Aspire to Inspire… be a Leader

In Britain, when we talk of female leaders and female leadership we often think of Tory politicians or our nation’s longest serving monarch. Our earliest story books often served up tales of feisty women who ruled the age or were revered in their time. But why then do so many women feel that they can’t … Read more

Why I jumped at the opportunity to create Liverpool’s Education Attendance Campaign

Jennifer Bruce — video journalist, Liverpool City Council Not sending your child to school every day? Unfortunately, you’re not the only one. And it all adds up. Massively. Every year in Liverpool, more than 500,000 school days are lost to absenteeism, and almost half of those are unauthorised. Quantitatively this means we’re below the national average for school … Read more

Taxi, Take me to the future!

A look at what lies ahead for Liverpool’s taxi trade in 2020 Kevin Johnson, Liverpool Council’s City Manager If 20 years ago you’d have said to your cabbie, soon you’ll be driving around in electric cars, you’d have probably have been met with a healthy degree of scepticism. You might have got the old suspicious glance … Read more

Aspire to Inspire… the Writer

Liverpool playwright, BAFTA and International Emmy Award winning screenwriter, Helen Blakeman, shares her story from childhood dreams to international success. Liverpool is a city of writers, especially for screen. But being a writer is not what I grew up thinking that I could become. In fact, age 5, when asked what I wanted to be … Read more

All you need is the (clean) air that you breathe

Why cleaning up the air matters to Liverpool “For the past couple of months I have been immersed in the world of air pollution and clean air planning, finding out about the work that has been done by the city council to measure the quality of air in the city and look at the possible … Read more

World Mental Health Day: My battle with anorexia

Earlier this year, Liverpool City Council’s Director of Adult Services Martin Farran shared his personal mental health story on how his son Joey’s eating disorder affected him and his family. For World Mental Health Day, we caught up with Martin’s son Joey, to hear his side of things. Joey Farran “I’ve spent a long time … Read more

The importance of public private sector partnership

A delegation from Liverpool will be in the city of London next week sharing all the latest exciting plans and developments that are taking place across the city. MIPM UK is a great example of private-public partnership. Two of the delegates representing Liverpool will be the new Liverpool MIPM chair Stephen Cowperthwaite and Liverpool City Council’s … Read more

The flu. Helping to protect our most vulnerable residents

Liverpool City Council is showing its commitment to helping to protect vulnerable residents and service users from the flu, by embarking on a programme to administer vaccinations to 500 staff who work on the frontline in social care, or who provide essential services. Flu Vaccine Overview Clinics started last week, ahead of the launch of … Read more

The power of poetry

Our communications manager, Michael Doran, shares the power of poetry… Shakespeare. Milton. Keats. Wordsworth. Coleridge. Yeats. Shelley. Byron. McGough. Henri. Patten. Carroll. Burns. Heaney. When you think of poems, it’s often one of the greats whose wordplay will most readily spring to mind. Not me. My first real brush with the power of poetry was … Read more

A bitter sweet symphony. Why Mental Health matters to the Liverpool Phil

With a global reputation for musical excellence spanning more than a century, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the city’s most celebrated cultural institutions. But away from sell-out concerts and award-winning arrangements, the Liverpool Phil is building a reputation for harnessing the power of music for an altogether different purpose. Supported by an annual … Read more

John Ashton and Zara Quigg: The public health approach to violence prevention — beyond the rhetoric

(By John Ashton and Zara Quigg — First appeared in The BMJ) At a time of Brexit induced policy paralysis, it seems that only one matter can break through the news headlines. Daily reports of murders and injuries caused by rising knife crime in London and the other cities in the UK have galvanised a call for … Read more

“My passion for recycling stems from my Dad’s ‘make do and mend’ motto.”

Nina Lloyd-Jones, Liverpool City Council Staff Green Champion Liverpool City Council has recently launched a staff Green Champions scheme to make sure the organisation is driving the Climate Change agenda from the inside. We hear from one Green Champion, Nina Lloyd-Jones, about how recycling can become part of your every day life. As many of you will … Read more

What I’ve learned over the years

In Britain, when we talk of female leaders and female leadership we often think of Tory politicians or our nation’s longest serving monarch. Our earliest story books often served up tales of feisty women who ruled the age or were revered in their time. But why then do so many women feel that they can’t … Read more

Liverpool’s Climate Change Challenge: “ I’m looking forward to working with many colleagues to…

Just over two months ago I was asked by the Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, if I would take on the newly created ‘Environment and Sustainability’ portfolio in Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet. Liverpool was about to declare a ‘Climate Emergency’ (on 17 July) and Mayor Anderson had created the new post in the cabinet to … Read more

“I got my BP taken for a laugh and got an immediate GP referral.”

Keith Marshall, Licensing and Regulatory Enforcement Officer for LCC Keith Marshall, Licensing and Regulatory Enforcement Officer, was working in St George’s Hall 10 years ago, when staff were invited to have their blood pressure taken during a health initiative. “I remember thinking I’d get mine checked for a bit of a laugh. I didn’t have any … Read more

“Mindfulness is my way of coping”

Sally Laws teaches mindfulness for the Adult Learning Service. She shares her tips for living a more ‘mindful’ life. “I started my career as an Occupational Therapist working in Mental Health services in prisons. The job was highly stressful and you would see upsetting and distressing things on a daily basis. It was just expected … Read more