Liverpool Life issue 7

Life ONE STEP CLOSER Liverpool

www.jmu-journalism.org.uk

20th November 2012

Mother’s inquest Tattoo artists’ Hillsborough fundraiser petition hits 100,000 target

by Joel Richards

A poster has been put up in a tattoo parlour in Anfield to promote the event ‘96 Tattoos for the 96’

by Katie Croft A group of tattoo artists have organised an event where they plan to tattoo 96 people in one day to raise money for the Hillsborough Justice Fund.

The design for the tattoos will vary in style but will consist of the figures ‘96’ in memory of the tragic incident where 96 football fans lost their lives at Hillsborough football ground in 1989.

Royal Ink in Anfield and their sister tattoo studio Picton tattoos

will run the event on December 16th.

All the tattooists working at the two studios, five in total, will be involved on the day tattooing customers from 10am until 5pm.

The list to book in to have a tattoo done opened four days ago and the studios have already had a fantastic response, with 40 people booked in already.

Will Holmes, Manager at Royal Ink, Anfield, said: “We’ve had a fantastic response so far, we’ve

The news this week...

had emails from Australia with people saying they wish they could be here. Some people from out of town are already booked in. The good thing is Liverpool supporters come from all over.”

The studios are charging a minimum donation of £9.60 on the day but many are predicted to donate more.

Mr Holmes added: “We have had many people in the past getting the figures ‘96’ tattooed but we usually charge £30. Even

though we have a low cost donation charge some people have already donated £40 and more.”

Representatives from Liverpool’s Hillsborough Justice Fund and Liverpool FC supporters fund will be present at Royal Ink on the day.

Staff at Royal Ink estimate that the event will exceed in raising £1000.

All money raised on the day will be donated to the Hillsborough Justice Fund.

A grieving mother’s dream of bringing forward an inquest into her son’s death at Hillsborough has taken a step closer to reality.

Kevin Williams was one of 96 Liverpool fans crushed to death at the FA Cup Semi-Final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest and his mother, Anne, has tirelessly campaigned over the past 23 years for her son’s case to be heard by the British justice system.

When she was diagnosed with a terminal illness Anne’s supporters called for a speedy hearing into a fresh inquest for Kevin and launched an online petition on the Directgov e-petitions website.

At 10:53 today the petition, urging the Attorney General to fast track an inquest, reached over 100,000 signatures, meaning it must now be considered for debate by MPs. The Attorney General has said that he will apply to the High Court for fresh Hillsborough inquests next month, but said that the speed of the inquests is not within his power. He has also gone on record as saying that that the inquests of all 96 victims will be held at the same time as “all the deaths arose from a single chain of events”.

The petition had been growing steadily with 60,000 signatures up until Saturday, when a co-ordinated campaign from Liverpool fans ahead of their home match with Wigan managed to gather 40,000 signatures in three days. The final 1,000 signa-

£1,200 computer is stolen from the children’s charity

Regeneration of Toxteth area and High Park Street reservoir is revealed

Former LJMU student comes third in UK bodybuilding Competition

More on page 3

More on page 5

More on page 11

tures were gathered in just one hour.

Shortly before the petition reached the 100,000 target, Mrs Williams said on Twitter: “A Big Thank you to everyone who signed the e petition.”

She went on to mention the Hillsborough Justice Campaign (HJC) who have helped Hope for Hillsborough (HFH), a group organised by her.

Sheila Coleman, from the Hillsborough Justice Campaign said: “We always felt that it would reach the necessary 100, 000 signatures and this is the fourth time an e-petition regarding Hillsborough has done that. This shows how much love and support there is out there for Anne Williams.”

Debi McMillan, also from the Hillsborough Justice Campaign said: “Everyone’s been incredible in their support yet again, and we would like to thank each and every one of them.”

Despite the original inquest imposing a 3:15pm cut off for all victims, Mrs Williams has always insisted that her son was still alive past that time and has gathered evidence from witnesses who desperately attempted to save Kevin’s life, including former WPC Debra Martin who insists that he called out ‘Mum’ as she cradled him in her arms, before dying at 4pm.

Following the release of the Hillsborough Independent Panel’s report in September, fresh hope was given to the victims’ families and survivors of the disaster who have fought for justice, with criminal charges and proceedings now being considered.

Life/News/2

New partnership boosts job market

by Jamie Allen

Two Liverpool colleges have agreed a partnership with Peel Ports Mersey to provide job specific training for a new development that is expected to create up to 5,000 jobs.

Peel Ports, who run the Port of Liverpool and the Manchester Ship Canal, believe that this new partnership will give a boost to the jobs market in the North West.

A company spokesman said: “The agreements with Liverpool Community College and Mersey Maritime Group underline their common commitment to provide job-specific training and employment opportunities in maritime and other growth sectors within the Liverpool City Region.”

The company hopes that the construction of a new development ,the in-river container terminal 2 will begin in early 2013.

The scheme is expected to bring in up to 5,000 new jobs There are hopes that the majority of these jobs will go to a local skilled workforce.

They said: “The focus of Peel Port’s partnership with Liverpool Community College and Mersey Maritime Group is to ensure that the local skills base matches employment opportunities as jobs come on stream.”

Peel Ports hope that this will be the start of a bright future for the Port of Liverpool and the Liverpool region in general.

Gary Hodgson, Managing Director of Peel Ports Mersey, said: “Investing in a highly skilled workforce is key to our business development strategy.

“Partnering with local education providers we are laying really solid foundations on which we can build a sustainable and thriving future.”

Maritime industry has played a large role in the history of Liverpool and the Mersey Maritime Group believes

New container terminal development at the port of Liverpool will create 5000 jobs

Port of Liverpool’s largest intake in 20 years that it is important to carry on this tradition.

Jim Teasdale, Chief Executive of Mersey Maritime Group said: “The

Liverpool

Life Team Editors Ian Bolland Michaela Shaw News Editor Tara Lamb News David Williamson Hannah Ashraf Arild Skjaeveland Hayley Minn Features editor Alice Kirkland Features Rosie Cameron Sara Ainsworth

Sport editor Rory O’Reilly Sports Eoghain McKane Andrew McKenna Picture editor Lauren Kelly

maritime sector is part of the life blood of this region, and the sector is more successful now than it has ever been.

“It will further strengthen our ability to meet demand for engineering skills as the Port of Liverpool grows.”

Peel Ports Mersey announced Lend

Lease as the main contractor for the development and is expected to be finished and fully functioning by 2015.

Stone Age clues found in Sefton

by Jamie Allen

A settlement dating back to the Stone Age has been uncovered in Merseyside by the Environment Agency.

Experts are calling the discovery ‘significant’ because it might give clues that will change what historians and archaeologists think about the Metholitic period of time.

The settlements were found in Lunt Meadow, Sefton, and are believed to have contained a large amount of Flint and other utensils.

Liverpool Museum archaeologist Ron Cowell told the Echo: “This find, in archaeological terms, is quite significant and potentially of national importance. It’s by far way above in importance that I have worked with in more than 30 years of archaeology.”

The flint which was discovered suggests that there was quite a large settlement of people with some of the material originating from North Wales and possibly Derbyshire.

These settlers were thought to be the first native people of Britain, Mr. Cowell said: “They did this during the period when the land was breaking off Europe into an island.”

Three structures were also discovered that were confirmed, through carbon date testing, to be from around 5800BC making them almost 8,000 years old.

The area is currently undergoing a project to increase the amount of wildlife; Lunt Meadows project is due to be completed next year but is already showing signs of improvement with a number of other species starting to make use of the newly created habitats.

Once the project is finished it will be run by the Lancashire Wildlife Trust and the Museum of Liverpool will catalogue any findings from the project.

Mount Everest wants you

by Kate Molyneux

A Liverpool student is searching for volunteers to climb Everest with him for charity.

Dominic Edwards is looking for 20 students at Liverpool John Moores University, to fundraise money to climb Mount Everest next year for Dig Deep charity.

The 20 students will face physical and mental challenges as they climb as a team to the Everest Base Camp. Dominic, who is a 21 year-old student at JMU, said he is excited to get started. “I can’t wait to start fundraising and I would

pitch this to anyone. It’s mainly the desire to get involved and if they have any experience in fundraising or events that would help.”

The Everest charity event will be a 21-day trek with an extra eight days for spare time. The three-week trek consists of two days of hiking, followed by one day of acclimatisation so that the volunteers can cope with oxygen levels and be able to stay together as a team.

Dominic added: “The type of person you need to be to get involved is outgoing but also knows how to understand other people’s

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Joe Lanigan Smith Vanessa Gainford

Students on Snowdon. © Richard Eves

needs. We don’t want people to run up the mountain, look down and say ‘hurry up everyone else.’ We want really good teamwork skills, and able to help others because to be honest you can only go as fast up the mountain as-quick-as the slowest person.”

The fundraising for the event will include street event techniques, a half marathon and also a humorous ‘Take Me Out’ night at Baa Bar in Liverpool. Each volunteer will need to raise around £2500 each: 40% will go towards the Everest climb, and 60% of the money raised with go to the charity

Dig Deep.

This small charity helps communities in Kenya to have clean water, improve sanitation and renewable energy, such as wells and other technologies.

