Black Country news and blogs Saturday 9 November 2013
Our Birmingham
184 storiesRSS feed for Our Birmingham
Blog comment
City architect and urban designer Joe Holyoak: 2013 Attwood Award, 30th October
Our Birmingham 3 Nov 13
The award was set up in 2003 in memory of Thomas Attwood (1783-1856), one of the city’s first two MPs, who worked to extend the vote and promoted measures which would lead to full employment, peace and prosperity, including reform of the monetary …
Blog comment
Stop Press: today at 1.30pm at the Priory Rooms, Bull St
Our Birmingham 31 Oct 13
Mentor on the Move – 31st October 2013 The Priory Rooms, Birmingham A free networking event in run by Social Enterprise West Midlands and Social Enterprise Mentor 2:00pm – 3:30pm (Please aim to arrive at 1:30pm) : Quaker Meeting House, 40 Bull…
Blog comment
First priority: house those in greatest need
Our Birmingham 31 Oct 13
With the need for more housing in the news, instead of looking at ‘developing’ green spaces in Sutton Coldfield, Harborne and on Solihull’s floodplains, why not renovate buildings such as this long-neglected Georgian terrace sadly lining …
Blog comment
HS2: Cameron wavers, Birmingham voices advise
Our Birmingham 26 Oct 13
Speaking at a press conference at a Brussels European Council meeting yesterday, Mr Cameron suggested the scheme might not “proceed” without all-party support.
Blog comment
West Midlands MEP backs EU move for UN convention on drone strikes
Our Birmingham 25 Oct 13
An amendment to the European Parliament’s annual report on the EU’s foreign policy called for the EU to advocate a binding UN convention on the use of unmanned drone aircraft for targeted killings.
Blog comment
West Bromwich MP calls for ban on ‘addictive machines’
Our Birmingham 24 Oct 13
West Bromwich MP Tom Watson raised the subject in the House of Commons yesterday of Fixed Odds betting terminals; they allow punters to gamble up to £100 every 20 seconds, transforming local bookmakers into “High Street digital casinos” …
Blog comment
Update: proposed removal of the wholesale markets to an outer district
Our Birmingham 22 Oct 13
Yesterday a correspondent directed attention to the Wholesale Markets progress report , presented to the Council’s Cabinet members on October 21st by Mark Barrow, Strategic Director of Development and Culture.
Blog comment
Blogger appreciates Birmingham barrister’s input
Our Birmingham 20 Oct 13
There has been some concern following a report that, in an instance relating to a case in Estonia, the European Court of Human Rights held a news site legally responsible for the comments put up on their site though they had been taken down after a …
Blog comment
The politics of austerity: incapacitating local councillors, undermining democracy
Our Birmingham 19 Oct 13
LWM’s George Morran called last year for further democratisation of Birmingham and now, in an area being subjected to a boundary review, Professor Scott Cato - a Stroud councillor – questions how well we are represented compared with our …
Blog comment
Advance notice of a meeting on public services, organised by Aston’s Dr John Blewitt
Our Birmingham 18 Oct 13
In a generally dismal period for public services, and indeed for the very idea of the public sphere, the opening in September of the new Library of Birmingham has been one bright spot – according to the Green House think tank.
Blog comment
Eric Schlosser continues the work of a Selly Oak Colleges’ president
Our Birmingham 15 Oct 13
“a powerful case for disarmament” Eric Schlosser has, no doubt unwittingly, continued the work of a former Selly Oak Colleges’ President, John Ferguson , who was also singer, cricketer, professor of classics and first dean of the OU’s…
Blog comment
The most beneficially active City MP?
Our Birmingham 12 Oct 13
In addition to MP John Hemming’s ongoing work with the All Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil and Gas (APPGOPO), a parliamentary group looking at the issues of fossil fuel depletion, and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Family Law and …
Blog comment
Birmingham members of the NHA are invited to form a local group
Our Birmingham 10 Oct 13
The National Health Action party was formed by a group of healthcare professionals who strongly support the original principles of the National Health Service (NHS) and are shocked by the failure of the democratic process, demonstrated by the passage…
Blog comment
The Birmingham Metallurgical Association Lectures
Our Birmingham 8 Oct 13
The BMetA aims to disseminate information on materials processing and properties to industry and academia in the West Midlands region, primarily through a series of evening lectures.
Blog comment
Small Heath: raising funds for disadvantaged Ugandan youngsters
Our Birmingham 8 Oct 13
From his base in Uganda, Ben Parkinson – Director of the Butterfly Project - is organising a parallel fund-raising Slum Run in Small Heath on Sunday, 13th October 2013, at 2pm.
