THERE is nothing austere about the price of an Adelphi breakfast - as Len McCluskey, General Secretary of Unite, might be about to find out this Friday morning when he's fishing around for £11.50 in order to be granted access to the marmalade tureen.
Austerity, however is definitely on the menu the night before when the faded grandeur of the Ranelagh Place hotel becomes the setting for “Austerity – My Arse”.
This is a “rebel rant”, a lecture with table banging, maybe, being conducted by the Liverpool-born trade unionist and hosted by... well, the clue is in the title.
On the agenda are questions like Who is Austerity Britain for? Is it Us and not “Them” - the bankers and the millionaires?
Latest evidence from Chancellor George “Divide and Rule” Osbourne would seem to show the former as the have-nots await another good kicking from the Eton boy.
McCluskey will also ask: “Can the Coalition turn it round or are we all con-demned to spend the next ten years back in Orwell’s Britain of the 1930s?”
Adelphi Liverpool“Red Len” has been an active trade unionist since his first job on the docks in the 1960s. He was elected General Secretary of Unite in 2010, promising to “campaign against the devastation the Government is unleashing against working people and their communities throughout the land”.
He is also on a mission to harvest crowds for the TUC’s anti-austerity demo in London on October 20.
McCluskey will be introduced by Ricky Tomlinson, who is no stranger to a political joust, and the whole thing is being promoted by the Writing On The Wall people.
And is the Full English (pictured) worth that £11.50? Well, as Jim Royle might say...
“Austerity – My Arse”, Thursday October 11, 2012, 7.30pm, The Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool, L3 5UL. Tickets £8/£5 concessions available from: The Philharmonic Hall box office, Hope Street, L1 9BP or online. Tel: 0151 709 3789.
From the vaults: Review of the Adelphi's Cromptons restaurant here