There are still places to get involved and Dominic also added it will help students personally. “It’s a great opportunity and charity to get involved with. It will help to enhance my leadership skills, because my future job is to go into football coaching; but it is good for young students so they can enhance their CV and develop skills like managing events.”

Students from Manchester and Liverpool universities climbed Mount Snowdon as a finale to a week of charity events.

The students braved Snowdon’s November weather to climb the peak as part of Charity Week.

Jasmina Hamdaoui, of JMU Islamic Society said: “Charity Week is a fantastic opportunity to allow students across university to unite and get involved in raising funds for a worthy cause.”

Life/News/3 Robbery blow to KIND campaign

by Madelaine Cornforth

Gemma Malyk, stock Supervisor at Liverpool Cathedral, with part of the largest collection of nativity sets in Liverpool.

The cathedral has gathered more than 30 nativity sets from around the world. These include traditional children’s wooden figures and Fair Trade sets that reflect the countries and Christmas cultures where they were created

Charity scheme helps homeless

by Sam McDonnell

A Liverpool charity’s scheme to rehouse homeless people has had a successful initial period, but one worker says that the government’s benefit sanctions could have a major impact on the city’s most vulnerable.

The Whitechapel Centre in the city centre works closely with the council and other charitable bodies to help Liverpool’s homeless, but also assists those who come to the country to seek asylum.

The Whitechapel Centre’s Outreach Team manager, Russell Ainslie, explained: “We have got a good infrastructure for dealing with these cases in Liverpool. Our Single Home Response scheme has only been running for four months, but in that time we’ve accommodated around 30 individuals, and about a quarter of those have come through the asylum route.”

People who enter the country seeking asylum are accommodated through public funding in the National Asylum Support Service in Liverpool, but once a person is granted asylum and a National Insurance number, there can be a wait before

they are allowed access to benefits and education, potentially leading to that person becoming homeless.

Mr Ainslie described what now happens in Liverpool to counter the possible problem: “Once they’re granted their National Insurance number they can no longer stay in the holding places but within days we accommodate them, and in good standard accommodation.

“We have a list of landlords that will accommodate people who have been allowed to remain in the country. At this moment in time we’re placing people from Sri Lanka, Iran, Spain and the Czech Republic, and we’re placing people quite quickly.”

The Centre’s relationship with the local landlords is key, as Mr Ainslie explained that taking on homeless people through housing benefit can leave a property owner with concerns.

He said: “To be honest I think the landlords are more willing to take people who have moved from abroad. As we’re a homeless day centre, some landlords will think that the people we send to their properties will have some underlying issues, namely drugs or alcohol.

“As for some of the people who we’ve housed who have been seeking asylum, we’ve had an accountant, we’ve had a journalist. They know that the people using their accommodation have escaped violence rather than having abused drugs or alcohol.”

Mr Ainslie was also keen to point out that the latest government system of sanctioning the benefits of those who do not fulfil the required criteria could lead to homelessness increasing in Liverpool.

The Outreach Team Manager said: “If they’re five minutes late for an appointment there they will be sanctioned, which not only affects their JSA (Job Seeker’s Allowance) and their ESA (Employment and Support Allowance) but the housing benefit also stops. People might find themselves homeless because they’re missing appointments.

“Now you or I might say that we’d make our appointments. We make sure we’re in work every morning at nine o’clock or we might be in serious trouble, but people with drug or alcohol issues don’t think the same.

This could lead to a lot of people in a year or so becoming homeless.”

He added: “You’ll also find that street begging will increase because people aren’t receiving benefits. We found in Liverpool that there’s been an increase of street begging because people have had their benefits sanctioned.”

Liverpool City Council also has concerns over government austerity measures having a direct impact on the city’s homeless.

Mayor Joe Anderson explained in the Guardian that Liverpool has one of the highest dependencies on welfare, with one in five adults being out of work.

Mayor Anderson said: “While we have made every attempt to mitigate the cuts to frontline services, the scale of the cuts has meant we have had to reduce our provision in libraries, leisure and youth services.

We have removed support for moderate-care adult services and reduced supported housing for vulnerable groups including single homeless people and victims of domestic violence, and made reductions in sheltered housing for older people. We are at a point where we are directly affecting people’s lives and the places where they live.”

City council faces backlash over spin doctor advert

by Sam McDonnell

Liverpool City Council has come under fire after advertising a £90,000-per-year position for a spin doctor amid huge public spending cuts.

The council has been forced to trim their budget by up to a third over the next four years but advertised for a new Head of Communications, Customer Relations and Public affairs who would earn more than Mayor Joe Anderson.

With austerity measures meaning

that £143 million has to be saved from the council’s outgoings, offering a £90,000 salary job has been criticised by some in opposing parties to the leading Labour contingent.

Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader, Cllr Tom Morrison tweeted: “Labour Mayor Joe Anderson is hiring someone to make him look good while slashing vital services. An absolute disgrace.”

Cllr Morrison then went on to tell the BBC: “We already have a big press and marketing team at the council so I don’t see why we need to spend £90,000 on yet another press

person when there are already people there who are capable of doing the job.

“Instead of spending £90,000 on a spin doctor perhaps we should be spending £90,000 on other things.”

Cllr Morrison was joined by former Lib Dem Councillor Andrew Makinson on the social networking site.

Mr Makinson tweeted: “Cut? What cuts? Who needs a library or Sure Start (centres which deal with improvements in childcare and early education) when Liverpool’s Labour needs a new £90,000 a year Spin Doctor!”

Mayor Joe Anderson, who earns £66,000 after declining the suggested £79,500 salary for his position, explained: “We’ve tried to hire someone for a smaller amount of money and have failed.”

He continued: “What we’ve done is we have amalgamated a number of jobs in terms of customer relations, communications and public affairs, put them all together and we are now trying to recruit somebody to fill that.”

Labour leaders also explained that the position had been unfilled for the last 18 months.

Thieves who targeted a Liverpool children’s charity have stolen vital information needed to help families this Christmas.

The robbery came just two weeks after KIND launched its Christmas appeal. A £1,200 computer was taken from the KIND SEED Centre, based between the city centre and Toxteth, at around half past seven on Tuesday night.

Two phone calls were made to the police by locals who noticed a window was smashed.

KIND works with disadvantaged children and families and aims to give them opportunities and experiences that some may take for granted.

Stephen Yip, founder of KIND, said: “The only good thing is they didn’t physically get in. They smashed the window and because the computer is by the window they just pulled the computer out.”

The robbers broke through the street level window on Back Canning Street and pulled the computer through the bars on the window.

The computer was a top of the range Apple iMac and because of its slim nature was easily pulled through the metal bars.

Stephen Yip said: “Because they didn’t get in the alarm didn’t go off.

You don’t expect people to come through the window when there are bars on it!”

The most valuable thing lost to the charity is the information which was on the computer.

KIND’s Christmas appeal gives food hampers and toy hampers to families in need over Christmas. On the computer was the families that have asked for help and that need help. It also contained the details of volunteers that have come forward to help KIND in their Christmas appeal and those wanting to donate.

Mr Yip said: “It’s rather brutal really. It’s just a pain because it’s what’s on the computer that’s the most important thing. We can fundraise for a new computer but we’ve got to try and get all this information.”

The charity is now concerned they will lose contact with these people so Stephen Yip has urged anyone who contacted them lately about the Christmas appeal to get back in touch.

Just a week before the robbery, KIND’s city centre store was closed down leaving the charity worried for the success of its 37th Christmas appeal.

Stephen Yip took to social networking site Facebook today to express his thanks to everyone who is helping them through this difficult time.

He said, “All at KIND would like to say a big thank you to everyone for their support regarding the break in at the Centre. When horrible things like this happen the only upside is we find out that there are so many more good and Kind people in this world.”

For more information or to donate to KIND please visit www.kind.org. uk. If anyone has any information regarding the robbery please contact Merseyside Police on 01517774065.

Students in fees protest

by David Williamson

The National Union of Students will protest in the streets of London tomorrow, against the tripling of tuition fees, and youth unemployment.

The NUS has urged students to attend the protest as it’s a response to universities charging the full £9,000 per year in tuition fees, even after assurances from vice-chancellors that they would only do so in exceptional circumstances.

The NUS said: “The decision to hold the demo on a Wednesday was taken because this is when Prime Minister’s Questions are held, making it the best day to make an impact on policy makers and the press. “ The protests will begin near the King’s College London student union building at 11 am, and a rally at Kennington Park is planned for 2pm.

In response to the violence that occurred during the NUS march in 2010, when rioters smashed the entrance to Conservative headquarters, the police have closed Kennington Road, Upper Thames Street, Victoria Embankment and Westminister Bridge, in a bid to prevent any similar events.

Vince Cable is expected to face questions regarding tuition fees whilst giving a speech in Birmingham tomorrow at the AoC conference. The Association of Colleges (AoC) conference is designed to highlight issues the further education sector face and hold a debate on where the challenges are, and where they can improve.

Business secretary Vince Cable and the Liberal Democrats have been scrutinised since the decision to raise the tuition fees after they had pledged in their election campaign to vote against any rises in fees, in parliament.

Kennedy takes up police role

by Danielle Baldwin

The people of Merseyside voted Labour candidate Jane Kennedy as the new police and crime commissioner in last week’s historic poll.

