A few days ago I blogged about the infighting in Liverpool Labour over the selection of Luciana Berger to be their Liverpool Wavertree candidate (majority: 2,911 over the Lib Dems) with Labour MP Peter Kilfoyle attacking her.
As the Liverpool Daily Post pointed out, some in Labour have complained that Luciana Berger is a “young southerner”. In fact, until selection in Liverpool she was one of the candidates for the Camden council elections in London.
So perhaps no surprise that another Liverpool paper, the Liverpool Echo, decided to put her to the test by asking four questions on matters dear to Liverpudlian hearts:
- Who gave their name to Liverpool’s airport?
- How many Mersey tunnels are there?
- Who performed Ferry Cross the Mersey?
- Who was Bill Shankly?
I’m not a Liverpudlian, I’ve only been to Liverpool a handful of times in my life, I’ve no intention of standing for election in Liverpool, I rarely fly, I don’t drive, I’m not much of a music fan, I’m only an intermittent football fan, I’ve not spent recent weeks wooing party members in Liverpool and none of the questions were about chocolate. However, even I scored three out of four.
Luciana Berger? She scored only two out of four. Ooops.
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“Luciana Berger? She scored only two out of four. Ooops.”
Only one out of four, surely?
I actually felt that the Bill Shankly and Gerry and the Pacemakers questions were a bit unfair for a younger candidate. Nothing to do with Liverpool as such. They were fine for refugees from the Sixties (like me!) but otherwise… The Mersey Tunnels one was a challenge foranyone not living there!
As I got four should I put my name down for a Liverpool seat.
The Mersey Tunnels is really a trick question. There are two road tunnels, which are referred to as “the Mersey Tunnels” and governed by the Mersey Tunnel Authority – but there is also a rail tunnel, which even Scousers tend to forget. The right answer is three, but plenty of people would get it wrong.
I got all four, but I grew up in Merseyside, so that’s not exactly a surprise.
Is this the same test as given to Boris Johnson when he was forced to grovel for an apology?
Anyone who knows anything about Liverpool knows who Bill Shankly is! I am far too young to be a refugee from the 60s. Someone should have asked her about Istvan Kozma. Now that would have been a fun football question!
To be honest, if you’re standing for election in Liverpool and you don’t know who Bill Shankly is, irrespective of your age, it doesn’t bode well (and that’s coming from an Evertonian!).
These are simple questions that would be answered correctly by any Liverpudlian of any age. Actually, nobody thinks of the rail tunnel as a ‘mersey tunnel’. This name only gained currency when the road tunnels were completed. Strictly speaking there are two tunnels, one is known as the Mersey Tunnel the other as the Wallasey Tunnel, but let us nor split hairs. She is toast.
Peter (originally from the Wirral)
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