Dear readers — Covid-19 case rates are now falling across the Liverpool City Region, a very welcome piece of news. The number of new cases is still well above the national average, but it’s also falling faster than the national case rate, as you can see in our update below.

Our main story today is about stunted opportunity. We hear a lot in the media about social mobility and the difficulties many young people face in achieving their potential in life, and sometimes that debate can feel quite abstract and academic. But we have found one pocket of primary schools in Birkenhead that demonstrates the problem very well.

Mollie has written an interesting first story about the opportunity gap that swallows up many young people in our neighbourhoods, and it kicks off what we hope will be a series of stories about this topic in the months ahead. The other day we interviewed the former Labour minister and Wallasey MP Angela Eagle about these issues and a few other things — we will bring that …