Last minute drama, local revamps and Liverpool Doc Club

Dear readers — welcome to your Monday edition. Things are heating up here at The Post; not necessarily because of the warming climes, but because both Abi and Laurence have been struck down in the prime of life (25 and 37) with high temperatures and a flu that seems to be doing the rounds. 

Never ones to throw in the towel (or the tissues), the pair are pushing on. We can only hope that this newsletter is delivered well sanitised and to our readers in the best of health…

First of all, if you haven’t already please check out our stunning weekend read from regular Post freelancer Melissa Blease about the unsung Williamson Square, a place we’re all familiar with but probably seldom think about. 

Is Williamson Square Liverpool’s own Times Square?

In an ever-changing city, the humble plaza is a reassuring constant

The PostMelissa Blease

Melissa is the writer that made Laurence want to write for The Post, way back when he first read her Boys from the Blackstuff review in 2023. Alongside Jeff Young, he thinks she’s the best contemporary chronicler of the city’s memory and recent social history. 

A bit of a change of pace today, as this is the week we launch our regular culture edition. We’re kicking things off with the first half of a Q&A with Bruno Castro — the founder of Liverpool Doc Club, who will be starting their residency at the Unity Theatre with a showing of Motherboard. Read on for more — but first, your regularly scheduled Post briefing. 

Your Post briefing

Net zero, here we come: As many as 35 public buildings in the city region will benefit from a £40m programme to slash carbon emissions — including historic waterfront sites like the Cunard and Georges Dock buildings. The scheme is part of the Liverpool City Region (LCR) Combined Authority’s target of reaching net zero by 2035, and will connect buildings — which account for most carbon emissions — to the Mersey Heat Network built by Peel to provide hot water and low-carbon heating for businesses in its Liverpool Waters development. Other buildings that should soon benefit from low‑carbon heating systems include Bootle Library and Landican Cemetery. “By transforming our civic buildings, we’re reducing emissions, lowering energy bills and future‑proofing public services for decades to come,” said Anthony Burns, LCR cabinet member for net zero.

Speaking of Mr Burns, who is also the leader of St Helens local authority: the Blackbrook ward councillor spoke to Radio Merseyside last week, lauding the £80m revamp of St Helens. The “ambitious” regeneration — which was greenlit in 2022 under Burns’ predecessor David Baines — planned to include an internationally-branded hotel, family homes, high-spec sustainable offices and a new market hall. The redevelopment, described as “almost complete” by the BBC, also includes a new and extended bus station linked to the rail station. Mr Burns said the local authority had "taken the bull by the horns" and the works — which included the demolition of the 40-year-old Hardshaw shopping centre — was a “once in a lifetime” chance for St Helens. The council put £69.2m into the project, with a further £10.5m coming from two Town Deal government grants.

And bad news for those in Halton — the council has applied to the government for another council tax rise come April. Halton council is meeting later this month to discuss its budget, which is falling short of what the authority needs despite already asking for a £30m loan from the government. According to documents filed, people in a Band D property would pay about £148 more per year, despite the fact the council already raised council tax by almost 5% in previous years — the maximum allowed without triggering a local referendum. By moving council tax up again, the council says it would be lifting it to the national average and generating an additional £2m.

Unfortunately, financial trouble for our councils doesn’t stop there. Over in Warrington, the council has conceded that its commercial investments over the past few years “failed”, leading to £1.8bn of debt. Now, they’ve identified another £40m shortfall in this year’s budget, leading to more cuts to services. Denis Matthews, the cabinet member for finance, admitted that the local authority had borrowed too much and taken on too much risk, adding the initial £90m funding gap identified last year has also since been revised to £130m. Ouch…

The big interview: Liverpool Doc Club co-founder Bruno Castro on bringing Motherboard to the Unity Theatre

You may have recently read our article about community cinema across the city region, taking in Hoylake, Crosby and St Helens. One thing was missing: Liverpool city centre itself. All that should soon change as Liverpool Doc Club takes up residency in the Unity Theatre. 

The Post spoke to curator Bruno Castro about their first screening there: Motherboard, a 20+ year project by Victoria Mapplebeck about the agony, ecstasy and comedy of single-motherhood, filmed not with high-tech cinematic equipment but television cameras and mobile phones. 

