Liverpool Life podcast, week ending 11 December, 2015

It's the final podcast of the year - and what a corker it is! Liverpool's Granby Streets project is the talk of the country after the group behind it won the prestigious Turner Prize on Monday. This weeks' presenter, Matt Crosby, went to find out how a renovation project won the country's most prestigious modern art competition - and how LJMU is connecting with the award-winning group.
To understand just why the renaissance of this part of Liverpool was so badly needed, you need to go back to the Toxteth riots of 1981. Now, this week saw the 50th anniversary of the coming into effect of the country's first Race Relations Act. So, we wanted to know: are we still a racist country? And what better place to ask the question than the city's top tourist attraction - the International Slavery Museum. Of course, the Fab Four still bring in the tourist 'dollar' and this week not only saw the 50th anniversary of The Beatles' last performance in their home town, but the unveiling of new statues along the waterfront, the auctioning by Ringo of some of hs most precious memorabilia for charity, AND the 35th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon. We bring it all together in a special report. Two places that are - for rather different reasons - in need of a renewed attention are Birkenhead and Southport: we get the story on both. But the whole of Merseyside is languishing behind most of the rest of the country for Internet access - in fact, we're on a par with some very poor countries. We find out why and what could be done to get the whole of the area in the fast lane of the superhighway. In a football-mad city like Liverpool, David Beckham's comments about the state of the beautiful game's fandom has had, at best, a mixed response. We've been getting reaction from the street. All this and more inside a packed pod that's begging to be unwrapped ...in your ears! (Music: 'The Wild Dogs of Nauru' by The Womb.). #Liverpool #TurnerPrize #Southport #Birkenhead