FRESH INQUESTS FOR 96 FAMILIES

The news this week...Garston and Hale-wood MP Maria Eagle critical of West Coast main-line debacle.More on page 3

Sinitta raises Scouse brows as Fashion Week kicks off at Leo Casino.More on page 7

Cheryl brings her ‘A Million Lights’ Tour to the Echo Arena.More on page 8

by Ian Bolland

Hillsborough families learnt today that there will be fresh inquests into the deaths of their loved ones.

The Attorney General, Dominic Grieve QC, will write to the High Court to ask for initial Hillsbor-ough inquest verdicts of acciden-tal death to be quashed, opening the door for 96 fresh inquests.

The announcement in the House of Commons at lunchtime follows a 400 page report and the release of 450,000 documents relating to the disaster in September, which exonerated Liverpool fans of any wrong doing at the FA Cup semi-fi nal in 1989, and found that many police statements were amended following the disaster.

Documents disclosed by the Hillsborough Independent Panel have revealed that up to 58 people could have survived with adequate medical assistance on the day.

The initial inquests into the disaster returned the verdict of accidental death, but families, survivors and Liverpool fans have campaigned for 23 years for fresh inquests.

Exceptional

Mr Grieve said that although he had not yet fi nished examining evidence, he felt he had seen enough to come to a decision.

He told the House of Commons: “My consideration of the evi-dence on this matter is far from complete, but I do not want to cause the families affected by this disaster any greater anxiety.

“I have decided to take the exceptional step of announc-ing, on the basis of what I have already seen, I am persuaded that an application to the courts for a fresh inquest must be made.

“96 died because of what occurred at Hillsborough that day and 96 inquests were held. I believe that as all of those deaths arose from a common chain of events, it would be better for me to apply for all 96 to be consid-ered.”

However, Mr Grieve said he will need time to bring proceed-ings in order for fresh inquests to take place.

He said: “I wish to make it clear that, having announced my decision, I will still need the time in order to prepare the application so that the strongest case can be

made to the court. I have given this work priority and I will con-tinue to do so.

“I need to complete my consid-eration of the evidence; I need to provide the families with the opportunity to make representa-tions and consider any representa-tions they have made. I need to complete my consideration of the legal issues and then I will need to make the application to the court. When the case is heard, then it is a matter for the court’s listings. It’s very diffi cult for me to give a precise timetable; I will move as quickly as I can.

Mr Grieve said that he couldn’t be sure that the inquests will be held in Liverpool, which the families have requested: “So far as the issue of the venue, that isn’t really a matter for me.

Accountable

“Should the application I make to the court be successful, it will then be a matter for the court and the coroner to decide where the inquests take place. It is not my decision.

“I am satisfi ed that there will be suffi cient resources to take this forward so as far as the venue for the actual hearing, that isn’t a matter for me. Should the application I make to the court be successful, it will then be a matter for the court and the coroner to decide where the inquests take place.”

The announcement follows the news that the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and the Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP) will launch investigations into offi cers who were involved at Hillsborough that day.

Mr Grieve admitted that the timing of the inquest may be affected by their investigations, but will apply for fresh inquests as quickly as possible.

Steve Rotheram, MP for Liver-pool Walton, said: “For the fi rst time in over two decades, all the evidence can now be reviewed into the disaster and potentially a new verdict recorded on the death certifi cates of the deceased.

“At long last, the full horror of Hillsborough will be on the public record alongside the names of the people and the organisations that are accountable for what happened.”

Life www.jmu-journalism.org.uk

Liverpool

16th - October - 2012

A recent study revealed that Liverpool has fi ve of the top ten poorest communities in the UK. Picture by Paul Collins

by Tara Lamb and Alice Kirkland

The number of people receiv-ing emergency food from UK food banks has increased in the past year with North West organ-isations seeing the biggest rise in demand for their services.

National charity the Trussell Trust, which runs the only net-work of foodbanks in the UK and partners local churches and communities, said its food bank network had fed almost 110,000 people since April, compared with a total of 128,697 in the whole of 2011-12.

The charity expects to feed more than 200,000 people in 2012-13.

Lynda Battarbee, the North West Development Offi cer for the Trust, said: “Static wages and the rising cost of living are a toxic mix.

“Lots of people are having to choose between eating and heating due to the increases in food and gas prices.”

The Trussell Trust aims to empower local communities to combat poverty and provide emergency food to people in crisis. It released its statistics to coincide with World Food Day.

They show young adults (aged 16-24) accounted for 13.3% of all people referred, while pen-sioners made up less than 1% of referrals. Food banks in the

North West were the busiest, with each used by an average of 1,086 people during the six month period. Less than 5% of foodbank clients are homeless, many are working families struggling to make ends meet

But why are there so many foodbanks in the Liverpool area?

Lynda Battarbee said: “The Church Urban Fund recently released a study of the 10 poor-est communities in the country; fi ve of these are in Liverpool.

“There’s a big myth surround-ing food poverty in this country. People expect that those in de-veloped countries seeking food help are just scroungers but the

majority of them are just normal people living below the poverty line.”

However, Ms Battarbee also went on to state that there will always be a need for food banks, regardless of the economic sit-uation.

The trust runs a network of 270 food banks across the UK, staffed by volunteers with food products donated by local peo-ple. The Trussell Trust receives no government funding relying entirely on the generosity of the public, businesses and charita-ble trusts. The charity is launch-ing a new food bank in the UK every three days and expects this to continue until 2015.

Food Bank demand increases

Life/News/2

by Tara Lamb

Merseyside Police have launched a crackdown operation in an at-tempt to reduce crimes involv-ing illegal scrambler bikes, a type of all-terrain motorcycle.

Offi cers across Merseyside are to take part in a week-long initia-tive aimed at putting the brakes on the criminal and anti-social use of scrambler bikes across the county.

Operation Brookdale will involve over a hundred of-fi cers who will focus on areas across Merseyside where com-munities have suffered from criminal and anti-social use of scrambler and quad bikes.

The operation begins the same day that a 22-year-old man was jailed for seven years for causing the death of a cyclist.

Patrick Bennett was driving the scrambler bike into on-coming traffi c on Walton Lane when he collided with dad-of-two Peter Reekie from Walton.

Footage was shown in court of Bennett driving the bike at speeds reaching up to 48mph on the pavement, before swerving into the road to avoid a parked van and colliding head on with Mr. Reekie.

A Fazakerley mum-of-two also died last month and a 16-year-old boy died last August in incidents involving illegal scrambler bikes.

The force believe this to be the chosen transport for offenders involved in recent gun crime in-cidents across the county and op-eration Brookdale has already led to three arrests in the Sefton area.

The force is urging communi-ties to take a stand and let the lo-cal police know where scrambler bikes are being used illegally so they can take the necessary action.

Superintendent Paul White,

who is leading the operation, said: “These bikes are facilita-tors for gun crime and drug deal-ing and we want to take away that transport from offenders.

“We want to identify where the bikes are and get them off the streets. We will not stand idly by and let these offend-ers think they can run amok in our local communities.

“This operation aims to take as many illegal riders off our roads and parks as possible to make our communities safer.”

Almost 800 scrambler and quad bikes have been seized and in 12 of the shootings the force have had to deal with this year, a scrambler bike has been involved.

As well as seizing bikes, offi cers will also be strongly enforcing traffi c law in the roads in a bid

to restrict the activities of the il-legal riders across the county.

School offi cers will also be visiting local schools to show them the dangers of the scram-bler bikes and also educate them on the laws surrounding their use and the potential consequence.

Concerns have been raised by residents in different ar-eas of the county where scramblers have been used il-legally on local parkland, farm-land and other open spaces.

They are warning that anyone using the bikes in a criminal or anti-social way will have them seized from their possession.

It is illegal to ride a scram-bler bike anywhere except the road and the riders must con-form to the Highway Code and have all the relevant doc-

uments and safety equipment.Chief Superintendent Rob

Carden, Area Command-er of St Helens, said: “Mer-seyside Police will not tolerate the criminal or anti-social use of scrambler, or quad bikes.

“Anyone who takes to the roads illegally and poses a danger to pedestrians and other motorists on our roads, risks losing their licence and if their reckless driv-ing results in injury or death they will face a prison sentence. My message to these people is: Ask yourself - is it worth the risk?”

“Merseyside Police wants to send a clear message to anyone using a scrambler illegally in Merseyside - you cannot ride your bike illegally in our parks or open spaces and we will take the strong-est action we can against you.”

Mersey police crackdown on illegal bikes

by Sophie Marsden

Plans for a fi ve star cruise liner to come to Liver-pool in 2013 are under way.

The ‘Celebrity Infi nity’ is set to give a huge boost to the economy.

