A Day Out in London

Last Saturday, I spent the day in our glorious capital to see what the "greatest city in the world" has to offer visitors. This is the second trip I have made to London this year after an earlier trip to Lords; I seem to be getting soft on the old cockney hometown in my old age

After arriving at Euston after 1 hour and 45 minutes, a time which has not reduced and had perhaps even lengthened since the late 1980's/ early 90's, we walked to the British Museum in a vain attempt to see the current Terracotta Army exhibition. Unfortunately they only release 500 tickets each day at 9am, and as we had got there a bit later it was of course sold out. We decided to have a look around the rest of the museum which contains one of the largest collections of stolen goods in the world. The exhibits were stolen, plundered and borrowed, taxed, teefed and generally robbed from across the whole of the known world at the height of the Empire, and they even have a room celebrating this. They had the cheek to ask for a £4 donation; obviously I did not provide one, as crime should not pay.

I was expecting to be asked to leave a donation at St. Paul's Cathedral as well, but they had the cheek to charge an admission fee because there was not a service going on. All museums should now be free, but St Paul's get round this by claiming they are a place of worship. As a Catholic, I did not buy this excuse as I did not see anything that resembled any Papal authorisation.

A slight detour took us into the City of London, which is tiny compared to the City of Birmingham. Here I realised Londoners love living in the past, as their garbage trucks carried the title of cleanest city 2004., a title which was won in March by Birmingham. Perhaps they lost it because they failed to clean up such an out of date notice.

A walk across the (previously) wobbly Millennium bridge led us to a pub where we had some lunch and then we went to the Tate Modern. The most surreal exhibit of the day was actually in the pub beforehand however, where England beat the Wobblies in the Rugby World Cup. Until I got home and checked Teletext, I was a bit worried that we had eaten lunch in the Tate Modern and the game was actually a piece of Modern Art where England's victory represents the dreams of our youth, before we are crushed with the reality of an Australian victory in the grown-up world. Gladly, I was mistaken.

As dusk arrived we "flew" on the British Airways London Eye, which despite its sponsor was running pretty efficiently and not affected by any strikes. There are some great views of London and the surrounding landmarks from the wheel which I exploited to the full by taking out my trusty digital camera and snapping away to my heart's content, as were my friends and fellow travelers in the pod. According to some people the police would have been justified in stopping me to check that I was not planning some atrocity because I am asian look like a terrorist, but not my white friends were taking exactly the same pictures of exactly the same landmarks. Apparently my belief that this is an example of racially prejudice is wrong; I am actually a victim of politically correct thinking, which is clearly a far worse crime.

A quick tube ride across town took us to Covent Garden where in traditional London style we were ripped of for dinner. A dash back to Euston left me back in Birmingham before midnight.

I realised on my day out that London is a city on the move. I don't think it is the greatest city in the world yet, but some of the buildings that are planned are certainly moving it in the right direction. After the doldrums of the Thatcher years, where much money was made but few iconic buildings were build, London is finally starting to fulfill the potential it has. Maybe one day they will even deserve the title of greatest city in the world.

Not yet though. And you'll never get a Brummie admitting it.

UCE RIP

The University of Central England has renamed itself as Birmingham City University and a current student is not impressed. Apparently they were struggling to market the former Polytechnic under the old name, and no-one was sure where it was. Well the clue was in the name, but it is understandable that including the name Birmingham will attract potential students and be a useful marketing tool due to name recognition. Indeed, some have argued that the West Midlands should be renamed Greater Birmingham in order to attract investment (and I would argue that Sandwell should be renamed West Bromwich), but I am sure our Black Country brothers would have some real issues with this.

If they can just persuade Aston University to include Villa in their title, they will be well on their way to being regarded the second best Uni in Brum - behind the original and best Birmingham University, of course.

I Don't Miss Cricket...

The cricket season is over and I am suffering symptoms of withdrawal. Warwickshire had a shocking season, being relegated in both league competitions and underachieving in the other two, including missing out on Twenty20 Finals day at Edgbaston. Ashley Giles has taken over from director of cricket Mark Greatbatch, and immediately pulled of a coup; he poached former South African and Warwickshire bowler Allan Donald from the England set-up to become the new bowling coach. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who picks a local side over the nation should be given the freedom of the Republic.

The international scene saw India and Pakistan make up for their World Cup humiliation by contesting the final of the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 Cup. India go on to play the convicts in November, and hopefully will continue their fine form.

On a personal level, I won my Telegraph Fantasy Cricket Super League and Super 10, finishing in the top 100 of the Warwickshire supporters league. I am now legally obliged to change my name to Mrs Element, who probably took up 50 of the other 100 places.

Political Incorrectness Gone Mad

Iain Dale has an interesting blog but it is at times ruined by his small minded conservatism. In a recent post Iain Dale's Diary: Political Correctness and Racial Profiling he defend racial profiling, claiming

"... that political correctness has to go out of the window when dealing with terrorism."

I have pointed out in the comments that when the IRA were bombing this country, white people were not being disproportionately stopped and searched.

Conservatives love to say that racism works both ways; but they don't half prefer the old-fashioned way.

Coconuts for All: Boris for London

London loves to think of itself as a major international city but when you look at the Mayoral candidates for the two main political parties it seems to be a rather different story: Red Ken for Labour, vs Bumbling Boris Johnson of the Conservative Party. Both have their place in politics but let us be honest, both are also a bit of a joke. A major international city should have future Prime Ministers and Presidents vying to cut there political teeth as Mayor. Compare for example London with New York; it is quite possible that next years presidential election may see a three way fight between Hillary Clinton, the current New York senator for the Democratic party, Rudi Guiliani, the former New York mayor for the Republicans, and Michael Bloomberg, the current mayor who may stand as an independent. Compare this to London, who have settled for comedy political sideshows as their major candidates.

Having said that at least London have got a mayor; the main political parties in Birmingham have stitched us all up ensuring that the current shambles of a council will remain to make non-decisions. This effectively means for the foreseeable future we will be stuck between an indecisive and incompetent ConDem coalition, or an arrogant and unaccountable Labour administration. Their blogging political lackeys, such as Prague Tory or Political Hack rubbish the independent such as Sir Digby Jones, Karen Brady or Carl Chinn, but have they had a look at who is vying to run Birmingham at the moment? For the Conservatives, Mike Whitby Whitless, who spends most of his time distancing himself from Labour inspired regeneration projects and coming up with ridiculous alternatives in their place. And the inconvenient truth is that Al Bore is aptly named. I'm not usually a fan of personalities taking over politics, but I think a charismatic leader is exactly what Birmingham needs to take itself forward. Our local political parties are bereft of such talent at the moment.

United Blitzed by Coventry

Coventry pulled of one of the biggest results in recent Midland's footballing history last night by beating the mighty Trafford Borough at the Theatre of American Dreams. Blues face them on Saturday in the league and so will need to be ready for the backlash, after going out of the Carling Cup last night to a Robbie Savage's new team, and beating Liverpool 0-0 at Anfield on Saturday.
Villa were also stunned by Martin O'Neill's former club Leicester, meaning that Coventry are probably the best chance of West Midlands success in the league cup this season.

It would be great to see the Sky Blues back in the top flight, and hopefully under Iain Dowie's leadership they will be making a return next season. Coventry used to be legendary at staying up. The 96-97 season epitomised this, with Coventry needing to win on the last day away to Tottenham, and Middlesbrough and Sunderland needing to lose. Somehow they pulled it off, and they finally went out of the top flight after 34 years in 2000/01 season after losing to the Villa.

