Yeah, OK, there’s the Adelphi, but I am trying hard to block that from my mind. Actually it has been quite a while since I was here. The last time was in 2004, when I see I was a bit rude about the local wildlife. Much has changed since then, particularly around the Albert Dock area where museums have been springing up like mushrooms after a wet autumn night. They have the Tate, of course, and the Beatles Experience, but now they have so much more.

One of those new places is the Museum of Liverpool were the conference I am attending is being held. It opened in 2011 and is seriously impressive. I spent a bit of time wandering around today, mainly taking train porn pictures for Kevin. There’s also a Maritime Museum, and somewhere a Slavery Museum (something Bristol should have too). You could spend a week here just doing museums and art galleries.

But the reason I like it here is that Liverpool is its own place. It has no truck with Englishness and Respectability. Liverpool does what Liverpool wants to do, and does not care if the rest of England looks down its collective nose at the city as a result. Sometimes that means doing amazing things like the April Ashley exhibition (of which more later). Sometimes it is just being daft for the heck of it.

So, for example, in Albert Dock I found a Yellow Submarine. You can rent rooms on board. It is moored between “The Titanic” (which is gracefully sinking) and a purple-painted barge which claims to be “The Joker” out of Gotham City.

Liverpool is also the only place in the UK which, yesterday, was not plagued by free copies of The Sun. Murdoch’s flagship muck-raker is afraid of Liverpool, and with good reason.

I wish I had more time up here. I want to see all these museums and art galleries. Sadly my life has just got stupidly busy (again) and I have to go home on Sunday.