The Post: Can you talk a little bit about Motherboard?

Bruno Castro: The film follows [the director, Victoria Mapplebeck’s] son Jim over 22 years. A very ambitious project. When she started, she didn’t have any funds and nobody believed in the project. She wasn’t able to fund it or find professional gear or crew. But she was a television director, so what she did have was access to TV cameras, and then the very first phones that had a camera, and now modern phone cameras. 

The Post: It reminds me of the Dogme 95 movement “taking back power” for the directors against the studio, using very cheap filming materials, or how David Lynch’s Inland Empire attempted to exploit the cheapness of digital cameras while pushing the medium to its limits. 

Bruno Castro: Totally! For Victoria, it was exactly the same motivations as the references you’re mentioning. Like for [co-founder of Dogme 95] Von Trier, it was also a very stylistic approach and form — doing something different. The difference is that nowadays, because of phones, film is a part of our lives, and we have all seen films that have a fragmented structure or that use various media, so it’s not disruptive anymore. But because of the medium and the subject matter — Jim’s birth; Victoria’s journey as a single parent; her trying to navigate creative industries nonetheless; having cancer; Jim trying to find his dad — to film that with a cell phone or TV camera brings an intimacy that wouldn’t have been there had it been filmed with a huge crew and professional gear.

The Post: A bit like if you ever see a Rainer Werner Fassbinder movie, which might look jarringly unprofessional at first, until you realise all that’s happened is that the Hollywood celluloid gloss has been stripped away.

Bruno Castro: Exactly. That happens profoundly in this film. It’s intimate; it’s human. And Victoria is so intelligent in the way she edits. It’s not at all just a collation of content. It’s telling a story in such a way that it can be so meaningful to strangers in a cinema, so much so that we as an audience feel it could be any one of us — a part of our own stories. 

The Post: We recently wrote about the importance of community cinema, but one thing that was missing was opportunities for that experience in the city centre, so to have Liverpool Doc Club set up in the Unity Theatre is great news.

Bruno Castro: Yes. The idea is to try to open up new venues and new spaces for cinema screens. There are a lot of projects that are starting to do that, and we’re starting to organise ourselves and communicate towards an integrated understanding. We felt that while other cities like Manchester, Sheffield or Leeds have been able to keep one or two independent cinemas or more, Liverpool doesn't have that landscape. We’re looking to change that.

Motherboard will be playing at the Unity Theatre at 7:30pm on Wednesday 11th February. There will be a Q&A with director Victoria Mapplebeck. To read more of our interview with Bruno Castro about the future intentions of Liverpool Doc Club and the larger Imagine Futures CIC, stay tuned. 

Your sport highlights

We don’t always cover sport, but this weekend was too full of drama not to mention. 

Fulham 1-2 Everton

Firstly, Everton’s trip down to Craven Cottage might not have inspired the best performance of either of David Moyes’ tenures, but it did give an insight into what the Glaswegian has been sculpting since his return last year. 

Fulham, managed by ex-Everton boss Marco Silva, weathered a bright start by the Toffees before taking full control after a slick move ended in an own goal for Vitalii Mykolenko. In a more evenly matched second half, however, the Ukrainian fullback redeemed himself with a bursting overlap to set up Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s equaliser fifteen minutes before fulltime. 

Then in the 84th minute, Fulham’s goalkeeper Bernd Leno — something of a villain among Everton fans for a viral video a few seasons back in which he slated Everton’s Jordan Pickford — turned Dewsbury-Hall’s corner into his own net. 

The win sees David Moyes side in 8th place, two points behind Liverpool. 

Brandon Figueroa defeats Nick Ball with a 12th round KO

Then to a febrile Echo Arena on Saturday night, where local hero Nick Ball (23-1-1, 13 KOs) defended his WBA world featherweight title against Mexican-American Brandon Figueroa (27-2-1, 20 KOs). Kirkby’s Ball, who fights out of Everton Red Triangle gym on Albion Street, was the favourite going into his fourth defence, having handed strong opposition Raymond Ford and Sam Goodman their first losses. Meanwhile, Figueroa had looked listless in his last fight against Stephen Fulton.