Blog comment
The University of Aston: a good appointment
Our Birmingham 5 Oct 13
Professor David Bailey, an expert on West Midlands manufacturing, has been appointed as Aston Business School’s professor of industrial strategy.
Blog comment
Jonathon Porritt: a message for ‘ordinary’ people and those elected to represent and serve them
Our Birmingham 2 Oct 13
Exciting, aspirational, high-tech, fair and hopeful In ‘The World We Made’, to be launched tomorrow, Jonathon Porritt – one of the world’s leading environmentalists – sets out to counter the doom and gloom that surrounds today’s …
Blog comment
Public Meeting at Queen’s in Edgbaston next week
Our Birmingham 1 Oct 13
The Military Use of Drones You are invited to meet two speakers at the Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education on Monday 7 th October at 7.30pm: Adam Dickson, an Anglican ministerial student in Queen’s, will describe the activities…
Blog comment
Cashflow of more than 25% of West Midlands firms seriously reduced by late paying large organisations
Our Birmingham 28 Sep 13
More than 25% of West Midlands firms polled in August by the Birmingham-based company Bibby Financial Services said late payment of invoices continues despite the introduction in March of the EU’s Late Payment Directive, which aimed to change the …
Blog comment
Birmingham drone research award followed by university’s policy commission
Our Birmingham 26 Sep 13
The Economic and Social Research Council , which is largely funded by the government’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, awarded £289,412.78 in March this year to Birmingham’s Professor Nicholas Wheeler, Professor Stefan Wolff and …
Blog comment
A Moseley mural
Our Birmingham 26 Sep 13
Walking past the site of the Meteor Garage in Moseley these splendid murals painted on the hoardings round the vacant building site attracted my attention.
Blog comment
Award-winning film to be shown in Moseley next Tuesday
Our Birmingham 24 Sep 13
A Kings Heath reader brings the film 5 Broken Cameras to our attention.
Blog comment
Moving the wholesale markets outside the city centre is ‘a momentous, colossal mistake’
Our Birmingham 22 Sep 13
A visitor from London who had not been in Birmingham for several years looked keenly around.
Blog comment
Celebrating the life of the late Connie Hoey
Our Birmingham 20 Sep 13
Connie came to this country as a youngster and – during her foreshortened life – made a remarkable contribution to the life of Birmingham and Solihull.
Blog comment
‘High-level task force’ – Andy Street, council leaders and Jack Dromey – rethink your priorities
Our Birmingham 19 Sep 13
The Birmingham Post reports the creation of a task force to drive through a training revolution, because of fears that a shortage of skilled workers could undermine Jaguar Land Rover’s Solihull expansion plans.
Blog comment
Plutocracy UK: the relatively poor may face ten years in jail but wealthy tax-avoiding corporations ‘agree a settlement’
Our Birmingham 16 Sep 13
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) merged with the Department for Work and Pensions’ prosecutions division last year and the director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, has issued new guidelines to prosecutors in England and Wales: …
Blog comment
750,000 youngsters have been helped by the Prince’s Trust since 1976
Our Birmingham 14 Sep 13
Only one of these young people is known to the writer.
Blog comment
Does this appointment enhance the city’s reputation?
Our Birmingham 12 Sep 13
Former MP Jacqui Smith, who lost her Redditch seat after being involved in an expenses scandal has been appointed chair of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust.
Blog comment
BBC Radio 5: the noble Lord, Baron Jones of Birmingham, shouts down a Royal Mail worker
Our Birmingham 12 Sep 13
As the government gives notice to the stock exchange that it plans to privatise the Royal Mail “in the coming weeks” Nicky Campbell hosted a ‘phone-in’ on Radio 5 today.
Blog comment
Bringing manufacturing back – 2
Our Birmingham 11 Sep 13
Reinforcing the theme of the forthcoming meeting at Mira , Wouter Schuitemaker (right), the investment director at Business Birmingham, says that manufacturing companies are to hire more staff to cope with an expected surge in demand caused by a re-…
Blog comment
Government and Birmingham Council: no need to build on greenbelt and green field sites
Our Birmingham 10 Sep 13
Green belt land in Sutton Coldfield MP Andrew Mitchell reminds us : “There is a substantial stock of brownfield sites across the West Midlands.
Blog comment
Bringing Manufacturing Back!
Our Birmingham 9 Sep 13
13 September 2013 – MIRA Ltd, Watling Street, Nuneaton, CV10 0TU.
Blog comment
Increase engineering intake: advice for the city’s universities?
Our Birmingham 8 Sep 13
James Dyson writes in the Financial Times : “After a buoyant summer, the economy seems to be returning to health.
Blog comment
Back to Business Basics: Part 2 – a positive twist, or ‘uncool and the ranting of an old bloke’ ?
