Lord, please don’t have Mersey on us.

Goodness knows what Liverpool have done to deserve him. Sam Gorst on the campaign trail (Photo: Twitter)

The only possible reaction to the news that Liverpool City Council had passed a motion condemning all game shooting as “barbaric” is well, what else could we expect? Liverpool is arguably the best example of the way in which city and local authorities, often faced by huge social and financial challenges, divert themselves by adopting grandiose motions on issues of little relevance to the people who elected them. The fact is that finding solutions to the intractable matters that really bother the voters – such as refuse disposal, care of the elderly and disabled, improving housing conditions – becomes tiresome, especially to minds motivated by a pervading sense of injustice and poorly concealed class hatred. Just look at some of those who voted. Take Sam Gorst. This Liverpool councillor having recently been cleared by Labour party chiefs of making antisemitic comments (and given Labour’s track record on such matters, we might ask for what the standard of proof was), then went on to write on social media: “The Queen is definitely on deaths [sic] door. I’ve got a feeling! Fingers crossed.” Later adding: “Put Queenie in a council house for life. Useless bitch.” Now more or less totally in sway to the Corbyn-backing Momentum group, we can expect in the coming months much more of this sort of thing to come out of a city where, for example, the violent crime rate went up by 9% over the past year and  waste recycling fell to a shocking 27% low. Under such depressing circumstances there is only one word to describe members of a controlling authority choosing to concern itself with footling issues such as game shooting; barbaric.