Jan 17 2007. Inane and offensive.

The mighty Express. God, I read Arthur Christiansen's book about the Express and his time there. It made me want to be an editor. It inspired me.

It has careered spectacularly downhill since Arthur's days.

My thanks to Jim Moran of L25 for sending me a clipping from a TV column bylined 'David Stephenson'.

In it Stephenson attempts to review BBC1's new Liverpool-based drama Lillies and seems to think the way to make frriends and influence people is by launching into a string of tired, cliched and downright offensive anti-Liverpool jokes. Sad man.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/drama/lilies/index.shtml

This national newspaper journalist says Scousers can 'rejoice' because no cars get stolen. Then, comic genius that he isn't, he says it's only becuse it's set in 1919 'before Scousers knew how easy cars were to steal.'

The bewilderingly rude and ignorant Mr Stephenson is merely warming to his task. After a few more lines along the lines of 'all Scousers are thieves' he describes a fight in Lillies and puts the phrase 'calm down, calm down' in quote marks. Hilarious.

And he wraps up his shabby piece of yawn-journalism by suggesting Judge John Deed could do with a 'Scouser's perm' so he can be a 'babe magnet'. Quite why, how, what for etc, he neglects, or lacks space to explain.

David, good news and bad news. You've lost a reader (Jim Moran) but gained one (me). Moran thinks you're an offensive idiot and won't buy your paper again. I think your offensive, and an idiot, but I wouldn't miss your next column for the world.

Because you're going to make a case for what you said. Aren't you?