SUMMER POPS "UP FOR GRABS"

Having seen the 2005 event push the cumulative bill for local council tax payers over the million pound mark, Liverpool City Council is getting to grips with the Summer Pops by, erm, suggesting that the 2007 event should perhaps be put out to tender. They're still going to ahead with the organisation which ran it last year at a spectacular £350,000 loss - "because of time constraints" making it difficult to change the organiser. The really good news for the people of the city is that the council has agreed to underwrite up to half a million quid's worth of losses this year. Hmm... telling a company "You're being thrown off the job the next year, but if you run up hundreds of thousands of losses this year, don't worry, we'll cover you..." - what could possibly go wrong there?

Talk of Liverpool City Council stirs memories - we're still waiting to hear from Flo Clucas about the mystery of Ringo Starr's house. We've sent her a little greeting just to make sure she's not forgotten us:

Flo,

Please accept the best wishes from No Rock & Roll Fun for the New Year. We hope you had a wonderful holiday season. Did you, perhaps, have a spare minute over Christmas to draft a reply to our questions for you? We have been waiting quite a long time for even a basic acknowledgement.

We're sure she's just been waiting for a moment to explain how a report was commissioned recommending the bulldozing of Ringo's house, and then a day or two after she announced her acceptance of that report she suddenly decided to dismantle the house brick-by-brick; and what exactly is going to happen to those bricks.

music liverpool summer pops flo clucas