Black Country news and blogs Wednesday 12 March 2014
Guardian
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Saddlers
Wolves make complaint to FA about ‘racist abuse’ at Walsall 
Guardian 10 Mar 14
• Players Carl Ikeme and George Elokobi reported abuse • ‘Complaint relates to a small number of individuals,’ say Wolves Wolves have made a complaint to Walsall and the Football Association after Carl Ikeme and George Elokobi reported racial…
News
Senior Ukip members ‘backed pact with BNP’
Guardian 8 Mar 14
Proposal was canvassed among party’s National Executive Committee in 2008 according to a new book A new book has revealed that Ukip considered forming a pact with the BNP five years ago, with two members of the party’s national executive committee at…
News
Superbug kills 16 in Manchester hospitals
Guardian 7 Mar 14
Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC) responsible for hundreds of infections, freedom of information request reveals Sixteen people have died in the Manchester area in the past four years from a highly resistant “superbug”, according to figures …
News
BP chief executive’s pay triples in 2013
Guardian 6 Mar 14
Mixture of salary, bonus and share awards for Bob Dudley worth $8.7m (£5.2m) in 2013, compared with $2.6m for the previous year Bob Dudley, the chief executive of BP, has seen his pay more than triple over the last year despite the legal threats that …
News
Profits surge at Redrow and Barratt
Guardian 27 Feb 14
Housebuilder Redrow doubles profits in six months to December, while Barratt nearly triples profits over same period Housebuilders Redrow and Barratt have posted a surge in first half profits after ramping up construction on the back of an improving …
News
Standard Life could quit Scotland if voters back independence
Guardian 27 Feb 14
Edinburgh-based insurance firm says it will take ‘whatever action necessary’ to protect business in event of yes vote The Edinburgh-based pensions and savings firm Standard Life has drawn up contingency plans to quit Scotland if it becomes an …
News
Mid Staffs NHS trust to be dissolved, Jeremy Hunt announces
Guardian 26 Feb 14
Key services will now be moved to neighbouring units after scathing findings over death rate at Stafford hospital The hospital involved in the worst NHS care scandal in years is to lose specialist services and come under the control of new management…
News
Wolverhampton city council plans to cut 2,000 jobs
Guardian 18 Feb 14
Local authority announces £66.7m of savings, saying it is facing the most difficult circumstances in its history Wolverhampton city council is planning to axe up to 2,000 jobs because of spending cuts, fuelling fears of a fresh round of mass …
News
Vince Cable tells MPs Scotland will need its own currency
Guardian 5 Feb 14
Business secretary tells Commons committee that a currency union with an independent Scotland would be ‘so difficult’ Vince Cable has insisted it is “almost certain” that an independent Scotland would need its own currency and warned that Royal Bank …
News
BP chief executive Bob Dudley wades into Scotland independence debate
Guardian 4 Feb 14
American says breakaway would increase his oil company’s costs and he does not want to see Scotland ‘drifting away’ Bob Dudley, the chief executive of BP, has become the most senior business leader to step into the increasingly shrill debate about …
News
BP’s Deepwater Horizon bill rises $200m as profits fall
Guardian 4 Feb 14
Latest update on the continuing costs of the Macondo blowout comes as the oil company reports a fall in quarterly and yearly profits BP has been forced to set aside a further $200m for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, bringing the bill so far to $42.7bn.
News
French ‘quenelle’ comedian Dieudonné banned from UK
Guardian 3 Feb 14
Home Office warns border officials not to let controversial comic into UK to support Nicolas Anelka in ‘quenelle’ gesture hearing The controversial French comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala has been banned from entering Britain after several of his …
News
West Bromwich Albion v Liverpool – live! | Daniel Harris
Guardian 2 Feb 14
Minute-by-minute report: Will Liverpool keep up their good form of late and beat West Bromwich Albion? Join Daniel Harris NOW to find out.
News
UK weather: cats lifted 6ft off ground in ‘mini tornado’, says eyewitness
Guardian 26 Jan 14
Met Office believes cats, who live in Surrey stable yard, would have been lifted by violent swirling gust of wind, not a tornado A striking new element has been added to the inventory of atrocious weather indicators.
Sky Blues
Arsenal 4-0 Coventry City | FA Cup fourth round match report
Guardian 24 Jan 14
Victory was Arsenal’s but in some way the night belonged to Coventry.
Sky Blues
Arsenal v Coventry City – live! | Sachin Nakrani
Guardian 24 Jan 14
Can Coventry City upset the Premier League leaders in tonight’s FA Cup fourth round clash at The Emirates? Find out with Sachin Nakrani.
Sky Blues
Arsenal’s next Fábregas? Wonderkid Gedion Zelalem has world at his feet
Guardian 24 Jan 14
The outrageously talented 16-year-old German-Ethiopian, who can ‘dribble like Iniesta and pass like Xavi’, is set to be included in the Arsenal squad to face Coventry City on Friday night Gedion Zelalem is 16 years old.
