Over the last 15 years, the overwhelming shadow, or sunlight, over Salford has been the so-called 'regeneration' and politics of the city. So, it seemed very natural to ask the host of Salford stars we have interviewed their views on the issues. Here, in Part 1, is a selection from the print copies of the Salford Star ...
Maxine Peake, speaking in print issue 1, May 2006...
"We should keep alive the notion that we do have power if we use our strength as a unit...But it does seem all too clear we've come to the end of an era...People have got very apathetic about politics which doesn't surprise me with those who, unfortunately, we've got in power...
"People just don't think they've got a voice any more. Thatcher would be absolutely delighted with the way we've all turned out...this 'me culture'..."
"In Salford, first the terraced housing went, then the flats went up and now they're saying 'Let's regenerate'...I'm convinced it's a conspiracy to keep the community apart throughout the years, regeneration has been about trying to destroy the heart of the community..."
Christopher Eccleston speaking in print issue 1, May 2006...
On key values in Salford..."A sense of community...covering each other's backs...not taking yourself too seriously...good manners...hard work" and "a healthy disrespect for authority..."
"Obviously it's a tragedy if the communities are pushed out for yuppies, and it's wrong..."
On the Working Class Movement Library..."There couldn't be a better home for the Library than Salford because Salford embodies the struggle of the working classes, from the filth of the industrial revolution, down to the destruction in the Eighties by Thatcher and..." Now the yuppyfication? "Now, the yuppyfication, yeah..."
John Cooper Clarke, giving the Star an exclusive of his new poem in print issue 2, September 2006...
Beasley Street becomes Beasley Boulevard... "I just tarted the place up..."
A stringent disinfectant
With a most intrusive scent
Reeking violence on anyone
With an olfactorial bent
While health and safety, the Beth Din
And the guys at Scotland Yard
Keep the area free from sin
Beasley Boulevard
Ring-a-ding ding regime change
A long way overdue
Now the dogs are gone it's pale and strange
With a whole new kinda view
It's better than paradise
If you don't look too hard
Made over nice and nice
A B&B you wouldn't be without
BBC did a DVD about
BB King did a thing in E about
A Garden of Eden in every yard
A phone box cleared of hookers' cards
They got to promenade
On teazy-weazy easy-peasy
Beasley Boulevard...
Peter Hook, speaking with Nigel Pivaro in print issue 4, May 2007 on regeneration...
"I don't really see a happy ending and I'm very sad about that. To me, the strength of Salford has always been its people, and when those people aren't treated well you haven't got anything.
"What I'm concerned about is the massive amounts of money that have been spent on buildings like the Imperial War Museum, The Lowry, and the BBC thing...but when it comes to looking after people, the Council can't seem to get it together...It makes me think I'll put myself up for election and I'd do better than that..."
Peggy Seeger on Ewan MacColl and Dirty Old Town, print issue 4 May 2007...
"The last verse of Dirty Old Town 'We'll chop you down like an old dead tree' the implication to me is that 'We'll chop you down and build you again the way you should be', for the people who live there. But I don't know that they will as long as there are developers and the idea of 'progress'. They want it built more fancy, and the people who lived there can't afford it any more. It has to be the people who live there who say how it's going to be...
"Ewan was appalled when he saw what they'd done to Coburg Street...He loved and hated the old street but he said the new stuff was unspeakable. It was cheap, it was nasty, it was nothing but the worst for the working classes, as he put it..."
Shaun Ryder, speaking in print issue 5 July 2007
"We had to move from round there [Little Hulton] because Salford City Council wouldn't give anyone flats or houses...they spent all their budget on cocaine, I'm sure, or bribing gangsters...We just didn't get any help...that's why we moved to Fallowfield, to Rusholme, to get on the housing list..."
Mike Sweeney, speaking to Nigel Pivaro in print issue 7, May 2008...
"I still find it amazing that I lived in a time when Salford was supposed to be poor yet we had our own buses with conductors, five police stations, five swimming baths...Politicians should remember that politics is not just a game but it is about people. The infrastructure was allowed to deteriorate to such an extent that they used that as an excuse to knock down viable streets. I do not believe that constant destruction is the answer..."
Robert Powell, speaking in print issue 8, September 2008
"I cannot see how the building of Media City cannot involve the local community. To me that would be an impossibility. 15,000 jobs will come to that area...The Salford Central regeneration that's going to take place over the next 15 years cannot be anything but good for Salford. Other people will benefit from it, obviously big business will benefit from it, but there has to be a trickle down effect...I cannot believe there isn't a trickle down effect...they're not going to import people and bring them in here to work..."
More quotes from Salford stars Part 2 - click here
For a full background on the closure of the Salford Star see previous articles...
Salford Star To Close After 15 Years click here
A Star Is Born click here
Alice's Story: Injustice From South Africa to Salford click here
Real Salford Heritage - Inside The Cliff Man United Training Ground - click here
The Battle of Barton Moss click here
Nigel Pivaro Looks Back Over 15 Years of the Star click here
Planning Scandals and the Affordable Housing Crisis - click here
Campaigns, demos and protests click here
Guy Griffiths on the Pathfinder Demolitions - click here
What's Left and What's Worth Saving in Salford - click here
Eight Happenings That Encapsulate Salford: Part 1 click here
Eight Happenings That Encapsulate Salford: Part 2 click here
Guy Griffiths on the Pathfinder Demolitions Part 2 The Human Cost - click here
How Salford City Council Tried To Stop The Star - click here
How Salford City Council Tried to Block and Discredit The Star click here
The Salford Star Closes After 15 Years of Attitude and Love xxx - click here
Main photo of Christopher Eccleston by Steven Speed
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