The boat with a 2,170 passen-ger capacity is set to make its maiden call on May 1 which will be the fi rst of four round-Brit-ain cruises starting in Harwich.

Liverpool will be a featured city on a UK voyage on Septem-ber 1, 2013 and this will be the fi rst time passengers will be al-lowed to embark and disembark.

It will be the next step for Liverpool waters since the Ocean Countess led the fi rst turnaround cruise in Liverpool on May 29th earlier this year.

Wendy Simon, Liverpool coun-cil’s cabinet member for Culture & Tourism said: “I think the pas-senger numbers it will have and the tourism it will bring into the city will benefi t Liverpool. Also

people spreading the word about what a great city Liverpool is.

We’re looking at developing the cruise liner terminal and having a permanent base. That’s about building up the tour operators.

There’s a huge application that’s gone through the Coun-cil. There’s a massive devel-opment plan which will take place over the next forty years if the plans are approved.”

The current temporary ter-minal is situated on the private Peel holdings estate with limit-ed space to expand. The cruise terminal steering group will be producing a recommendation to the council within the next few weeks on how to best develop the terminal in a long term sense.

The impermanent termi-nal has so far stood for a year, with two years left. The ter-minal can only handle 1,200 passengers, so developments would be essential to accom-modate larger passenger ships.

5 star ship in Merseyside

£5000 raised for guidedogs

£5000 has been raise for guidedog training in Merseyside

EditorsJosh ParryNews EditorLauren MurphyNewsEmma KemmeryKarina GalliAdam DaviesJonathan BridgeRachael BenthamPaul CollinsFeatures editor

Philippa Probert

FeaturesJosh NevettRachael LairdSport editorRory KellySports Scott FitzpatrickScott RumseyPicture editor Joe Barnes

LifeLiverpool

Team

by Tara Lamb

Merseyside Police have raised £5000 for Guide Dog’s Name, a charity that supports blind or partially sighted people.

The money raised will be used on the raising and train-ing of a Guide Dog puppy.

Sergeant Michael Burton from St Anne St Police Station said: “We were looking for a practical way to help a charity that all our staff could get behind. When we heard about Guide Dog’s Name a Puppy initiative we just had to take part. We have basical-ly eaten our way to the £5,000 by installing a staff tuck shop in the station to help raise funds!

“It’s exciting to know that we are doing something that will change someone’s life. We are fascinated

to look behind the scenes at how much work goes into creating one of these fantastic dogs that everyone knows and loves and cannot wait to hear news of the birth of our sponsored puppy.”

It costs almost £50,000 to support a Guide Dog partner-ship from the birth of the pup to its retirement aged about 10.

Guide Dog’s Name does not receive any Govern-ment funding for this service so rely on public donations.

Some people may need six or seven guide dogs in their life-time and Guide Dogs aim to provide each owner with this.

Merseyside Police will now get the honour of naming their puppy and will receive regular reports on the puppy’s training.

by Michaela Shaw

Tributes have been pouring in from friends and family of a Widnes teenager who was involved in an accident on his motorbike.

Jack Belllis, 19, of Widnes has died today following a road ac-cident that occurred at approx-imately 11pm on Sunday night.

Details of the crash are currently unknown.

Following the accident and

Jack’s death, more than 50 people have taken to the social network-ing site Facebook to pay tribute.

Nick Ramsden wrote: “I’m going to miss you mate, things just aren’t going to be the same anymore. You are a brilliant best mate, we all miss you.’

Shiv Hughes also wrote: “You were an amazing and such a heartfelt guy. Your family couldn’t

have asked for a better son.”

Widnes teen dies in crash

by Eoghain Mc Kane

A petition has been launched to stop budgets being cut for Merseyside Fire and Rescue.

The petition set up and backed by local MP Luciana Berger was created after the cuts were an-nounced for December. The move will decrease the budget even after it has already been reduced twice by 14% in the past two years.

Merseyside Fire and Rescue have the worst grant settlement of any UK service since 2005. The government is also indi-cating further signifi cant grant reductions. This in turn could lead to fi re station closures, less fi re-fi ghters, and fewer fi re appliances for the fi remen.

Luciana Berger has praised the fi re fi ghters as, “dedicated, committed professionals who put their live on the line every day for our safety. They deserve the support from the govern-ment, not further deeper cuts that will risk people’s lives.”

With more than 2,600 signa-tures already on the petition it has been re-tweeted many times

already by celebrities. The awareness is growing, and Mer-seyside Fire Rescue services have decided to put a written pe-tition to all their own community fi re stations for people to sign.

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority Chair Councillor Dave Hanratty said: “I would urge everyone in Merseyside to add their names to the petition. As we have seen from previous petitions on important subjects the people’s voice can make a real difference.”

With a lot of signatures al-ready Hanratty believes: “Your voice can make a difference. Now it’s time to show your support.”

Over the past two years there has been £9million of cuts in government grant funding to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Ser-vice. In December there will be a grant funding announcement where the cut in funding for 2013 to 2015 will be announced.

Hanratty said: “It is the vul-nerable and poor who will be most affected. I would urge everyone in Merseyside and fur-ther afi eld to sign the petition.”

Fight against fi re cuts

Motorcross is a widely enjoyed sport but Mersey police are targeting illegal bikes

Life/News/3

Liverpool MP joins Commons rail debate

Council wins compensation for exam error

Maria Eagle criticised the bid in the House of Commons calling it ‘a complete and costly mess’. ©fl ikr.com

Parties name candidates as commissioner race hots upWith the inaugural Police and Crime Commissioner for Mer-seyside elections looming, the major political parties have an-nounced their candidates. Liberal Democrat Paula Keav-eney, Conservative Geoffrey Gubb and Labour’s Jane Kenne-dy will all stand in the election, alongside independent candidate Kiron Reid and Paul Rimmer of the English Democrats. Some of the candidates have a political pedigree as Mrs Ken-nedy is a former Labour MP, Mr Reid was a councillor for Anfi eld for nine years and Ms Keaveney was only recently voted out of her seat in Cressington. Others are still new to politics. Mr Reid said: “We should be tar-geting repeat victims to see what protection we can give them. We also need to keep track of offend-ers and encourage them not to re-offend. “In areas such as St Helens and Southport we have to work with the community and encourage people to come together. “ Mr Reid, now a Law lecturer at the University of Liverpool, was not the only candidate to see crime prevention as a key focus, as Mr Rimmer agreed, although he did stress the importance of

dealing with thefts and combat-ting crime from an early age. Mr Rimmer said: “Thefts have to be a priority. There is a lot of crime in parts of the inner cities, such as in Toxteth and Wavertree. Burglars are more likely to target places like Southport and Formby as there is more money in these areas, whereas the inner cities are poorer.”He added: “We need to ensure proper policing measures com-bined with the right strategies in schools.”Ms Keaveney, however, empha-sised the importance of fi ghting against a fear of crime as well as crime prevention. She said: “Even if reports of crimes drop, it is still important to focus on the fear of crime, if you are an elderly woman and are too scared of crime to go out, it is like being under house arrest. “It is also important to look after people who might be at risk and fi nd out what could be pushing them towards crime.” Conservative candidate Geoff Gubb said: “I would like to add my support to families fi ghting for justice. The community is begging for more visible policing so I would like to make sure more police are on the streets. “Being Police and Crime Com-missioner is about supporting the

experience in a similar role. “The position requires trust and a mutual understanding. I was al-ways publicly accountable.“The police cannot make commu-nities safer on their own.” The Police and Crime Commis-sioner, when elected on 15th No-vember, will be in offi ce for four years.

police and being transparent with the community.” The fi nal candidate, the former MP Jane Kennedy, believed that her experience would be benefi -cial in her campaign. She said: “I have worked with the police force in Northern Ire-land as Security Minister from 2001-2005, which means I have

Canning street Police HQ, but who will be in charge? ©sixeightthree/fl ickr.com

by Scott Fitzpatrick

by Rory O’Reilly

Wirral Council has confi rmed that they have received compensation from GL Assessment for marking errors in last year’s 11 plus exam-inations. Last year Wirral school children were wrongly denied a place in grammar schools across the city after a marking error by examin-ers. Six pupils were told they had not made the grade to attend their fi rst choice grammar schools. A statement from Wirral Council said: “Following this issue, we re-viewed the company’s quality as-surance procedures, and received assurances that these processes would be followed. We also re-ceived a compensation package.”

REMARKS

Julia Hassall, Acting Director of Children’s Services, said: “When it came to our attention that an error had occurred in the marking of these tests, we took appropriate action to ensure that the pupils affected were not disadvantaged, and received a place at the appro-priate schools.” Parents of the pupils contacted Wirral Council asking for remarks.

