them right for being silly b*ggers' and get back to something important like bingo or the lottery.

cookie65

Neary killed myself in an All Agro. On a fast country lane, tried to let the wheel run through my fingers, and whoops.
Austin Allegro - Gallery from 4Car

Westcountryman

Liverpool eh...hold on to your wallets!

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Manus haec inimica tyrannis ense petit placidam sub libertate quietam - "This hand of mine, which is hostile to tyrants, seeks by the sword quiet peace under liberty."

ENGLISH UNIONIST

It is perhaps appropriate that Liverpool has been chosen as the 2008 European Capital City of Culture. With its fine Gothic architecture, historic connection with the Beatles, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, two association football clubs (Everton and Liverpool), close proximity to Wales and its ferry crossing to Northern Ireland, it has all the trappings of a vibrant community deeply steeped in cultural, musical, racial and sporting diversity, easily accessible from all parts of the United Kingdom.

Of course to Liverpool’s Protestant Community the citadel of Liverpudlian culture is the Orange Institution. Founded in Ireland in 1795 the Institution – otherwise known as the Orange Order – organised itself in England shortly afterwards, and Liverpool has been the hub of English Orangeism (largely on account of the mass migration to/from Ireland via Liverpool) ever since. The present Grand Master of the Grand Orange Lodge of England, Ron Bather is himself a Former Provincial Grand Master of the Liverpool Provincial Grand Orange Lodge and continues to live in the Garston district of Liverpool. Orangeman’s Day – the Twelfth of July – is as a colourful and enjoyable occasion in Liverpool and neighbouring Southport as it is on the streets of Belfast, with a wide variety of bands – accordion, flute, pipe and silver – and lodges walking behind an assortment of brightly-coloured banners and bannerettes (depicting Biblical figures and scenes, famous soldiers and statesmen of yesteryear, churches and other historic buildings) reflecting the rich diversity of culture and tradition in the Protestant Community alone. When added to the cultural activities of the local Roman Catholic community, other ethnic minorities, cultural, music and sporting organisations, as well as the local gay and lesbian community, the activities and demonstrations of the Liverpool Provincial Grand Orange Lodge contribute significantly to the diverse pattern of Liverpudlian life which collectively forms a rich tapestry of interwoven and interacting communities united in celebrating their city’s claim to fame.

It is no less significant that 2008 also marks the United Nations’ International Year of Languages and the 41st Anniversary of the 1967 Welsh Languages Act (which gave some rights to use the Welsh language in legal proceedings in Wales and gave the relevant Minister the right to authorise the production of a Welsh version of any documents required or allowed by the Act). God-fearing, law-abiding Orangemen often cite the creation and expansion of either the United Nations and/or the European Union as being a Latter-Day fulfilment of Biblical prophecy contained in Genesis Chapter 11 which foretells the building of the Tower of Babel. Indeed, an earlier EU poster actually takes its title “Many Tongues, One Voice” from the words used in Scripture to denote the confusion of tongues at Babel, whilst many Liverpudlian Orangemen honour the Non-Conformist tradition of their Welsh brethren in voting for Centre-Left political parties (i.e., the Liberal Democrats and New Labour) committed to maintaining the Union of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: conscious no doubt that the Union is itself underpinned by the 1689 Bill of Rights and 1701 Act of Settlement secured by the Williamite victory in the Battle of the Boyne they commemorate on 12 July each year.

Liverpudlian Protestantism and Welsh Non-Conformism may, at first, appear dwarfed today by the appearance of vocal Roman Catholics – particularly as, unlike the Church of Rome, the various Protestant Churches sadly speak with different voices on great ethical and moral issues of the day such as the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill (now before Parliament) which seeks to legitimise the creation of hybrid (i.e., part-animal/part-human) embryos – but the influence of Non-Conformism should not be underestimated in shaping the policy of the Labour Party. On Merseyside, as in the North-East of England – akin to large parts of Scotland and Wales – where the Labour Party is strong, the Non-Conformist Churches (particularly the Methodist Church) have historically been the Labour Party at prayer just as much as the Church of England has historically been the spiritual home of bourgeois Conservatives. Moreover Gordon Brown (unlike his predecessor as Leader of the Labour Party) has, to date at least, remained loyal to his Scottish Presbyterian roots and has not bowed his knee to the Holy See!

