Apologies to Conservative (yes, who knew?) mayoral candidate Andy ‘Mr John Lewises’ Street for this image macro. In a previous version we originally suggested the Tories had cut £.13bn from councils in the West Midlands Combined authority. The actual figure…
Category: In the news
We’re the biggest outside London, inside London it’s too dark to read
A letter we sent to the Birmingham Post the other day, do they still have ‘letters to the editor’ in papers these days? Dear Sir, I think we all agree that there are times when Birmingham should blow it’s own…
What time and when is our new SEO strategy going to pay dividends with pageviews? Everything you need to know
Friend of the show Dave Harte used to do a bit about how the most popular posts on his hyperlocal website was called “When are the supermarkets open over Christmas?”. This is the sort of ‘content’ which successfully remediates the…
Meet the new Bore, same as the old Bore
I have an obsessive nature – not addictive, thank god – but definitely obsessive. Whenever I am reminded of 1976 classic Carrie the voices echo about my brain for days. I have spent hours researching Michigan J. Frog (the frog…
Posted in In the news
In Labour
With the announcement of a West Midlands mayor just a day or so before, this hustings started to feel a little bit like bald men fighting over a comb. But that’s not true; one of the candidates is a woman.…
Posted in In the news
Labour councillors: Stop gagging Brum
Despite calls in the media, old and new, and noises from some quarters (not as many as we’ve got, like but…) it’s being reported that the Labour group on Birmingham City Council is actively against having an open debate and…
Posted in In the news
So you’d like a say in who leads Birmingham City Council?
Want to feel enfranchised? Like you have some influence in the direction of your city? Then you need to have a say in who leads your local council. How to get that? Well you need our guide. Of…
Posted in In the news, lolitics
In Grand Central Station I had to sit down in Pret
I know people who live in other cities take this sort of shit for granted, but Nu-New Street is a very nice railway station (with the Brum-obligatory shop on top). It needs a clock – call me old-fashioned, but no…
Ready or not: What Brum is doing for the refugee crisis
Even the shyest Tory has been moved to action over the refugee crisis this week leaving only David Cameron—who seemingly still has one eye on the dwindling UKIP surge—badly out of step with a country gripped by Corbyn-mania and finally…
Posted in In the news
Birmingham was the crucible of the Industrial Revolution, but it gave the World so much more…
Order 101 Things Birmingham Gave the World: the Book now
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Birmingham and leadership: A challenge to democracy
Birmingham is to have a new leader. And we don’t get to vote. No-one does, apart from the outgoing leader and 77 other Labour councillors. The leader of Birmingham City Council is potentially the third most important figurehead in the…