Their suspicions were eventually confi rmed when examiners real-ised there had been a mistake. The pupils were given their correct grade and they were able to attend their fi rst choice grammar school. Gill Gwatkin, Press Offi cer at Wirral Council said: “At the mo-ment GL Assessment have been very up front and taken full re-sponsibility for their actions.” The errors occurred again this year when 1600 pupils across four schools had to be given two extra marks when two rogue questions appeared in the 11 plus tests.

A fi erce and heated debate in the House of Commons on Monday saw Merseyside MP Maria Eagle describe the current West Coast route debacle as a ‘complete and utter shambles’. The Shadow Secretary of State for Transport said the govern-ment is ‘pouring money down the drain’. When asked about how she felt Conservative cabinet member Pat-rick McLoughlin had handled the West Coast route bid, Miss Eagle said: “It’s a complete and all round mess, and it’s a very costly mess, which is going to cost the tax pay-er at least £40 million and proba-bly a lot more.

OPPOSED

“It’s left the Department of Trans-port and the franchising policy in chaos and there’ll be a short term impact on the possibility of pas-sengers getting the improvements that they have been promised.” The Labour MP for Garston and Halewood,who is known to be heavily opposed to unregulated privatisation of the UK’s rail-way industry, strongly criticised McLoughlin’s recent actions as Britain’s Transport Secretary: “One thing is certain, his Gov-ernment’s changes in franchising policy, along with the way that they have cut staff in the Depart-ment for Transport, means that they have appeared to have left the department lacking the capability to run franchise competitions.” When a question was put to her about how the Department for Transport’s mishandling of the bid would affect travellers in her

own constituency, Eagle said that the people in Liverpool may not be too badly affected in the short term, but warned that as Liverpool commuters regularly travel on the West Coast Line, there will now be an ‘extended period of uncer-tainty in which we’ll have had three competitions for this one franchise.’ The Shadow cabinet member also drew speculation on Mr McLoughlin’s estimations of the costs to the taxpayer which have come out of the fi asco: “We could end up paying for trains to three different owners and the huge amounts of costs going down the drain could have been used on im-provements to stations, extra ser-vices and cutting rail fares. “There have been much higher estimates other than the one that’s been admitted in government and in newspapers about what the overall cost must be.” In the House of Commons Mr McLoughlin defended Monday’s decision to allow Virgin and not the state-owned company, Direct-ly Owned Railways to continue to run the West Coast line for another nine to 13 months. “Since privatisation (of the UK’s railways) the number of passenger miles travelled has nearly dou-bled, this growth brings signifi cant benefi ts to the country’s economy and the environment, relieving congestion and improving connec-tivity for businesses, commuters and leisure travelers. “Passenger satisfaction is up and so is punctuality. I want this to continue “I am committed to seeing that passengers on the West Coast Line see no impact as a result to these mistakes,” he said.

Birkenhead town hall ©Rob_by/fl ickr.com

by Calum Metcalfe

Do food price rises leave you with

Minister and officials are meeting in Rome to-day to discuss the cur-rent global food situation.

As World Food Day is marked across the globe, the meeting is likely to focus on the high food prices across the world and addressing any fundamental causes. It will see a round of UN-host-ed talks on how to keep global food prices in check and help prevent future commodity market crises.

October 16th was named World Food Day in honour of the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture

Organisation of the Unit-ed Nations in 1945. At the FAO’s 20th session in Rome, Italy, in November 1979, the conference called for the ob-servance of World Food Day on October 16, 1981, and on the same date each year.

In 1980, the General As-sembly endorsed observance of the Day in consideration of the fact that “food is a requisite for human survival and well-being and a fun-damental human necessity”

The aim of the World Food Day is to heighten public awareness of the world food problem and

strengthen solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty.

The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations is holding a week-long meet-ing, which is made up of UN officials, farming experts and civil society representatives.

The meeting is aimed at leaders of political and non-political organizations at all levels and at increas-ing press attention on topical issues around food supply.

French Agriculture Min-ister Stephane Le Foll will host talks focusing on pric-

es and at least 36 minis-ters are expected to attend the meeting in Italy today.

The meeting is likely to focus on three issues: trans-parency of the market, lim-iting price volatility and the possibility of creating and managing stocks in the most vulnerable countries.

Thierry Kesteloor, an ex-pert on food security at the charity group Oxfam Interna-tional said the coming week was likely to see “a decla-ration of intentions rather than a real effort to the re-

launch the political process”.The UN General Assem-

bly designated 2012 as the ‘International Year of Cooperatives’ which co-incides with the theme for World Food Day: “Agri-cultural cooperatives – key to feeding the world”.

This theme has been chosen to highlight the role of cooperatives in im-proving food security and contributing to the erad-ication of world hunger.

Since 1982, World Food Day has adopted a differ-ent theme each year, in order to highlight an are-as needed for action and provide a common focus.

Shoppers at a Liverpool produce market stall

UK food prices have increased by 32% between 2007 and 2012.Britain’s farmers have faced the worst possible conditions this year as the wettest early summer in the UK was recorded and the severe drought early on in the year. These climates were devastating yields and leaving crops prone to disease. Wheat was the crop worst hit by the heavy rainfall, with a 14% fall in yields, according to the National Farmers’ Union. Last week the NFU revealed that wheat yields in

England are down by almost 15% on the five year average, with pro-ductivity down to 1980s levels. The USA has seen its worst drought in 50 years while Russia has experienced a heatwave and Eastern Europe has had a bad harvest. All this means that global food prices rose by 1.4 percent in September as cereals, meat and dairy prices climbed, according to FAO’s Food Price Index.Some experts argue that the

situation is nothing as bad as it was four years ago when droughts hit food production hard, sending prices to record highs.Prices are measured against ex-pectations, and harvests have not been as bad as many had feared and stocks are in better shape. This week cash-strapped consum-ers were warned to expect further food price rises as a result of the drought in the US and the washed out UK summer that have affected the supply and quality of crops.

Summit to tackle global food issues

Wet summer is a real washout

Satterthwaites shuts down after 100yrs of bakingby Jamie AllenAfter more than 100 years of trading Satterthwaites bakery closed its doors this weekend and handed their keys over to administrators.

The bakery was due to shut down seven stores across Bootle and Crosby resulting in the loss of 70 jobs.

Owner, Roger Wilson, 71, who is the grandson of the original owners Walter and Miriam Satterthwaite, talked of his disappointment in having to close down.

He told JMU Journalism: “I was dev-astated because we had been hoping against hope that we were going to be able to weather the difficult trading conditions experienced last year.”

Mr Wilson announced last month that the company was looking for buyers to potentially save the business but none

were forthcoming. He said: “It became clear that we

should seek a buyer, but although there were several interested parties we were not able to reach agreement with any.”

Roger’s earliest memory of the com-pany was in 1946 and, although work-ing as a deep ocean marine chemist for 30 years, he has been in daily contact with the business.

He said: “I only returned to Crosby and Satterthwaites about 20 years ago, so I haven’t been in charge for that long compared to my grandparents.”

He thanked the customers and staff the company had had over the past cen-tury, stressing that he tried his hardest to find a buyer.

Wilson believes that many small busi-nesses will also suffer. Satterthwaites served Bootle for over 100yrs ©Satterthwaites

Spooky welly walk for cancerLiverpool based charity aims to raise £30,000 for lung cancer re-search with a spooky welly walk in Sefton Park.

The Roy Castle Lung Founda-tion charity is holding a two mile family walk with trick or treat stands and spooky activities to enjoy on the route. Juice FM will be there supporting the event by having event.

The event organiser, Dan Halli-day, told JMU journalism: “More people are affected by lung cancer in Liverpool than any other part of the UK, so it’s great to be able to hold a family event in the city.

“Sefton Park is a great location as it’s an iconic park in Liverpool which is great for families and perfect to hold a Spooky Welly Walk!”

The children can dress up to match the spooky theme and trick and treat event with all proceeds going to lung cancer research.

Mr Halliday said: “We are hop-ing to raise £30,000 from the event, which will help to fund lung cancer research, to provide support to patients and to prevent lung cancer by helping people to quit smoking.”

The spooky welly walk will be held in Sefton Park on Saturday 20th October.

Registration price for adults is £5, for children under 16-years-old is £3 and for children under four-years-old is free.

by Hannah Ashraf

New JMU art awardarrivesA new international art award has been launched by Liverpool John Moores University to dis-tinguish a flurry of emerging talent in contemporary art crit-icism.

The ‘John Moores Critic Awards’ were launched on Thursday 20 September in Liv-erpool and Shanghai to provide an international platform for budding critics in both coun-tries to connect with their audi-ences and arts communities.