Writing in his foreword to The Protestant Revolution: From Martin Luther to Martin Luther King Jr (published in 2007 by BBC Books) Tristram Hunt claims “… the cultural fabric of Protestantism – its essential moulding of Britain’s intellectual, religious and creative life – seems to have been sidelined. The Reformation and the heroic split from Rome have been reduced to history. Yet, despite the obituaries, its legacy lives on. Even in an age of nonchalant secularism, what this book and the accompanying television series show is the continuing impact of Protestantism in moulding our modern world. From literature to science, from gay marriage to the ‘war on terror’, a vibrant struggle for Protestant principles remains alive in Britain, America and the developing world. Unbeknown to millions, the Protestant vision continues to shape their work life, home life, even their sex life. If we are to appreciate both the crafting of our own complex, national identities as well as some of the religious passions dictating modern geo-politics, we desperately need a continuing understanding of those epochal events of the Reformation.

“… Despite the talk of obituaries and eulogies, the energy and ambition of global Protestantism still thrives. It not only remains the faith of millions of Christians, but is also an essential part of our cultural inheritance and contemporary social landscape. And it is evolving with the problems of the day: from the politics of debt relief to inter-faith relations, the battle over contemporary sexuality and the limits of scientific inquiry, the place of Protestantism in our nominally secular society continues to be enormously influential. It behoves us to understand its complexities – its theology, its controversies, and its sense of purpose. To know our own culture, to appreciate the geo-politics of America or the trajectory of the developing world, we need to get to grips with the faith that drives hundreds of millions of people. Almost five hundred years after Martin Luther sparked the Reformation, its legacy continues to shape much of our modern world. Its almost unique ability to change with the age makes it ever more challenging to decipher”.

I commend these words as, in 2008, we celebrate the 318th Anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne, the 100th Anniversary of the creation of the Territorial Army (originally known as the Territorial Force, formed by the former Secretary of State for War, the late Sir Richard Haldane, KT, OM, PC, FRS, FSA, the son of Robert Haldane and grandson of the Scottish evangelist James Alexander Haldane), and the 90th Anniversary of the creation of the Royal Air Force (from an amalgamation of the Royal Naval Air Service and the British Army’s Royal Flying Corps under the command of the eminent Scot, Lieutenant-General Sir David Henderson KCVO, DSO, LLD).

Through English Orangeism’s celebration of the Battle of the Boyne on the streets of Southport on 12 July 2008 we would do well to capture not only a microcosm of the diversity of Protestant culture but emember the significant role Protestantism has played in creating, and sustaining, the institutions and values of the British Nation and Family of Nations which we know today as the British Commonwealth, be it the Monarchy and the Royal Household, the Church of England, parliamentary democracy and the rule of law, our armed forces, etc: all of which are under attack, as never before, from a reconstituted Holy Roman Empire, masquerading as an “international free trade organisation” called the European Union (EU).

Lack of space prevents me from amplifying on how and why the EU threatens to destroy our Protestant Throne and Constitution. Suffice to say that, believing that “the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing”, we will not be found wanting in our defence of civil and religious liberty for all and special privileges for none. May the pages of this newsletter, the meditations of our hearts and the words of our lips echo the claim of William III in proclaiming “the Protestant Religion and the Liberties of England, I will maintain”.
NB The Grand Orange Lodge of England will be holding a Special Parade on Saturday 10 May to celebrate the City of Liverpool’s status as 2008 European Capital of Culture. All bona-fide Members of the Orange Order are welcome and are asked to assemble in Corn Street, Liverpool 8, at 1.45 for 2.00pm prompt departure. Orange Regalia should be worn. For information about membership of, and/or parades organised by, the Loyal Orange Institution of England, please write to the Grand Secretary, Grand Orange Lodge of England, 108 Everton Road, Liverpool, L6, or visit Grand Orange Lodge of England.

For further information about Non-Orange activities and events in Liverpool to mark its status as 2008 European Capital of Culture please write to the Liverpool Culture Company, PO Box 2008, Municipal Building, Dale Street, Liverpool, L2 2DH, or visit Liverpool 08.

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THE UNION OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND, UNLIKE THE EUROPEAN UNION, DESERVES (AND NEEDS) TO BE MAINTAINED AND STRENGTHENED DAILY.

The Bear

I think Boris got it bang on.

Boris Johnson on Bigley

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I am an old man. I have eaten much salt.

C_steam

My white, 1100 Allegro was my very first car (SYA 257L if anyone is interested). Loved it. Got me everywhere.

Comparing an Allegro to Liverpool is unwarranted. As an anology, it is like comparing Milla Jovovich, slim, attractive, elegant (allegro) with Jo Brand(liverpool)

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mkpdavies

My parents were given a blue Allegro, when we were very poor and couldn't afford to do much. It was like a luxury car to me after being in a Hillman Imp for a few years. That one cost 100 quid, but was so unreliable and it died eventually.

Because of that act of kindness from their friends, I gave my first card I owned away to someone in a similar position. See I'm not always a *******.

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Hartlepool

Did you take it back after they had fixed it up MKPD?