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Post Comment: Keeping high speed rail on track May 06 2011

It is difficult to be certain which subject has stirred up most in the way of equally inflated claims by supporters and opponents: plans to introduce the Alternative Vote at elections, or the HS2 high speed rail project.Read

Post Comment: Counting the cost of an expensive inheritance May 06 2011

It must be galling for the 12th Viscount Cobham, but if only an ancestor had dipped his hand further into his pocket in 1925 Hagley Hall wouldn’t be facing a £10 million restoration bill.Read

Post Comment: AV or not AV, we need to think PR Apr 29 2011

The smaller the stake in any political battle, the more vicious it tends to be.Read

Post Comment: One final bow to council's old regime Apr 29 2011

It was said in the mists of time that those whom the Gods wish to destroy they first make mad.Read

Post Comment: Opening up the road to growth at Birmingham Airport Apr 22 2011

The decision this week by Birmingham Airport to proceed at last with its £65 million runway extension represents an important pivotal moment for the West Midlands economy.Read

Post Comment: Big names aplenty at the LEP but one glaring omission Apr 22 2011

Never has the phrase “the great and the good” seemed more apt than when considering the board of Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership.Read

Post Comment: Let's be thankful for small mercies Apr 15 2011

It was never very likely that the Government’s Regional Growth Fund would be able to do very much more than offer limited, but nevertheless welcome, financial assistance for industry at a broad strategic level.Read

Post Comment: Freedom of information is not a difficult concept Apr 15 2011

When asked to name his regrets as Prime Minister, Tony Blair said he wished he’d never passed the Freedom of Information Act.Read

Post Comment: Government case for HS2 runs out of steam Apr 08 2011

The history of Britain with regard to major transport infrastructure projects is far from inspiring. Proposals for new airports, roads, and railways tend to revolve around long-running arguments about environmental issues rather than any benefits they might bring to the economy.Read

Post Comment: Council bows to London, yet again Apr 08 2011

It is interesting to note that most of the bloggers and tweeters who attended the March meeting of Birmingham City Council, no doubt inspired by a promise to open up to public scrutiny the proceedings of the UK’s largest local authority, did not bother to turn up for the April session.Read

Post Comment: Arts cuts must not crush the soul Apr 01 2011

It is certain that any Government facing the need to make the scale of public spending cuts required to solve Britain’s debt crisis would be at least tempted to hammer soft targets in order to limit the impact on the more emotive areas of schools, housing, transportation and social services.Read

Post Comment: Nice work for the council, if you can get it Apr 01 2011

If Birmingham City Council had admitted publicly that it intended to take on an additional three housing directors on salaries of about £100,000 a year, there would rightly have been something of an outcry.Read

Post Comment: Strange case of the camera-shy council Mar 25 2011

It is difficult to imagine that live television broadcasts of Birmingham City Council meetings will be required viewing for many people, although a certain cult following is highly likely.Read

Post Comment: A Budget for making things? Mar 24 2011

George Osborne reminded us towards the end of his Budget speech of a simple but indisputable fact about wealth creation – we will only raise the living standards of families in this country if we have an economy that can compete in the modern age.Read

Post Comment: Lord Adonis and the home truths Mar 18 2011

In delivering the annual Lunar Society lecture, Lord Adonis reminded us of some timely, but highly uncomfortable, facts about the state of Birmingham in 2011.Read

Post Comment: Government must act to solve housing crisis Mar 18 2011

The House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee is right to be concerned about the state of house building in the UK, but it is a waste of time for MPs to debate the former Regional Spatial Strategies which set out targets for new build.Read

Post Comment: Paradise regained, but not quite yet Mar 11 2011

The leader of Birmingham City Council can be forgiven his moment of triumphalism when announcing that the £500 million redevelopment of Paradise Circus is a major step closer to actually happening.Read

Post Comment: Noddy spells it out for the next generation Mar 11 2011

Strip away the 1970s mad hairstyle, the face forest and the insane glam rock outfits and Noddy Holder is in many ways an ideal role model for disaffected pupils.Read

Post Comment: Did he fall, or was he pushed by Twitter? Mar 04 2011

There is more than a little irony, in the week that Birmingham City Council opened up its meetings to citizen journalists and the new media, that a Tory councillor should become a high-profile victim of Twittermania.Read

Post Comment: Council gambles on crisis budget Mar 04 2011

The inevitable political theatre surrounding Birmingham City Council’s annual budget meeting was always going to be enlivened this year by an unprecedented set of circumstances. No local authority in Britain has ever before had to cope with the challenge of reducing its revenue budget by about a third in the space of four years, with an astonishing £212 million of cuts front-loaded to 2011-12.Read

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