Category Archives: Birmingham

Labour ads use NHS to attack Farage’s views before major Reform rally

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Billboards in Birmingham cite party leader’s remarks about a new funding model as local elections campaigning begins

Labour has begun an all-out assault on Nigel Farage over his views on the NHS in the run-up to key elections in May, as the Reform UK leader prepared to host what is billed as his party’s biggest ever rally in Birmingham.

In a coordinated campaign before Farage spoke at a 10,000-person event in the city on Friday evening, Labour paid for nearly a dozen billboard posters around the city with messages about his talk about replacing the NHS with an insurance-based healthcare system.

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Birmingham bin collection strike offers ‘banquet’ for rats, pest expert says

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Uncollected food waste ‘poses public health danger’ as 400 workers take indefinite action over pay and conditions

A bin collection strike in Birmingham could lead to rats thriving on a “banquet” of food waste and pose a public health danger, pest controllers have said.

About 400 council bin workers in Birmingham began an indefinite strike on Tuesday as part of a dispute over pay and conditions.

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UK drops down list of affluent nations after decade of stagnation, NIESR finds

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Districts in Birmingham now ranked below poorest areas of France, Malta and Slovenia as institute urges rethink on planned welfare cuts

The UK has tumbled down the league of affluent nations after almost a decade of welfare cuts and stagnant incomes, according to a report that found the poorest districts in Britain now rank below the lowest-income areas of Malta and Slovenia.

In a warning for ministers to protect welfare spending before Rachel Reeves’s spring statement later this month, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said the UK’s reputation for high living standards was under threat.

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Ozzy Osbourne ‘very proud’ as Birmingham to honour Black Sabbath

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Sharon Osbourne says husband excited to be awarded Freedom of Birmingham along with other band members

Being awarded the Freedom of Birmingham “means a lot” to Ozzy Osbourne and the members of Black Sabbath, Sharon Osbourne has said, as the city council prepares to approve the honour.

Ozzy, alongside the founding band members, Tony Iommi, Terence Butler and Bill Ward, will be given the honorary title in recognition of their service to the city, with councillors expected to give the go ahead on Tuesday.

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Rapper convicted of posting ‘menacing’ video directed at Tommy Robinson

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Birmingham-based drill musician known as Twista Cheese made gun gesture in video and shouted ‘pow, pow, pow’

A rapper has been convicted of posting a “menacing” video on social media directed towards Tommy Robinson, in which he mentioned artillery and made a gun gesture while shouting “pow, pow, pow”.

Omar Abdirizak, a 31-year-old Birmingham-based rapper known as Twista Cheese, posted the minute-long TikTok video in August last year.

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Thousands throng central Birmingham amid false rumour of New Year’s Eve fireworks

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Revellers left disappointed after social media reports of display turn out to be a damp squib

Thousands of people gathered in the centre of Birmingham on New Year’s Eve despite a police warning that the announcement of a fireworks display was false.

Police and the city council had urged revellers not to travel after false reports there would be a spectacular show in Centenary Square.

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Boy, 15, who fatally stabbed teenager he did not know in Birmingham is jailed for life

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Muhammad Hassam Ali, 17, was killed by stranger after a four-minute conversation in city centre

A 15-year-old boy who followed a teenager he did not know through Birmingham city centre and stabbed him to death after a four-minute conversation has been jailed for life with a minimum of 13 years.

Muhammad Hassam Ali, known as Ali, was 17 when he died in hospital on 20 January, hours after he and his friend were confronted by two masked 15-year-old boys they had never met as they sat in Victoria Square, drinking hot chocolate and chatting about cricket.

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Comedian Joe Lycett says he has become father of a baby boy

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TV presenter praises and thanks staff at Birmingham women’s hospital for ‘exceptional’ care his partner received

The comedian Joe Lycett has announced he has become a father to a baby boy.

Lycett, 36, shared a picture on Instagram of him holding the infant, whom he said was born at Birmingham women’s hospital.

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Russia’s aim is to ‘create havoc’ if it is behind DHL fires, says air freight expert

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Goal seems to be for people ‘to lose confidence in the system’, says head of industry body after devices found in Birmingham and Leipzig

If Russia is proved to be behind an incendiary device plot that caused fires at two parcels warehouses in July, it will be evidence that Moscow is aiming to disrupt western confidence, an expert has said.

The dangerous packages, which caught light at DHL sites in Birmingham and Leipzig, are not thought to have been sophisticated but in both cases appear to have evaded security checks. German authorities warned this week that a plane could have been downed if the devices, which were both sent by air, had ignited in flight.

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Azealia Banks likens Bull Ring fish stalls in Birmingham to ‘Wuhan wet market’

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US rapper says her visit to indoor market led to her spending two days ‘sweating out’ an illness

The US rapper Azealia Banks has accused Birmingham’s fish market of making her ill, comparing it to a “Wuhan wet market”.

In an unlikely intervention, the American star posted on X that city officials needed to “do something” about the stalls before comparing the market to the site in China identified as the place where the Covid pandemic most likely began.

