The Quest For Utopia
Forever over the rainbow, Utopia is the ideal place that does not yet exist. But what are the origins of our belief in utopias and why do visions of a better world so often descend into hell on earth? This is Episode 1 of the Liverpool Salon’s Utopia series of public discussions hosted at the Athenaeum Liverpool in 2022/23.
The Use and Misuse of Heritage
Michael McDonough and Richard MacDonald discuss the relationship between heritage and development and their impact on Liverpool's ongoing urban rebirth. Does the city’s fixation on the times of yore hold back worthwhile modern development? Are we becoming a city with a past but no future?
Has LGBTQ+ Pride Run Out of Road?
Michael McDonough and Ethan James Carroll discuss LGBTQ Pride and its relevance in modern culture. Has it all become a bit too decadent and exclusionary for those who don’t want to camp it up? And can Pride’s claims to social progressiveness still be justified in the face of rampant commercialism?
Liverpool’s Northern History
Liverpolitan Editor, Paul Bryan, talks to Brian Groom, journalist and author of Northerners: A History, about Liverpool’s peculiar place in northern culture. We talk architecture, wealth, slavery, scouse exceptionalism and our rivalry with Manchester.
The Doomed Battle to Stop Liverpool’s Arms Fair
A doomed battle to stop the hosting of a military convention briefly took centre stage in Liverpool in 2021. As peace campaigners hit the streets determined to force the council to cancel the event, accompanied by Labour stalwarts Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, Liverpolitan Editor, Paul Bryan, joined the throng to hear what they had to say.