Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Liverpool's Inner Demons
It really is time somebody persuaded Liverpool to submit to psychoanalysis. As I have posted before, it is the only city in the world that specialises in wringing apologies out of people. Not content with that, Tate Liverpool now has an exhibition about the place called Centre of the Creative Universe. A long, solemn article in The Guardian attempts to justify the claim, but I really think it's time we faced up to the staggeringly obvious - this is a city with terrible self-esteem issues. What else could explain its crazy auto-mythologising, transparently thin skin, glutinous sentimentality and preposterous vanities? This is all over-compensation for Liverpool's inner insecurity, its crippling self-loathing and, ultimately, its dark, secret longing to be the primary target of asteroid Apophis in 2036. Next year Liverpool is the European Capital of Culture. Who can imagine what stresses will be inflicted on its wounded and delicate psyche? Time for the couch and a round-the-clock suicide watch.
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
As someone with a very limited knowledge of the North, I'd like to know why Liverpool has these hang ups, rather than, say, Bradford, Leeds or Manchester? After all, presumably Liverpool once had roughly the same economic profile as Bristol, but why is the feel of the city so different? Perhaps some of our friend's op North can explain?
ReplyDeleteI’ve tried to defend Liverpool before, but perhaps I’m wrong. Perhaps it is a city with a problem of self-esteem but it is also a city that has to put up with people stereotype the city and region in certain unknowledgeable ways. For instance, it’s difficult not to feel a certain grievance when everybody in Merseyside is mocked as being as somebody who steals hub-cabs, despite the fact that Merseyside is much larger than Liverpool alone. I don't have a Scouse accent but I live on Merseyside. When asked, I say I live in Lancashire. It’s easier that way.
ReplyDeleteBryan,
ReplyDeleteYou're clearly after an 'invitation' to Liverpool, a la Boris.
Rather than argue with any of your points (I can't - despite being a Scouser myself), why don't you look at this fantastic story by Nigel Bunyan at the Telegraph a year or so ago: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/10/25/nfoet25.xml
Barcelona 1
ReplyDeleteLiverpool 2
Andrew:
ReplyDeleteYes, for those who doubted Liverpool's ability to defeat the mighty Barca, I think an apology is in order.
It was fate, Brit. Bellamy and Risse and all that.
ReplyDeleteOh look -- another Man Utd fan has soiled himself. What an amusing apoplectic display of spleen. I think it's you with the self esteem problem Bryan, la.
ReplyDelete