No Irish Need Apply: Tracing the dark roots of Liverpool's original bigotry
'This wild, reckless, indolent, uncertain and superstitious race have no sympathy with the English character'
Dear members — come one, come all. Whether you spent the long coronation weekend sat beneath street-party bunting with a Union-Jack mug full of fizz and eyes swollen with tears of pride, or stood at your window launching missiles of derision at the former subset of the population, you’re all welcome here.
This week’s Post will be distinctly Eurovision flavoured, and we’ll be hitting the streets tonight to see what sequin-adorned strangeness we can find, but today’s piece is something quite different. Thomas McGrath — who you might remember from superb historical features like this one about the 200-year legacy of Liverpool’s failed suburb — has taken another deep-dive in mid-nineteenth century Liverpool, a time and place where simply being Irish could make finding work a tall order.
First though, your briefing, which begins with some potentially massive news as Liverpool — clearly not content with just Eurovision — eyes another major cultural coup…
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