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A30 world news
Diasabra 17 OctOber 2020

Virus curbs widen England's north-south rift, stir animosity

point.

Before the pandemic, that
image would have been seen
as a sign of the city’s success.
Liverpool's docks on the Riv-
er Mersey, left abandoned as
ships moved elsewhere in the
late 20th century, have been
regenerated with restaurants
and museums, including an
international slavery muse-
um and a Tate art gallery.

Four universities give the city
a youthful, lively population,
and Premier League soccer
teams Liverpool and Everton
support thousands of jobs.
Tourists come from around
the world to see the houses
where the city’s most famous
sons, the Beatles, grew up
and the Cavern Club where
they honed their craft.
All that is on hold now.
“The football, the nightlife,
(AP) — Liverpool, the we’re being separated, divid- local conditions that are tak- people coming into town
English port city that gave ed. It just doesn’t feel right at The surge in new confirmed ing place here in the north,” — it’s all gone,” said John
the world the Beatles, all,” she said. Liverpool is not cases since shops, restau- Brant said. Ambrose, a guide with the
weathered decades of in- alone. As a patchwork of city- rants and other businesses Beatles-themed Fab4 Taxi
dustrial decline before and region-specific measures reopened during the sum- Liverpool’s public officials Tours. “We used to do about
becoming a celebrated replaces Britain's nationwide mer and students returned want more say in control- 4,000 tours a year. We prob-
symbol of urban renewal. lockdown, the pandemic has to schools and universities in ling the city’s outbreak, an ably only did about 12% of
Now, the coronavirus is highlighted the gap in wealth the fall is more uneven than exit strategy for lifting the re- that this year.” Government
putting the city’s hard- and health between the rela- the U.K.'s first wave; infec- strictions and money to make scientific advisers have sug-
won revival in jeopardy, tively affluent south of Eng- tion rates currently are much up for years of government gested the current restric-
and raising tensions be- land and the post-industrial higher in northern England spending cuts that have left tions may not be enough and
tween the north of Eng- north that also includes the than they are in the south. public services in Britain’s there will have to be even
land and the wealthier cities of Manchester, New- In response, the U.K. gov- less affluent areas threadbare. tougher measures, maybe a
south. castle and Leeds. ernment this week adopted The north-south tensions total lockdown, to bring the
a three-tier system that ranks that the pandemic stirred up outbreak under control.
Scarred by abandoned build- Manchester — once an en- cities and regions in England are never far from the sur-
ings and government neglect gine of the Industrial Revo- as medium, high or very high face. David Jeffrey, a lecturer Some fear that the gains of
during the 1980s, Liverpool lution and now a hub for risk. Only the Liverpool re- in British politics at the Uni- northern cities like Liverpool
made itself vibrant again Britain’s music and creative gion of 1.6 million people versity of Liverpool, said Liv- and Manchester could be un-
by promoting local culture, industries — also is likely to was immediately placed in erpool's 1980s clashes over done.
nightlife, soccer and ties fall under the government’s the top tier, which requires money and policy with the
to the Fab Four. However, new restrictions. Mayor pubs to shut and bars house- Conservative government "Liverpool fought, everyone
Liverpudlians retained their Andy Burnham is holding holds from mixing. of Prime Minister Margaret fought, to get into a position
mistrust of London politi- out for more financial sup- Authorities in northern Eng- Thatcher fostered a “‘them now where we were all actu-
cians, and the virus pandemic port before consenting. land agree on the need to act. versus us’ narrative" toward ally looking forward to 2020,"
has brought it to the surface. Burnham, a member of the With more than 600 cases per London. John Hughes, the head of lo-
left-of-center Labour Party 100,000 people and its in- Prime Minister Boris John- cal industry group Liverpool
As the first area in England that is in the opposition at tensive care units 90% full, son, a Conservative like Pubwatch, said. "But the sit-
slapped with strict new re- the national level, accused Liverpool is one of Europe’s Thatcher, is especially un- uation we are in now is, we’re
strictions to curb the resur- the government Thursday of worst-hit cities at this stage popular in the city. Liverpool going to go back to them dark
gent coronavirus that have treating people in northern of the pandemic. But there natives, commonly known as days of the ’80s.”
shuttered pubs and imperiled England as “second-class citi- is also resentment over what Scousers, still remember that
thousands of jobs, Liverpool zens” by imposing “a punish- many see as the government years ago a magazine Johnson Local business owners say
again feels it’s being punished ing lockdown without proper moving too quickly to lift edited accused them of “wal- the support offered by the
by policies made in Britain's support for the people and the national lockdown re- lowing” in victimhood. government — paying two-
capital, 180 miles (290 kilo- businesses affected.” strictions and failing to cre- thirds of the salaries of work-
meters) to the south. ate an efficient test-and-trace “In Liverpool, this idea of ers in businesses forced to
“At the beginning, when we When the coronavirus first system to contain new out- ‘Scousers don’t trust Tories’ close — isn't enough to pre-
all went into lockdown, it hit the U.K. this year, the breaks. ties in to trust in the gov- vent widespread hardship
made sense. We were all do- government told all but es- ernment and their corona this winter.
ing it for a reason, and that sential workers to stay home “The embers of the infection message,” Jeffrey said. “So if
was fine,” said pub owner and ordered most businesses here were never extinguished there’s no trust in the com- “I think if they came up and
Fiona Hornsby, who reluc- to close. The wide lockdown and they burned brighter up petency of the government, spoke to us, actually came
tantly shuttered her Bride- slowed the spread of the vi- here than they did elsewhere people aren’t going to fol- and talked to us, then maybe
well bar in accordance with rus, but not before the coun- in the country," Paul Brant, a low the rules.” Video footage they’d understand and may-
new curbs on business and try racked up Europe’s high- Labour Party member of the showing young revelers par- be think about things a little
socializing the government est COVID-19 death toll. It Liverpool City Council, said. tying in the city's street with differently," said pub owner
imposed this week. currently stands at more than “Unfortunately, policy in this little regard for social distanc- Hornsby, who has laid off
43,200, though all such offi- country is too often directed ing on Tuesday night, hours 20 staff members. "But they
With the complex localized cial figures are likely an un- as a result of what happens before the new restrictions don’t, do they?”
restrictions, "it’s almost like derestimate. in the capital rather than the took hold, drove home that