Starship Liverpool

Dear readers — A warm and sunny springtime welcome to your Monday briefing. Congrats to everyone who ran the Liverpool half marathon over the weekend (those of us at Team Post chose to spectate instead – with a pint or two). 

ICYMI: On Saturday, we published Shannon’s story about Girls on the Go, a casual women's running group turned full-fledged wellness and events company that’s helping women in Liverpool feel safer and less alone. She attended a floral arranging workshop as well as a charm bracelet-making event; both gave her a new lease on life. Read about her experience here: 

The group combatting female loneliness in Liverpool

Making jewellery, flower bouquets, and new friends with Girls on the Go

The PostShannon Keating

Coming up: Laurence visits Everton’s brand new stadium and takes us along for the ride. He’ll be delivering his verdict this weekend (including thoughts on the much-complained-about transport links to and from Bramley-Moore docks) – so stay tuned. Elsewhere this week, we’ll have a fantastic piece by long time Post contributor Melissa Blease, all about the lively Liverpool cafe society scene in the 70s and 80s, and Abi revisits the Eldonian Village for an update two years on from Jack’s landmark investigation.  

The big story: Astronaut Tim Peake says spaceships could be built in Liverpool. Meanwhile, we can’t even build an extra platform at Sandhills

Context: Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. Two Liverpudlians walk into an office and sign an agreement with a major US space infrastructure development firm.  

No? In fairness, Cosmic Scouser archetype aside, outer space and the city of Liverpool don’t share many associations. But last week, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) mayor Steve Rotheram and his Manchester City Region (MCR) equivalent Andy Burnham signed a “memorandum of understanding” (MoU) with Axiom Space, a privately funded space firm headquartered in Houston, Texas.

According to the LCRCA, the MoU will “establish a framework for collaboration on space-based research, development, and manufacturing”  – a sector that’s expected to be worth £490 billion globally by 2030 – in the North West.

This announcement follows Rotheram and Burnham’s joint coinage earlier this month of the “Northern Arc” concept: a joined-up investment region linked by a new Liverpool-Manchester Railway, suggesting the two authorities intend to continue working closely in future.

As with the Northern Arc announcement, details for the MoU were scant – it’s not clear whether Axiom is contractually bound to invest in Liverpool or the surrounding area. What we do know is that under the terms of the MoU, the partnership is supposed to focus on space-based communications, AI, and cybersecurity; environmental monitoring using satellite technology; microgravity research in medicine and biotechnology; and in-space product manufacturing.

According to the BBC, this all could mean that the North West plays a major role in the development of the world's first commercial space station, which is currently Axiom’s premier focus. The plan for “Axiom Station” is for its modules to be built onto the current International Space Station (ISS) and then detach as an independent structure.

Retired astronaut Tim Peake, who has worked at the ISS, was keen to comment on the potentials of the MoU. In an interview with Radio Merseyside, Peake referenced the region’s proud tradition of naval manufacture: "We are bringing shipbuilding back to Liverpool; it's just spaceship building.”

A former army helicopter pilot, Peake now works for Axiom as a strategic advisor. Last year, the commercial operator unveiled him as part of a team that will launch the first all-British crewed space mission. The BBC reported that Rotheram deserved credit for the MoU, as the deal was struck off the back of conversations between him and Peake in Liverpool.

Co-founded in 2016 by billionaire Kam Ghaffarian, who formerly worked for arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin, and CEO Michael Suffredini, who spent 30 years at NASA, Axiom Space has the astronomic goal of building private space stations for off-planet human work and habitation. Since the 2000s, entrepreneur-driven space companies have taken off, with Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Britain’s own Virgin Galactic all being founded in the 21^st century.  

But despite partnering with SpaceX and NASA, Axiom Space has been beset with financial difficulties in recent years. As recently as 2024, Forbes reported the company was struggling to survive. Internal documents and former employees indicated to Forbes that a cash crunch and other commercial difficulties had “hamstrung” the company and led to pay cuts and redundancies.

In addition, sluggish progress on Axiom Station’s first module (already five years behind schedule) and the prospect that the ISS may be deorbited two years earlier than planned has led to a fundraising drought. Sources told Forbes that Suffredini ran Axiom like a resource-rich government programme instead of a startup with tight financial restrictions until he abruptly resigned as CEO last year. SpaceX sent Axiom breach of contract notices to pressure it to pay up in 2022 and 2023.

Whether Axiom’s recent issues had been factored into LCRCA’s and MCR’s considerations ahead of the partnership isn’t known. In fairness, despite the half-a-trillion pound expectation for the commercial space industry, it’s unclear whether any individual company would survive without government resources. Axiom may have received $140 million from NASA in 2019, but SpaceX also owes its existence to a NASA grant programme, not to mention the training and technology that the US government agency provides other private firms’ astronauts and vessels.