The results showed that Ms. Kennedy had won the public vote by a majority of over 56% beating Conservative candidate Geoffrey Gubb who only received 12.6%.

Jane will be sworn into her new role on Thursday which will allow her to control the annual police budget, set priorities within the force and have the power to hire and fire the Chief Constable.

In her victory speech the former Wavertree MP said: “I make this one promise, that is to work very hard, to do the best job for Merseyside, for the police and for the communities

that they serve.

“Now that I am elected, I will be hitting the ground running. I hope to meet the officers of Merseyside police and am already planning to go out on patrol so I can fully understand the challenges which they face day in and day out.”

In the surrounding area of Cheshire, Conservative John Dwyer picked up the most votes after the voting process was repeated as no winner was produced the first time.

He won with 48,591 initial and secondary votes compared to Labour’s John Stockon who had a combined total of 37,350.

The retired assistant chief constable said: “I’m honoured to take that post and I will start delivering on the mandate in my manifesto in the very near future.

“I won’t let you down. Thank you everybody for your support.”

Life/News/4

Applications drop at universities

by Dani Baldwin and Sanna Zahid

Merseyside youngsters are still applying for places at university, despite a recent survey which shows that applications from the region have fallen by a fifth.

Figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) also suggest that the number of applications to Liverpool universities have dropped by over 10%, with 31,614 students applying to study at University of Liverpool, ranked third in the North West.

The decline has been put down to the trebling of fees at most institutions, which saw the annual fee for many courses rise from £3,000 to £9,000 a year in 2012.

Wavertree MP Luciana Berger said: “This is a massive decline. I voted against higher fees because I feared the level of debt that students would be confronted with when they left university would be a deterrent – and that’s what these figures show.”

Despite this, Liverpool Life has spoken to current and prospective students who are still keen to continue with their higher education studies.

Luke Lyons, 18, who is from Liverpool and currently attends the city’s community college, said: “I’m going to study an RAF course so I get a bursary which covers the course fees but it’s something that I really want to do so if I had to pay for it myself I’d still do it and just save up.”

Fellow student Tanayah Khaleel,

16, who is also from Liverpool, agreed: “My parents want me to go to university and I have to go to get a good career in nursing so I don’t think the fees have put me off.”

Elsewhere, Josie Summer, a first year student studying history of art at Liverpool John Moores university (LJMU), said: “The fees are pretty ridiculous but to get any job, even a poorly paid one, employers are looking for graduates.”

Oliver Craig-Dennis, 18, a first year student at University of Liverpool , added: “My course is funded by the NHS so luckily I don’t have to pay the fees but if I did have to I still would have come to university just to experience the uni life.”

Other students agree that the fee increase will deter college students and feel that their university education is not worth that amount of money.

James Blackburn, a third year Criminal Justice student at LJMU, said: “I wouldn’t have come to this university if I had to pay those fees, not for £9000. I would have gone to Oxford or Cambridge.”

Jennifer Gargon and Rebecca Grace, both 18, are first year hospitality management students.

They said: “It’s definitely not worth it for what we pay because we’re only in for two days a week.

We pay £6000 a year but you have to do it to get a job, I suppose.”

Ali Almohammed, 21, who is studying business management at JMU but is paying the lower fees, said: “I would have had to think a lot more about my decision to go

University of Liverpool’s increase in fees has lead to a decrease of applicants ©Twitter/Livuni to university if I had to pay £9,000 for it.”

Andrew Cooper, 21, a second year student at University of Liverpool, said: “I doubt that I still would have come to university if I was applying now.

“From my experience here I would say that it isn’t worth the money. College leavers are better off getting a job.”

The Department for Business denied the fall was caused by the fees increase. They claimed the

Student boost for children’s charity

move had made the funding system ‘fairer and more progressive’.

A spokesman added: “Most students will not pay up front to study, there are more generous loans, grants and bursaries for those poorer families, and loans are only repaid once graduates have jobs and are earning over £21,000.”

On Merseyside, the biggest falls were in Liverpool Wavertree and Halton (down a fifth), while Sefton Central, Wirral South, Elles-

Petition to free jailed guard

by Jess Etherington

Rebecca Lamb hosted charity event that raised £110 for Variety ©Twitter/Rebecca_LLB

by Jess Etherington A Liverpool John Moores student who was scouted to be the next Miss Cumbria put on a charity night last week in Liverpool Students Union to raise money for children’s charity Variety.

Rebecca Lamb, 21, who studies LLB law and Criminal Justice, organised children’s games such as Jenga and pass the parcel, with prizes being donated by local businesses and clubs.

She said: “I was scouted and

selected as a finalist in Miss Cumbria and this is the charity they fundraise for. After researching into the charity, I can see how they do such amazing work therefore I have put a lot of effort and tears into organizing this charity night.”

The third-year student had a target of £200 and managed to raise £110 on the night. She is hoping to raise the rest by walking around her hometown of Tarn in her pyjamas asking for donations.

Rebecca praised Liverpool

Students Union for their help in organizing the night.

She said: “The RAG society have helped me a lot especially Jamilia. Nadine has also helped out by allowing the event and donating prizes. I am very grateful to them, I would not have been able to put on this event without them.”

The Miss Cumbria final takes place over the 1st and 2nd of December and Rebecca says she is nervous to participate but excited for the catwalk aspect of the competition.

mere Port and Neston, Liverpool West Derby and Wallasey all fell by around 15%.

It appears that potential students from middle class backgrounds are as reluctant to apply to university as youngsters from more working class homes.

Liam Burns, president of the National Union of Students, said: “Families across the country are seeing their dreams of going to university disappear.”

A Merseyrail train guard who was jailed after being found guilty of manslaughter following the death of teenager Georgia Varley is the subject of an online campaign to have him freed.

The 16-year-old was on her way to a night out in Liverpool from the Wirral and was intoxicated on vodka and the party drug known as M-cat when she fell between the platform and the train at James Street station.

Train guard Christopher McGee had given the signal for the train to depart despite being able to see that Georgia was leaning against the train. He was jailed for five years for what the judge described as his “gross negligence”.

A jury at Liverpool Crown Court heard the details of the fateful night of 22nd October 2011.

Birkenhead Sixth Form student Georgia, from Moreton, Wirral, had been at a house party celebrating a friend’s 18th birthday and was on the last train to Liverpool,

heading for Garlands nightclub with friends for a night out.

McGee, a 45-year-old train guard from Wallasey, has been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, and had been working for Merseyrail for 20 years before the incident.

The court case made national news and the sentencing has sparked controversy as well as arguments between locals and people from around the country, with many taking to web forums and social networking websites to voice their opinions.

A Facebook page entitled ‘Free Christopher McGee’ has received over 1,600 likes since it was created and an e-petition to have him released has been set up.

Many are also taking to Georgia’s Facebook tribute page writing that they believe the sentencing has been too harsh.

This comes days after Georgia’s heartbroken father Paul Varley made a plea to the press and public to leave the family alone and let them grieve in peace.

Liverpool youth product Adam Hamill has escaped a jail sentence after he attacked two female paramedics last month.

The 24-year-old midfielder, who is currently on loan to Championship side Huddersfield Town from Wolverhampton Wanderers, was arrested after assaulting the women outside revolution bar in Liver-

pool city centre on October.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of assault and was sentenced at Liverpool Magistrates court today.

He was given a 12-week suspended sentence, as well as being ordered to compensate each of his victims with £350. He was also ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

Suspended sentence

Edge Hill in £31m makeover project

Edge Hill University will be given a £31m makeover to create a new media and sports complex.

The Ormskirk-based University has spent £150m in the past ten years on new facilities, including this project.

The university intends to build a £16m media centre, with professional TV studios with full broadcast capability.

There are also plans for a £15m outdoor sports complex, which will also be open for community use.

The build will include sports courts as well as hockey and football pitches.

There will be a swimming pool and a viewing gallery for certain sports. The outdoor complex aims to be finished by September 2013.

Today, vice-chancellor Dr John Cater talked about further plans for Edge Hill University.

He said: “With a planned investment of another £200m in the present decade, including new sports facilities, additional science laboratories and more on-campus en suite residences for 2013, we intend to continue this trend.”

He added that the £16m media centre would be just half-an-hour of the Salford Media City base of the BBC and ITV.

Aintree hospital’s cancer awareness A medical team from Aintree University hospital will be targeting train users and shoppers to help raise awareness of head and neck cancer week.

The team and their Macmillan Mobile information bus will be at the recently refurbished Liverpool central station tomorrow, offering free-screening and health advice.

Later in the week, they will also travel Crosby Village, Southport and St Helen’s.

The nurses and consultants will also offer a drop in clinic at Aintree University hospital throughout the week.

Professor Simon Rogers, Clinical Director for the Head and Neck Unit at Aintree, said: “We want to raise awareness of the symptoms to look out for. Early detection is key and gives patients the best chance of effective treatment.”

The drop-in clinics and mobile bus will be there to give information and support.

Teenage killer jailed

The killer of a Wirral teenager has been jailed for life, with the judge ordering that he should serve a minimum of 22 years in prison.

Liverpool Crown Court heard today that Adam Lewis, from Moreton, raped, tortured and killed 17-year-old Hannah Windsor, who was his girlfriend of 10 months at the time.

