Liverpool Life podcast, week ending February 27, 2015

Mama Mia! Here we go again, from the radio team of jmu journalism. Take a chance on us as our entertainment reporter (when did that promotion happen??) Bethan Tolley talks to two members of the Abba show, which is hitting all the right notes in Liverpool. It's been a nail-biting time for the users and campaigners for Liverpool's Surestart centres, with many of the city's centres marked with closure. On Monday, Mayor Joe Anderson delivered some good news about their immediate future at a tense meeting in the city's ornate St George's Hall. Our reporter Luke Holliday was there and is here to tell us how the council has found the money - and getting reaction on what seems to have been a sudden change of mind. Motormouth Jeremy Clarkson ruffled Scouse feathers, after his column in a Sunday 'paper described Liverpool as dirt poor and full of unsophisticated folk. But did he? His remarks then caused a spot of bother with the local 'paper, with Clarkson saying he'd been taken out of context in their report on it all and he urged people to read the original piece. We took him up on the challenge - you can hear the results. There's red faces in the vestry after the Church of England - which has lambasted the government over its policies towards the poorly paid - was found to be advertising posts that pay less than the living wage. Our reporter Hannah Caine talks to a political prof' and a TUC leader about the damage to the state church's credibility. Plus, we hear about the battle by a local couple who have staked everything on keeping a landmark Liverpool musical venue going. That's the name of the game - oh yes, there's sports' news, too. So after this blurb, you surely MUST say 'I Do, I Do I, I Do, I Do'...want to listen to this week's pod - and to all our contributors: thank you for the muses. (Music: 'The Wild Dogs of Nauru' by The Womb). #MamaMiaMusical #Liverpool #LiverpoolFC #EvertonFC #surestart #JeremyClarkson #LivingWage