Now conspiracy theorists are coming for our bin collections

Even those of us who are paid to write about politics, a city council committee meeting is not always the most exciting affair.

But that was not the case on Wednesday evening, when an innocuous-looking agenda at Liverpool Council’s Neighbourhoods Committee was made considerably spicier by a group who turned up to protest about all manner of things.

Scenes outside the town hall suggested the group’s focus was a little confused. One man held a placard proclaiming that ‘globalists fund climate scientists for climate hoax or they get defunded’ while another chap was intent on ‘restoring common law’ – whatever that means.

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Another large signs declared ‘No Ulez’, referring to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s Ultra Low Emission Zone Plan. It’s not immediately clear why this was being raised ahead of a meeting 200 miles away from the capital.

While there was a smorgasbord of the more classic conspiracy theories being touted outside the town hall, it eventually became clear that there was one key concern being raised by those gathering in Castle Street – although they were also pretty confused about this element as well.

The demonstrators were keen to voice (with increasing volume) their concerns about a concept called 15-minute cities – an issue that has become more and more pressing for those living on the more conspiratorial side of life in recent times.

Put simply, the 15-minute city is an urban planning idea in which the majority of a person’s daily necessities and services – including work, leisure, retail, health and education – can be comfortably reached via a 15-minute walk or bike ride. The idea has its roots in history but has gained prominence in recent years as one method to combat issues around climate change and air quality as it could get more people out of their cars.

Now I know what you are thinking. The idea of being able to walk to your local park, doctors or school sounds utterly terrifying doesn’t it? Who doesn’t wake up in cold sweats thinking about those conveniently-placed amenities?

But seriously, there does appear to be a growing movement on social media and across conspiracy land related to the idea of 15-minute cities. As is typically the case, those promoting this stuff have taken some elements of truth – in this case the idea of encouraging the idea of fewer polluting cars on the roads – and run with it down some very strange and completely incorrect avenues.

Leaflets handed out by the protesters at the town hall on Wednesday warned: “Do you drive to work, school or college? Choose to educate your children in a different area to where you live?” It continued: “Maybe you enjoy days out? Road trips or adventures to new places?” before suggesting that all these normal activities could be put at risk by a 15-minute city.

That is patently not the case, there has never been a suggestion that people would be barred from driving long distances or travelling out of their local areas. Yes there is an idea to create more walkable neighbourhoods so that people don’t always need to get behind the wheel – but obviously none of this would ever be mandated, that would be ludicrous.

Among the many questions posed by the 30-strong crowd at the town hall on Wednesday was why on earth they had chosen to picket outside a Liverpool Council neighbourhoods committee with absolutely zero planned discussion of the 15-minute cities idea on its agenda.

Herein lies further confusion. It appears that at least some of those who gathered were deeply concerned about something completely different entirely.

Liverpool Council has recently approved plans for a new Neighbourhood Model, which is entirely about how the cash-strapped local authority can do a better job of delivering services like bin collections, road resurfacing and tackling rogue landlords. It’s an idea that has been welcomed across the city’s political spectrum as it should – if carried out well – give a more tailored focus from officers to the individual needs of different areas of the city.

The plans – and this, I believe is where the confusion has arrived – will see the city divvied up into 13 administrative areas, each with an assigned area manager who will be responsible for the delivery of those services. If that manager is covering the Wavertree area they might have a greater focus on issues related to student housing, if they are across the city centre there could be work on issues around noise from clubs and bars.

Now to me this sounds fairly sensible, although the proof of the pudding will be in the properly emptied bins, but for some on social media this administrative change represents something much more sinister.

An article I wrote explaining what the council’s new services plan is has been twisted into some interesting shapes on social media. A former Brexit Party candidate shared the piece, adding: “This is about nothing more than controlling the population of Liverpool”, while a celebrity actor boldly told his Instagram followers that the “Hunger Games” had come to Liverpool, adding a simple: “Resist.”

Now I’m not sure whether a Hunger Games movie based around an improved approach to removing fly-tipping would work, but who knows – there are so many sequels made these days.

There’s a serious point to all this of course. While to many of us these conspiracy theories are fairly ridiculous, they do appear to be getting more prevalent in our world of social media and disinformation – and they can lead to some pretty unpleasant situations.

On Wednesday night councillors had to be escorted out of the meeting because the situation with those gathered outside had become very tense – with shouts of ‘traitors’ ringing out. The leader of the council has described the scenes as ‘strange and threatening.’

The Covid-19 pandemic saw an explosion of some very dark theories. As journalists we were regularly told we were promoting a ‘plandemic’ that had been concocted by world leaders to control the world’s population.

Others were utterly convinced that the vaccines that ironically allowed us to move past the lockdowns and the virus itself actually contained microchips so that our movements could be tracked. The fact many of those tweeting out this theory were doing so from a smartphone that actually does track movements and collects data was, apparently, lost on many of them.

I was forcefully told that my own report from inside the Royal Liverpool’ Hospital’s covid-stricken ICU ward in 2020 was based around ‘crisis actors’ who I had somehow funded to play the roles of doctors, nurses and critically ill patients. I’m not sure if these people are aware of the salaries in regional journalism.

It’s difficult to know whether conspiracy theories have become more prevalent in recent times or whether we just hear about them more through social media. I think it is probably fair to say that social media sites have certainly helped to amplify and spread the sorts of disinformation that leads more people down these dark paths and has emboldened them and brought them together in greater numbers.

And sadly when we look at the direction and leadership of some of those sites, it’s hard to imagine this situation getting anything but worse. The newly rebranded X site now resembles an open sewer in which those propagating the most grotesque and unhinged theories do so with the boldness of a verified tick that they have paid for.

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