The murder happened at Wirral beauty spot Bidston Moss, where the 18-year-old was sleeping rough, after he went on the run from the police for a separate arson attack.

Lewis pleaded guilty to murder, two charges of sexual assault, burglary, and arson. He denied two charges of rape.

Life/News/5

Otter pups go for their first swim

Fuel prices taking their toll

by Sam McDonnell and Paul Collins

by Kate Molyneux Giant otter pups, the first of the endagered species to ever be born in Chester Zoo, have been given their first swimming lesson.

This is their first public appearance since being born in September; as they took to the pool with their mother, Icana and father,

Xingu, in order to learn to swim.

Chester Zoo’s Curator of Mammals Tim Rowlands said: “It might surprise some to learn that a species so well adapted to living around water actually needs to be taught how to swim at first, but that’s exactly what happens and it’s a real family effort.”

The baby otters are taken by their dad by the scruff of the neck to the deep end, and pulled in for a short swim; the mother then drags them around under water for their lesson.

The giant otters, which can grow up to 6ft in length and weigh around 5st 5lbs, are an endangered species and

are not usually bred in zoos.

Chester Zoo is very pleased with the result.

Tim said: “Achieving our first ever successful breeding is a real landmark for us and now, with the excellent new facilities and real skilled keeping staff we’ve got at our disposal, we hope we can play a pivotal role in the fu-

ture conservation of the species.”

In the wild their numbers have been reduced due to hunting and habitat destruction and the otters are usually found in remote areas within some freshwater lakes, rivers and creeks: It has been estimated that only 1000 of these otters are left in South America.

New vision for Toxteth reservoir

by Madelaine Cornforth

Ambitious plans to regenerate High Park Street Reservoir and its local area have been revealed.

The Grade-II-listed reservoir, set in the heart of Toxteth, has been empty for the past 15 years.

Cass Associates, a Liverpool based architecture and landscape planning business is behind the master plan to redevelop the building and its surrounding area.

Richard Cass, founding partner of Cass Associates, said: “The reservoir’s been sat there effectively redundant for about twenty years or so now so it obviously doesn’t make any contribution to the area at all.”

The aims are to make the local area more attractive for the locals as well as to attract new investments in to the region.

The company plans to turn High Park Street in to a tree lined boulevard with a new shared public space outside the Reservoir and Town Hall. They also want to use the derelict space for new housing and a car park for future and current business development.

For the Reservoir itself, Cass

Associates propose to use the rooftop to produce local vegetation as well as create a ‘rooftop retreat’ for local people to visit. They are also planning to use solar panels on the roof of the structure to generate solar energy.

Along with this, there are also plans to remove part of the reservoir roof in order to create a large open courtyard for craft fairs, open markets, music and dance events and group activities and functions.

Cass Associates are currently looking for sources of funding and partnership in order to make these plans, and consequently the area, come to life. They recently opened up the reservoir for people to have a look around and to critically generate some interest in the project.

Richard Cass said; “Most people, generally speaking, can not really go inside it and it’s not until you go inside it or possibly on the roof that you realise what an exciting opportunity it is.”

However, Richard believes this is not just a one off project for Toxteth; He sees it as something much greater. for Liverpool He said: “We see it not just as a project on its own but as a means

to a wider regeneration initiative and we think that’s very important that it shouldn’t just be seen as a single building project but it should actually be used as a catalyst to some much wider improvements over a much wider area.

“There is quite a lot of land surrounding the reservoir which is just disused land and buildings and they do cause serious blight and of course they don’t create any benefits for anybody.

“So the plans that we’ve drawn up take a look at the whole area and we’ve come up with a strategy for taking the whole area forward with the reservoir as the focal point.”

Cass Associates are also the architects behind the Toxteth Firefit which will be a new youth centre, community centre and fire station.

Mr Cass hopes that this project will have a huge positive impact on the area and will bring more activity for local people and the local area.

Liverpool City Council pulled out of a £25 million regeneration project in the area. This, therefore, means that these plans will be seen as a welcome boost for the residents of the area.

Energy price rises have already taken their toll on people in Liverpool according to some local social enterprises, amid Government plans to force suppliers into offering the cheapest possible deals.

Secretary of State for Energy, Edward Davey, told Parliament today that under new guidelines, customers would be offered four possible tariffs by companies rather than the ‘confusion’ of the hundreds currently on offer.

Mr Davey said: “Our new proposals will make things much clearer and easier to understand, so that bill payers can get the best deal and feel the benefit in their pocket.

“I am determined to ensure all consumers get a better deal on their energy bill and get the cheapest tariff they can.”

Some Liverpool social enterprises, however, believe that the damage may already be done.

Danisha Martin, advisor at Health Energy Advice Team Kensington, added: “We do have a big rise in people coming into our office. We get customers struggling to pay their fuel bills. Mums, lone parents, pensioners; I think it’s affecting everyone to be honest.”

According to Local Solutions, one in three households in Merseyside was classed as being in fuel poverty, even before prices rose this year.

Julie Kelly, a fuel debt advisor at Local Solutions, said: “Fuel poverty has become a big issue in the city. There should be more help out there to tell the truth. If you’re going to increase your prices, at least make social tariffs available for the vulnerable.”

Beatles artwork sells for thousands

by Dani Baldwin

Plans for High Park Street Reservoir

A hand-written letter by John Lennon sold for £15,000 in a Los Angeles auction, including a rare nude drawing of the late Beatles star and his wife, Yoko Ono. This came after the famous Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club band album artwork went for over £50,000 in a London auction last Tuesday; one of 18 works owned by architect Colin St John.

The original artwork, produced in collaboration with pop artist Jann Haworth, depicts Sergeant Pepper along with the Beatles and dated back to 1967.

James Rawlin of Sotheby’s said: “Sir Peter Blake’s collage is a tangible slice of rock history. Sgt Pepper had a huge impact on the cultural landscape. It was the first concept album when music, story, image and studio expertise all came together.”

Life/News/6

Twitter users at heart of storm

by Josh Killner

Sanctuary in plea for more helpers Recession hits Donkeys and Horses: A sanctuary on the Wirral requires more volunteers or many animals risk being left behind

by Jessica Etherington

A horse and donkey sanctuary on the Wirral is feeling the effect of the recession with more animals coming into their care.

Talluhlah’s Donkey and Horse Sanctuary currently cares for 12 donkeys and 15 horses, as well as rehoming dogs and rely on volunteers as they ask for no money from the public.

Marion Thomson runs the sanctuary which is based in Prenton and

Williston and has a passion for the animals, which means that the sanctuary has a no kill policy.

She said: “We keep the horses forever. We find people outgrow their ponies and they just sell them on, so they end up on the horse market and sadly most of them go for meet.

“Anyone who is thinking of buying a horse for this should pick up a copy of black beauty! Horses have feelings just as much as people do.”

Marion described the treatment of

some the horses that have come in to their care as ‘horrendous’ but praised members of the public who have offered to volunteer in helping to care for the horses and donkeys.

She said: “There are a lot of nice people out there who offer to help. A lot of people, like me, let their heart rule their head.

We have managed to build six stables of our own and need as many people to volunteer as possible.”

Marion also relies on friends who have stables in their gardens for some of the animals to live in.

Through Talluhlah’s Bar in New Brighton, Marion has rehomed six dogs to forever homes, many of the dogs needing new homes after their owners passed away.

Marion said: “We make sure the dogs don’t get passed from home to home. It has been a bad summer for animals on the Wirral.”

The sanctuary wants the public to know if anyone is struggling with a horse or donkey of their own, they can ask for help and the sanctuary will try their best to assist.

Anyone who wants a horse but

cannot afford one can adopt one of the horses at the sanctuary which, will be kept in their care but can be groomed, fed and looked after by the adopter.

The sanctuary are hoping to offer horse riding lessons after Christmas and will be selling calendars at Talluhlah’s Bar to raise money for the animals.

Anybody who is interested in adopting an animal or volunteering can contact Marion on 07557410817.

Waxing lyrical for Children in Need

By Katie Croft BBC Children in Need 2012 raised a staggering £26.8m, setting a new charity fundraising record with people from the Wirral contributing over £2m to the total.

A variety of events took place in Liverpool throughout the week to raise as much as possible for the charity. The charity mascot Pudsey the Bear was seen walking through the city centre with his collection bucket while men from shops around the Met Quarter were busy volunteering themselves in a male waxing marathon.

For the third year running staff at Urban Calm on the upper tier of the Met Quarter, Whitechapel hosted the event to raise as much money as possible.

While beauticians at the salon are no strangers to ripping off the waxing strips, their clientele today proved to appear a little more unusual, and a bit more hairy than normal.

The event ran all day with staff volunteering to take part from other stores in the Met Quarter including Armani Exchange, Hugo Boss and Aspecto.

Maria Nicolaides, manager at Urban Calm said: “We’ve got a lot of the lads involved from the shops in the Met Quarter, they have a choice if they want their chest, back, legs or arms waxed, they’ve all got sponsorships forms and we will collect

the money next week when they can prove they’ve had it done.”

Andrew Witty from Armani Exchange has already raised £50 for the cause through being sponsored by family and friends.

Mr. Witty put his fears behind him and had his chest waxed.

