The Last Post

I love newspapers.  Their popularity has been falling for years and no newspaper can claim the giant circulations of yesteryear.  But still, I love 'em.  Most days I buy two national newspapers and I will probably continue to do so as long as newspapers are published.  All around the world, newspapers are slowly losing out to electronic publications, on-line news and so on.  But I like them.  As I have travelled the world; I have read newspapers in many countries and always they give an immediate flavour of the place — explaining in some depth the daily events of our planet.  Some that I have read have been very good some not so good.  But the loss of any newspaper is always sad.  Another one dies to day.  The Liverpool Post, one of the oldest newspapers in Britain will today print its last edition.

The newspaper was the first penny newspaper in Britain and was launched in 1855 by Michael Whitty operating from a small printing shop in Lord Street, Liverpool and in its first addition reported on the conflict at Sebastopol in the Crimean War.  The Post was there to report the onslaught of the Blitz in Liverpool during the early years of WW II and the 'paper has had a proud record of defending the ordinary citizen against the forces of wealth, politics and bureaucracy.  The newspaper can no longer fight against the forces of neglect.  Young people rarely read newspapers.  For them news is obtained instantly via mobile phones and tablets; their's is a world of black and white of simplified news.  There is no interest in discovering the details of the what and why of daily events.  With declining sales local newspapers have relied increasingly on local advertising to cover the cost of production.  But that also is going on-line; it's cheaper.  The decline has seen the Liverpool Post shrink from a daily newspaper to a weekly in 2012 but that was only the prelude to closure.  The newspaper is no longer viable.

I have read the Liverpool Post only rarely but I still lament its demise.  Some of the journalists will carry on working but now for the on-line Liverpool Echo.  This publications is thriving and I can only wish everyone well for the future. 

Goodbye Liverpool Post

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