The Award will run in tandem with the John Moores Painting Prize, one of the most revered events in the British art world as part of this year’s Liverpool Biennial at the Walker Art Gal-lery.

Chair of the Organising Com-mittee for the Critic Awards, Henry Hughes thinks there’s a distinct lack of prizes for peo-ple who write about art and hopes the awards will encour-age emerging talent, he told JMU Journalism: “There are very many prizes for artists and a few for museums people and curators, but individuals who write about art almost always get left out.

The UK award closes on Sun-day 28 October and winners will be publicly announced at the Walker Art Gallery in Liv-erpool on Friday 16 November.

by Joshua Nevett

LifeCommunitiesLiverpool

a bitter taste?Do food price rises leave you with

Former Hollyoaks star Emma Rigby was to take part in Save the Children’s World Marathon Chal-lenge today for World Food Day.

The World Marathon Challenge is a simultaneous relay in which teams of 11 to 13-year-olds from across the globe raced against each other over the full marathon distance.

More than 20,000 children from 500 schools and 40 countries

across the world have today com-peted against each other in a relay event, aiming to smash the current world record.

They raised awareness of the millions of children who don’t have enough food to eat.

The World Marathon Challenge first started five years ago at Helsby High School in Cheshire, through George Bunner MBE, founder of Sportshall Athletics.

Save the Children joined forces with Sportshall in 2011 to take the event around the world and link it to the worldwide campaign for child survival.

Emma started the race today at Willesden Sports Centre in Lon-don and will be appearing along-side double Olympic 400 metres medalist Christine Ohuruogu who won the 50th gold medal in this year’s Olympics.

Liverpool Life reporting team Alice Kirkland Tara Lamb Hannah Ashraf Lauren Kelly Paul Collins Rachael Bentham Calum Metcalfe

Independent food retailers are struggling to survive against the battle of rising food prices, the superstore supermarkets and the gloom and doom of the recession.

Liverpool’s independent butch-ers, groceries and fish mongers are facing a massive decline in customers, as the public flock to the four supermarket megastores Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco.

St John’s butchers have been forced to compete with the leading retail brands. Their butcher, Re-becca Green, 18, Liverpool, said: “I think it’s a bad thing. It affects business, as less people are willing to pay that much for food. We’ve had a decline in customers. Less people are coming out to shop so we’re making less money.”

Out of the UK’s 8151 supermar-kets account for over 97% of total grocery sales and 76% of groceries are sold by the four biggest super-market retailers.

The greengrocer of Clayton Square, Mark Smith, 39, Anfield, said: “The customers can’t afford our prices, so we don’t get as many customers now. I’ve had to put the price up on most of my produce. It’s dearer now so no one will buy them. I’ve noticed a rise in prices in the supermarkets too. They’re going through the roof!”

The combination of the sum-mer’s bad weather and poor har-vests has contributed to the 35% increase of fruit and vegetable prices.

Mr Smith said: “At the minute I

know potatoes are dearer, all the veggies are dearer due to the rain over the summer. The farmers can’t get the tractors on the fields so that’s the reason for putting the prices up.”

With the rise in fruit, vegetable and grain prices, this has a knock of effect on prices of meat, as there are fewer crops to feed the animals.

The hot dog van of Clayton Square’s owner, Eileen Reverned, 29, Anfield, said: “I’ve noticed a price increase in meat the most, but everything has gone up. The rise in food prices is terrible. People aren’t getting paid enough to be able to afford food. It’s ridiculous. I’m spending as much as £30 to £40 more on my weekly shop”

This dramatic increase in food prices is believed to cause a disaster for public health, with low income houses not being able to afford fruit or vegetables.

As World Food Day is celebrated around the globe, Liverpool Life investigates...

Word on the street

“I tend to look more for the bargains and own brands now”Denise Bailey, North Wales

“I just don’t buy as much as I used to as I haven’t got the mon-ey to do it”Debbie Lavender, North Wales

“I think the government need to look at everything; food, fuel. We’re one of the dearest coun-tries to live in at the moment” Lisa Dooler, Liverpool, 38, florist

Hollyoaks star’s marathon effort for food campaign

©Twitter/@TeamRigby

Fruit and veg prices are expected to rise 10-15% by 2013

by Rachael Bentham

The first ever Liverpool Knowl-edge Festival began this week to celebrate the city’s discoveries that have helped in shaping sci-ence and engineering in modern times.

Liverpool has a £1 billion knowledge economy which currently includes planned developments in the knowledge quarter, such as a £451m teaching hospital, a £350m University of Liverpool investment, and a £28 bio-innovation centre.

The city has discoveries attrib-uted to it from as far back as 300

years ago when Toxteth amateur astrologer Jeremiah Horrocks was the first to note that the moon moved around the earth in an elliptical orbit.

Other influential discoveries include the creation of the first ever radio transmission and med-ical x-ray, work on fertility and IVF, and the role played in the Higgs Boson particle and cancer treatment.

The two-week celebration take places from 13th-27th October and will involve a mayoral knowledge summit for business-es, the launch of the British So-ciety for Nanomedicine, lectures,

family events and celebrations of young scientists from schools across the region.

Activities include a dockwatch organised by John Moores Uni-versity and the Maritime Museum which will give families the chance to watch and touch real underwater sea life at the Albert Dock.

The festival is being organised by the three city universities, Liverpool Science Park, the Royal Liverpool University Hospitals and Liverpool Vision.

A vote for knowledge will be held as part of the events where readers can vote for the most

influential man or woman who has done the most through their knowledge to make the world a better place and be named a knowledge hero.

The first ever Professor of Sports Science in the UK, LJMU’s Tom Reilly, is one of the nominees. He passed away in 2009.

Liverpool Vision Chief Execu-tive Max Steinberg said: “We talk about the Beatles as four lads who shook the world.

“Our global impact across the worlds of everything from as-tronomy and physics to medicine has been no less revolutionary

– and that’s the point that we are making.”

“The city’s knowledge economy is worth more than £1 billion a year and the impact of the work carried out reaches every corner of the globe.

“We want our own people to feel proud of our tradition as scientific pioneers and innovators and we want to inspire a new gen-eration to work and invest in the Liverpool knowledge economy.”

For more information and the full event listings please visit the official website for the event at: www.itsliverpool.com

Festival marks city’s science heritage

What does 8% hike mean for a pan of Spag Bol?

October 2012Tesco Everyday Value Beef Mince 500G- £1.561 onion- 19pTesco Everyday Value Chopped Tomatoes 400G- 31pTesco Everyday Value Spa-ghetti 500G- 30pTesco White Mushrooms 230G- 85pTesco Dried Oregano 14G- 75pTesco Grated Parmesan Cheese 50G- £1.25

Total= £5.21

October 2013Tesco Everyday Value Beef Mince 500G- £1.68= Increase of 12p1 onion- 20p= Increase of 1pTesco Everyday Value Chopped Tomatoes 400G- 33p = Increase of 2pTesco Everyday Value Spa-ghetti 500G- 32p= Increase of 2pTesco White Mushrooms 230G= 91p Increase of 6pTesco Dried Oregano 14G- 81p= Increase of 6pTesco Grated Parmesan Cheese 50G- £1.35= Increase of 10p

Total= £5.60

Minister and officials are meeting in Rome to-day to discuss the cur-rent global food situation.

As World Food Day is marked across the globe, the meeting is likely to focus on the high food prices across the world and addressing any fundamental causes. It will see a round of UN-host-ed talks on how to keep global food prices in check and help prevent future commodity market crises.

October 16th was named World Food Day in honour of the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture

Organisation of the Unit-ed Nations in 1945. At the FAO’s 20th session in Rome, Italy, in November 1979, the conference called for the ob-servance of World Food Day on October 16, 1981, and on the same date each year.

In 1980, the General As-sembly endorsed observance of the Day in consideration of the fact that “food is a requisite for human survival and well-being and a fun-damental human necessity”

The aim of the World Food Day is to heighten public awareness of the world food problem and

strengthen solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty.

The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations is holding a week-long meet-ing, which is made up of UN officials, farming experts and civil society representatives.

The meeting is aimed at leaders of political and non-political organizations at all levels and at increas-ing press attention on topical issues around food supply.

French Agriculture Min-ister Stephane Le Foll will host talks focusing on pric-

es and at least 36 minis-ters are expected to attend the meeting in Italy today.

The meeting is likely to focus on three issues: trans-parency of the market, lim-iting price volatility and the possibility of creating and managing stocks in the most vulnerable countries.

Thierry Kesteloor, an ex-pert on food security at the charity group Oxfam Interna-tional said the coming week was likely to see “a decla-ration of intentions rather than a real effort to the re-

launch the political process”.The UN General Assem-

bly designated 2012 as the ‘International Year of Cooperatives’ which co-incides with the theme for World Food Day: “Agri-cultural cooperatives – key to feeding the world”.