He said: “It felt good having it done for Children in Need but was extremely painful.”

Gary Wilson, from Aspecto also got involved by having his back waxed he said: “It was a lot more painful than I to take part.”

Meanwhile over the Mersey on the Wirral Primary and Secondary school children took part in a fastpaced chess marathon raising over £150 for Children in Need.

Wirral Junior Chess teams gathered at Rubens Coffee shop in Heswall last Saturday where the fundraiser took place.

The chess teams involved were made up of students of all abilities aged seven to sixteen from Ladymount, Dawpool, Our Lady of Pity, St. Anselm’s, Calday Grange grammar school and Upton Convent.

More than thirty members of the Wirral Junior Chess team turned up on the day to compete against each other until everyone had a game.

Families and friends were there to support the children and some parents even gave it a go themselves.

In total the UK managed to beat last year’s record of £26.3m.

Twitter has become a hub of controversy over recent weeks, after the site played host to a number of defamatory tweets from users.

Over 1,000 tweets are being investigated, and over 9,000 retweets, which falsely linked Lord McAlpine to a paedophile ring in a North Wales care home.

The claims were sparked by a Newsnight report which did not name Lord McAlpine but referred to a senior Conservative from the Thatcher era, which led to McAlpine being linked online, particularly on social networking site Twitter.

Only yesterday, Alan Davies made a public apology to the former Tory politician, after the BBC comedian retweeted his name linking McAlpine to child abuse claims.

Davies told his 444,000 followers on Twitter: ‘I’ve just written to Lord McAlpine to apologise for retweeting his name in relation to false allegations following a BBC investigation.’

Sally Bercow, wife of Commons Speaker John Bercow, could also face prosecution from McAlpine’s lawyers after she sarcastically tweeted: ‘Why is Lord McAlpine trending? *innocent face*.’

McAlpine’s legal representatives are currently in the process of suing anyone who falsely linked him to allegations of child abuse at a care home in Wrexham, North Wales.

The BBC has already agreed to compensation of £185,000 for wrongfully implicating McAlpine.

On the ITV show This Morning, during an interview with David Cameron, Philip Schofield handed the Prime Minister a list of names that had been linked to the alleged paedophile ring. This list was made visible to the television cameras as Schofield passed Mr Cameron the paper, and McAlpine’s name could reportedly be seen.

The list was only visible for a matter of seconds, but McAlpine’s lawyers claim that even if viewers had not seen the list, they could have easily gone on the internet and found the false allegations linking him to child abuse.

The question has since been raised as to whether McAlpine should be suing Twitter, after all these allegations were made so easily available to see because of the social networking sites accessibility.

Mr. Starmer also added that it could be appropriate for more popular tweeters to face prosecution if they tweet something “grossly offensive” to thousands of people, but those with only a few dozen followers might go unpunished.

Linda takes art prize

by Sam McDonnell

Waxing for charity; Staff at Urban Calm Salon show their support donning Pudsey ears

A JMU graduate has won the inaugural John Moores Critics Award for her UK entry. Linda Pittwood, who now works at the National Museums Liverpool, won the £2,000 prize on Friday after submitting a critique of the John Moores Painting Prize exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery.

Judges commented on Linda’s critique, saying: “The entrant wrote a fresh and lively review of this year’s painting prize, which combined formal invention with insight.”

The Chinese winner was “an intense and analytical” piece by Xu Jie, with runner-up Wu Shen Zhi receiving £1,000 along with UK counterpart Grace Harrison.

Life/Style/7

Liverpool

Life

Why there’s no place like home for Melanie C Joel Richards caught up with some of the stars at Liverpool Music Awards Former Spice Girl Mel C has praised the Liverpool Music Awards and feels it will go from strength to strength.

The singer turned West End actor presented Best Female Singer to Rebecca Ferguson at the inaugural event last Saturday evening, and spoke of how she feels Liverpool is the best city for musical talent.

She said: “There’s no place like home. I highly doubt you will ever find another city in the world where you would see the amount of talent that you have seen on this stage tonight.”

The red carpet ceremony at The Dome Grand Central honoured local musical talent with local acts such as The Hummingbirds and Tea Street Band picking up awards for ‘Ones to Watch’ and ‘Best single of the year’ respectively.

Mel C added: “I think it’s absolutely amazing. I find it amazing that it hasn’t happened before now because we’re such a city that just pumps out so much great musical talent and we have done since The Beatles so it’s wonderful. It’s great that it’s started.”

Although she admitted she doesn’t get back to the city as much as she’d like to, the singer says she is ‘full of pride’ every time she visits her home town.

She added: “Just coming into town to go shopping and seeing the Liver birds; there’s no better city in the world and I have been to most of the great cities in the world.

“It’s wonderful and not only that to be from Liverpool it is a city that is known the world over, and we have got such a great identity as a city and there’s not many that can say that.”

She also feels that the Music Awards should become an annual event and she gave the organisers an early message with regards to next year’s event: “Next year I’m playing. Presenting’s ok but I want to sing!”

One artist who was in awe of the former Spice Girl was Rebecca Ferguson. After winning Best Female Act, the 2010 X Factor runner up received the award off a woman who she revealed was one of her idols growing up.

Rebecca said: “I’ve just got an award off a Spice Girl! There are so many people here tonight that have inspired me.

“I’ve been blessed to be able to travel the world the past two years and there’s no place like Liverpool.

You’ll never find the dignity and pride in our city and I feel so lucky to be a part of it.”

Music 21st December: Gun 2 Roses come to the Cavern Club Liverpool. Guns 2 Roses are widely regarded as the biggest GNR tribute band in the world Price- £11.50 8th December: Peter Andre up close and personal. Liverpool Echo Arena. Peter Andre has returned to the studio ready to storm the charts with his eighth album. The tour will see Peter performing live with his band and perform all of his hits including ‘Mysterious Girl’ and ‘Behind Closed Doors’.

Tracing the century at the Tate museum: Drawing a catalyst for change- Tracing the Century has at its heart artworks based on the human body and the inner self, opening up the conversation between figuration and abstraction that characterised art in the twentieth century.

Tickets £5 24th November-

10th December-

8th- 9th December-

Dappy:

Winter arts market : Coming to St Georges Hall; A 2-day festive celebration of arts and crafts where you can discover work from over 120 artists, designers and makers at this enormous crafty weekend!

Family 22nd Nov- 22nd December: Liverpool Christmas market on Lord Street Travel the world – in one city! More than 50 of the finest craft and food stalls from across five continents makes Liverpool’s Christmas Market a must do experience – with treats from as far as China and South America.

22nd November:

by Sanna Zahid

16th Nov- 20th January:

Tickets- £31.35

Price: £16.50

Mel C and Rebecca Fergurson Liverpool Music Awards Twitter ©

Arts

The Baltic Arts & crafts fair: A hive of digital and creative businesses housed in a range of unique industrial spaces both new and old, a new and emerging area to be proud of and well worth the 5 minute walk from the bustle of Liverpool ONE.

02 Academy Liverpool. Fresh from the huge success of his recent track ‘Rockstar’, and following a sell out tour in 2011, Dappy confirms winter UK tour dates!

Santa dash is coming to town A festive fun run is coming to Liverpool with the target to beat the Guinness World record for the ‘Largest Santa gathering’ which currently stands at 13,000.

Backing the ITV Text Santa Appeal this year to help raise funds for charities including; Age UK, Anthony Nolan, Carers UK, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Together for short lives and Whizzz Kidz.

Alan Rothwell the event organiser is confident to be beating the world record saying “13,000 Santas in one place is a big ask but if anyone can do it then Liverpool can. It’s great to have ITV on

What’s On...

A Christmas carol Entertaining family musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’ festival novel.

Coming to the Unity Theatre.

30th NovemberCinderella Cinderella promises good traditional pantomime fun for all the family 7.30pm (Fri &Sat) / 2.30pm (Sat & Sun) / Tickets: £9 (£7 concessions), Family £30.

Theatre Mrs Brown Rides again Mrs Brown was a typical Dublin Mammy, whose hilarious adventures and witty insights had audiences howling for more.

This was the cream of Irish comedy, and stared a full cast of the best of Irish performers.

Tickets- £21.45.

Coming to Liverpool Echo Arena 25th November, Liverpool EmpireHairy Bikers Larger than live The Hairy Bikers can’t wait to go on their first tour in over two years - only this time it’s going to be bigger, bolder, funnier, and packed with more food and laughs than ever before.

Tickets- £28.90

At the Liverpool Empire.

24th- November- 23rd December:

Organisers hoping for over 13,000 people to dress up as Santa for this year’s Santa dash board this year and I’m confident between us we can create a bit of history and help beat the Text Santa fund raising total of last year which was a very impressive £4.1

million pounds.”

The Liverpool Santa Dash is now is its 9th year and will be taking place on Sunday 2nd December.

Mini Dash tickets are £10, 5k Fun

Run tickets are £20. Participant's entry fees will cover all your race administration and logistics even your Santa suit.

Lantern magic- Coming to Chester zoo; Bring your family and friends for an unforgettable journey through our wonderful gardens and past our brand new life sized animal lantern display.

Child tickets- £8.99 Adults- £9.99

Do you have a story for our What’s On guide?

