Interesting things happening in Merseyside this week

… and some important updates on the Monitor

Greetings fellow Mersey Monitorians,

Welcome to this week’s newsletter about local democracy-related events across Merseyside.

We need to start, unfortunately, with yet another apology. Last week you didn’t receive your regular email brimming with meetings, events and all manner of local democratic shenanigans.

The problem was we had a rather awkward situation with the feline members of the team that required our undivided attention, and which we need to very briefly explain before we get on to decisions getting made in Merseyside this week.

We had agreed to let the cats loose on producing last week’s diary in an act of well-meaning diplomacy, which backfired rather spectacularly. Everything they produced was in clear contravention of the Monitor’s exacting editorial guidelines.

After some tense negotiations, we’re pleased to announce that the cats are no longer involved at all in the day-to-day running of the Mersey Monitor.

A severance agreement, involving several tins of a well-known cat food brand and a few squeaky toys, should hopefully mean they’ll now leave us in peace. We of course wish them well in their future endeavours, as long as they stop stepping all over the keyboard.*

In any case, with the newsroom firmly under human control, we’ve also got some much more serious updates for you.

Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been busy getting the good ship Mersey Monitor in order. We’ve been speaking with writers from across the region who are interested in coming on board and we’re delighted to say you may soon spot one or two new faces in the mix. We’re really excited about that.

We’re also getting the paperwork together to formally register the Monitor as a Community Interest Company. If you’ve been following us since we launched, just three short months ago, you’ll know we’ve always intended to become a non-profit local news organisation, run for community benefit rather than private profit, and now we’re nearly there.

That brings us on to something we’d really appreciate your help with.

The Mersey Monitor doesn’t have shareholders or investors and we don’t do adverts or sponsored content either - we are reader-funded. Unlike what‘s starting to feel like the general thrust of the universe, we’ve also deliberately chosen not to put up a paywall. This is because we believe everyone should be able to read independent public interest reporting regardless of whether or not they can afford to pay.

To paraphrase the question from our title image, we wondered if there was another way to make it sustainable that doesn’t involve locking stories behind paywalls, crowding a website in advertising everybody tries not to accidentally click on, or by courting influential investors. We believe there is and that involves asking you, our readers, for donations.

It’s undoubtedly a challenging model. We’re relying on people across Merseyside choosing to support us even when you can read every story we publish for free. We‘re hoping you agree that freely available, non-profit local public interest journalism benefits us all and is worth a bit of your support.

Local public interest journalism matters because the more we all know about what’s going on and what decisions are being made in our names, the more we can all provide that crucial scrutiny, oversight and challenge when it’s needed.

It‘s about paying attention to the decisions being made and working out what they mean for us living here. That’s partly why we‘re called the Mersey Monitor because monitoring what’s happening is very much a part of our brief. It‘s also because we quite like alliteration. We also like the slightly absurd thought of a small ship carrying comically oversized guns.

The response since we launched has been incredible. We’ve been overwhelmed by the number of story ideas, documents, emails and messages you’ve sent us. Every one has helped us build a better picture of what’s happening across Merseyside and every donation we’ve received has helped bring us that little bit closer towards making the Monitor sustainable.

If you’re able to support us, we’d be hugely grateful. You can back the Monitor for as little as a penny a week if you like, although we’d love you to consider donating a fiver a month if that’s within your means, or indeed more if you’re willing and able.

Every penny we receive is invested into reporting, covering our running costs and helping us build the kind of newsroom we believe Merseyside deserves.

You can make a one-off donation here or set up a regular contribution here.

Please do keep sending us your story ideas too. We read every one, and we’re incredibly grateful that so many people are trusting us to investigate these issues affecting our communities on Merseyside. It’s a responsibility we take very seriously, especially now we’ve managed to contain the cats.

We’d also love to hear what you’ve enjoyed reading so far and what you’d like to see more, or less, of. You can email us at themerseymonitor@outlook.com or give us a bell on 07442 402 023.

We believe the Monitor belongs as much to its readers as it does to the people who produce it, so your views are really important to us.

Anyway, with all those announcements out of the way and the cats forever removed from editorial duties, it’s time to get your diaries ready because there are plenty of local democracy-related shenanigans to explore across Merseyside this week…

Decisions, decisions, decisions

As ever, this guide is far from exhaustive, but we would like to be as comprehensive as possible, so if we’ve overlooked something important, please do get in touch and we can add it in. You can email themerseymonitor@outlook.com or drop us a text on 07442 402 023.

If you’re not reading this by email, just click on an event to expand the box and see more details, including any booking links. All events listed are free to attend. We have not verified the information in the events listings, so please do get in touch if something appears amiss.

Monday 6 July

Tuesday 7 July

Wednesday 8 July

Thursday 9 July

Friday 10 July