The power of anecdotes
Never mind the statistics about Liverpool's renaissance, it's the anecdotes that have most power to impress, says Dougal Paver.
There I was, Friday morning, chewing the cud with one of my favourite clients. Urbane, charming, sophisticated and a denizen of one of Manchester's uber-wealthy southern suburbs. No flies on this chap.
He's a developer, so it was a wide-ranging discussion about cities and how they compete and perform. My favourite subject, if I'm honest.
This guy's pumping hundreds of millions in to Liverpool and has a genuine affection for the place. Probably helps that he's an architect by training.
Anyhow, we got to talking about the performance of Paver Smith client the Echo Arena and I mentioned how nice it was to hear so many Manchester accents at the Oasis gig.
"Never mind the arena, what about the shopping?" asks my man, rhetorically and somewhat animatedly.
"Everyone I talk to in Hale is going on shopping trips to Liverpool."
As he pointed out, you know a city's got it right when Manchester's wealthy set are foresaking St. Anne's Square for a rival city 34 miles west.
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