Contact Liverpool Life on liverpoollifenews@gmail.com

Life/Style/8

Youngsters at the community project are taking part in Crime2Climb and keeping themselves off the streets

Climbing to confidence Jayne is a 14-year-old who regularly scales rock-climbing equipment which would scare the living daylights out of most teenagers – and yet Jayne is blind.

She is one of over 200 young people who have been taught to climb with the aid of a south Liverpool organisation set up by local youth worker Andy Coltart.

On This Roc is a social enterprise established in Liverpool which has resulted in a series of diversionary projects.

Using the sport of indoor rock climbing to engage people in healthy activity and equip people with important life skills, OTR believes that climbing can help build confidence, patience, and trust and see the importance of teamwork and a sense of personal and group achievement.

It all started when Redeeming Our Communities hosted an event at the Liverpool Echo Arena three years ago, which brought in police, church representatives and others and encouraged those present to make a difference together in their communities.

That was in June 2009 and present in the crowd was Andy Coltart who was frustrated having witnessed Merseyside youths drift into criminality due to a lack of activities and opportunities.

Andy had already been playing around with ideas on how he could help out and make a difference so instead of scratching his head in frustration, the church based

youth worker decided to act. He communication, team work and contacted his local police, with confidence building. Belle Vale whom had already created a Neighbourhood Policing teams working partnership, and shared have participated in several his thoughts and ideas with them. projects with Andy, with each This became the start of On This case each individual involved are Roc. As the project took form, it less likely to engage in anti-social started fulfilling Coltart’s ambition behaviour.

- taking youths away from This is a massive credit to the potential criminal activity. OTR work and engagement of Andy became an immediate success and and his team.” ended up engaging people from The Crime2Climb project is outside their targeted groups, as aimed at 17+ year-olds who are they arranged special events that not in education, employment or attracted people of all ages in the training and who are in, or likely community. to be in, the During the criminal justice “This is a massive past two years system.

OTR has credit to the work of OTR urges that worked with are happy to Andy and his team” they the police work with police and youth developing offending service, charities, diversionary projects and that schools, community groups, even though it can be climbing uniformed organizations and even based, there are happy to look at the army. other aspects as well.

In its relatively young history Andy said: ”It’s the OTR has established a partnership communities that inspire us. A with Merseyside Police to community that is welcoming and provide climbing as an activity supportive and encouraging can to engage young people. They be a life-changing environment to have established award-winning be part of. projects like Crime2Climb that “There are so many broken tackles anti-social behaviour and communities and broken people provide a pathway to employment in the UK and beyond. We for ex-offenders. believe that building individual’s Keith Porter, Neighbourhood confidence and self-esteem will Inspector at Belle Vale Police help build better communities.”

Station, said: ”Thanks to He added: “We wish to use the activities provided by the activity of climbing to teach Andy Coltart, the individual transferable life skills, social becomes empowered through responsibility and embed ethical

values that will create more active community members. Building individuals’ confidence and selfesteem to equip them to play an active part in the life of their community.

“Through climbing young people develop a range of life skills including communication, teamwork, patience, trust, perseverance and problem solving As well teaching over 200 people how to climb, OTR has helped as many as 45 young people to achieve certificates in the National Indoor Climbing Achievement Scheme.

Many of them are now members of their local climbing centres.

They have also started visually impaired climbing.

Recently they appeared on live on BBC Children in Need with its Visually Impaired/Blind Climbing Team. This group of brave teenagers won 11 medals at the 2012 British Mountaineering Council’s Para Climbing Series, as well as having two members selected for the GB Para Climbing Team that went on to compete in the IFSC Para Climbing World Championships held in Paris.

Jayne, 14, said: “I’m blind and I can climb, so what else can I do?”

Andy said that the most rewarding part of running On This Roc is seeing people achieve things they thought were impossible in a climbing centre and then realizing that this applies to life too.

Picture: Eivind Kleiven

EIVIND KLEIVEN visits a community project that empowers young people

One of the project’s youth workers watches on as the youngsters reach new heights.

Life/Style/9

by Emma Callum

Liverpool Life took to the streets to ask the men of the city who their style icon is. This is what they said:

Jump to it

The weather is getting colder and that can only mean one thing- it’s officially jumper season for men.

The high street is stocked full of different colours, patterns and fabrics, from the smart look with pockets to quirky, fun prints.

Go for the layered look with a shirt underneath a cable knit cardigan, or a bolder print with jeans for a fun approach to warmer dressing this winter.

With the Christmas spirit inspiring many stores, cartoon and animal prints are taking over the high street, bringing some festive feeling to menswear.

Another trend that is still popular is the heritage look, which sees jumpers being decorated with elbow patches and pockets to add a more sophisticated look to something that appears every autumn/winter.

It’s easy to find your perfect match in Liverpool’s vast shopping district, from the high street’s Topman or online store ASOS, to smaller boutiques like Weaver’s Door and Resurrection.

All offer a huge range of styles, whatever your budget. For something truly unique why not take a trip down Bold Street and pick up your very own one off vintage piece of knitwear.

Take inspriration from celebrity jumper wearers such as Greg James, Dermot O’Leary and Louis Smith who stay on trend with the latest smart yet comfy knitwear fashions. These days it’s even acceptable to wear a printed sweatshirt to both the pub or the club.

So from cable knit cardigans to supersoft jumpers, there’s plenty of ways to wrap up warm and stay on trend this season.

Danny Burke, 21, Leicester Style inspiration- Richard Ayoade “I like the geek chic and tweed look”

Get knitted for this year’s mens A/W trends

Kieran McCann, 19, Blackburn Style inspriation- Liam Gallagher “Liam’s a cool guy and takes inspiration from the 60’s and 70’s”

yt

Pull & Bear £25.99

Topman £38

New words on the street

by Joshua Killner The word “omnishambles” was launched to fame after being used

by Malcolm Tucker in the BBC comedy The Thick of It and has this week been named the word of the year by the Oxford English Dictionary.

Introduced in 2009 by writers of the BBC show, the word is used to describe a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged, and is characterized by a string of blunders and miscalculations.

Malcolm Tucker, played by actor Peter Capaldi in the comedy series, is the Prime Minister’s fictional foul-mouthed director of communications.

Many of the shortlisted words have been coined following some of the biggest events of the last 12 months, including: “Eurogeddon” the threatened financial collapse in the Eurozone, “mummy porn” a genre inspired by the recordbreaking 50 Shades books, and “Mobot” inspired by Mo Farah’s unique Olympic celebration.

Social media also had effect on vocabulary in 2012, with the acronyms ‘YOLO’ You only live once, and FOMO, Fear of missing

out, also being suggested.

Fiona McPherson, the Senior Content Editor for Oxford Dictionaries, said: “Well, it was a word everyone liked, which seemed to sum up so many of the events over the last 366 days in a beautiful way. It’s funny, it’s quirky, and it has broken free of its fictional political beginnings, firstly by spilling over into real politics, and then into other contexts.

“One thing that became apparent quite early on in our decision-making process was that 2012 has been a year of contrasts, which meant that our decision was no foregone conclusion. There were lots of candidates which made our shortlist, and there were plenty of lows for the language to accommodate as well as highs.”

Lexicographers in America had other ideas though, after they decided that the word of the year should be ‘Gif’, meaning “to create a gif file of an image or video sequence, especially relating to an event.”

There is no guarantee omnishambles, or any of the other shortlisted words, will make it on to the pages of the dictionary.

Asos £21

River Island £28

Not being ones to miss out on a creative opportunity, we at Liverpool Life thought it would be fun to put together our very own ‘word of the year’ shortlist: Tekkers – Slang for technique, it was coined by Andy Ansah whilst working as an assistant on the television programme ‘Wayne Rooney’s Street Striker’. Soccer Am then used the word to create a skills-based segment on their Saturday morning football show, leading to the word going nationwide.

Awkward – In 2012 it appeared to become a necessity to say this word, whenever an awkward situation arose, adding to the awkwardness.

Justice – Lots of people believe Justice should be shortlisted, following the results of the Hillsborough Independent Panel in September.

Amazeballs – Popularised by blogger Perez Hilton, it’s used to describe something that is beyond amazing.

Smirting – This is the act of flirting with someone whilst feeding your smoking habit, and commonly takes place in the smoking area of clubs and bars.

Mustard – This is not just a condiment you’d enjoy on a hot dog, this word is also used to describe something that is good, for example: “Last night was mustard.”

Mortal - The word describing a state of intoxication. “I was mortal last night”

Superdry £54.99

Jack Finch, 21, Manchester Style inspiration- Tom Hardy “I like to dress more practical than fashionable”

And from the Guardian Dictionary of Concise University Slang...

Bare: Bare is an adjective meaning “a lot of”, or “obviously”. “I can’t come to your party, I’ve got bare work to do.”

Chundergrad: Chundergrad is a general term for anyone studying a bachelor’s degree, regardless of their vomiting history. It is thought to derive from the partying tendencies of those studying for their first degree.

“Having a job is seriously going to affect my partying quota. I had better make the most of my years as a chundergrad.”

Desmond: Nickname for a lower secondclass degree (2:2), after the former archbishop Desmond Tutu. “I had better stop watching repeats of Arthur on iPlayer instead of revising, or I’m going to end up with a Desmond.”