This theme has been chosen to highlight the role of cooperatives in im-proving food security and contributing to the erad-ication of world hunger.

Since 1982, World Food Day has adopted a differ-ent theme each year, in order to highlight an are-as needed for action and provide a common focus.

Summit to tackle global food issues

Jesus Christ Superstar Timeline

News/Focus/6

I’ve performed in front of millions but I get nervous in front of my familyMel C talks to Liverpool Life’s Hayley Minn, pictured,about her new role as Mary

With Jesus Christ Superstar com-ing to Liverpool tonight, Melanie Chisolm, also known as Mel C, spoke to Liverpool Life about her role as Mary Magdalene, performing at the Olympics and being a mother.

“I’m very excited about tonight’s performance. This is a very special one for me. Obvious-ly, this is my home city, so I’m going to have loads of friends and loads of family in, so I’ll probably be more nervous than on some shows, where I don’t know so many people in the audience. I know that a Liverpool crowd will be a fantastic crowd”

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s show, Jesus Christ Superstar, fi rst started in Broadway in October 1971, and, as part of a tour for 2012, is at the Echo Arena tonight. Affec-tionately known as Sporty Spice by her Spice Girl fans, Melanie will be performing in a company of 50, including Chris Moyles and comedian Tim Minchin.

She told Liverpool Life: “It’s really different working in a cast to working in Spice Girls. As there’s so many of us on stage, it’s brilliant, because you’re like one big happy family, and, although that’s what touring is always like, with the girls it would be us girls, we’d have our dancers and we’d have the band. With this, it’s more like everybody is part of one team. I’ve made loads of new

friends, and I’m learning so much, because it’s quite different to be playing a role, rather than just being yourself up there.”

The role of Jesus, in the show, was chosen through an ITV show, ‘Superstar’, for which Melanie was a judge. The winner was Ben Forster and, on whether it was strange working with someone that she helped choose, she told Liverpool Life: “I know Ben so well now, and he’s such a fantastic performer and we’re really good mates, so I just feel really com-fortable with him.”

With Spice Girls being one of the biggest girl bands of all time, Melanie, along with her other four band members, Emma Bunton, Geri Haliwell, Victoria Beckham and Melanie Brown, was asked to perform at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympics.

She told Liverpool Life: “It was the best thing I’ve ever done in my career, and I think all of the girls would agree. It was so much fun; so exciting, and the reaction internationally was so overwhelm-ing. We just feel really lucky that people are still out there support-ing us. It’s amazing.”Melanie went on to explain that juggling her role as a mother to 3-year-old Scarlet and her career is what she fi nds her biggest challenge, having recently had to spend 11 days away from her.

“It’s hard when you’re touring,

because usually, if I’m working on my own stuff, I can cater to my own life, but because I’m in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s production he’s my boss now, so I have to do what he wants me to do! What this has taught me is that if I am going to continue to tour, then I think she has to be with me, because it’s just too long to be away. She does come up to see me, and I pop back to see her, but I miss her a lot.”Melanie’s new album,

‘Stages’, is an album of musical theatre covers, that she performed throughout her school years, and for auditions. The fi rst single from the album, ‘I Know Him So Well’, features Melanie’s old bandmate, Emma Bunton.

On perfoming with Emma again, Melanie said: “I absolutely loved it. I love spending time with her. She’s one of my closest friends, and singing with her is quite emotional, because it makes us reminisce back to the Spice Girls days, and it’s very much the Spice Girls sound.”

“Our voices work so well together, and we did a lot of songs together in the Spice Girls. It’s really nice. We’ve got loads of TV performances coming up, so we’re just looking forward to hanging out and having some fun.”

Having gone to an arts school

Andrew Lloyd Webber

September 1969: Jesus Christ Superstar begins its life as a rock album

March 1970: First Mary Magdalene is selected

1972: Sweden, Austrailia and the West End open stage performances

1983:First tour comes to Manchester

July 2012: ITV show ‘Superstar’ begins it’s search for Jesus

A splash of colour is set to descend on New Brighton as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat comes to the Floral Pavilion at the end of the month.

Starring Keith Jack, who came second in the BBC’s ‘Any Dream Will Do’ competition in 2007, the audience can expect a crash of drums and a fl ash of light as the historical biblical story comes to life on stage. Joseph was fi rst shown in 1968 in Hammer-smith. 44 years later, having been performed by amateur and professional companies worldwide, the production now incorporates a children’s choir with a prominent role in the story.

The show will be in town between the 30th October to the 4th November. Tickets cost between £24 and £26 and are available from the Floral Pavilion box offi ce.

when she was 16, Melanie spoke of how she wanted to do this album, as she always loved musical theatre, but working in pop music had taken over her life for the last 16 year, so she had never got round to making it. She told Liverpool Life that it was a big task covering such big songs, but her album producer, Peter Vetesse, sat down with her and discussed what songs should go on it.

“I’m really lucky in the way that my voice is quite distinctive, and I think, especially because some of these songs are so well known and so well loved, it’s really scary, especially with JoniMitchell songs. Me and Peter just listened to loads of stuff, picked what we liked, and just tried to put our own spin on it, and make our own little defi nitive version.”One of Melanie’s next big ambitions

is to tour with a big band. “I’m hoping that people enjoy this

album, and if it goes well, it would be nice to go on a concert tour.

“I also want to do an ‘Evening with…’ kind of show, which would be quite different to what I usually do. “The plan is to keep making music, keep performing, keep doing more theatre, and see where that takes me.”

Melanie’s album, ‘Stages’, is out now, and her new single, ‘I Know Him So Well’, featuring Emma Bun-ton, will be out on November 11th.

In the fi nal leg of its tour, Jesus Christ Superstar will be at Wembley Arena, London, the Capital FM Are-na, Nottingham, and the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffi eld.

Tickets are still available for these shows via the offi cial Jesus Christ Superstar website.

Liverpool

LifeDressed to kill in city of style

Music21st October:Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – O2 Academy, 7.00pmFollowing the release of his debut album ‘Trouble’, To-tally Enormous Extinct Dino-saurs goes on tour.Tickets £12 online from: ht tp ://www.t icketweb.co.uk

The Proclaimers – The Liverpool Philharmonic, 7.30pm26 years after the twin brothers released their fi rst album, they return for their tour. Tickets £24.50-£30.50 on-line from http://www.liver-poolphil.com 23rd October: Benjamin Francis Left-wich – The Guild, 7pmFollowing the release of his critically acclaimed debut al-bum ‘Last Smoke Before The Snowstorm’ Benjamin Fran-cis Leftwich plays The Liver-pool Guild of Students.Tickets £12 online from http ://www.t icketweb.co.uk

3rd November: MOBO Awards – Echo, 7pm £29-£100The MOBO Awards will have performances from the likes of Conor Maynard and Lab-rinth.Tickets £29-£100 from http://www.echoarena.com

Theatre 30th October-4th Nov:Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat – Floral Pavilion, Starring Keith Jack, who was one of the most popular fi nalists in the hit BBC series Any Dream Will Do. Tickets £24-£26 from http://www.floralpavilion.com

7th-10th November:The Sound of Music – Liv-erpool Empire, 7.30pmOriginally opening on Broad-way in 1959, this was Rodg-ers & Hammerstein’s fi nal musical, and tells the story of Maria, who is sent to be the governess for the von Trapp family’s seven chil-dren.Tickets £11.90-£26.90 from http://www.atgtickets.com

Comedy 19th-28th October:Southport Comedy Festi-val 2012 – Venues across SouthportOver 40 comedians, from around the world, including Roy Walker and Patrick Mo-nahan, will descend on to the lovely seaside town for 10 days of hilarity.Tickets Free to £13.50 from http://www.southportcom-edyfestival.com/diary.html

22nd-24th November:Michael Mcintyre – Echo Arena, 8pmStar of Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, Brit-ain’s Got Talent and winner of the 2010 British Come-dy Award for Best Male TV Comic, Michael McIntyre re-turns to the road for his third and biggest UK arena tour to date. Tickets £35 from https://www.ticketing.accliverpool.com

Fashion18th October: Liverpool Fashion Live – Pan Am, 7pm-1amThe event will host catwalk shows from top fashion designers to local brands, and will include live enter-tainment from musicians, dance acts and talented new performance artists.Tickets £10-£30 from http://liverpoolfashionlive.eventbrite.com/#

Charity 26th October:Mersey Walk of Hope - Al-bert Docks, 8pm-MidnightThe Clatterbridge Cancer Charity is joining forces with Liverpool Unites for Alder Hey to organise the second Mersey Walk of Hope.R e g i s t r a t i o n £ 5 - £ 1 0 a t h t t p : / / w w w .clatterbridgecc.org.uk/events/booking/

