Liverpool Council And The Boycott Of The Sun

[mushroom25]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-37368119

legitimate and necessary protest? or a move bordering on politically sanctioned censorship?

[dave50]

When are they are ever going to let it rest? They will be still going on about it a hundred years from now. I have heard Liverpool referred to as 'self pity city'.

[ichkeria]

"At best it's time-wasting, at worst, it's giving consideration to council-approved censorship "

I agree, as previously stated, that it is probably not a good use of council time, but that is partly because the motion seems largely pointless. All they are doing is saying "yes, we agree that newsagents are free not to stock copies of the Sun" - I happen to agree too, although I also think maybe it's time to move on.

[New Judge]

Yet another example of the delusions of grandeur that have increasingly afflicted local authorities in recent years. Local councils should stick to what they are least inefficient at (I won’t use “best” because that implies they are good at some things). e.g. emptying the dustbins, sweeping the streets, clearing the drains.

People in Liverpool who don’t wish to buy The Sun are perfectly able to boycott the paper. So are their newsagents and some already do so. It is not for a bunch of busybodies with little better to do with their time to organise “boycotts” of publications or products. This is especially so when their time is being paid for by taxation. Local authorities are bloated, largely unnecessary organisations which suck up huge sums of taxpayers’ dosh – many of whom see very little return for their money. If Liverpool City Council has time to debate utter tosh such as this – which is well beyond their remit – it’s time their funding was seriously reviewed. In fact, no harm would come of that exercise anyway.

[andy-hughes]

New Judge - have to agree there on all points.

Counsellors often start of in unpaid positions, and this can often attract people whose need for self-aggrandisement often seriously outweighs their skills as administrators - they are the sort of people who can't get onto the local golf club committees.

Graduating to paid positions tends to exaggerate those tendencies, and they become overly self-important, and tend to stray into areas that we well beyond their remit because they see a chance to be seen as being right-on and doing the right thing.

Often - and this is a perfect example - what they are doing is wasting valuable time and money in something which is going absolutely nowhere, and making them look like what they are in the process - opinionated busybodies with more than enough real issues to occupy their time, which are side-lined while they puff and strut over this nonsense.

[Mamyalynne]

The Council should keep a respectful silence on this issue.

Let the local retailers and customers decide what to sell/buy and read.

[agchristie]

Andy > Counsellors often start of in unpaid positions.

You mean Councillors :)

[mikey4444]

I have been out all day and only now got home, so I haven't been able to read all the posts here. But Liverpool boycotting The Sun is hardly news, is it ?

What possible loss could there be, for any town, to stop reading The Sun ?

[Mamyalynne]

Mikey I think it's more about the Council sanctioning this issue rather than a debate on the worth or otherwise of the Sun Newspaper.

As someone who had family there that day though not Liverpudlian, I can understand anger and avoidance but not Council backed banning so to speak.

[Mamyalynne]

Hilarious Baldric.

[mikey4444]

Me too...completely hilarious...what a very finely-tuned sense of humour you have Baldric.

[Baldric]

Calm down, Calm down, I'm not suggesting I have no empathy with the people of Liverpool who suffered losses, but Liverpudlians do seem to think they're a breed apart and worthy of special treatment for some reason.