West Midlands police investigate after rodents painted in Palestinian flag colours released in three McDonald’s
A man has been arrested after boxes of live rodents were released at McDonald’s restaurants in Birmingham, apparently as part of pro-Palestine protests.
Police said they were investigating three separate incidents in the region where live rodents were thrown into the fast food venues, and were also seeking a second man, Billal Hussain, 30.
Continue reading...PM declines to reveal if Manchester to Birmingham line will be scrapped amid speculation over soaring costs
Rishi Sunak has insisted he is not going to be forced into a “premature decision” over the fate of the HS2 high-speed rail line as speculation about the multibillion pound project continued to overshadow the Conservative conference.
“I am not going to be forced into a premature decision because it is good for someone’s TV programme,” the prime minister told BBC Breakfast.
Continue reading...Furious city mayors make a plea for the project north of Birmingham amid ugly scenes at Tory conference
So what does cancelling HS2 north of Birmingham look like? There were ugly scenes at the Conservative conference hall even before the official death knell sounds: an uneasy HS2 minister batting off questions as above his pay grade, furious metro mayors declaring battle, railway leaders’ heads spinning at the logic.
In the real world, it’s even worse. From the massive crater and demolished homes, business and public spaces outside London Euston station to the hundreds of millions spent on compulsory purchases of houses on the original routes north from Birmingham, the consequences of a train line that may never exist are all too tangible. About 30,000 people are working on the scheme – and many of those believed they would have jobs for the long term.
Continue reading...Mohamad al-Bared used technology at Coventry home to make drone designed to deliver a warhead or chemical weapon for IS
A Birmingham University PhD student has been found guilty of using a 3D printer at home to build a “kamikaze” drone designed to deliver an explosive warhead or chemical weapon for Islamic State (IS) terrorists.
Mechanical engineering graduate Mohamad al-Bared, 27, was found guilty of using a 3D printer to make the drone at his Coventry home while sending weekly updates to IS.
Continue reading...Recovery plan for country’s largest authority could include job cuts, asset sales and council tax rises
Ministers have announced commissioners will run Birmingham city council as part of a series of drastic emergency measures for the country’s largest authority, which has in effect declared itself bankrupt.
On 5 September the council issued a section 114 notice stating it did not have the resources to balance its budget because of a series of problems including a spiralling equal pay bill and IT failures.
Continue reading...GMB union is supporting 3,000 claims in Birmingham – and is gathering evidence from 20 other councils
Councils in the UK are facing compensation bills running into billions of pounds over equal pay claims, campaigners have warned, as they called on the government to intervene.
The GMB union is supporting more than 3,000 equal pay claims against Birmingham city council, and has disputes against councils in Coventry, Westmorland, Cumberland, Glasgow, Dundee and Fife.
Continue reading...With Birmingham indicating it cannot balance its books, experts warn of others living ‘hand to mouth’
The crisis in local authorities was laid bare on Tuesday as Birmingham city council in effect declared itself bankrupt, with experts warning that others across the UK were now living “hand to mouth”.
The council’s head of finance took the dramatic decision on Tuesday to issue a section 114 notice, indicating that it did not have the resources to balance its books.
Continue reading...Mark Thurston to leave government-owned company as construction moves ‘into an exciting new stage’
The chief executive of the HS2 railway has resigned amid severe delays and soaring costs that have seen the project scaled back.
Mark Thurston announced on Wednesday he would be departing the government-owned company at the end of September after six and a half years at the helm – making him the firm’s longest serving chief executive.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Data shows policy, deepening poverty among low-income families, affects about 1.5 million children
Labour has come under fresh pressure to vow to scrap the two-child benefit cap after it emerged one in four children in some of England and Wales's poorest parliamentary constituencies live in families left at least £3,000 a year out of pocket as a result of the policy.
The party’s stance on the policy, which critics say has been a major driver of deepening poverty among low-income families, is estimated to affect about 1.5 million children and is seen by some in Labour as an indicator of the strength of its determination to tackle child poverty.
Continue reading...Family calls for more restrictions on underage access to electric scooters after Mustafa Nadeem was killed last December
A 12-year-old boy was killed while riding a hired Voi e-scooter unlocked by a 14-year-old friend using their father’s account, an inquest has heard, as his family called for stricter measures to prevent children using loopholes to access them.
Mustafa Nadeem suffered fatal injuries when he rode an e-scooter along the pavement and accidentally collided with a pedestrian causing him to fall on the road into the path of a bus in Birmingham on 6 December last year.
Continue reading...Announcement to take decision away from councillors comes after local party called ‘dysfunctional’
The national Labour party has announced it will appoint the next leader of the city council in Birmingham, taking the decision away from councillors, after a damning internal report said the local party was “dysfunctional” and dominated by “personality-driven factionalism”.