Bottom line: AstraZeneca’s withdrawal from their plan to establish a new £450 million vaccine manufacturing plant in Speke was a blow to Rotheram’s desire to present Merseyside as at the “forefront of innovation”, primed to lead the way in sciences and advanced manufacturing.

Considering its fiscal struggles, Merseysiders should not consider Axiom’s interest a replacement for AstraZeneca’s investment. Unlike the UK pharma giant, which in 2024 was on track to become the first FTSE 100 firm to break the £200 billion valuation mark, Axiom’s financial picture did not look nearly so rosy last year, with a £1.54 billion valuation by investors considered “high” by Forbes.

Meanwhile, back on planet earth, Merseyside residents worried about benefits crackdowns, in lament about Marie Curie’s inpatient unit, or bemoaning the region’s public infrastructure may question the LCRCA’s celestial priorities. Regular Post readers are within their rights to be sceptical about partnership decisions made by regional mayors.

But space exploration and research has also often been a catalyst for technological innovation and economic prosperity in ways that are not immediately obvious, from GPS development to medical breakthroughs to job creation. If Merseyside and Manchester can find a way to benefit from these advancements in partnership with Axiom, this MoU will look like quite a coup for both Rotheram and Burnham. 

Your Post briefing

The Lib Dems have now announced their candidate for the Runcorn and Helsby by-election: former candidate for Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Paul Duffy. The by-election was triggered following the resignation of MP Mike Amesbury after he received a suspended prison sentence for repeatedly punching a man in Frodsham. Duffy, who also contested Congleton in the 2024 and 2019 General Elections, told the BBC that the by-election was a "really exciting opportunity to provide an alternative to the two main parties” and to “Reform's media circus". Despite this, though, Reform is the only major party yet to announce their candidate for the by-election, and while the vote hasn’t yet been given an exact date, it is likely to be held in around a month’s time. 

Disability campaigners in Birkenhead have said they are worried people could be pushed into poverty by the government's latest benefits crackdown. Last week, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall unveiled a new plan to change the benefits system in order to save around £5 billion a year. The changes mean it will be harder for people with less severe conditions — like mental health issues — to claim disability payments. In Birkenhead, nearly 21% of people were found to be long-term unemployed or having never worked in the most recent Census — with over 25% of the council ward receiving disability benefit payments. That’s nearly three times the national average, with unemployment benefit claimants also twice the national average in Birkenhead. "Putting those struggling with poor mental health under more financial stress is cruel and heartless,” Green Party councillor Pat Cleary told the BBC last week, adding that “targeting the most vulnerable in our society … will increase poverty and make it even harder for those affected to achieve their full potential.” However, Employment Minister and MP for Birkenhead Alison McGovern said that the decision accompanies Labour’s policy to “make life more affordable”, adding that the government is “investing in our NHS, cutting energy bills, expanding statutory sick pay and raising the minimum wage to £12.21 an hour." Do you live in Birkenhead and have thoughts on this story? Get in touch with us at editor@livpost.co.uk. 

And Ultimate Fighting Championship star Paddy 'The Baddy' Pimblett paid a surprise visit to Claire House Children's Hospice in Liverpool over the weekend. He was visiting a group for young people at the hospice for the second time, with one young person at the hospice adding he was over the moon that "he remembered us from when he last came in back in August 2023”. “We asked him questions about his upcoming fight and chatted about our rival football teams because he's a Liverpool fan”. See a photo from his visit below.

Meanwhile, Paddy’s Next Generation MMA teammate “Meatball” Molly McCann announced her retirement at the weekend following her first-round submission defeat by UFC débutante Alexia Thainara. Liverpool-born McCann finishes with a 10-year-career and a 14-8 record.

Post Picks

🍷On Wednesday, Experiment 625 on Lark Lane hosts its monthly Drink and Draw event. Arrive at 7pm with all materials provided. Details here. 

📽️Also on Wednesday is a viewing of gritty NYC film Ms.45 at the Quarry. Set in the late 70s, Ms.45 follows a mute seamstress called Thana. On her walk home from work one day, a masked man assaults her. When she comes home to find a stranger in her apartment, something clicks: a spiral into violent retribution with a pistol. Tickets are available here with proceeds going towards RASA Merseyside.

🎹On Friday, the Tung Auditorium hosts an evening featuring the famous Antonio Vivaldi cycle The Four Seasons in the unique interpretation of contemporary composer Max Richter, performed by the Mystery Ensemble. Tickets here.

🎤And celebrate Mother’s Day this weekend with a soul and motown special on Saturday at Aloft. Head there from 7pm for a three course meal and a live performance of hits from The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Isley Brothers, Smokey Robinson, Al Green, Billy Paul, Edwin Starr and Otis Redding. Tickets here.

Recommended reads

A final farewell to the kings of Merseybeat in The Guardian this weekend. The Searchers will be playing their last show at this year’s Glastonbury Festival after 68 years of performing live. “A Glastonbury debut at 83! Can anyone top that?” the band’s guitarist John McNally said. “We can’t wait to see our fans again for this incredible final farewell.”