As Ron Atkinson used to say, if the Titanic was built in Coventry, that wouldn't have gone down.

Two Become One

Birmingham Airport has scrapped plans for a second runway in favour of proposals to extend the existing runway and build a third terminals. Earlier this year business leaders agreed this was the way forward for the airport, as it would open up the West Midlands economy to destinations such as China and the US, and potentially lure business travellers away from the likes of Manchester and Heathrow. The proposals will please local residents and green campaigners who opposed the second runway, and there is even an argument that being able to travel further from Birmingham is actually a "green" proposal because it will save unnecessary journeys by car to airports further away. On the other hand, green campaigners will still point out that this is an expansion of air travel, and according to the Stirrer Friends of the Earth have asked Birmingham Airport if they can make these developments carbon neutral.

The airport hopes that the changes will be in place in time for 2012, when London will be hosting the Olympic Games. A further expansion of the airport should not be necessary for another two decades, at least 2030.

London Loses Monopoly over Board

The new version of monopoly where cities of Britain replace the streets of London certainly caused a bit of a stir at the Independent London Tourist Board, also known as the BBC. BBC Breakfast spent most of the morning sneering that Liverpool, the European Capital of Culture for 2008, had replaced Old Kent Road as the cheapest site. Meanwhile the BBC website took pains to point out that London was valued at less than Stoke-on-Trent, Derby and Birmingham despite house prices being twice as high in London. Helen Martin, global brand director for Monopoly, put London's plight down to "big city apathy".

Big city apathy? I guess that is why the biggest city in Britain, Birmingham, managed to finish in the top 8 (admittedly partly due to a campaign by Metroblogging Birmingham). If London is not as well loved by the BBC as the establishment would like to believe, don't pretend its a big city problem. With a resident population of around 10,000, London is not even a big city.

Voting for the positions on the board certainly was a great publicity stunt, but of course it would have been fairer to assign the plots by population. As a result, Newcastle and Edinburgh did not even make the board.

However, any methodology that puts Brum ahead of the Cock-ney's can't be all that bad.

Unless you work for the Beeb of course.

Remember, it's thanks to the unique way they are funded.

Ferrari, FIA still F-up F1

I've pointed out on this blog before the "closeness" between Ferrari and the FIA, but surely McLaren's recent punishment in the spying scandal of a fine of £50 million and the loss of all points in the constructors championship was justified, right?

Wrong. Yet again the FIA has judged in favour of Ferrari despite the lack of evidence behind their claims. This is really becoming a joke. I think it is high time the manufacturers who own the major teams in F1 pulled out there cars from this debacle and start their own championship. Then the FIA can watch 22 Ferrari cars fight each other in some semblance of a sporting event, the outcome being a Ferrari win which for once they won't have to manufacture.

Colin McRae 1968-2007

There must be a curse on British rally drivers. After Richard Burns' untimely death nearly 2 years ago, his great nemesis on the dirt track Colin McRae died in a helicopter accident this weekend.

He was an incredibly exciting driver to watch, but I don't think he ever really achieved as much as he could have done in the sport. While already famous among those who followed the world of rallying, he was considered a mythical figure like Lara Croft in the US due to the computer game named after him.

There must be some classic races going on in the next world at the moment.

Lend Me Your Years

Can you believe it. Due to Bill Clinton and Oprah, Kiva has run out of businesses to invest in. What sort of world do we live in when we cannot lend to the poor without interest?

The founder of the People's Republic celebrated the passing of another year on Friday. One is feeling rather old.

The good news is he no longer has to spend time in exile in West Bromwich to earn the taxes he is forced to pay to Her Majesty and her government, who do not recognise his independence. A new job has been obtained in the former spiritual and physical home of the People's Republic. I won't mention the organization I work for, as I suspect JRD168 would not be impressed. Maybe more on that later.

While I assimilate to my new job (as part of a foundation which lets just say I failed to get into when I was a bit younger), I am temporarily taking a break from both writing and reading blogs. Hopefully soon I will be back, bigger, better, angrier and more Brummie than ever.

Wow for Wales

I lead a sheltered life, so I was pleased to spend some of Saturday at Barmouth in mid-Wales. This follows on from the trip to Edinburgh just over a week ago which mean I have visited both Scotland and Wales for the first time in the last fortnight (I guess I had to get it in before the Kingdom fell apart after the SNP's victory in the Scottish Parliamentary elections earlier this year).

I was very impressed with my first trip to a British beach. I think Wales is one of Europe's best kept secrets; I never thought it would be so good. The drive through Wales had some breathtaking scenery, and when we arrived at the beach, apart from some trouble finding adequate parking, we found a pretty empty beach with golden sand and the sun shining. One of my friend who has been to other beaches in the UK claimed this was the best he had been to, and planned to come again with his girlfriend. The other friend who accompanied us said mid-Wales was generally the best Britain had to offer in terms of beaches.

I guess the only bad point is there is no direct motorway so it is difficult to get to, but I guess that is also the reason it was empty. I would certainly recommend Barmouth to those who have never been. In the contest between Wales and Scotland, I think Wales comes out the winner so far, but I'm sure there will be plenty of future trips to both countries to make further comparisons.

Edinburgh Fringe Festival: Day 4

The Prisoner by the Aireborne Theatre Company@ Underbelly's Smirnoff BabyBelly

We started of out final day with a play about a musician imprisoned in an autocratic regime. Nothing that has not been done before but it was well done.
6/10

Ismo Leikole - Rogue State Finland @ Laughing Horse at Edinburgh City Football Club
Next some more free comedy this time by Ismo the Eskimo (well he is Finnish really), who was apparently in the crowd at Asian Invasion last night. Told some very good jokes about Finland, but his best was "I hear George Bush has declared war on drugs. Now I've done some stupid things on drug in my time, but...". Given that English probably is not his first language, this is genius
7/10


Joanne Neary's Little Moments @ Pleasance Courtyard
Possibly saved the best until last. Described as "One-woman fast show" and "the funniest thing in Edinburgh", the series of sketches went down very well with the audience. Included extract from her diary as a teenager ("I wouldn't waste my best stickers on a prop"), dances she made as a child, and several characters, surely it is a matter of time before this one hits the small screen given some of the tat that passes for comedy nowadays.
8/10

Edinburgh Fringe Festival: Day 3

Howard & Mimi @ Gilded Balloon Teviot

After failing to pick any spectacular shows on the previous two days we almost chose todays at Random. After visiting Edinburgh Castle in the morning we decided to take advantage of the 2-for-1's at the Gilded Balloon. The first was a charming two person play about a cat and a dog whose owners move in together and have to learn to get along. A Paul Kerensa/ Churchill-esqe "Oh yes, yes, yes... oh no, no, no" helped continue our links to previous shows.
6/10

Jarleth Regan - Nobody Knows Jarleth Regan @ Gilded Balloon Teviot
...I'm not sure if anyone will on this performance. The show started with a video of him making the trip from Ireland to Edinburgh, coinciding with him walking through the door at the right moment. Unfortunately this delayed the start due to a power-cut. He advertised his "alternative cards" (in much the same way Stephen Grant advertised his patented modern "inventions"), and handed out Jarleth Regan fans (because he did not have any in Edinburgh at the moment).
6/10

Women Fully Clothed @ Gilded Balloon Teviot
Five Canadian women do sketches on what it is like being a woman in Canada. You can tell I did not relate to it much but I suspect this would be great for the (dare I say more mature) women who find themselves at the fringe. Like Lucy Porter at one point they sing a song with more practical words (I forget which one it was).
5.5/10

