CAPITAL OF POLLUTION
Liverpool and Manchester have the worst air pollution of any cities in the country outside London, according to a new report by the Environment Agency.
Although improvements have been made during the past two decades, watchdogs found recommended standards for nitrogen dioxide levels were exceeded once every 12 days, on average. The problem got so bad that in 1999 Sefton Council were forced to alert asthma sufferers and those with breathing problems when smog pollution had reached danger levels.

LORD MAYOR UNHAPPY
Liverpool’s Lord Mayor is to receive a 23% pay rise for working as the city’s first citizen.
But Cllr Eddie Clein says that even with the £3,000 increase, the Lord Mayor of Liverpool will still be paid far less than those of Birmingham and Manchester.
“The extra allowance will, of course, help. Out of what I receive I have to pay things like a £25-a-week dry cleaning bill and the cost of some hospitality.”

TOXIC WASTE COME BACK
Twelve families are moving back to Weston, the village near Runcorn at the centre of a toxic gas scare. The familes were forced to leave a year ago after ICI warned them hexachlorobutadiene (HCBD) was seeping through sandstone beneath Weston from the local quarries. They were used by ICI to dump chemical waste more than 25 years ago.
The vapour, has the potential of causing kidney damage.

SEFTON COUNCIL SIDE WITH SHARKS
Despite opposition from Unison, care workers and the local community, Sefton Council recently voted to go ahead with plans to close three care homes in Sefton. People Not Profit drummers attended the lively protest at Bootle Town Hall against the closures, but councillors ignored the widespread opposition, and decided to push the responsibility for the care of the elderly, disabled and young people further towards privatisation, and further towards the Sharks waiting in the wings to make a fortune.
Campaigners intend to step up their protests.

PRESCOTT OUSTS DEMOCRACY
Despite the public protests and opposition that overturned Merseyside Development Corporation’s plan to turn the Pier Head terminal into a giant car park, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has now stepped in and given it the go-ahead. The evidence that the government and local authorities are not in the slightest concerned about public opinion and are just lackeys for business men is getting clearer and clearer all the time.