In this engaging discussion, historian Sam Wetherell sheds light on Liverpool's decline post-WWII, revealing stories of poverty and discrimination. Jack Thorne exposes the environmental tragedies of Corby, where a steel industry's closure led to birth defects and a fight for justice. Expert Yu Jie connects these experiences to China's rise as an industrial powerhouse, urging reflections on community resilience and the lessons to be learned from Liverpool's struggles. Together, they explore the legacies of industrial decline and the complex interplay of local and global economies.
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Liverpool's Heyday
Liverpool's port once commanded 40% of global trade, as noted by authors like Herman Melville.
Its decline started after WWI, worsened by the Great Depression and reduced trade share.
insights INSIGHT
Diverse Workforce
Liverpool's workforce was diverse due to the global slave trade and a century-old Chinese community.
This diversity shaped the city's unique social fabric.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Union Access
Getting into Liverpool's dock unions was harder than getting a son into Eton.
Post-WWII, dock work offered job security, contrasting with precarious jobs for minority laborers.
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Sam Wetherell's 'Liverpool and the Unmaking of Britain' delves into the complex history of Liverpool, tracing its rise as a global port city to its subsequent decline. The book explores the social and economic consequences of this transformation, highlighting the impact on various communities within the city. It examines the role of industrial change, globalization, and government policies in shaping Liverpool's fate. The narrative also touches upon themes of obsolescence, inequality, and the challenges of urban regeneration. Wetherell's work offers a nuanced perspective on the city's past and its relevance to contemporary urban challenges.
The story of Liverpool’s once thriving port is one of spectacular rise, and spectacular fall. In Liverpool and the Unmaking of Britain, the historian Sam Wetherell looks at the city post-WWII, as the decline in the port led to the poverty and neglect of its population, the deportation of Chinese sailors, and the discrimination against the city’s Black population. It’s a history as prophecy for what the future might hold for the communities caught in the same trap of obsolescence.
As manufacturing has declined in the UK it has grown exponentially in China, which is now known as ‘the world’s factory’. Dr Yu Jie is a senior research fellow at Chatham House and an expert in China’s economic diplomacy. She considers what the mega-cities that have emerged out of China’s rise, and the communities living in them, can learn from the history of Liverpool.
Corby in the Midlands was once at the heart of British steelmaking, with one of the largest operations in Western Europe. But once the plant was closed in the 1980s, the ‘clean-up’ became known as one of the worst environmental scandals, causing serious birth defects in the town. The four-part series, Toxic Town, written by Jack Thorne (on Netflix from 27th February) tells the story of the families as they fight for justice.
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