Shelley Cooper: Reality Cheque @ Laughing Horse at the Counting House
Shelley says she used to do the big venues at the Edinburgh Festival but decided to do free shows because "paying £10 to see someone you have never heard of is not the Fringe". A free show therefore, she played quite well to the small gathering, and seemed to take a liking for me (she was joking I think, playing on the fact she is transgendered). She was pretty sharp however.
6.5/10

Asian Invasion @ Laughing Horse at Jekyll & Hyde
They managed to bring 4 people up from Birmingham, and despite the title of the show only one and a half were asian (a number our foursome managed to beat). Annette Fagan, of Afro Carribean origin (Asians are a bit thick you see, she said she was West Indian) kicked-off with an outfit bought for £10 for Primark, except for the shoes (she tiefed them). Then a half-Irish/ half-Indian comic came on who should have been funnier. As an Catholic of Indian origin who grew up among the Irish community, I'm sure he should have had funnier jokes, but I can't think of any at the moment. Next came Johnny Showaddy-waddy Soho. They don't make comedy like this anymore (there might be a reason). Don't talk to him about the number 63 - good old fashioned Brummie humour. Finally Darminder Singh, another comedian on the bill at the British Oak headlined the line-up with some goodness gracious me style humour. All-in-all, a great show if you are Brummie, but could have been funnier if you weren't.
6.5/10

Edinburgh Fringe Festival: Day 2

The Early Edition @ E4 UdderBELLY's Pasture

An aptly named early morning panel show hosted by Andre Vincent (possibly also known as Phil Jupitus, although this can be disproved by visiting the show they are in together) and Marcus Brigstocke, who buy the morning papers and discuss them over free pastries and coffee. A bit like Have I Got News For You.
7/10

Genesis by Paul Kerensa @ Just the Tonic at c soco Urban Garden

I have seen Paul Keresa @ British Oak Comedy Club before and he was quite good; this time he was poor. He took a humorous look at the old Testament, but forgot to bring the jokes. Aided by a couple of fellow comedians including another headline at the British Oak, Andy Kind, which only succeeded in breaking-up the rhythm of the act rather than improving it.
4/10

Galois de Galle by EUTC and Hi5 Theatre Company @ Bedlam Theatre
I did my MSci Thesis on Galois Theory, and have a soft spot for the French revolutionary republican genius who was shot at the tender age of 21 after producing some of the most imaginative mathematics in history. New even to me was the claim he volunteered to die in order to start a revolution, rather than the more commonplace rumour that he died in a duel over a girl. Porquoi!? Even non-mathematicians would enjoy this (I think).
6/10

Taken for Granted by Stephen Grant @ Pleasance Courtyard
The best part of this act was the warm up computer. I also found out people from Hartlepool are known as monkey-hangers, before he continued into a Simon Brodkin-esque attack on people who are not racist, but...
6/10

Lucy Porter's Love-in @ Pleasance Courtyard
Our second glimpse of Lucy who also did an interview for the Guardian for Mark Watson's 24 hour jamboree. Lucy got all our hopes up by claiming she was single and was going to have a cynical look at love. By the end of the show she was still together with some guy she had met and everyone loved love again. A special acknowledgement goes to the stage-hand who iced the flapjack with the names of a couple picked-on at the start of the show.
6.5/10

Best in Stand-up 99-Club Royal Mile @ White Horse
Nice to end the night in a traditional pub on the Royal Mile. An Aussie called Yanni kicked it of followed by Ana Vidal, who could not have cared less but she was very funny. The second half did not live up to the warm-ups, with an Elvis Costello look alike and another bloke with glasses. Much funnier than some of the shows we paid to see.
6.5/10

Edinburgh Fringe Festival: Day 1

A week ago today I found myself in Edinburgh for its famous Fringe Festival. Here is a brief review of what we saw on day 1.


Footballer's Boyfriend @ Theatre Workshop by Brian Wharton

A camp gay rodeo ride was promised in the booklet, and we certainly faced a long trip across town to see a story about a young man who fell in love with a Premiership footballer in the 1980's and had a roller coaster ride of a relationship with him. Apart from the obvious anachronism (the Premiership started in the 90's) and the fact he was clearly scouse but the footballer played for "City", it was a reasonable start to the trip.
5/10


Simon Brodkin: One Man Comedy Club @ Pleasance Courtyard

We missed the second show we wanted to see trying to get back across town, but got in to see this later instead. It does exactly what it says on the tin. He plays (in order) a cockney wideboy compere who goes a bit to far forcing people to down pints and going through people's bags, then a boring political American comedian called Ramirez who spoils our fun taking the mick out of Americans, followed by a scouse footballer whose book title intends to prove to us he was straight (the footballer's boyfriend), followed by Brodkin as himself (he would not have created a character that bland), with the hairiest back in comedy. The guy is actually a great actor and quite funny.
7/10


Stephen Kay Amos - More of Me @ Pleasance Coutyard

Quite simply the funniest comedian I saw at the fringe this year. Should be on telly, but as he explained he has to wait until Lenny Henry dies (it's equality: one in, one out). Starts of as a long-haired preacher, which could be related to Brodkin's description of him blacking-up and putting a mop on his head to experience racism, if we were trying to link all the shows together in some weird way. Only down point was him taking the mick out of Birmingham, although to be fair that was because my friend had put us in the firing line after cheering when someone else said he was from there. Spent all night taking the mick out of a posh boy in the second row, who got up and moon-walked for us all at the end. Who says comedy doesn't break down barriers?
8/10


Mark Watson's 24 Hour Jamboree to Save the Planet beginning @ the Festival Fringe Office

My friend did not believe that this would actually last 24 hours. I spent at least half an hour trying to convince him it would. It seemed to take forever to start, and then took about an hour-and-a-half for some of us to do a conga from the Festival Fringe Office to the Stand. On the way it was decided that the group would try to get a "celebrity" to come along, the favourite being God-hater Richard Dawkins, who trumped Dom from Dick and Dom, Michelle McManus and some Green MSP. We left after 2 hours at the Stand because they did not have room for all of us. They planned to sing songs, be carried in to a book launch at Waterstones (whichever did not kick them out) and many other wholesome activities. They even gave out a mobile phone number so we could text them to ask them where they were and rejoin the fun.
6/10 (but only because we stayed for 1/12 of the show)

Deaf Leopard

Please keep it down.

I got my ears syringed today and everything seems a bit loud. It appears my ears have been blocked for a few years and I can't believe how much noise is actually in the world.

Before I went to the doctor to sort this out, I was slightly concerned that I was losing my hearing at a young age. The last couple of weeks really have made me appreciate my hearing, a sense that I previously along with many others I suspect considered secondary to sight.

I had checked out NHS direct beforehand and noticed that ringing in the ears, a feeling of them being blocked, and pulses and hissing sounds in the ears can actually be a sign of wax blockage. A high powered jet of water later I can suddenly hear everything and life feels a bit different.

Anyway, I have been at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival over the last few days. I am planning to write some reviews about what I saw over the next few days so you can have some ideas on what to go to if you are going later in the month, or you can see what you are missing if you are not.

Middle-Class Inner City Gun Crime

I am thinking about live blogging the Heaven and Earth show on Sunday mornings. In a discussion about gun crime which centred on Manchester (of course), I have just heard some muppet claim that middle-class footballers, or upper-class footballers will not help solve gun crime.

He is quite right; that's because they don't exist.

Middle-class (or upper-class) armchair critics talking nonsense on semi-religious shows won't solve gun crime either.