Festival19th-21st October:The North West Food Lov-ers Festival – Tatton Park, Knutsford, 10am-7pmWith over 120 delicious food and drink stalls selling the best produce available from across the region, this year’s festival will bring a feast of fun to all the family.Tickets £3.50-£5.50 at the door

28th October: Halloween Lantern Carni-val – Sefton Park, 5.30pm-9.30pm - Free entry

keep the dress. She said: “London is � rst in fashion but Liverpool is de� nitely second, it is de� nitely an inspirational city. � e girls are so into fashion, they go to the shops in heels and look fabulous. It is so surreal.”� ere was a short performance by Liverpool band FTW, who covered Rita Ora’s hit single, Party. Henri Lloyd was next to hit the catwalk, this collection was all about being cosy and comfy, natural colours were de� nitely a key trend. Millie J shoes showcased her designs at the back of the event. She dedicates all her work to her

By Vanessa Gainford

Last night Liverpool set out to celebrate its fourth Fashion Week. Guests were greeted by 4 giant puppets of � e Beatles and Goldie Cheung a contestant from last year’s X-factor series. � e event was held in the Leo Casino and the event just oozed glamour. As the catwalks commenced the men began to gamble and the women fought their way to sit on the front row. � e show was opened by 80’s singer Sinitta along with girls on the catwalk sporting the “Liver-pool look” which earlier this year director, Amanda Moss, banned from Fashion Week. � e girls wore Scouse brows, rollers in their hair and were in their pyjamas holding cigarettes. Sinitta said: “� is is not what Liverpool fash-ion week is about.” � en the music began and a quote from John Lennon was played over the speakers as the � rst designs graced the catwalk. “� ose of you in the cheaper seats clap your hands the rest of you just rattle your jewellery.” � e event was hosted by Angela from Heart Radio, who told the fashion lovers that, a recent survey put Liverpool ahead of London as the most fashionable city in the UK. All models sported their hair in a side pony tail with a smoky eye look and the � rst show was from the UK’s fastest growing seller, Boohoo. Black and gold are de� nitely the top colours for the winter trend, anything that sparkles, goes. For casual looks keep it neutral and natural and accessorise with fur. It’s clear from the catwalks that

it is acceptable to mix summer trends in with your winter clothes. � e next catwalk was for Pretty Little � ing, the gothic look is very much in here; leather, studs , sheer fabric, , crosses , the biggest shoe boots you have ever seen and Ozzy Osbourne style glasses. Pearl boutiques designs were next on the catwalk. Detail is everything with this designer, from pearl necklines and lace sleeves. � e designs were very much “dare to bare” as models wore leather jackets with their bras on show, hot pants and plunging necklines. One particu-lar red � oor length dress stole the show. A� er only two months in the in-dustry designer Gemma launched her collection for Sempre Bella, she said; “Fashion is there, day in day out.” For her collection it was all about shapes accentuating the female � gure. Military designs and shades of nude and black played a key part. � ere was a short performance by local talent Poisonous Twin, who made it through to the judges houses in Vegas of this year’s X Factor. � e duet performed covers of Lady gaga and Lana del Ray� ey told JMU Journalism “Our performance we were unsure of but we are sure of the designs. We love the long dresses and spar-kling bodices, so glamorous.” � e next designer to debut her collection was Patty who’s designs are all hand made. Her designs are very light and about being ‘glam-orous and girly’. Her collection featured feather skirts, sweetheart necklines, � oor length dresses and jewelled necklines. Patty also hand made the dress Sinitta wore to the event, the singer later asked if she could

‘Cheesy’ Maloney safe on X FactorBy Hayley Minn

Liverpool singer Christopher Maloney has survived for another week as the public voted for him to stay on X Factor. � e judges gave a mixed review of his performance of Heart song ‘Alone’ – having called him “too cheesy” last week with judge Louis Walsh also branding him a “back-stage diva”. Judge Nicole Scherzinger said: “I’ll take the cheeseburger as long as it’s � lled with a performance that shows the song means some-thing to you and you did that. It was e� ortless.” Walsh was harsher still, telling the

34-year-old: “It was very cruise ship; very cabaret. It was a lazy song choice, and that little bit too cheesy for me.” Maloney’s mentor, Gary Barlow, defended his act saying: “Don’t lis-ten to these guys. You are perfect just as you are.”� e Liverpudlian responded to the comments about his song choice, saying that he and Barlow decided that ‘Alone’ would be the “perfect song for this week’s love and heart-break theme”.� e Sunday results show also saw former X Factor runner up Rebec-ca Ferguson perform her new sin-gle, ‘Backtrack’. She said she was supporting Christopher Maloney, as he was a fellow Scouser.

What’s On...

Sanita, pictured le� , stutting her stu� on the catwalk at Fashion week

Christopher Maloney belts it out . © Ken McKay/� ames/Rex Features

artistic brother who passed away; her aim is to incorporate art into shoes. She said; “My designs are for people who want to stand out, they’re hand made, and are made for you. Jodie Marsh has worn a pair; it’s basically about summing up your personality in a pair of shoes. Illumani jeans launched their � rst collection for last night’s � nale, it is safe to say that the attention was o� the jeans and on the bodies. Especially when female models graced the catwalk in nothing but hot pants carrying snakes. � e event closed with a performance from Wenlock music.

Life/Style/7

Life/Style/8Cheryl Cole shines at the Echo Arenaby Steph Niciu

Pop songstress Cheryl Cole put on a spectacular show as she brought her ‘A Million Lights’ tour to the Echo Arena last night. Cheryl, 29, made her entrance in style, as she swan-dived into a production fi lled with bright lights and fi reworks, wear-ing a shimmering gold out-fi t that highlighted her fi gure. She kicked proceedings off with the song ‘Sexy Den a Mu-tha’. After which, she launched into the lead single from her al-bum, the Calvin Harris produced track ‘Call My Name’ which didn’t fail to get the party started. From then on, the hits just kept coming, from all three of her solo albums, songs in-cluded: ‘Girl in the Mirror’, ‘Promise This’ and ‘The Flood’. Cheryl also treated fans to some Girls Aloud classics, which got an excitable shriek from the audience, no doubt as the band

is days away from re-uniting for their ten year anniversary, she treated them to ‘The Promise’, ‘Biology’ and ‘Love Machine’. Other highlights included ‘Ghet-to Baby’ which saw the fomer X Factor judge in a saucy routine with her backing dancer boy-friend, 27-year-old Tre Holloway. She showed her appreciation for her Liverpudlian fans throughout the show, saying: “I love Scous-ers” and that they were “just like Geordies… the salt of the Earth”. She continued her interaction by walking through the audi-ence to a smaller stand-alone stage which allowed her to see and wave to her excitable and screaming fans much more easily. Known for her fashion, Cheryl didn’t overwhelm the au-dience with too many costume changes but kept her choices to a minimum with four in to-tal. From a dark grey peplum dress to a fl oor length purple gown, such simple choices

were picked well as they highlighted her beauty but didn’t distract from her performance. Performance-wise Cheryl is not known for being a strong sing-er and this was made even more evident as she used a mixture of live and pre-recorded vocals. Even though the production around her was of a very good standard, her lack of vocal ability made this element of the show fair-ly middle ground and mediocre. Another disappointment was that the concert lasted only an hour and 15 minutes, some-thing which could have been made longer if she had more material at her disposal. All in all, for her fi rst solo headline tour, fans of Cheryl wouldn’t have been disappointed by the show and she did her best. It was a production that she put every effort into even if it wasn’t perfect through-out. A born trier, the Arena is sure to see her back very soon.

