The luck of the niçois

Written by Patrick Middleton

“It’s an immense disappointment,” so said Nice’s mayor Jacques Peyrat when the city failed to be shortlisted for the final selection process of a European Capital of Culture in 2013. Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he? As we wrote in our news columns before Nice’s proposal was tossed in the bin, the whole ECC circus bears some likeness, on a reduced scale, to the drama surrounding the choice of Olympic cities. Local politicians go into full hype mode, achieving orgasmic enthusiasm if their bid wins; failure brings tears and recrimination – but so does success. As the estimated cost of the London Olympics spirals out of sight, it’s hard to believe that Mayor Delanoë in Paris isn’t quite glad the French capital lost out.

I’ve been following from the beginning the saga of Liverpool’s achieving ECC status – it officially put on its crown on the 1st of January. From the start there’ve been ferocious arguments, plans torn up and executives sacked as the search went on to find suitable ways of showcasing the city’s own culture (finally we’ve got Ringo Starr, Kenny Everett and – okay – Paul McCartney). Phil Redmond, who’s been in charge for the past few months (he created Brookside, by the way), summed it all up as “endless rows ... squabbles ... like a scouse wedding”. And moneywise it’s been a major disaster: at the last accounting, Liverpool’s ECC project was £21 million in the red. Niçois taxpayers should be thankful their city got the thumbs down. The failed bid led to “only” €660,000 being wasted.

And a footnote: I actually liked Liverpool the few times I visited but it’s not encouraging to know that it’s been singled out as the UK’s most drunken city. And the drunkest are the youngest of its citizens. In one survey published in the Liverpool Echo – a paper best not read if you’re planning a visit to the city – one in four of scousers under the age of 15 claimed to have been drunk at least 20 times during the previous year. Can’t be fun after dark.

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