Life On the road to Warrington, there is a rather large, rather random sign. In big black Helvetica lettering on a white background it says:
Knowsley Is The Future.
As tv critic Charlie Brooker's fond of saying "Is it really? Really!?!" For the initiated, Knowsley is one of the bits of Merseyside that isn't Liverpool or The Wirral and in much the same way as a lot of people from my city get tired of being mentioned in the same breath as The Beatles, if you think of Knowsley, you think of the safari park.
The only reference online to the statement is at this job related blog in a post which discusses a government initiative about new schools. It says that "Knowsley is the future" was coined by Steve Munby of the National College for School Leadership because of the improvement in the area's school results which doubled over a five year period. Which means that Knowsley does have that to shout about.
But the sign lacked this context as far as I could see so it's worth asking -- can a geographical location be "the future"? At some point silicon chips were "the future" and so was the internet. I took it it to mean that either in the future other locations will use Knowsley as a model of development or that people will move to Knowsley on mass or that it'll overtake Liverpool as a regional centre and now perhaps its that other authorities should look to Knowsley for ways to improve their own school results.
Either way, it's a wonderfully bombast statement which shows real confidence in yourself. Well done you.
Knowsley immediately conjured up images of rugby league to me, rather than lions and monkeys, but I take your point.
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