The move would in effect oust the current leader, Ian Ward, who was re-elected as leader of the UK’s largest local authority after a contest in May last year, and his deputy, Brigid Jones.
Continue reading...Passengers faced average 30-minute wait, slightly worse than Manchester during 2022’s travel chaos
Passengers flying from Birmingham airport experienced the longest delays in the UK last year, official figures show.
Flight departures from Birmingham were on average half an hour behind schedule in 2022, marginally worse than Manchester, in a year marked by chaos for travellers.
Continue reading...Man, 28, arrested after out-of-control dogs injure six people and school goes into lockdown
Six people have been treated in hospital after two dogs on the loose attacked people near a primary school, police said.
An elderly man was taken to hospital with bite injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening after the incident in Willow Gardens, in the Winson Green area of Birmingham, shortly after 2.30pm on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Aural clock, designed by Turner prize winner Susan Philipz for Curzon Street HS2 station, features sounds made by 1,092 city folk
“I think your voice would suit an F sharp. So that will be six o’clock,” said composer Andy Ingamells as he listened to my feeble attempts to sing Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5, my go-to karaoke song.
He is in the process of recording the voices of 1,092 ordinary people from across Birmingham and Solihull so they can be immortalised in the chimes of a singing station clock, which will be placed in the centre of the HS2 railway station being built in the city.
Continue reading...Giant teddy bear Bordesley is put in charge of Birmingham city council’s £3bn budget in Stan’s Cafe’s fun new production All Our Money
“It came from a place of … what is the worst idea you could possibly have for a theatre show?” says director James Yarker, as he flicks through a heavily annotated 90-page copy of Birmingham city council’s three-year financial plan.
His latest production, All Our Money, is a 50-minute exploration of the complexities of council budgets, told with the help of 6,000 gold blocks and a football mascot.
Continue reading...Birmingham-based Soffe family still fighting for compensation after fire in Gulf state left Elizabeth with life-threatening burns
A Birmingham family have revealed the distress they have endured in a six-year legal battle in Qatar to gain compensation for the severe injuries experienced by their youngest daughter when they lived in the Gulf state.
Elizabeth Soffe, now eight, received life-threatening burns as a baby in a fire at her family’s villa in Al Waab, near the country’s capital, Doha, in 2014.
Continue reading...Police launch murder inquiry after 23-year-old man was stabbed at Crane nightclub in Digbeth
Police have launched a murder investigation after a 23-year-old man was stabbed on the dancefloor of a nightclub in Birmingham on Boxing Day.
West Midlands police said they were called to Crane nightclub in Digbeth just before 11.45pm on Monday after reports that a man had been stabbed. Despite efforts to save him, the man was pronounced dead about 30 minutes later.
Continue reading...Minority ethnic people make up 59% and 51% of respective populations in UK’s first ‘super-diverse’ cities
Leicester and Birmingham have become the first “super-diverse” cities in the UK, where most people are from black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, according to the 2021 census.
A total of 59% of people in Leicester are from minority ethnic backgrounds, while 51% of Birmingham’s population are people of colour, as are 54% in Luton, according to the data. Across England and Wales, 18% of people are BAME.
Continue reading...Head of West Midlands police warns of rising crime in poorest areas as forces are stretched beyond capacity
A child experiencing a mental health crisis had to live in a police station for two days due to a lack of psychiatric places, a chief constable has revealed, as he condemned austerity for hitting the poorest areas hardest.
Sir David Thompson, who leads West Midlands police, said his force – which is still missing officers and funding after cuts – was being asked to do too much, and warned of rising crime as desperation increases in the poorest areas.
Dismissed attacks from government and rightwing media that claim the police are too woke.
Condemned those trying to drag policing into the “culture wars”.
Revealed fears that the poorest areas would be hit hardest again by the cost of living crisis, fuelling a “real risk” of rising crime.
Said that bias explained some of the reasons that black people experienced more use of force and coercive powers than other groups.
Called for a radical rethink on tackling the problems blighting society, as public services work in “silos”.
Warned that police were being expected to do too much, including in the field of mental health.
Continue reading...Party conference overshadowed by fears that refusing to do a U-turn on tax and spending cuts will kill off election chances
Liz Truss is struggling to persuade Conservative MPs to back her controversial mini-budget, with some even threatening all-out rebellion amid fears that they will once again become known as the “nasty party”.
The prime minister faces with a rising drumbeat of discontent that is overshadowing the Tory conference after she insisted she would “stand by” her plans to cut the top rate of income tax and ram through public spending cuts.
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