After 2 big stories (Liverpool City Council and the Johnny Depp decision) what comes next?

                                            

This last week has seen headlines in two different but interrelated areas of reporting (politics and the law) – the UK government deciding to send in commissioners to Liverpool City Council and the decision by the Court of Appeal to refuse permission for Johnny Depp to appeal.

Both stories have been heavily covered in the media, both here in the UK and elsewhere, but both stories show the power of the media to impact on an emotional level and shape how people think and feel.

People are weary in the UK of the pandemic restrictions which have now been going on for over a year and many people want to go back to experiencing life as it was before the pandemic. Others are close to or past the point of burnout. Clashes between protestors and police in Bristol and the policing of the Sarah Everard vigil in London have highlighted the appalling way people have been treated.

Too many promises have been made and broken, with trust in democracy and trust in the media dented by the events of the last year.

Public meetings of local government and indeed the Court of Appeal hearing that led to the decision I mentioned earlier have been opened up to a much wider audience. A recent letter has outlined the UK government’s intention to go back to public meetings of local government in person after the 7th of May 2021 after the much delayed elections.

Indeed the country will over the next few weeks be in an election period. Promises will be made, political debates will be had and the views of candidates standing will be put under the spotlight. Locally here on the Wirral, there are elections of local councillors, police and crime commissioner for Merseyside and Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Mayor.

Many people have lost their jobs, many people still grieve for those that they have lost and in an election period the clamour of voices calling for a public inquiry and answers will no doubt be louder.

If people stand together and do not allow themselves to be divided, much can be achieved.

Yet, what does the future hold?

The answer to that lies in the hands of everybody, the stress of the pandemic has led (unfortunately) some to believe they are unable to control or change the situation.

There is always hope in a brighter tomorrow, there will be a time people look back at this period in history as a bad memory that they’d rather forget.

Yet there are those that will always remember.

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