Then Nina Myskow chips in, claiming she lives in North London and has never seen a Street Pastor.

I should hope not. If Nina Myskow was seeing Street Pastors, they are probably patrolling the wrong streets at the wrong time.

Why exactly do middle-class media-whores believe they live in the 'hood?

The Curse of Brown

It really has been a baptism of fire for Gordon Brown (with the attempted car-bomb at Glasgow airport)...

... and water (with the flooding in Sheffield and Gloucester)...

... and just when you think things can't get any worse, foot and mouth disease makes a comeback.

Has anyone seen TB?

New Street?

Reading up on the long-overdue £128 million investment announced by the Government yesterday, I noticed the following things:

1) It is only £128 million and not £350 asked for the complete redevelopment of the station. It will be spent "underground" on the rail infrastructure and platforms, so this naturally lighted glass structure has not yet been agreed.

2) Most of the money is coming from increased fares. The Government has actually cut funding for the railways so the passenger will be paying 75% of the costs in 2014 rather than 50% now.

3) The Government was interested in the more sensible Grand Central Station idea

4) There will be no decision until 2012 at the earliest whether or not to build a new line between London and Birmingham, despite the fact that the current route is predicted to be full by 2016. There is talk of resurrecting the disused Grand Central route, but this would have the same maximum speed (125mph) as now and there are no plans for a high speed rail link, which has previously been mooted (see link for 2)

All in all, not such a great deal then. It is good that there will be some investment in the station of course, but it is likely in 10 years we will still have a concrete station stuck between a car park and a shopping centre.

A far cry from the station that was once written about in the following manner:

"that station alone is enough to make one proud of being a modern Englishman".

Lies, Damned Lies..?

I was very suspicious of the news this week detailing evidence from one hospital in one month that the liberalization of the drinking laws had led to a three-fold increase in alcohol-related A&E admissions. Very suspicious because i work as an information analyst at a hospital close to Birmingham City Centre and have done two studies into this which suggest there has been absolutely no impact. My colleague looked at the subject again this week as a result of this story breaking and came to the same conclusion. I really suspect there is a hidden agenda behind this story, because it is questionable to present data based only on one month. I looked at a years worth of data, and in one of the reports took into account many conditions that may be related to increased alcohol consumption, but found no significant changes.

It should also be noted that it is not very easy, at my hospital at least, to produce this information, as the data from A&E is pretty difficult to interrogate. I doubt it is very different at St. Thomas' hospital because of the nature of A&E data. I would put this down to an increased awareness and recording of alcohol problems by the medical staff in A&E, as opposed to a genuine increase.

The Perfect Role

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair took up his role as Middle-East envoy today. Many people have criticised his appointment due to his perceived bias towards Israel during the war on Lebanon, but I believe he has exactly the right experience for the job.

In the Middle-East, talk is cheap and no-one delivers on their promises.

Ken Hardeman Dies Aged 72

After spending three weeks at City Hospital, Birmingham with a chest infection and breathing difficulties, Ken Hardeman died today aged 72. Currently a Conservative councillor for Brandwood and in charge of regeneration, he popularity spanned the political divide.

From a personal point of view, Ken was the first politician I ever voted for in a time when the Conservatives had a chance of winning the ward of Moseley and Kings Heath. It is sad to hear of his illness and death.

The Birmingham Post have a tribute here.

Prince of Formats

Prince gave away his new album Planet Earth free with the Mail on Sunday today, to cries of protest from the music industry. How can he slap in the face the shops that have built his career they cry. Why will people buy a CD by a top artist for £10 when they can get one for free?

All completely irrelevant. The music industry has been deliberately trying to hold back new methods of distributing music in vain attempts to try and make more money. They seem to delude themselves into believing people actually want to buy CD's; they don't and the tide has been moving from CD's to digital downloads for quite a while now. Of course, the music industry hate digital downloads, not because much of it is being done illegally (as a response to the music industry trying to hold it back) but because they can charge us much more for a CD for very little reason. Instead of us buying a track we want for 79p from iTunes, they insist on filling the CD with up to three B-side songs we do not particularly want so they can put it on a portable medium and charge us five times as much for it. A CD only costs about 50p to make, but after all the marketing, packaging and salaries are paid for, suddenly the cost shoots up to around £4 for a single, or £10 for an album.

The truth is the music industry is becoming irrelevant. The Internet has democratized music. Artists that would not have been give a chance by the "experts" provide their music on sites like Myspace to people who are prepared to listen to it. No longer are we told what we can listen to by middlemen making a quick buck out of other peoples talents. We can decide what we want and pay a reasonable price for it, if there is a price at all. It is an example of good capitalism (giving the people what they want) defeating bad capitalism (big business restricting the market and bumping up prices) - and long may it continue.

What about the music shops and the middleman? Well they will just have to get used to it. They can either embrace it and continue in the business, or they can die out.

After all, you can't stop progress.

ID Cards and Segregation in the Real World

I have not been blogging much recently because I have become addicted to the phenomenon of web 2.0 know as Facebook. If you read blogs, you probably know that this is a social networking site where you can post information about yourself and associate with you friend letting them know you are alive and what you are up to. It got me thinking that if the government wanted to create a bottom-up version of a national identity database, facebook would be a pretty useful model - but let's not overestimate the intelligence of our democratically elected officials.

It was fascinating catching up with people I have not seen for the best part of 10 years. I was surprised to find that many of my asian friends were still unmarried. If you believe the press, at the age of 18 (or sometimes younger), they are shipped to the subcontinent against their will where they are forceably married to someone they have never seen before. Well actually, no. For second and third generation immigrants, the truth is closer to this - caught between two worlds that leave the individual at a loss. I should know - as an asian catholic I too have struggled to find a suitable future spouse.

While we are at dispelling media myths about ethnic-minority communities, particularly in the wake of the Glasgow-London terrorist attacks, you might be interested to know that none of my muslim friends appeared to be involved in terrorism, and many seemed to be more integrated than me! One was actually dating a white girl, while another had actually joined the group opposing the academic boycott of Israel.

But of course, these kinds of stories do not sell newspapers, so it will be up to blogs like this to inform interested British people what really is going on.

Londres 2012

London is currently not parte de angleterre apparently. In an astonishing piece of treachery, even for the cockneys, they have decided to take entente cordial a bit to far and are hosting the opening stages of this year's Tour de France. Which in French means "Tour of France". I.e. currently London is part of France.

Presumably this means Birmingham is currently the nation's capital?

This is all in aid of London 2012 apparently. "Promoting sport" is part of the official excuse, but I suspect the France have decided to pull out all stops to host the 2012 Olympics. After Paris' failure this time two years ago, they have decided simply to annex the winner.

I've always maintained there is an advantage to an independent nuclear deterrent.

We Shall Never Surrender

The recent terror attack attempts in London and Glasgow are sickening, seemingly designed to corner the new British administration into a more antagonistic position.

It is refreshing to see no links to Birmingham in this one though.

I have added a terror alert status to my sidebar, but I will not be taking down my links to Taking Liberties.

After all, maintaining civil liberties and fighting terrorism are not mutually exclusive.

Three is the Magic Number

Fascinating. With Brown's new cabinet grabbing the attention of all the media, you would have had to look very carefully to notice this interesting piece of news. It has previously been alleged that Blair threatened to resign if he was question under caution by police as Prime Minister. I can't find any evidence that this was under caution, but it would make sense.

Perhaps Blair is still writing his legacy from beyond Number 10.