Interactive Game, ‘Deadline’ at Biennial

Carol Ann Duffy unveils new poem for Hillsborough

Gary Barlow announces solo tour

A group of emerging artists are trying to change people’s per-ception of art by creating a day-long interactive game, ‘Dead-line’, as part of the Biennial. The director, Tamsin Cook, is a Liverpool John Moores Uni-versity graduate, and was cho-sen to have a six month intern-ship on Hope Street Limited’s emerging artists’ programme. She told JMU Journalism: ‘We’re all selected artists from around the area. We all had auditions, and had to show our portfolios. There’s a team of designers, ac-tors, fi lmmakers, stage managers, a production manager, creative producer, and I’m the director.’‘Deadline’ is an interactive ac-tion game, which will be played across Liverpool on Saturday. Participants will be in teams

of ten, and will have to fi nd clues across the city, and meet a deadline in order to win; all while being chased by assas-sins, dressed in red headscarfs and holding black umbrellas. Tamsin told JMU Journalism: ‘The live action roleplay is a real-ly expanding form, and people are getting in to it. We did a rehearsal the other day, and made the actors play the game, and the produc-tion team set up some clues. They loved it; they went absolutely mad. They found the assassins so eerie.’ With ‘Deadline’ being part of the Biennial, the nine teams will have to fi ght to fi nd clues within other pieces of art from the oth-er various Biennial exhibitions. Tamsin told JMU Journalism: ‘I’m really excited about the art, as the Biennial has procured some really good spaces this year, and what we’re trying to do is intro-

duce people to the art in a new and exciting way. Deadline is not exactly theatre in a theatre setting, but it’s peppered with theatrical intervention, and mul-timedia in some places, that our fi lmmakers have been working on.’ Graduating with a First in Drama in May, Tamsin told JMU Journalism why this internship was right for her.‘JMU are really supportive to graduates throughout the city. It works differently for dif-ferent people, but, for me, this is a step between university and the professional world. For me, people will only pay you if you have experience, and this is a really good way of getting that and meeting new people.’ ‘Deadline’ starts at 11am on Saturday 20th October at Ever-ton Park. Tickets are £5 from www.liverpoolbiennial.co.uk

Cheryl Cole performing live © Offi cial Cheryl website

by Hannah Ashraf

Liverpool Cathedral has welcomed the work of poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy’s sonnet which is in-spired by the Hillsborough report. The poem called “Liverpool” was written to mark the day of disclosure of the Hillsborough Independent Panel report and is on display at Liverpool Cathedral. Stuart Haynes, director of com-munications for Liverpool Cathe-dral, said: “The poem is a very good representation of the feelings felt in Liverpool; it does not just refer to feelings or emotions in the abstract, but to some very real moments that form a lot of peo-ple’s memories of Hillsborough.” The Cathedral which held the Hillsborough memorial service in 1989, features a memori-al stone in the grounds and the Hillsborough Disclosure took place there this September. Mr Haynes said: “It seemed natural that the poem should go on display here. It acknowledg-es the pain felt, and it is also a testament to the hard work put in over the years by the families and the people of this city to see justice done. Having the poem as a focus for those who come to specifi cally refl ect on Hillsbor-ough is a great comfort for many.”

The University of Liverpool phi-losophy graduate, Ms Duffy, was granted her poet laureate position by the Queen in May 2009. Her poems expose society’s problems with violence, identity and oppres-sion and are included in her fi rst Standing Female Nude collection. The spokesperson said: “The public have really welcomed the artwork to the Cathedral, as has the Bishop. Many people have come to the Cathedral specially, to see it in the Memorial Chapel.” A copy of the poem is avail-able to buy at the Cathedral shop for £7.95 with all pro-ceeds going to the Hillsbor-ough Family Support Group.

by Lauren Kelly

Gary Barlow yesterday an-nounced his plans to do a solo tour over the next three months. Somehow managing to bal-ance his X-Factor commitments around the new tour, the Head X-Factor judge and Take That singer/songwriter will perform around the UK and Ireland.

Following the success of his solo tour last year, the Take That singer wrote on Twitter last night that he was really excit-ed to kick it off in November. Barlow will perform at Liver-pool’s Philharmonic Hall in Jan-uary, however given his recent tantrums in this year’s X-Factor, nobody knows how popular the tour will be this time around.

by Hayley Minn

Gary Barlow will be playing in Liverpool in January

Poet Carol Ann Duffy

Interactive Game at Biennial

“Cheryl also treat-ed fans to some Girls Aloud classics, which got an excit-able shriek from the audience, no doubt as the band is days away from re-unit-ing for their ten year anniversary.”

Life/Sport/9

Gerrard returns to England XIby Ryan McCann and Eoghain McKane

England midfi elder Steven Gerrard re-turns to The Three Lions team-sheet and reclaims the captain’s armband against Poland tonight, after missing his side’s 5-0 win over San Marino through suspen-sion.

England’s draw with Ukraine last month damaged hopes of a calm passage from Group H, and the pressure is now on to get a result in Warsaw. Poland are with-out their star wide-man and captain Jakub Blaszczykowski for this vital qualifi er, but have won seven of their last eight interna-tionals at home, excluding the high-pres-sured environment of Euro 2012.

As Gerrard makes his 99th appearance for England, he could be joined in the England team by fellow Liverpool team mate Glen Johnson and Everton defend-ers Phil Jagielka and Leighton Baines could also be in the team to face Poland.Elsewhere, Liverpool Defender Martin

Skrtel could feature against Greece, and fellow Liverpool defender Daniel Agger is set to start against heavyweights Italy. Joe Allen is set to start for Wales, against

Everton striker Nicola Jelavic’s Croatia team, and Everton’s Tim Howard is set to start between the sticks as they take on Guatemala.

Blues defender John Heitinga will fea-ture against Romania and Liverpool’s Uruguayan duo Luis Suarez and Sebas-tian Coates will travel to play against Bolivia, while Nuri Sahin will play for Turkey against Hungary.

Rovers’ fl ying start continuesby Rory Kelly

Tranmere Rovers came back from 2-0 down against Yeovil Town to win 3-2, and extend their unbeaten start to season.

Goals from on-loan striker Paddy Mad-den and Sam Foley gave Yeovil a de-served 2-0 lead, but goals from captain James Wallace, Jake Cassidy and Danny Holmes earned Tranmere the three points.

Tranmere keeper Owain Fon-Williams had to be at his best throughout, denying Madden and strike partner James Hayter on several occasions. The Rovers keeper had rushed back from International duty with Wales to play in the game, before linking up with the Wales squad after-wards.

Manager Ronnie Moore said: ““We were awful in the fi rst half. That wasn’t the way we have been defending this sea-son. It was like Fred Carno’s Circus at the back.

“We pulled a goal back just at the right time, just before half-time. It was impor-tant we got back into the game because I always felt we could get at Yeovil’s two centre backs, which we did.

“I’ve got to give the lads a pat on the back for their never say die attitude.”

Tranmere scorer Danny Holmes

by Tara Lamb

Everton ladies manager Mo Mar-ley resigned from her post as Ever-ton ladies manager last week.

Mo, an ex Everton captain, took over as manager in 2002 from her husband Keith.

Since joining as manager, Marley has helped Everton ladies gain sil-verware in the 2008 FA Women’s Premier League Cup and in the 2012 Women’s FA cup.

She was recognised for service to women’s football in 2005 with an MBE and in 2001 became England under 19 coach – a role she will now continue with.

Reaction to Marley’s decision to resign was shown on social network site Twitter as players ex-press their admiration to their boss.

Everton and England defender

Lindsay Johnson tweeted:“Sad news today…Mo stepping down! As dedicated and committed as you will fi nd anywhere, a true am-bassador for football.

“We as players and a team will miss her leadership and knowl-edge. Personally I have a lot to thank Mo for. We wish her all the best for the future.”

Jill Scott, England international said: “Gutted about Mo leaving Everton. No-one more committed than her to the Club and the game. Wish her every success for the fu-ture.

Amy Kane, who scored the win-ner in Everton’s 2009 League Cup triumph, tweeted: “Sad day all round at Everton. Gutted to see Mo leave, she has been at the heart of Everton since I can remember and turned the club around. Will be strange not having her around but

I wish her all the success in the fu-ture. Good luck Mo.”

Recently capped England inter-national Toni Duggan said: “Emo-tional day. 140 characters isn’t enough to tell you how much I ap-preciate what Mo Marley has done for both myself and EFC ladies.”

Marley said: “It is a sad day but I would like to thank everyone I have worked with at Everton over the years, especially the players. It is a great club, with great people and fantastic supporters.

“It has been an unbelievable journey for me personally and I am delighted to have played a part in ensuring women’s football has de-veloped into the game it is in 2012.

“But I feel now is the right time for me to move on and concentrate on my commitments with the Foot-ball Association.

“As the game has progressed,

both internationally and from an Everton perspective, you have to be more innovative and you have to keep looking for new challeng-es. With that comes extra demands.

“It is clear in my mind you can only do one or the other and now is the right time. It’s a good time for

Everton for a change, good for new ideas and a fresh stimulus.

“I can now challenge myself on a world stage.”

Marley will continue working with the under 17 girls at the Ever-ton centre of excellence until the

Everton Ladies coach Marley steps down to take FA job

Everton Ladies coach Mo Marley, who has left the club

by Eoghain McKane

The sun-soaked streets of Liv-erpool saw thousands take part in Liverpool Marathon on Sun-day.

In the second year of the re-vival of the Liverpool mara-thon, over 3,500 runners set off from Birkenhead Park for the 26.2 mile run, whilst around 1,000 others ran the 10k Wirral event.

The full marathon continued through Birkenhead Tunnel, to and around Sefton Park and fi nished under the Liver Build-ings.

