The nifty 250

A REPORTED VENDETTA against two local businessmen has resulted in a Merseyside pub being torched. The Cabbage Inn, on Fleetwoods Lane, Netherton, was firebombed at around 3.15am. The owners were woken by their dog barking. Police have confirmed the arson was the latest in a long line of attacks against entrepreneurs Terry Riley and John Ball.

WAVERTREE MP Jane Kennedy has blamed Gordon Brown's “macho politics” for her government resignation. Mrs Kennedy said she had been asked to make a pledge of loyalty to Mr Brown in order to stay in the Government, but was unable to. She said: “It's a style, a type of politics I have fought against all my life since battling against the Militant Tendency here in Liverpool. It's not a kind of politics that I want to be associated with.”

MERSEYSIDE FILM-MAKER, Graham Hughes, has been freed after being jailed in the Cape Verde Islands, on suspicion of entering the country illegally. Hughes, 30, was arrested after arriving aboard a boat from Senegal as part of a challenge for a WaterAid charity. A judge has now dismissed the case against him.

A DECISION is set to be made over whether Wirral Council should be allowed to close 11 public libraries. The closures are said to be part of a review of leisure facilities but have been met by protests from the public and local MPs. A hearing at the Floral Pavilion will decide if the council has a duty to retain the libraries.