Britain Welcomes Regime Change

After over 10 years in power, the only Prime Minister I have experienced in my adult life has finally decided to hand over the reigns to his best mate Gordon Brown, signaling the end of an era, and the start of another. If I can be bothered, I might bore you with my thoughts on Blair's legacy. As for Brown, I think it is only fair to give him a chance. Let's hope he is a wise and popular leader.

I await the announcement of the new cabinet with interest. Are we finally going to have the important but historically overlooked role of Secretary of State for Birmingham. After all, the Conservatives have a shadow Secretary Minister for the City (no kidding).

Gosh, they do get excited when they win a seat in a city north of the glorious capital don't they?

Birmingham's Heavy Metal Legacy

When I heard about the BBC TV series the Seven Ages of Rock, I was interested in watching it until I found out that the first episode was about Jimmy Hendrix. No true history of rock could start at the rock adolescence of Jimmy Hendrix as one Points of View viewer put it; rock started in the 1950's with the likes of Bill Hailey and the comets.

When I heard they were going to have an episode on heavy metal however, I had to watch. Would they mention Birmingham's pivotal role in this successful genre. Amazingly they surpassed my expectations, and effectively attributed the founding of heavy metal to Birmingham.

Tony Iommi, lead guitarist for Black Sabbath, lost his fingers in an industrial accident. To help him play the guitar, he slackened the strings which produced a heavier sound. The music was inspired by the hard working-class sounds of the industrial factories. And it was a conversation between two of the band members which bravely asked the question: people go to see horror movies - why don't they listen to horror music?

So Black Sabbath's role in the origins of heavy metal were shown. Along with Deep Purple, they went on to pioneer the genre. And just like their home city Birmingham, while the music soon got a hard-core following, the "critics" and "experts" panned it.

So far so good (so what?). What I did not know is the influence of another Birmingham band, Judas Priest on the genre. They embraced the term heavy metal, and gave it the leather-clad look (here London gets a mention; the lead singer of Judas Priest came up with the idea for the apparel after visiting a bondage shop in Soho. Typical of the cockneys to lower the tone).

So there you have it. Sod the "Madchester" indy revolution, Birmingham produced one of the longest running music genres of modern times, and along with fantasy books (inspired by JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings) the city really has given a fantastic albeit dark legacy to the world.

Why not celebrate Birmingham's Heavy Metal musical heritage at the Metal symposium on Friday 13th July 2007 (it had to be that date didn't it?).

Taking Liberties

I went to see the film "Taking Liberties" today, which has been extensively advertised by bloggers and has been heralded as Britain's answer to Fahrenheit 9/11.

If you have not seen it yourself I would certainly recommend it. You probably will not find out anything you did not already know, but it is a useful consolidation of the many reports of heavy-handed policing in the British post 9/11 era.

I can't help thinking that someone was trying to prevent me from seeing the film however. When my friend and I went to purchase tickets for the film, we were helpfully informed "You do know it is a documentary don't you?" Yes, that was why I was buying the ticket. Did they ask potential viewers of Pirates of the Caribbean if they knew it starred Johnny Depp? How strange.

Then I noticed the paper flyers which give a description of the film incorrectly summarised the plot of Oceans Thirteen on the Taking Liberties flyer! Was this so people would walk out in disgust after five minutes? When I left the screen after the film, the flyer had disappeared! It's a conspiracy I tell you!

There was not that many people watching the film but it was a 3.15 showing. Regular readers will note that I have been posting a few articles on freedom of speech recently, but this one certainly did focus the mind. Instead of attacking the right about "the right to offend", perhaps I should be working with them to stop the erosion of freedom being perpertrated by those who seek to destroy our way of life; the Blair administration. On the other hand, it does annoy me that many opposition websites seem to spend more time defending the Iraq war and sticking up for the right to call people gay/black bastard/ ginger than concentrating on the very real threat to freedom of speech that was taking place in our parliament. As some might say, the rules of the game are changing.

Anyway, enough of my pontificating. The film has inspired me to do two things:

1) I am going to join Liberty (and I urge you to do as well).

2) I am going to join Amnesty International (unless I find out they have dropped their neutral stance on abortion)

If this is my last post, you know what happened.

Dale's End

I seem to have been removed from Iain Dale's Blogroll. It happened sometime after I posted this article attacking his position on, of all things, freedom of speech.

There would be an irony if I was removed from the blogroll of someone who believes freedom of speech is the right to offend because, well, I offended them by pointing out (using freedom of speech) that they were wrong?

I really do not have time for right-wing hypocrites. Iain Dale follows Guido Fawkes in being dumped from the select few who make the national People's Republic blogroll.

Fun Facts about Birmingham

I wanted to do another post about why Birmingham is such a great city, but found so many interesting facts that I might just link to the sites themselves and summarise my top 5:

1) Birmingham has more trees than Paris, more miles of canals than Venice and more parks than any other European City. Concrete Jungle my arse.

2) Birmingham City Council is the biggest local authority in Europe, and employs twice as many people as the European commission.

3) Birmingham is the UK’s largest manufacturing and engineering centre and accounts for 25% of the country's exports. F.W Lanchester built the first four-wheeled petrol driven car in Birmingham, hence the nickname Brum.

4) The Jewellery Quarter is the largest concentration of dedicated jewellers in Europe. Half of all jewellery made in the UK comes from Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter, with a third of jewellery manufactured in the UK made within one mile of the city centre.

5) The City's annual St. Patrick's day celebration is the third biggest outside Dublin and New York and the largest Vaisakhi celebration outside Asia. Eat your heart out "cosmopolitan" London

For more reasons why Birmingham is great, please see this post. The inspiration for this article came from here, here and here.

Fast Cars & Women

The title of this post is what supposedly every red-blooded male lusts after. So how does Birmingham measure up in these two departments?

According to the news, not too well in the female department. A model from Stoke-on-Trent was chosen to represent Brum because beauty contest officials claim there was no-one gorgeous enough to represent us from the City itself. Surely nonsense. I think it is well known that Brummie women are amongst the best in Britain for their looks. Come on girls; if anyone thinks they could represent Brum why don't you send some photos to me and I will, ahem, promote you on my website. Can't fault a guy for trying, eh?

Not doing as badly in the fast cars stakes however. MG restarted production today under its new owner Nanjing Automotive. It is great to see car production restarted at Longbridge again. Wouldn't it be great if 10 years from now Longbridge was famed for its efficient production of competitive cars rather than the redundancies and union versus management battles that have plagued the factory for the last 30 years.

Edgbaston Lord's it Over the Rest

Just over a week ago I was at a sporting event in our "glorious capital". No, it wasn't the 3rd/4th place play-off for the Champions League, which was held at a new stadium they've apparently built in the area. I went to the traditional home of cricket; Lords.

Now being a big cricket fan I was very excited to see a Test Match at Lords on Saturday against the Windies of all teams. Unfortunately, as usual, one of the capital's main attractions failed to live up to the hype. Some bright spark decided that most of the seating at Lord's should be covered. Completely pointless at a cricket stadium given that if it is raining there will not be any play. So despite the fact it was a sunny day, we were left freezing as the wind blew under the concrete tier above us; it was like watching cricket under the Spaghetti Junction.

The play was not up to much either. The West Indies may not be half the team they used to be, but apart from Monty Panesar the bowling was rather tepid. We watched the Windies bat all day with the loss of 6 wickets. To be fair, I was comparing this to my Test match experiences at Edgbaston, the last of which was the Sunday of the 2005 Ashes. Not really a fair contest. However, I did watch the West Indies on the Sunday in 2004 where I saw both sides bat and the loss of 17 wickets.

