It simultaneously amuses and stimulates AND takes a scythe to the strategies of cities like Liverpool which have gambled all on a quick fix from cruise terminals and/or the 'night-time economy'.
I don't want to sound all puritanical but what do we get in return from this twin-pronged disaster? Alcoholism, litter, rowdiness, the vandalism of our city centres by ersatz 'development' - not to mention pollution of our seas on a planet-destroying scale.
It's an insult to the memory of Cunard Yanks and dockers and a good-looking and individual townscape. One of my Irish immigrant grandfathers was a merchant seaman out of Liverpool. The other was a carter on the docks and was blacklisted after the 1911 strike. Recently we joined the pickets protesting against the P&O scandal (on land from which profits end up in the Isle of Man).
Yesterday, on a train back from London, we (the only people wearing masks BTW) shared an overcrowded carriage with several parties of 'stags and hens'. Two hours of misery but ever more firmly resolved to support the ASLEF and RMT's strikes for safe staffing and maintenance of the system, and the call for renationalisation of and investment in our railways.
All of the above made clear: it's no longer a battle on traditional party lines. It's the war between civilisation and greed for our very existence.
Thanks for a great article David. I think you are right to raise the issue of the huge environmental impact of cruises and the whole kitch awfulness of the experience for the passengers.
Another David, David Foster Wallace, wrote a brilliant article on the cruise experience - "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again". Probably one of the greatest essays I've ever read.
Brilliant article, congratulations. Witty, informed and incisive. Want to read more of your work! I'm an oral historian, began People of the Lane. Living in and around Lark Lane, 1880-2020 in 1980 and published it last year, now working on a Liverpool diary and sketches from my month there this past May.
Interesting, and very thought provoking article. Chances are, that until you raised it in your comments, many people (myself included) had probably never been inclined to think about the other aspects of the cruise liners. The water companies are (supposedly) monitored over their discharges, although very little ever seems to be done about anybody discharging raw sewage into the water, yet at the same time, cruise liners seem to be able to dump whatever they like, with total impunity.
"Aahh yes, say others, but look on the bright side, see how many tourists thesde boats bring in, and how much that's worth to the City." It's very much a double edged sword.
A brilliant piece of writing. Thank you.
It simultaneously amuses and stimulates AND takes a scythe to the strategies of cities like Liverpool which have gambled all on a quick fix from cruise terminals and/or the 'night-time economy'.
I don't want to sound all puritanical but what do we get in return from this twin-pronged disaster? Alcoholism, litter, rowdiness, the vandalism of our city centres by ersatz 'development' - not to mention pollution of our seas on a planet-destroying scale.
It's an insult to the memory of Cunard Yanks and dockers and a good-looking and individual townscape. One of my Irish immigrant grandfathers was a merchant seaman out of Liverpool. The other was a carter on the docks and was blacklisted after the 1911 strike. Recently we joined the pickets protesting against the P&O scandal (on land from which profits end up in the Isle of Man).
Yesterday, on a train back from London, we (the only people wearing masks BTW) shared an overcrowded carriage with several parties of 'stags and hens'. Two hours of misery but ever more firmly resolved to support the ASLEF and RMT's strikes for safe staffing and maintenance of the system, and the call for renationalisation of and investment in our railways.
All of the above made clear: it's no longer a battle on traditional party lines. It's the war between civilisation and greed for our very existence.
Thanks for a great article David. I think you are right to raise the issue of the huge environmental impact of cruises and the whole kitch awfulness of the experience for the passengers.
Another David, David Foster Wallace, wrote a brilliant article on the cruise experience - "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again". Probably one of the greatest essays I've ever read.
Brilliant article, congratulations. Witty, informed and incisive. Want to read more of your work! I'm an oral historian, began People of the Lane. Living in and around Lark Lane, 1880-2020 in 1980 and published it last year, now working on a Liverpool diary and sketches from my month there this past May.
Interesting, and very thought provoking article. Chances are, that until you raised it in your comments, many people (myself included) had probably never been inclined to think about the other aspects of the cruise liners. The water companies are (supposedly) monitored over their discharges, although very little ever seems to be done about anybody discharging raw sewage into the water, yet at the same time, cruise liners seem to be able to dump whatever they like, with total impunity.
"Aahh yes, say others, but look on the bright side, see how many tourists thesde boats bring in, and how much that's worth to the City." It's very much a double edged sword.
Brilliant piece David, …….. apart poking unnecessary cheap fun at two neighbourhoods in Liverpool.