Libes: Affectionate term for the library. “Meet me in the libes, I’m on the second floor.”

Regretamine: A play on the narcotic ketamine, which will no doubt be stolen by the anti-drugs lobby and used in an advert in due course. Regretamine may refer either to the drug itself, or to the adverse effects it produces in an individual. “I woke up to find I’d repeatedly vomited in my laundry basket instead of the toilet. Major regretamine.”

Got any suggestions of your own? If you’ve any favourite words, let us know at liverpoollifenews@gmail.com and we will print a selection next week.

Life/Sport/10 Ladies draw with city rivals in Gaelic fixture

By Lauren Kelly

Liverpool John Moores Gaelic ladies team were furious on Sunday as the referee called the game a draw against University of Liverpool despite both teams saying otherwise.

There is a healthy rivalry between sports teams in the two Liverpool universities, and there is no exception amongst the Gaelic teams.

In spite of a waterlogged pitch JMU proved the better side on Sunday ending the first half with an eight point lead thanks to top scorers and county players Niamh Marley and Aoife Montague. Both teams were obviously rattled and nervous in the second half, foolishly giving away a lot of balls to the opposition and missing points that they could have usually scored with their eyes closed.

However, after what must have been a very encouraging pep talk from team manager Michael Higgins, the Uni Of girls made an impressive comeback after a spout of competitive play, helping them score 3 goals in the second half.

The match ended as a draw but it wasn’t long before the JMU management were challenging this result, and the referee’s ability to count the scores claiming that in fact JMU had won by a point, a result which would have put them top of the Division 1 table.

JMU manager Nathan Deery has since entered a complaint to the official British University Gaelic board about the result.

LJMU Fury lose brave fight in first competitive game

By Jamie Allen

American football team Liverpool Fury began their season this week with a disappointing defeat.

The Fury, whose players are made up of Liverpool John Moores students, lost their opening match 28-13 against the Stafford Lions in the Big Northwest Division of the British Universities American Football League (BUAFL).

A spirited effort to keep within reach of a win was not enough to hold off their opponents from the Midlands division.

The Fury were looking to start the season well after missing out on the playoffs last season and they were given a tough start against the Stafford Lions who were looking to bounce back after an opening day defeat against the Derby Braves.

Quarterback Matt Smith ran for a touchdown against the Fury’s defence but it was a big play that really ended their chances of grabbing a win. The Fury’s quarterback was tackled in the end-zone twice for a safety, which scores two points for the opposing team.

Turnovers and basic mistakes allowed the Stafford Stallions to open up a 22-0 halftime lead.

A better second half from the home side allowed the Fury to get back into the game but their earlier performance had left themselves too deep a hole to climb out

Despite a good second half performance LJMU Fury failed to grab a win on opening day of.

The team will be pleased with the way they fought back in the second half and will have to cut out mistakes in order to get a win in their next game.

The Fury will hope that they can turn their form around for the upcoming season, predicted to

sit near the bottom of the league the team will be hoping they can prove their critics wrong and earn a playoff place.

American football has gained massive popularity with the British public over the last few years due to the NFL’s decision to host some regular season games over to

the UK at Wembley Stadium.

Last month saw the arrival of the New England Patriots and St Louis at Wembley with huge stars such as the Patriot’s quarter back Tom Brady playing in front of the thousands of British fans.

The BUAFL gives a chance to any student within the UK inter-

Fans get ready for Betfair Chase at Haydock

By Jamie Allen Now that one of the greats of jump racing has retired, the way appears to have cleared for another horse to write his own chapter in racing history.

Long Run has been a favourite for his races ever since his 2011 Gold Cup Triumph, but in the Betfair Chase and King George, he has been thwarted by the legend and crowd favourite, Kauto Star supported by the lethal trainer/jockey combination of Paul Nicholls and Ruby Walsh.

Horse racing fans will have the chance to say farewell to one of the greatest race horses as Kauto Star will be paraded at Haydock Park ahead of the Betfair Chase on Saturday.

The four time winner, who had his penultimate victory of his illustrious career recently retired after being pulled up at this year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup. It’s felt, that if there was ever a time for Long Run to start dominating the most prestigous events in jump racing, then he has to start by claiming victory in the Betfair Chase.

Long Run is 11/8 to win the race that he was so convincingly beaten in last year.

Silvianaco Conti, who was in good shape during his last outing at Wetherby, seems to be his main rival to the crown, with

ested in the game to start playing the game.

Many fans have left words of support on the team’s facebook and Twitter profiles, showing support for the team is high.

You can follow the Liverpool Fury on Twitter @LiverpoolFury

Liverpool prepare for Europa League game

By Jamie Allen

Long Run at Haydock 2010 Gold Cup winner Imperial Commander missing out through injury when preparing for what was supposed to be his comeback.

There appears to be two main contenders, and if Wally-Cohen wants to ride a dominant Long Run, Haydock on Saturday is a good day to start.

Liverpool face BSC Young Boys on Thursday night at Anfield as they look to qualify from the group stages of the Europa League.

Liverpool can secure a safe passage to the round of 32, provided they beat the Swiss outfit and Italian club Udinese are defeated by Anzhi.

His team will want to build on a comfortable 3-0 win at the weekend against Wigan and they will be expecting to take control of the game from the start. The reverse fixture saw Liverpool run out 5-3 winners in the opening group game in Berne.

There was also some good news this week as Lucas Leiva returned to first team training after being out with a thigh injury for the past three months, he had returned from a cruciate knee injury but suffered the thigh injury against Manchester City in August.

The team will have one eye on the weekend’s fixture as they make the difficult trip to South Wales to take on Brendan Rodgers’ former team Swansea at the Liberty Stadium.

The team will be hoping for the first back to back wins in the Premier League this season against the Welsh side.

Life/Sport/11

Sterling after scoring against Reading

Sterling refutes alleged attack

by Joe Lanigan Smith

Liverpool footballer Raheem Sterling has taken to Twitter to deny alleged attack claims. It has been reported that Sterling was interviewed by Police in connection with an alleged attack on a woman. Sterling tweeted “Haha the stories get better and better hahah” The 17-year-old, who made his England debut in last week’s defeat to Sweden, was reportedly questioned under caution after he went to the police by an appointment. In a statement Merseyside police made it clear that he had not been arrested and that investigations into the alleged assault were continuing.

A spokeswoman for Merseyside Police said: “Merseyside Police can confirm that a 17-year-old male from the Woolton area was interviewed under caution, following a report of an assault on Friday 2 November.

“A 27-year-old woman received slight injuries during the incident in the Liverpool 8 area. At this time, the investigation is on-going and no formal action has been taken.”

Raheem Sterling is expected to sign a new contract with Liverpool and has been a vital part of Brendan Rodgers Liverpool squad and they sit in the bottom half of the table following their 3-0 win over Wigan. Their next match is in the Europa League against Young Boys as they look to qualify from their group.

Bodybuilder Luke placed third in UK

by Sam McDonnell A former JMU student has finished his first season as a bodybuilder as the most successful competitor in his division in the North West.

Luke Porter, 22, who left John Moores in 2011, also placed third in the junior British Natural Bodybuilder Federation national finals. This is combined with a second place finish in the Northern division of the BNBF and taking the winner’s prize in the Natural Physique Association Midlands novice competition.

Luke, now a trainee teacher at Liverpool Community College, said “For me, the BNBF finals are the pinnacle of British natural bodybuilding. I was ecstatic with the results and what I brought to the field, and now it’s all about 2014 and challenging for a British title in the weight classes with the big guns.Luke

“I was always into exercise but started training when I was 19.” emigrated to Germany from the Wirral at the age of 12, but returned to his native Prenton to study PE at Liverpool John Moores when he was 18.

He explained: “It may sound like a cliché but as a child I grew up watching Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sly Stallone films, and always wanted to look like that. I was always into exercise but started training seriously for bodybuilding when I was 19.

“That led me to Rocky’s Gym in Birkenhead, and gaining a lot of advice from the owner John Gillan and ex Mr Britain Peter Peers. That’s where the training really started.”

Luke described the rigours of keeping in shape for competitive bodybuilding, and said that he only takes part in shows are drug tested as he feels it keeps

the competition completely natural.

He said “I train five days a week, for 40 minutes each time.

It may seem like a small amount of time, but with intensity I can’t do anymore. I train to the maximum my body can handle and more, leaving everything in the gym. I have got my two brothers into this mentality and hopefully they will be gracing the stage soon, and they will blow me out the water.”

Eating habits are as important as gym work, and to be successful Luke has to commit to a strict eating routine.

He said: “We put in 12-20 weeks of dieting for one day, and trust me; the meals are very boring after 22 weeks on repeat.

I decided against doing the NPA finals in September due to starting back teaching. I get quite grumpy when dieting and didn’t want it to affect my teaching.”

The BNBF is a non-profit making organisation run purely for the good of natural athletes.

It has now been running for 12 years and has been testing the urine for every single class winner at every competition.

Every single Britain finalist has been polygraphed before being allowed on stage and have had have had 2 Overall Pro World Champions & 3 Overall Amateur World Champions.

Natural bodybuilding is different to standard bodybuilding where those who compete in the natural competition have to both take a drug test and a polygraph to prove that their work is the product of hard work and training and completely free of drug use.