Sky Blues
FA Cup fourth round: 10 things to look out for this weekend | Scott Murray and Ian McCourt
Guardian 24 Jan 14
Should Arsène Wenger rotate? Plus Phil Brown meets his former club, the holders’ tricky test and did ITV pick the right game? 1) Bournemouth present challenge to Rodgers’ trophy ambitions King Kenny’s second reign at Anfield isn’t universally…
Sky Blues
Arsène Wenger: ‘Arsenal want to gain respect’ – video
Guardian 23 Jan 14
Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger says his team are taking the upcoming FA Cup match against Coventry seriously as they want to continue their good run and gain respect…
News
G4S refuses to concede that ‘significant event’ at Oakwood prison was riot
Guardian 23 Jan 14
Private firm that runs jail claims incident – described by one prison officer as a ‘full-scale riot’ – has been exaggerated The private security firm G4S is refusing to concede that an incident earlier this month at its troubled supersize Oakwood…
News
One for the road: cooked breakfast and a pint at UK’s first motorway pub
Guardian 21 Jan 14
Peter Walker meets customers as the Hope and Champion as the Beaconsfield M40 services opens its doors for the first time Brian Russell sipped slightly pensively on his lager and paused to think.
News
Nicolas Anelka faces minimum five-match ban over ‘quenelle’
Guardian 21 Jan 14
• Gesture said to be ‘abusive or indecent or insulting or improper’ • Striker has until Thursday to respond to FA charge • West Brom sponsor Zoopla ends deal in light of Anelka’s action Nicolas Anelka has been charged by the Football …
News
Benefits Street? It’s nothing like the James Turner Street we researched | Paul Baker
Guardian 20 Jan 14
The fieldwork we did in Birmingham produced a picture of a community very different to that portrayed in Channel 4′s series “James Turner Street? I’m sure I’ve heard of it,” I mused, when watching the trailer for the first episode of Channel 4′s …
News
David Cameron treated Lib Dems and Qatari emir to Chequers junkets
Guardian 17 Jan 14
Newly released documents show prime minister has entertained senior Lib Dems, foreign dignitaries and business leaders David Cameron has used public money and the sumptuous surroundings of his official country retreat to woo a procession of senior …
News
Cameron orders inquiry into claims of British role in 1984 Amritsar attack
Guardian 14 Jan 14
Move comes after government papers appear to show SAS role in planning fatal Indian military attack on Golden Temple David Cameron has ordered an urgent investigation into alleged British collusion in the bloody 1984 Indian military attack on the …
Sky Blues
Man questioned at League One match in betting syndicate inquiry
Guardian 13 Jan 14
• Man questioned at Coventry v Crawley game • Police say he was spoken to by FA fraud unit A man was questioned at a League One football match by investigators probing an alleged overseas betting syndicate fraud.
News
Frank Sidebottom: the true story of the man behind the mask
Guardian 12 Jan 14
Frank Sidebottom was possibly the strangest pop star in history.
News
Jaguar Land Rover reports record sales for 2013
Guardian 12 Jan 14
British car manufacturer owned by Indian Tata Motors says it sold 425,006 vehicles last year – up 19% Britain’s largest car manufacturer, Jaguar Land Rover, owned by India’s biggest carmaker, Tata Motors, has reported record-breaking global sales …
News
French appeal court upholds ban on ‘antisemitic’ comic Dieudonné’s show
Guardian 9 Jan 14
Top French judges overturn lower court’s verdict hours before Dieudonné M’bala M’bala takes stage at start of national tour The on-off-on-off row over shows by the controversial French comedian Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala ended with a decision by the …
News
Jail for man who wore Ku Klux Klan outfit and posed with lynched golliwog
Guardian 8 Jan 14
Ex-National Front member Christopher Philips gets 12 months for distributing visual images intended to stir racial hatred A university graduate who posted footage of himself online dressed in a Ku Klux Klan costume and a life-sized golliwog doll has …
News
Voter proof of identity should be mandatory, says election watchdog
Guardian 8 Jan 14
Electoral Commission recommends further tightening of rules in order to restore public confidence over concerns of ballot-rigging Voters should be required to show proof of identity at polling stations, the UK election watchdog has said in a report …
Sky Blues
Coventry City supporters frustrated by timing of Arsenal FA Cup match
Guardian 8 Jan 14
• Sky Blue Trust believe it could dramatically affect ticket sales • ‘It’s money first, money second, money third’ say group Coventry supporters have reacted with frustration to their fourth-round FA Cup tie at Arsenal being designated a Friday…
News
Oakwood prison: G4S ‘must shape up or ship out’
Guardian 7 Jan 14
Labour calls on justice secretary to give private firm six months to improve situation at prison facing series of disturbances Labour has called on the justice secretary, Chris Grayling, to abandon his use of the G4S-run Oakwood prison as a model for…
News
G4S deal with ‘ongoing incident’ at Oakwood prison
Guardian 5 Jan 14
