Lord Mayor's reception
At the Town Hall last night as the Lord Mayor held a reception for the media. He spoke with great enthusiasm about Liverpool's remarkable renaissance and gave more than a nodding acknowledgement of the media's role in it.
Both he and Council Leader Bradley (who also spoke briefly and very well) said they understood the tension that would always exist between media and local authority.
In Piers Morgan's brilliant diary 'The Insider' he referrred to a meeting with a cabinet minister whom he briefed on the 70-30 rule - an implicit understanding that the minister would get slagged off 70% of the time and praised the other 30%.
Typical of Morgan, a man who, to his credit, never took himself or anything too seriously, he didn't provide the minister with an explanation as to why 70-30 was the ratio.
It just was.
Cllrs Clark (the Lord Mayor), Cllr Bradley - and their elected colleagues - get a much better deal that that and the brighter ones know it.
It was a nice evening though - and as Cllr Bradley pointed out from the microphone - we all love Liverpool. It may not appear so, but generally we all pull in the same direction.
Easy to rejoice in this great city while sitting in the Town Hall. It always thrills me with its sheer magnificence.
Great too, to have the chance to chat again to the Lady Mayoress, Hilary Clark. Elegant, perceptive, entertaining, she makes a great ambassador for the city.