Our Birmingham 7 Sep 13
Following ‘Spirit of ’83′, an earlier post on this site, Peter Davies who inspired the setting up of the West Midlands Producers’ website , writes: When I re-read my original ‘Back to Business Basics’ I couldn’t help feeling a bit …
Blog comment
On 28th September, at the Balaji Temple in Tividale, the Zoroastrian Hill will be consecrated
Our Birmingham 6 Sep 13
Zoroastrians from Birmingham, Solihull, Coventry and further afield, will be travelling to the Sri Ventakeswara Balaji Temple in Tividale, where seven manmade hills will be dedicated to different world faiths that have had an impact on India and the …
Blog comment
Birmingham’s new Central Library
Our Birmingham 3 Sep 13
The real image: not floodlit or airbrushed Some may find the new library more eye-catching when artificially illuminated and the actual building obscured, compared with the Madin building which Birmingham City Council had allowed to run down and fall…
Blog comment
Will the Fox & Grapes be a victim of Birmingham’s “lust for demolition” ?
Our Birmingham 31 Aug 13
This lust, mentioned by Oliver Wainwright in the Guardian , recalled a reference to the Fox Grapes in Andy Foster’s Pevsner architectural guide to Birmingham (wonderful value, 2007 reprint) and prompted an online search.
Blog comment
Are expats reading this?
Our Birmingham 29 Aug 13
Webstats for last week: It would be good to think so.
Blog comment
Almost too late? Channel 5 News seeks input on HS2
Our Birmingham 27 Aug 13
On Bank Holiday, Jacqui Fuller of Channel 5 News circulated a message.
Blog comment
Full credit for for WM manufacturers from government’s export promotion body?
Our Birmingham 26 Aug 13
Government, which has been feverishly promoting the global trade in food to the advantage of middlemen and speculators, may now be revising Tony Blair’s Birmingham Chamber of Commerce reported reference to manufacturers as ‘dinosaurs’ .
Blog comment
MHRA Class 2 Drug Alert withdraws HES fluid drips: BBC Radio 4 tonight
Our Birmingham 25 Aug 13
The Queen Elizabeth hospital used Hydroxyethyl starches (HES) fluid drips for fifteen years until last year, according to BBC Radio 4’s Face the Facts programme on tonight at 9pm.
Blog comment
Spirit of ’83: Back to Business Basics
Our Birmingham 23 Aug 13
Peter Davies , who inspired the setting up of the West Midlands Producers’ website , writes: I grew up in post war Britain, accustomed to rationing and shortages in a period when consumer items – if available at all – were generally ‘…
Blog comment
HS2: Politicians’ dreams give Treasury sleepless nights
Our Birmingham 22 Aug 13
The Financial Times reports that there is ‘entrenched and escalating concern’ within the Treasury and officials are privately warning that the cost of the controversial High Speed 2 rail line will hit £73bn.
Blog comment
Returning to this website
Our Birmingham 22 Aug 13
Our Birmingham was moved to http://www.
Blog comment
Will the cost of HS2 rocket?
Our Birmingham 19 Aug 13
The cost of the UK’s High Speed 2 rail line could rocket to £80bn, according to a new report from the Institute of Economic Affairs , which is described on its website as a free-market think-tank .
Blog comment
A new tenant for The Warehouse in Digbeth
Our Birmingham 15 Aug 13
Phil Burrows recently sent news that the Energy Saving Co-operative has moved into a ground floor office at The Warehouse in Allison Street, Digbeth.
Blog comment
Acocks Green engineer invites all to the Diagonal Lock Roadshow
Our Birmingham 13 Aug 13
Meet Terry Fogarty, a design engineer, company director and canal enthusiast at the ‘Diagonal Lock Roadshow’, from 10.00am, Saturday 17 TH August 2013 at the Heronfield Animal Sanctuary Wayside Walk, Knowle Solihull B93-OEE on the A4141.
Blog comment
Birmingham City Centre Peace Trail (3): Dr Mashuq Ally
Our Birmingham 10 Aug 13
At a working lunch in the BMI recently the City Centre Peace Trail leaflet was launched.
Blog comment
PPS’ 30th anniversary charity lunch at Carters
Our Birmingham 9 Aug 13
Celebrating thirty years in business, Professional Polishing Services Ltd marked their anniversary on 30 th July by hosting a charity lunch at Carters of Moseley in aid of Help Harry Help Others.
Blog comment
Birmingham City Centre Peace Trail (2): Dr van den Dungen
Our Birmingham 6 Aug 13
After speaking at the John Bright Day held in the city a couple of years ago, Dr Peter van den Dungen , co-ordinator of the International Network of Peace Museums , suggested that a city centre peace trail leaflet be produced.