If any further evidence is needed that Edgbaston is a better Test ground, guess which English ground has the best record for the home team? And 1902 - present has not exactly been a golden age of English cricket.

It was not all bad in the capital however. We walked around Regent's Park which is quite nice for London. Walking around North London, we found a shrine to the people who had been killed by the Edgware Road bomber which was saddening. A couple of things that I noticed since I last went to London (which was nearly 10 years ago) was that you now have to buy tickets before you board the bus there, and the amount and variation of foreigners that one can meet in the city, which obviously gives it a cosmopolitan feel. Not a complete waste of time all-in-all, but I was glad to leave the police-saturated Euston (or New Street without the charm as I call it), to get back to good old Brum.

The Far-Right to Offend

Iain Dale wrote an article today regarding The Right to Offend. It repeated the right-wing myth, also proposed by the liberal hawks of Harry's Place that freedom, if anything, means the right to tell people what they don't want to hear. Interestingly enough, this is a position they share with those "great defenders of free speech", the BNP.

This is nonsense. Freedom of speech means the right to say anything you want without fear of persecution from the government. With that freedom comes responsibility. This means that although you can in theory say anything, some things are better left unsaid. If freedom of speech is not used with discretion, pressure mounts on the government to take it away in certain circumstances; and as soon as a government starts legislating on a certain area, they have a habit of not stopping.

A great example is holocaust denial. In my opinion it should not be an offence to deny the holocaust, because there should be the opportunity to have a full debate on the history if new evidence emerges. Unfortunately though, most, if not all people who deny the holocaust are idiots. Despite the overwhelming evidence that it occurred, they claim it is part of a Jewish conspiracy of one sort of another. So several European countries have made holocaust denial a criminal offence, and it is difficult to argue against it given the type of person who actually make these statements in public.

Freedom of speech is not an excuse to persecute minorities verbally, because they do not have any legitimate way of stopping you criticising them (although they can take the law into their own hands of course). The only organisation that can stop you saying something is the government, who can legislate against statements they do not like. I repeat then that freedom of speech is not the right to make offensive statements, but the right to criticise the government without fear of persecution.

To be fair, Iain's article is not about something as serious as holocaust denial. It is about a state-regulator criticising Jeremy Clarkson for calling something "a bit gay". It is not a surprise with this kind of ruling that more and more people are starting to confuse freedom of speech with the right to offend.

Brown Crowned

Gordon Brown will be crowned the next leader of the Labour party, and therefore Prime Minister of the UK after his left-wing rival John McDonnell failed to get the requisite amount of nominations. This means the next Prime Minister will not be elected, either by the public or even his own party. I find this quite astonishing. With six people fighting it out for the deputy leader, it appears the Labour party is now full of rather spineless politicians who are not prepared to fight as the underdog.

Of course, part of this is because Blair systematically got rid of anyone in his cabinet who dared to speak against him (or more conveniently they resigned), instead promoting yes-men who have said yes to GB. Robin Cook has died; David Blunkett was embroiled in too many scandals; Charles Clarke failed at the home office; Iain Dale announce the reasons why Reid did not stand. and presumably Alan Milburn has been out of the circle for too long. Alan Johnson and David Milliband were the last genuine chance for a contest but bottled it, the former looking at the easier deputy leadership instead.

I remember speaking to some Germans last year who I advised not to bet on Brown, because the favourite often falls short in the end (Heseltine/ Clarke/ Davis; maybe it's a Tory thing). I could not have been more wrong. I hope he leads Britain in a better direction than his predecessor, but I won't be holding my breath.

Does anyone know why Blair should continue to hold office now the party has spoken coup has taken place?

The Rise of Social Mobility

Current affairs seemed to come to me this week. First of all in the terror swoops on Wednesday, along with the widow of one of the July 7th bombers, two people were arrested in Birmingham, one in Lozells and one in Victoria Halls on Grange Road, just around the corner from Birmingham University. I myself used to have a couple of friends living in these halls of residents and was surprised to here it was being searched in connection with terrorism. The rooms are not cheap, all being on-suite and tend to attract the richer students in the University, hardly the kind of clientele associated with terrorism.

Meanwhile, David Cameron has moved in with a Muslim family for a couple of days in Balsall Heath, where I have recently bought a house. I hope he does not stay too long.

I don't want the property prices to drop.

Update 13/05: An excellent post by the West Brom Blogger notes that Cameron's visit was not exactly all that it appeared to be.

When Two Tribes Go to War

Birmingham did not win the Championship, but West Brom and Wolves both made the playoffs and will face each other in the semi-finals.

It was not all bad news last week however, as Manchester and London both failed to get representatives in the champions league final. As for us brummies, we are just happy to have two teams in the top flight.

As Birmingham is twinned with Milan, I claim we will have representation in the Champions League final. There is a growing breed of latte-drinking football fan who will claim I am being unpatriotic by not supporting English teams in Europe. It is a club competition. Every red-blooded working-class football fan understands that football is tribal, and we fight against other tribes in our country.

Like Wolves and West Brom. The loser will not wish the winner good luck and hope that the Black Country has some representation in the Premiership next season. They will cheer on the winner of Derby-Southampton, even though it will be to the detriment of West Midlands football.

However, I'm a Brummie first and then an Englishman. I hope at least one of them gets into the Premiership so that the West Midlands has something to shout about again.

Update 13/05: I should be shot for not mentioning Walsall's excellent League 2 Championship win. The appointment of Dicky Dough was truly on the money.

Politics and the Real World

That was a party political broadcast by the Labour/ Conservative/ Liberal Democratic Party. (Delete as applicable)

I wish.

The People's Republic is currently relocating (that is arrogant blogger speak for I've bought a new house). Unfortunately, as the United Nations do not currently recognise my independent status, I am still forced to pay taxes to the old country. Hitherto, I have managed to avoid paying council tax my claiming political asylum in my parents house, but that is now going to change. On the same day I cast my last vote in Moseley & Kings Heath, I received a council tax bill for my new address (in the Respect stronghold of Sparkbrook if you are interested). Funnily enough, I actually welcomed it (along with my water and energy bills; they do not waste any time do they?). It means I am now contributing to society/ my community and I am only paying the tax because I now own a pretty expensive asset, so it can be regarded as a mark of success (I appreciate not everyone will agree with this analysis, particularly pensioners and those on low-incomes who struggle to pay this badly-collected tax). It has also brought home the reality that my vote in a council election will from now on directly affect me, and my vote seems to matter more. Of course, council elections do affect me in less obvious ways, but there is nothing like a tax to focus the mind.

Of course, thanks to Margaret Thatcher's ridiculous obsession with centralisation, the only important issue now at stake in local elections is how frequently the bins should be collected. My opinion is that if it is going to involve the council, I suggest never. Let us contract our waste disposal from the private sector. We could decide how often we want our rubbish collected rather than have it decided for us, and we could choose exactly how to get rid of our waste e.g. some private companies might decide to provide a service (for a fee of course) where they take all our trash and sort it for recycling. I suspect recycling rates would improve dramatically, and if we did not want our binman to work on Bank Holiday's or pay them £900 for the privilege, we would have the choice to switch our waste removal services to someone else, or stump up the extra cash for the extra service. After all, our gas and electricity is provided by private companies; isn't it ridiculous that garbage collection is still provided by the state?