The fi rst to cross the line was Thomas Abyu of Salford Har-riers who notched the impres-sive time of 2 hours 28 minutes, which broke the course record. Katie White was the fi rst wom-an runner home, running an impressive time of 3 hours 1 minute.

Race director Alan Rothwell was delighted with how well the event went, saying: “From the off, everything went to plan. It’s been a really good day. We’ve seen more runners from across the country this year and our fi ve year plan is to reach 20,000.”Salford Harriers runner Thomas Abyu crosses the line fi rst to win the Liverpool Marathon. Photo: Alice Kirkland

Records broken at Liverpool Marathon

Fury confronts Price in Twitter rampageby Joe Lanigan Smith and Rory Kelly

David Price has become embroiled in a war of words with fellow box-er Tyson Fury on the social net-working site Twitter.

The 24-year-old appeared on live television at the weekend, making abusive comments about Price, his promoter Frank Maloney and Tony Bellew, as well as making remarks on Twitter.

One tweet read: “I’m gonna smash your face in u ****house scouse **** I look in your eyes and c fear! Ill take your sole and give it the devil,” which is believed to have come from Fury’s offi cial account.

Several other tweets were posted

from the account, including one particularly homophobic tweet tar-geted at Price, Bellew and fellow boxer Rock Fielding.

The British Boxing Board of Control are also investigating the tweets and see whether the tweets should incur either a fi ne or a ban for the Manchester fi ghter.

Following his 90 second knock-out of Audley Harrison at the Echo Arena on Saturday night, many ex-pect Price’s next bout to be against Fury. Immediately after the fi ght, Fury’s promoter Mick Hennessey was reportedly offered £500,000 for a fi ght with Price. A fi ght be-tween the pair seems some way off though, after Hennessey was quoted as saying that Fury’s main priority was a world title fi ght. The row seems to have been instigated

by Frank Maloney, who original-ly said after Saturday’s fi ght that he could see a fi ght happening in the near future, something that the Fury camp claim is some way off.

Price remains highly sceptical Fury would accept the offer to fi ght him, admitting that because of dif-ferent broadcasting deals, the fi ght in the near future would be highly.

However, Maloney remains keen on negotiating with Hennessy and hopes they can reach an agree-ment to stage a blockbuster fi ght in 2013, saying: “We’re happy to sit down and start negotiating and get this fi ght on.

“We are willing to sit down and talk.

“We are opening the door to Mick Hennessey and Tyson Fury to come forward and start talking.”

Funding joy for Katarina

by Tara Lamb

LJMU student and Olympian Katarina Johnson-Thompson (right) has been awarded with National Lottery funding.

The 19-year-old fi nished 15th in the heptathlon in London this summer. Johnson-Thomp-son was competing in her fi rst Olympic games alongside 2012 poster girl Jessica Ennis.

UK Sport have narrowed the focus for funding for athletes across sports from those with top-eight potential to those who are medal contenders in the next Olympic cycle.

Other athletes that have re-ceived funding from the Na-tional Lottery include high jump bronze medalist Robbie Grabarz

and sprinter Adam Gemili.However, 800m runner Mi-

chael Rimmer and marathon runner Paula Radcliffe have had their lottery funding axed.

Johnson-Thompson began her sports science course at Liver-pool John Moores University in September and will carry on her training whilst at university.

16 - October -2012

Snooker’s Ronnie O’Sullivan and Jimmy White will lock horns in a mouth-watering match-up as Snooker Legends comes to the Echo Arena for the fi rst time, later this month. Four-time, and reigning World Champion O’Sullivan, is famed for his rapid playing-style and has been ranked world number one on fi ve occasions. Jimmy White, affectionately known as ‘The Whirlwind’, has been a professional snooker play-er since 1980, and is renowned for losing all six of the World Championship Finals he has appeared in. Legendary snooker commentator and personality John Virgo will be at The Echo Arena, providing fans with expert analysis and humour. Commenting on the event, Ronnie said: “I’m really looking forward to playing in Liverpool, I had some great times living there in my early days as a pro and have some lifelong friends still in the city - and playing against Jimmy you know you’re in for a heck of a game!” Prices for the October 25th event are: Adults £20.00, Under 16’s £15.00 and VIP £70.00. For more details and booking information, please visit The Echo Arena

website.

Liverpool’s Mersey Tigers have suffered their second straight defeat by 50 points or more, after being thrashed away from home by Worchester Wolves on Saturday. The Tigers, who lost 103-51 to Surrey Heat the previous night in the BBL Cup, were outclassed the entire evening. Wolves recorded their second win of their BBL Championship in style as the out-of-form Tigers struggled to get into the game. Wolves’ Alex Owumi impressed with his attacking ability and youngster Daniel Belgrave netted three consecutive three-point baskets to give the home side a massive a 30-8 lead at the end of fi rst quarter. Wolves started the second quar-ter in similar fashion, dominating with Kalil Irvine netting twice. Baskets from forwards Ryan Gallagher and Kieran Forthsythe helped push the Tigers back into the game as the visitors went into the fi nal period 80-43 behind. However Wolves maintained their pressure throughout the fourth quarter with 19-year-old England junior Harry Turner add-ing to his earlier baskets and Karl Noyer hit a fi nal three pointer to put the game well and truly to bed with a 98-48 win. The Tigers currently sit bottom of the pile in the BBL League Table and travel to Manchester Giants this Friday.

Bad start continues for Mersey Tigers

Liverpool Football Club have joined forces with Merseyside Po-lice’s Roads Policing Department to promote road safety. The players from the reserve and youth teams took part in driving demonstrations using impairment goggles to highlight the effect of driving whilst under the infl uence of drugs or alcohol. They were also shown presentations from the offi cers on safe driving. The two day event last week, which also involved driving instructors from the Engage scheme, was held at the Liverpool FC Academy and highlighted the pitfalls and dangers faced by young drivers on the road. Sergeant Paul Mountford said: “Novice drivers going out on the roads for the fi rst time after passing their test have a lot to deal with and unfortunately one in fi ve have a collision within the fi rst six months. “The Engage scheme aims to reduce that risk by adding extra training about how to deal with real life hazards so that as well as learning how to pass their test, they also learn how to say safe on the road.”

Local junior footballers, coach-es and parents are protesting against proposed Sefton park football pitch rises. Councillor Ian Moncur who was there to open the new changing rooms at Meols Park, had to endure ‘save our pitches’ chants from the those gathered who hijacked the event because they were frustrated at the pro-spective pitch price rises. The junior players got together in their football kits and chanted at local Council-lor Ian Moncur who had to endure ‘save our pitches’ chants from those gathered who were frustrated at prospective pitch price rises. The protest comes as Sefton council tries to introduce a £20.5m budget cut, which was

agreed earlier this year. The plans if they go ahead would mean that the seven-a-side pitches could rise from £180 per club per season to around £750. For the 11-a-side pitches, used by players from 12 and up, fees could spiral from £700 to around £1,700. The coaches of the football teams now fear withdrawals following more charges for the parents. To add to the fact that they are already paying for football kits, subscription fees and match day costs. Alice Sumner, secretary of Hesketh Colts Junior football club said: “If the children and teenagers don’t play football we are going to get more kids watching television, more kids on street corners causing trouble-everything has a knock

on effect.”

Liverpool youth team hold safety classes

Pitch cost rise angers parents

by Rory O’Reilly

by Eoghain Mc Kane

by Ryan McCann

byTara Lamb

Snooker Legends play Echo

Mersey Tigers players hope to improve the fortunes of their side as they continue to struggle in the league

Luis Suarez has hit back at claims from a FIFA Vice-Pres-ident who claimed he was a cheat whilst on international duty with Uruguay. Suarez was reacting to comments made by Jim Boyce following Liverpool’s 0-0 draw with Stoke, when Boyce labelled the Reds’ forward a cheat after appearing to go down easily in a bid to win a penalty. After his participation in Uru-guay’s 3-0 defeat in Argentina, Suarez told Argentinian radio: “This guy (Boyce), I’ve no idea who he is. I don’t know why he has been talking about me. “He certainly can’t be well-known and he wants to get publicity.

“Let him carry on talking. My job is to play football and to try to do so in the best way possible. “What he has said does not affect me. I am not interested in what he has to say. It’s been important to have the support of the Uruguayan FA and the people. “I have lived through a lot in the past year, with people say-ing things about me, but I have continued playing and proving my job is what happens on the pitch.” The Uruguayan FA wrote to FIFA last Thursday claiming that Boyce’s comments are ‘at odds with the principles

governing world football’.Suarez is expected to be in action tonight for Uruguay.

Suarez hits back at FIFA following diving rowby Ian Bolland