Is Liverpool resting on its laurels?

Dear readers — welcome to a slightly different edition than usual. Since launching half a decade ago, The Post has been a facts-first publication and, since that even-handed reporting style is what our readers value most highly, that’s never going to change. However, our goal for 2026 is to provide you with a greater scope of journalism. This ambition is both geographic — moving beyond merely Merseyside to a kind of “Liverpool Expanded Universe” that takes you places outside the official boundaries of the city region — and in terms of subject matter and style. 

When Laurence first joined us in late 2024, we briefly indulged his columnist instincts with several barn-burning opinion pieces, such as ‘The decline and fall of Merseyside culture’ and ‘The Wirral has an identity crisis’. After 18 months of rigorous journalistic training, our editors have moulded him into a more measured but no less fiery commentator. Our intention is not to furnish you with unchecked opinion but to begin and contribute to conversations the region needs to be having, alongside our hard-headed investigative pieces and deep dives into important local matters. 

Today’s article concerns the “viability gap”, as metro mayor Steve Rotheram has put it, between Liverpool’s idealism and reality. The former comes in the shape of various titles, projects and strategic boards, while the latter results in stalled developments, disappointing transformations and failed schemes. Just why does it feel like nothing is getting built any more, and how can we stem the associated feelings of embarrassment when things fall apart?

Please read, digest, comment — and even argue with us. But first, your regularly scheduled Post briefing.

Your Post briefing

Trouble for Maassarani: Liverpool GP Faisal Maassarani is in hot water after companies linked to him threatened over 100 people with eviction. Firms connected to Maassarani became landlords of a series of hotels in Merseyside in 2022, and since then have been attempting to capitalise on the government’s need for accommodation for refugees. However, when one of their hotels intended for refugees was deemed unsuitable, the company instead instructed residents of a housing complex they also owned to move out of their properties due to “urgent” fire safety issues. In reality, 116 asylum seekers had already been lined up to replace the tenants. Maassarani told the BBC he had no part in decision-making by his companies on a day-to-day basis – in fact, most of the companies linked to him operate using a complex web of companies and trusts registered in the Isle of Man. Maassarani currently runs several GP surgeries in Knowsley and Sefton, and in November 2022 one of his companies purchased the King’s Gap hotel in Hoylake. The Post has been looking into Maassarani for several months. If you have any information you wish to share with us, please contact abi@livpost.co.uk. 

A boxing boost: According to a new report, the World Boxing Championships boosted Liverpool's economy by £4m. Nearly 8,000 tickets were sold for the event last year, which was the first elite-level global championships hosted by international organisation World Boxing. More than 900 hours of boxing was broadcast around the world, with over 5 million people tuning in on TV and online. As part of the event, local clubs in Liverpool also received boxing equipment worth £50,000, and over 1,200 primary school children benefited from a boxing-themed literacy programme. What a knockout! 

And former St Helens MP Conor McGinn has been charged with sexually assaulting a woman. The 41-year-old was the representative for St Helens North from 2015 until 2024, serving as an independent after he was suspended by Labour in December 2022. McGinn, who now lives in south London, will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 27 February.

Is it just me, or is there not much going on in Liverpool right now?

Of course, there’s always something in this city: gigs, plays, exhibits, community cinema showings, impromptu beatbox-assisted boogies on Church Street. That impression I first had as a wide-eyed Wirral suburbanite teenager, of a city where anything could happen when the sun sets, has never quite subsided even in my late 30s. 

But what about development? Consider the long-stalled Pall Mall office scheme, which will require £15m of government funding just to reach its first stage. Or the somewhat less-than-royal procession at King’s Dock, three years on from the council choosing an architectural team to transform its eight waterfront acres. Littlewoods, once touted as a potential “Hollywood of the North”, is less The Godfather than La Grande Illusion, with even metro mayor Steve Rotheram calling it a “white elephant”. “New Chinatown” will be an ancient prophecy by the time a spade goes in the ground, while “North Liverpool” will be reliant on local funding after the government did not include the proposal as part of its New Town Initiative.