Of course, this would then leave us paying large amounts of poll tax for very little governing. If we elected a mayor, we would have even less for our councillors to do. Presumably we could then sack two-thirds of our councillors and have an election every 4 years (after all, one councillor per constituency is surely enough?). This will not be a very popular idea amongst councillors, or amongst people who aspire to be councillors, so I guess they will oppose the mayor and keep garbage collections under their responsibility.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, democracy simply doesn't work.

There has been a lot of analysis about what the local election results in England, and the devolved assemblies of Scotland and Wales actually mean. The Conservatives believe they are on the path to power, while Labour and the Liberal Democrats are playing down what are generally considered to be disappointing results.

The reality is that council elections prove very little. Everyone know we all vote differently in general elections. It matters little what percentage of the vote the Conservatives got, how many seats that will translate into, who won the popular vote, or all the other party political bickering we have seen on the pages of the political blogosphere. The reality is the biggest winner by far was apathy. The I-could-not-care-less-one-way-or-the-other party romped home with about 75% of the (non-)vote. And I can't even remember them campaigning in my area.

My personal opinion, not necessarily born out by the election results, is that the next general election will result in a hung parliament.

I'll start building the gallows...

Love Lifts Us Up Where We Belong

Former Blues striker Clinton Morrison helped Crystal Palace beat Derby which put the second-city Blues back in their rightful place in the top-flight. Hopefully Birmingham will seal the Championship next week (there is a sentence you do not get to write often!) Even sweeter: three London clubs might take our place in the second tier. Is this part of a general malaise that will require more lottery funding to improve sports facilities in our glorious capital?

In other news, the convicts won a hatrick of world cups in ludicrous conditions. I stand by my predictions that this is the beginning of the end.

I hope.

Rocks in the Garden of England

Has the world ended in the South East? The reporting of the earthquake in Kent rivals that of the Tsunami in South East Asia a couple of years ago. It was not even as big as the on that centred on Dudley in 2002, which measured 4.8 on the richter scale compared to Kent's "at least 4.3". Am I incorrect in recalling that the bigger Dudley 'quake was generally called a (small-scale) tremor back then?

Next week on the BBC, as a pebble falls from a roof in London:

"Meteor strikes Worlds Greatest City"

Death of a Legend

When the right-wing talk about the West's victory over communism, they usually credit the victory to those three great heroes of the right in the 1980's - Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II. Yesterday, the man who was actually responsible for the collapse of communism died; Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007).

The West loved to portray him as a mad Russian drunk, but the reality is he defeated communism when the West did not have a clue where to start. How did Ronald Reagan defeat communism? By bullying governments of small islands in his own backyard who had the audacity to look after the poor? Did Thatcher bring down communism by defeating Arthur Scargill? Did Pope John Paul's repression of liberation theology strike fear into the hearts of Marxists across the world? More likely, it depressed us Catholics who see support for it in nearly every book in the Bible, and perhaps moved some into the arms of the atheist leftists.

Boris Yeltsin famously stood on a tank to defy a coup by communists trying to overthrow another man who was pivotal in overthrowing communism, Mikhail Gorbachev. Unlike Reagan, Thatcher and Pope John Paul II there was a real chance he could have paid with his life. He could have looked the other way. He didn't, and as a result millions of people are freer than they used to be.

The West never defeated communism. Just like the Chinese adopting privatisation, in Russia it was an inside job.

Time For Fletch to Go?

The England Cricket team's humiliating defeat to South Africa has brought a barrage of criticism from the assorted ex-England players, coaches and writers who played cricket in a very different time and in some cases with a lot less success than the current captain. The consensus seems to be that Fletcher and Vaughan should step down, the latter from the one-day version of the game at least.

Now although I do believe Fletch has taken the side as far as he can, and Vaughan should not be selected for the one-day side, let us get things in perspective. We are likely to finish 5th in this World Cup; in the last two, we have gone out in the first round (including in 1999 when we hosted it). Our record in one-day cricket is rubbish; we are ranked seventh, in the last year we have been whitewashed by both Sri Lanka and Australia and drew a distracted Pakistan team 2-2. If it was not for the Commonwealth Bank Series, which was, let's be quite clear, a freak result we have achieved nothing in this format of the game over the last couple of years. So why did people expect us to beat South Africa!? The reality is the best four teams in the world are now in the semi-finals, a testament to the format of the competition.

There are many problems with the one day side, including selection and coaching. Nixon has done well but was never a long term solution; Panesar is not a one day player; there are no pinch-hitters like Mal Loye in the top order; and what the hell is the selection of Sajid Mahmood all about!? Fletch has never taken the one-day format seriously. Perhaps a specialist one-day coach could manage a one-day side, or perhaps Fletch will reconsider his position after the summer.

However, finishing 5th at the moment is par for the course.

Friendly Neighbourhood Fascists

The local elections are coming up in May. If you click here you will find a map of the Moseley & Kings Heath, Acocks Green, Springfield and Sparkhill wards with the address of each election candidate marked on the map.

Notice the four candidates who live no where near the constituencies they are standing for. Here are a group of foreigners we should gladly send home empty handed on May 3rd.

The British Nazi Party. Your friendly neighbourhood fascists.

Hat-tip: Brum Blog, Moseley Free

Tennis Troubles

This weekend saw the NEC host the Davis Cup clash between Great Britain & the Netherlands which ended in a 4-1 victory to the British team. The Great Britain team included all three ranked players that have represented Great Britain over the last twenty years: Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski and Andy Murray. Greg Rusedski used the occasion to announce his retirement from the game after his doubles victory on Saturday.

It is sad that Britain has only produced one decent tennis player in 20 years, namely Tim Henman. Andy Murray gave up on the Lawn Tennis Association and went to learn his trade on clay in Spain; Greg Rusedski famously defected from Canada in 1995. So despite all the money and projects spent on encouraging our next Wimbledon champion over the last decade or so, not one has come through. I am not sure how much has been spent in total, but I am sure we could have managed to bribe Roger Federer to defect for a fortnight to win our first Wimbledon Championship in 25 years.

This is a damning indictment of the opportunities we give to the children of this country. It is not really a surprise that we came out as the worst place to grow up in that UN report recently.

Rocky VII: Adrian's Revenge

Last night saw a real-life Rocky story at the Millennium stadium in Cardiff, albeit without the ending. Peter Manfredo Jr, runner-up on the American reality TV show the Contender, challenged Joe Calzaghe, the undefeated Welsh Super-Middleweight WBO and IBF champion.

The Americans widely predicted the fairytale would happen, but were incensed when Brummie referee Terry O'Connor stopped the fight in the third round. Most commentators believed it had been stopped too early for a title fight without a punch really hurting the young pretender, but most agreed it would only have been a matter of time before Calzaghe won the match. Supporters of the decision noted that Manfredo was not throwing any punches back, so the referee had no option.

It is difficult to understand why the Americans thought Manfredo had a chance against Calzaghe. After the match Manfredo himself implied this was perhaps a step too far. Many in Britain regard Calzaghe as pound-for-pound the best boxer in the world today. He has seen off tougher, more experienced opponents than Manfredo who has lost a couple of bouts against lesser opposition. Either the Americans have a deep-rooted belief in the American Dream, or they do not give Calzaghe the respect he deserves. Barry Mcguigan asked the question: when are they going to realise just how good Calzaghe is?

Probably only if he takes US citizenship.

Final Resting Place

The best news story last week was Keith Richards claim that he snorted his dad's ashes with some blow.

Why couldn't he just sprinkle it over his cappuccino like a normal person?

Supercasino Plans Scuppered?