As part of the rules they are not allowed to use performance enhancing drugs, such as anabolic steroids, insulin, diuretics and human growth hormone. If the bodybuilder meets the requirements of the sanctioning body that they are competing in, then they are considered to be a natural athlete. There are numerous sanctioning bodies that provide their own rules and regulations that govern the competition procedures and event qualifications.

Mersey Tigers still Rovers aim to get back on track look for first win

by Sam McDonnell

by Sam McDonnell

Mersey Tigers slumped to their ninth straight defeat of the season and cemented their place at the bottom of the British Basketball League after Saturday’s loss to Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Tigers.

The Tigers were convincingly beaten 79 – 40 playing away to top of the league Riders, and remain the only team in the BBL not to win a game.

Mersey Tigers welcome thirdplaced Surrey Heat to Liverpool on Friday night, hoping to turn their fortunes around and secure a vital first win.

Mersey Tigers coach Tony Walsh praised his players and said : “Martin Cavol linked well with all his new team mates and produced some excellent passes and shotsRudy Etilopy again gave a solid performance.”

High-flying Tranmere Rovers look to get back to winning ways at home when they face Walsall at Prenton Park tonight.

The League One leaders sit two points clear of Sheffield United on 37 points, despite not picking up a home win in the last three games.

Defeats to Doncaster and MK Dons, plus a draw with Preston North End at Prenton Park have somewhat grounded expectations after Ronnie Moore’s men made an unexpectedly strong start to the season.

Moore’s squad to take on 17th place Walsall tonight looks less than full strength, with Abdulai Bell-Baggie, Joe Thompson and Paul Black all joining long term casualty Jean-Louis Akpa-Akpro on the casualty list.

Centre halves Ben Gibson and Ash Taylor missed training yesterday after both completed the full 90 minutes in the defeat to MK Dons on Friday, but the defensive

pair are expected to start tonight.

Jake Jervis’s loan spell from Birmingham City has come to an end so Cole Stockton could earn a start, although the Rovers boss has several other options up front with Jake Kirby and Max Power pushing for a place in the starting 11.

Ronnie Moore said “They’re all important games. Prenton Park has been a fortress for us. The games that we’ve lost have been so close and so tight to call. It’s not like teams are coming here and murdering us.

“I’ll guarantee you that Walsall won’t have as much possession as MK Dons had on Friday night.”

Former Tranmere defender Andy Taylor will be in the Walsall line up as Dean Smith hopes his side can better their return of 20 points from 18 games.

Walsall manager Dean Smith said:“It’ll be tough again but not many people expected us to get anything at Crawley on Saturday.”

Luke Porter has finished his first season as the best body builder in the North West

Midfielder Cahill eyes New Year loan return to Everton

by Scott Rumsey Former Everton midfielder Tim Cahill has expressed a desire to return to the Merseyside team in January but only on a short-term basis.

The player, who left Goodison Park this summer to play for the New York Red Bulls, has seen his season in the States come to an end, after his team were knocked out of the Major League play-offs by DC United.

The 32-year-old Australian is keen to carry on playing and highlighted that he would love to return to the club where he spent eight memorable years, saying: “There is no shadow of a doubt, I’d love to come back.”

He has always remained a fan of both Everton and the Premier League, using his Twitter account to show support. In recent days he has told his followers: “Just getting up to watch the Blues, hope they can stay in the top four.”

It is thought that the signing would be a huge boost to Everton, who are trying to continue their great start to the campaign.

The Australia international, who scored over 50 goals for the Toffees, would offer the stability which was missing this weekend when the Blues surrendered a one-goal lead in the 2-1 loss to Reading.

With so many matches and a large number of the Goodison players representing their countries on international duty, fans believe that Cahill would offer invaluable experience and bolster the midfield, which has also lost captain Phil Neville to a serious knee injury.

Cahill saw some of his greatest moments whilst in the blue of Everton, including getting them to the Champions League and UEFA Cup before being the first Everton player for 18 years to be nominated for the prestigious Ballon D’Or individual award when he was selected in October

2006.

Everton are sitting 5th in the table following a shock defeat to newly promoted Reading. They have also recalled Ross Barkley from his loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday following the injury to captain Phil Neville. Their next match is at home to Norwich as they look to come back from their shock defeat.

Everton remain in good form despite the setback to Reading.

They remain unbeaten at home thanks to stand out performances from Marouane Fellaini who recently came out and confirmed his future as an Everton player following rumours of the Belgian looking for a move away.

He said : “If the manager asked me to play at right back, I would.

Everton are my team and I want to win every game.”

He also went on to say that he belives the Everton side are good enough for fourth place, and good enough to qualify for a champions league spot.

Liverpool

LifeSPORT 20 November 2012

BELLEW IN WITH WBC TITLE SHOUT The Bomber overcomes Bolonti despite suffering gash above eye

By Ian Bolland

Local boy Tony Bellew took a giant stride towards another shot at the world light-heavyweight title after overcoming Roberto Bolonti in his bout at the Capital FM Arena in Nottingham on Saturday.

The 29-year-old put in a controlled, yet dominant, performance and showed some positive signs as he claimed his 19th career victory by a unanimous points decision (120-106, 119107, 120-106).

Bellew, who is diehard Everton supporter, came out to the Z-Cars theme tune, and had ringside support from former Everton player Jack Rodwell, and current squad members Tim Howard and Sylvain Distin.

“Bollonti was a really tough guy, and the cut was awful.”

Not only was the WBC Silver title on the line but the weekend’s bout also acted as an eliminator to fight for the governing body’s world title, currently held

by American fighter Chad Dawson.

Bellew said before the fight that he intended to go after Bolonti, and he was true to his word. In the first round he immediately got on the front foot, and forced the Argentinian to the canvas with a right-handed shot, despite claims that he was caught on the back of the head.

Bellew kept up the early pressure and a left hook caught Bolonti off balance, forcing him to the canvas for a second time in the third round, and this time it could not be disputed.

Despite the Bomber’s early dominance, it wasn’t all plain sailing as a left hand from the

Argentine managed to open up a large cut above Bellew’s right eye, which caught the attention of the referee, meaning a more cautious approach from then on by the Scouser.

But Bellew showed that he could think well on his feet, as he still managed to land a couple of good shots on his 31-year-old opponent, using his superior reach to his advantage, and boxing intelligently to protect his right eye, even if it took something away from the spectacle.

After the sixth round, referee Victor Loughlin appeared to warn Bellew that if the gash above his eye opened any further, he could be forced to call in the ringside physician to potentially stop the contest.

Bolonti offered little more to breach Bellew’s defences, and after worries about Bellew’s cut began to fade, he began to quicken up the tempo with a flurry of punches to put Belonti up against the ropes in the ninth round, and a stinging uppercut in the 10th livened up an otherwise quiet crowd.

Bellew paid tribute to his corner man and his opponent after the fight. He said: “I’ve got the best cut man in the game with Mick Williamson. Once the cut come I took my foot off the gas a little bit.

“Credit where credit’s due, he’s [Belonti] got a tough chin. Bollonti was a really tough guy, and the cut was awful.”

Bellew’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, confirmed that they will push for a final eliminator for a world title fight.

He said: “We’re going to be top five in the WBC. That was an eliminator for the world title and we’ll now push for a final eliminator with Chad Dawson.”

Earlier that night marked the debut of Liverpool boxer, Calum Smith. The super-middleweight and newest signing to the Matchroom camp made his pro debut.

The former Team GB star beat Dan Blackwell over 4 rounds with

CHANCE AT THE TITLE: Tony Bellew poses with his belts ©TonyBellew/Twitter

Fowler at the LFC Former Players Association dinner

Fowler relaxed about hanging up boots

By Arild Skjaveland Robbie Fowler has spoken out about his decision to retire from football. The 37-year-old was one of the speakers at the LFC Former Players Association’s yearly dinner.

The event was held in the Anfield trophy room last Monday to raise funds for charity. Fowler spoke after the dinner about his future: “I think it’s finished for me now. Realistically, I’ve gone now.”

Robbie Fowler scored 120 goals in 236 games for Liverpool in his first spell at Anfield, before leaving for Leeds United in 2001.

He was then re-signed by Rafael Benítez in 2006, and went on to score 8 goals in 30 appearances.

After leaving Liverpool for the second time, he has played for Blackburn, two Australian clubs and a spell as player-manager for Muangthong United in Thailand.

In March this year, he was training with Blackpool, but never ended up signing a deal.

He also spoke about deadline day of this year when he jokingly tweeted a picture of his boots to in the hope of being re-signed

by Liverpool: “I knew Liverpool wanted a forward, and you always have a little bit of a dream don’t you? I was interested in going back. I knew it was never going to happen obviously. But I actually tweeted a picture of my boots on the bed. A few hours had passed, no phone call, gutted. Then one minute passed eleven, I tweeted a picture of them in the bin.”

Asked whether he would consider going into managing, Fowler stated: “I would, yes. You play for a long time, 15-20 years, and just to suddenly stop is a bit of a nightmare to be honest. Coaching and management is obviously the next step. To be involved in football and to be around it, then it’s the next step for me. Ideally, you would like to be involved in Liverpool - but I know for me it’s a long way off.”