Ball tried to bully Figueroa on the inside, but found himself under volleys of volume-punches from the veteran. The visitor appeared to be en-route to a “close but clear” decision win going into the final round, ahead on two of the three judges’ cards, but sent Ball face-first to the canvas with a left-hook. Ball rose, but the referee waved off the contest with seconds remaining after another volley sent the local hero through the ropes. 

Figueroa’s team, including coaching mastermind Manny Robles, understandably rushed into the ring to celebrate in front of the hostile Liverpool crowd, leading to a scuffle with Ball’s team who apparently objected. Andrew Cain, Ball’s stablemate who had stopped Alejandro Jair Gonzalez via ninth-round TKO in a WBC bantamweight title eliminator earlier in the night, disgracefully kicked out at a member of Team Figueroa. 

Once the furore has died down, Ball and his team will be looking to rebuild, while a rejuvenated Figueroa could set up tantalising unification clashes with IBF champ Angelo Leo, new WBC titlist Bruce Carrington or the freakishly 6’1” WBO champ Rafael Espinoza — the kind of fights Ball was recently talking up. 

Liverpool 1 - 2 Manchester City

And finally to Sunday, when Dominik Szoboszlai’s superb deadlock-breaking free-kick in the 75th minute seemed to be setting Liverpool up for a stunning victory over their rivals across the M62. Manchester City had not won at Anfield since 2021, and not in front of fans since 2003, and were heading into the final ten minutes behind. However, Bernardo Silva's 84th-minute equaliser cancelled out Szoboszlai’s strike.

If late drama had been the theme of the weekend, what followed was the ultimate denouement. In added time, Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson bundled over City’s Matheus Nunes, and referee Craig Pawson pointed to the spot. Erling Haaland duly converted the 93rd-minute penalty, pulling off a stunning comeback.

But that wasn’t all! City keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was then called upon to make a superb save to deny Alexis Mac Allister an equaliser. City then had the ball in the net again with Alisson out of his goal, but the goal was ruled out after a VAR check. Instead, goal scorer Szoboszlai was sent off in the 13th minute of added time for a foul on Haaland before Rayan Cherki's shot from his own half rolled in. 

City’s stunning comeback win leaves them just about still in the title race, six points behind leaders Arsenal, while reigning champions Liverpool are now in sixth. 

Photo of the week

Reddit user Sad-Video-2605 shared this snapshot of Grants last week, inquiring about its life before its shutters rolled down. “That takes me back!” one user responded. “Back in the 90s, it was a martial arts equipment store. I used to buy my training gear and weapons from there when I did Kung Fu at what is now Mean Eye Cat Bar in Seel Street.”

It got us thinking: while Liverpool is spotted with dozens of derelict buildings across its city centre, which relics bring back memories for you? Let us know in the comments. 

We’re always keen to feature photos from our readers — if you have a snap you’d like to share please email it to editor@livpost.co.uk for a chance to be featured in our Monday editions.

Post Picks

📻On Friday, YouTuber and host of the Within Reason podcast Alex O’Connor heads to the Tung Auditorium for an evening of discussion and audience questions on God, religion and consciousness. Tickets here.

🎃Also on Friday: St George’s Hall hosts a tribute to the music of Tim Burton films. From Alice in Wonderland to The Nightmare Before Christmas, the Mystery Ensemble will be playing across his back catalogue from 7.30pm onwards. Details here.

🎨Artist Pete McKee will begin touring across the country soon for his latest exhibition, The Boy With a Leg Named Brian. He’ll be heading to music venues in the UK – coming to Liverpool on 16 May for a stint at District. There will also be a live performance from The Everly Pregnant Brothers, the northern tinged comedy ukulele band which Pete is also a member of. Find out more here.

Recommended reads

📖Our sister publication, The Manchester Mill, dropped a shocking scoop last week. They discovered that Reform had broken electoral law by sending out letters written “by a resident” encouraging others to vote for the party, without any marker on these publications that they were Reform leaflets. Since breaking the story, it has appeared on BBC Look North and has been covered widely by other publications. Well done The Mill!