I always struggle with anything that pitches Mancs against Scousers – So this weekend, i’m feeling particularly uneasy – I love liverpool, it’s one of the greatest cities in the world and it’s just down the road.
I know all the arguments as to why we should hate each other but those are the type of arguments Donald Trump has just won an election with.
My first experiences of liverpool was driving to the ferry when going to Ireland as a kid and there was always something very comforting about the fact that once you came of the motorway at the Rocket Pub, the houses looked like my house – i.e. Red and Council with a knackered ford escort in the front garden.
Then our Chris, first in the family to go to university, went to study there. So I’d go and see him – he lived in Toxteth – I grew up in Moss Side – they were very similar, so, i always felt at home. We’d go to the Everyman, The Casablanca and the State, the club where Frankie did the video to Relax.
We’d go and watch live bands there and look at how many brilliant bands came and still come from liverpool and in most cases, we saw them in little clubs and bars –
I made friends there with “REAL” people who had similar upbringings and experiences to mine – i.e. second generation Irish living alongside second generation Afro-Carribean or Asian in Ghettos and we all had one enemy – Thatcher – It unified us – the hatred of a Conservative government determined to make me, my family and my community feel like shit, to usurp our confidence and to make us feel like useless second generation Immigrants – Please don’t think this immigrant hatred is new, it’s been going on for years especially by the Tories –
and look at the art that was coming out of the city – Bleasedale plays made me feel special and real and alive -Our Chris lived with art student so we were always going to exhibitions and galleries and the passport office was there – which was very important in terms of seeing new worlds
I never had any grief in liverpool for coming from manchester, never started on never picked on and never singled out – wish i could say the same for the other cities I’ve visited over the years.
So, Lets not hate and lets remember what MLK said about hate
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that – Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.
Mancpool
I know and I Love these Mersey streets
Cos I’ve raced and chased around here since 1973
From trips to Ireland
8 of crammed into a mark one escort
I’ve played football here and I’ve been through the courts
I lived in the last house on upper parliament street
Just before Smithdown Road
And I dance in the state before Frankie Relaxed
But the Casablanca was my Home
And I danced with Red Stripe to the jukebox late into the night
Never a cross word spoken never a single fight
I’ve bantered over football music film theatre and art
And I’ve drank with striking Dockers seen the passion in their hearts
And I’ve scored in the darkest alleyways of Liverpool 8
Never had a problem there
I was always treated ace
Aigburth Allerton Kensington Penny lane wine bar
Lark Lane Canning street
I’ve slept in Sefton Park
I’ve worked in schools in West Kirkby Anfield and Tuebrook
And through the art of poetry I’ve taught young kids to look
Deep into the soul of these magnificent places
Where the history of this city is carved into the people’s faces
And I travelled to Anfield a few days after Hillsborough
And place a single rose on the pitch and I said a prayer for the children
And the more I see
the more I hear
it’s led me to the conclusion
This city and its people remind me of Mancunians
The industry the Energy & the really good-looking lads
The way we don’t take ourselves too seriously
The way we love a laugh
And the second-generation Irish thing
The Asian Caribbean mix
And the way governments for centuries
Have treated our people like shit
It baffles me, confuses me how any scousers could hate me
When blood runs thicker than the Mersey down the 62 or the A580
See I believe we’re first cousins who secretly admire each other
So let me take you on a trip round our way
Tell me if it’s familiar
In Gorton the Girls they know all the words to songs by Chakka Kahn