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Brummies celebrate inaugural International Day of Birmingham

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Comedian Joe Lycett declares United States of Birmingham with 10 US towns and cities that share the name

Residents of Birmingham often admit the city is not accustomed to blowing its own trumpet – still maligned and mocked by others, it tends to favour self-deprecating humour.

So the launch of the inaugural International Day of Birmingham (IDOB), celebrated with cheerleaders, confetti cannon and actual trumpets, is not what you would expect to see on a walk through the city centre on a Tuesday afternoon.

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Jack Reacher would not exist without Birmingham’s libraries, says writer

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Lee Child says childhood visits to city’s libraries helped him to create protagonist as he laments proposed closures

It is said that heroes are made, not born.

In the case of the fictional ex-military action man Jack Reacher, it has emerged he was made in a library in Birmingham.

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Who are the pro-Gaza independents who unseated Labour MPs?

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All four capitalised on dissatisfaction over Labour’s stance on the Gaza war but said they had other priorities too

On a momentous night for Keir Starmer and the Labour party, nothing was going to detract from the celebrations. But the results weren’t all positive. Among the matters for Labour to ponder when the hangovers have cleared is the loss of four seats to pro-Palestinian candidates amid dissatisfaction over the party’s stance on the Gaza war. Here is more about the four independents who upset the odds.

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Black- and Asian-led take on Wagner in Midlands aims to open up opera access

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Artistic director of Birmingham production of The Flying Dutchman says he hopes to inspire people to get involved

“Opera in this country is definitely not accessible,” says Byron Jackson, an international baritone and the artistic director of what is thought to be the first black- and Asian-led production of Wagner in the UK.

Opening in Birmingham on Sunday, this rendition of the German-language opera The Flying Dutchman will feature a cast from across the Commonwealth, and a number of community performers from Handsworth, Balsall Heath and farther afield in the West Midlands.

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‘Don’t take us for granted’: Muslim voters send message to Labour over its Gaza stance

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Labour lost seats including Jonathan Ashworth’s in Leicester, where angry voters say they felt ignored

When Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth lost his Leicester South seat to the pro-Palestine independent candidate Shockat Adam, it was widely seen as one of the biggest upsets of election night.

But a walk along Evington Road, a busy shopping street with a large Muslim population in the constituency, showed that all the signs were there.

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Birmingham general election hopeful joked about domestic violence on podcast

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Independent Akhmed Yakoob, who polls suggest is closing gap on Labour, also said ‘70% of hell will be women’

An independent candidate standing in Birmingham said “70% of hell will be women” and joked about domestic violence on a podcast earlier this year, it has emerged, as polling suggests he is closing the gap with Labour.

Akhmed Yakoob, who came third in the West Midlands mayoral election in May with just over 10% of the vote, is standing against Labour’s Shabana Mahmood in Ladywood, one of the most deprived constituencies in the country.

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Major Birmingham redevelopment plans fail residents on green space, campaigners say

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Plans for the £1.9bn Smithfield scheme include a park that is smaller than a football pitch, falling short of the council’s own guidelines

Campaigners are warning that a major development project that will be approved by Birmingham city council falls far short of the city’s own guidelines for open green space.

The £1.9bn Smithfield scheme will bring 3,500 new homes as well as restaurants and offices to 17 hectares (42 acres) of fenced brownfield land in the centre of the city. But the new park – Smithfield Park – will be only 0.8 hectares, smaller than a football pitch.

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‘I just let it rip!’: jumbo amateur rock band bangs the drum for Brum

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Brum Rocks, born out of community musical groups, will bring together dozens of performers to play a new anthem for Birmingham

When Steve Groome started learning to play guitar after retiring, he never expected he would end up in a band.

“At 66, I’m not going to get a phone call from Mark Knopfler or Eric Clapton. I might not even get in an averagely rubbish covers band,” he said. “But I don’t need to with this, we have fun. I just let rip.”

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Two men jailed for life for murdering footballer Cody Fisher

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Remy Gordon and Kami Carpenter given minimum terms of 26 and 25 years at Birmingham crown court for nightclub attack

Two men have been jailed for life for the murder of footballer Cody Fisher in a nightclub attack in Birmingham on Boxing Day 2022.

Remy Gordon, 23, and Kami Carpenter, 22, had blamed each other for stabbing the 23-year-old former Birmingham City academy player, who died at the scene from a chest wound.

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Birmingham council approves biggest budget cuts in local authority history

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Up to 600 council jobs to be lost, arts grants scrapped, libraries closed and bin collections reduced to fortnightly

Councillors in Birmingham have approved what are thought to be the biggest budget cuts in local authority history, with residents warning that the consequences could be “disastrous” for the city.

Birmingham city council met on Tuesday afternoon to debate and vote on a proposed set of cuts that will see the loss of up to 600 council jobs, arts grants scrapped, libraries closed and bin collections reduced to fortnightly.

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