Security company says problem on one of the wings at privatised HMP Oakwood, near Wolverhampton, has been contained The private security company G4S has contained “an ongoing incident” at HMP Oakwood, Britain’s largest prison, which was the scene of …
Sky Blues
Barnsley 1-2 Coventry City | FA Cup third-round match report
Guardian 4 Jan 14
The Coventry City manager, Steven Pressley, heaped praise on his team after they came from behind to win 2-1 at Barnsley to progress to the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Sky Blues
FA Cup third round clockwatch – live! | Niall McVeigh
Guardian 4 Jan 14
Minute-by-minute report: Keep up with all the action in the today’s 3pm kick-offs in the Cup with Niall McVeigh Niall McVeigh…
Sky Blues
From the Vault: Sutton United knock Coventry City out of the FA Cup in 1989
Guardian 3 Jan 14
One of the greatest giantkillings in FA Cup history took place 25 years ago this weekend, when First Division Coventry City travelled to Gander Green Lane to face the mighty Sutton United Not many Sutton United matches have their own Wikipedia…
News
Julian Assange rails against surveillance in Thought for the Day
Guardian 2 Jan 14
BBC Radio 4′s Today programme has WikiLeaks founder in religious slot, as chosen by guest editor – musician PJ Harvey WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has used the unlikely platform of the religious slot on the BBC’s Today programme to condemn …
News
French comedian at centre of Nicolas Anelka row faces ban
Guardian 29 Dec 13
Footballer sparks fury by performing Dieudonné M’bala M’bala’s downward version of Nazi salute, known as ‘quenelle’ Authorities in French cities are considering a ban on a one-man show by the controversial French comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, …
News
Stafford hospital set to be taken over and lose several of its key services
Guardian 18 Dec 13
Trust special administrators say Mid Staffordshire NHS trust is financially and clinically unviable and has staffing problems The hospital where the NHS’s biggest scandal in years occured is set to lose many of its key services and be taken over by a…
News
Gig and theatre tickets still subject to ‘hidden charges’
Guardian 17 Dec 13
Which? starts campaign for greater transparency on compulsory charges and says ticket firms could be breaching ASA rules Fees and charges added to the cost of theatre and concert tickets are often “hidden and unclear”, with even those imposed by …
News
Great house price divide: London’s 40% rises matched by big falls elsewhere
Guardian 15 Dec 13
Report shows just how wide the chasm has grown between the housing market in the capital and the south-east and elsewhere – and how quickly it’s increasing House prices in much of London and the south-east have soared to well above their previous …
News
Three Sikh men and one woman jailed for attack on retired Indian general
Guardian 10 Dec 13
Lieutenant General Kuldeep Singh Brar, who was involved in a 1984 operation against Sikh militants, was ambushed in London Three Sikh men and a woman have received lengthy jail sentences after being convicted of slashing an elderly Indian general in …
News
Football spot-fixing claims: three held
Guardian 8 Dec 13
National Crime Agency acts after press reports that player said he could rig Championship games in return for cash Police have arrested three people in connection with a second investigation into football spot-fixing following allegations that a …
News
Violent storms batter UK triggering emergency response
Guardian 5 Dec 13
Coastal communities face flooding threat after day of deaths, injuries, destruction and travel chaos Two people were killed, dozens were injured and thousands of residents were rescued or fled from their homes on Thursday as the UK was battered by …
News
Tories behind Labour and level with Ukip in key target seats
Guardian 3 Dec 13
Polls show Labour with 18-point lead over Ukip in Great Grimsby and 20-point lead over Conservatives in Dudley North The Conservatives are badly trailing Labour in two of their key Labour-held target seats, and are effectively neck and neck with the …
Sky Blues
Coventry City owners lead club to Northampton and towards the abyss | David Conn
Guardian 2 Dec 13
With the lowest home attendance in League One, Sisu’s move away from Coventry is having disastrous consequences In the middle of English football’s greatest ever boom, a proud club is being publicly strangled, and those who run the game are…
News
Woman ‘gave £60,000 inheritance to Maoist sect before falling to her death’
Guardian 27 Nov 13
Police investigate circumstances surrounding death of Sian Davies, 44, who broke her neck in fall at south London property A member of a Maoist sect is believed to have handed up to £60,000 from her late father’s inheritance to an extreme leftwing …
News
Bedroom tax: stress and struggle as benefits clawback hits home
Guardian 27 Nov 13
Claimants explain how the policy has forced changes, from heating cutbacks to fruitless hunts for smaller homes Since the introduction of the bedroom tax in April, David Scriven has stopped using the central heating in his home, as a way of keeping …
News
West Bromwich Albion v Aston Villa – live!
Guardian 25 Nov 13
Minute-by-minute report: Who will prevail in this West Midlands derby? Join Jacob Steinberg to find out Simon Burnton…