A smile was raised in the People's Republic a week ago when the Lords voted down plans which included the building of a super casino in Manchester. Mancunian MP's and Councillors piled onto every media outlet in sight decrying the "unelected house" for ignoring the will of the elected representatives. What they failed to mention is that the party in power, which held their autumn conference in Manchester last year, have had ten years to reform the House of Lords in which they have failed to do so and indeed all of their favoured options included an unelected element.

The defeat was caused by supporters of the Blackpool bid, who were regarded as favourites to get the super casino ever since the Government announced it was only going to allow one to be built. Thought for the Day on Radio 4 had an excellent suggestion. Why don't the Mayor of Blackpool and the Lord Mayor of Manchester play a game of poker to decide who gets the rights to host the Super Casino? After all, if gambling is not good enough to make such a decision, why is it such a good method of redeveloping a deprived area?

However, let us be a bit more balanced. Manchester had the best bid and deserves to hold the casino, you cannot throw the rattle out of the pram just because you do not like the result of the outcome of the selection process. Wolverhampton and Solihull will lose the rights to two of the sixteen smaller casinos which are also included in the bill, which would be bad news for the West Midlands. I suspect if the plans would not have been voted down if the casino had been awarded to Greenwich, London.

My personal view is that super casinos are a good way to redevelop inner city areas, but there should not be just one; there should be as many as necessary. Then the market can decide where they will be placed, rather than having controverdial decisions made by committees whose decision then needs to be scrutinised. The Government does not really need to interfere in such processes, except to liberalise the law.

It would also mean a 50% tax on them, as imposed by Gordon Brown in the budget, would mean less investment coming into the country and would not be economically acceptable.

How the Mighty Have Fallen

I have only just recovered from the last weekend of sport which saw another poor England performance against Israel in the "European" Championship qualifiers. A 3-0 victory against the mighty Andorra midweek has hardly raised spirits and quite frankly, until Steve McClaren leaves the England job I will not be watching this joke of a national team again.

Meanwhile in the Cricket World Cup Bangaldesh and Ireland qualified for the Super Eight stage taking the place of those two subcontinent powerhouses of world cricket, India and Pakistan. The Aussies must be loving it. It also appears that sadly, Bob Woolmer was murdered and the hunt is on to find his killer. Inzamam-ul-Haq has been questioned twice, and CCTV footage has been examined.

This joke may be in poor taste but it can't have been Inzy, otherwise it would be obvious from the CCTV footage...

As he was running from the scene he would have forgotten to ground his bat...

Brown Blows Last Budget

Gordon Brown delivered what was likely to be his final budget yesterday and the People's Republic remains unimpressed. The consensus is that the headline 2p income tax cut actually means the poorer are paying more tax due to the abolition of the 10p rate. PragueTory claims anyone earning less than £17935 more than £5000 is actually paying more tax (not taking into account any tax credits). Not like the Tories to give a damn about the poor, and not like me to agree with them. Circumstance makes strange bedfellows.

This time last week HP stopped producing its sauce in Aston, Birmingham and moved production to the Netherlands where corporation tax has recently been cut to 25.5%. In what can only be described as shutting the door after the horse has bolted, Brown cut corporation tax to 28p yesterday, making up the shortfall by tightening up the rules and raising taxes on small business. We are still quite a way off Ireland's corporation tax rate of 12.5%.

Oh and tax goes up on beer by 1p a pint on Sunday.

Better tank up before then...

A Super Weekend of Sport

What a weekend of sport! The fun started on Saturday when a double shock in the Cricket World Cup saw Ireland beat Pakistan and Bangladesh beat India. Unfortunately the former result took its toll on Pakistan's former Warwickshire coach Bob Woolmer, who was later found unconscious in his hotel room and died later in hospital. I would have loved to see him back at the Bears and the World Cup will be overshadowed by this tragedy.

Meanwhile post-Schumacher Formula 1 is more exciting than ever (unsurprisingly) with Kimi Raikkonen beating Fernando Alonso in the first race of what promises to be an exciting season. And forget Jenson Button; third place Lewis Hamilton staked his claim to become Britain' best racer with an excellent podium on his debut.

Poor Sleep Cloud Moral Judgement

Poor Sleep Clouds Moral Judgement reports the BBC in its health section today. Margaret Thatcher famously survived on only 4 hours sleep a night when Prime Minister.

Explains a lot.

US Athletes to be Based in Brum

On the day the European Indoor Athletics Championships came to an end it was announced that Birmingham will be the base of the USA athletics team for London 2012. Hopes are high that the Chinese team will follow.

Perhaps the People's Republic was wrong to believe only London would benefit from the Olympics. Now all they need to do is get ready on time and on budget...

Birmingham holds (another) Sporting Event

No football at the community hall at the NIA this week as Europe's top Athlete's descend on the city for the European Indoor Athletics Championships that will take place over the weekend. It will be the most significant athletics event to be held in Great Britain before London 2012, and the London 2012 campaign acknowledge the contribution that Birmingham's hosting of the Indoor Athletic Championships has made to their bid. Birmingham has held more sporting championships than any other European city in the last four years. And when we hold a sporting championship, we don't just invite the nations we've conquered.

Unlike some cities...

Don't Mention the Poll

As if the title of second city can be decided by a poll. The monkeys must be mistaking this country for a democracy. As people have mentioned since, our city is not great at promoting itself so here are some aspects of Birmingham to be proud of.

1) The Lord of the Rings. The three books (along with the Hobbit) that created the whole fantasy genre were written by a Birmingham author, JRR Tolkien, inspired by Moseley Bog.

2) Black Sabbath. I am fed-up of listening about how influential bands from Manchester are (in any case, sporting and musical achievement is greater in Liverpool). They only dominated in this country for a small section of the 90's. Black Sabbath are one of the most influential bands in the world with Tony Iommi credited with inventing the heavy metal riff. And can you imagine an MTV show called "the Gallaghers"?

3) The Mini. This characterful car was first developed and built in Birmingham in 1959 until production ended in 2000? The new Mini was developed in Birmingham but is now built in Cowley by BMW.

4) The Lunar Society. In one of his books on the history of industrial Britain, Adam Hart-Davis devotes an entire chapter to Birmingham in which he states you cannot write a proper history of Britain without mentioning Birmingham and in particular the work of the Lunar Society.

5) Modern architecture. Birmingham may not have the tallest skyscrapers (in fact I believe we cannot because of the nature of the soil round these parts) but that has not stopped us creating some of the most recognisable buildings in the country. The Rotunda is being redeveloped, while the new Selfridges building may be controversial, but at least it is different.

The fantasy genre. Heavy metal-riffing. One of the most (if not the most) iconic cars in the world. Power when Britain was emerging into a superpower. Modern Landmarks. Birmingham's greatness transcends the city.

Tell you friends how great Birmingham, England is.

First or Second?

There has been a lot of coverage this week of the petition opposing the introduction of congestion charges, which in the end managed to accumulate 1.8 million signatures. While on the Number 10 petition site however I managed to find a more important campaign.

For the less ambitious, this petition might be more relevant.

Convicts Return to Roots

The England Cricket teams physio was robbed at knife-point in the Sydney Hotel where the England team were staying.

Surely there was an easier way for the Aussies to get their hands on the Commonwealth Bank Trophy?

Blog Updates

The People's Republic of Birmingham has finally upgraded to the new version of blogger. You may notice some changes to the blog as a result of this over the next few weeks and indeed some changes have already taken place. On the links section of this blog I have removed some of the more right wing blogs that have started to annoy me, and a left wing one which has deteriorated in quality. As a result of the new blogger, you will notice tags which I plan to put on all previous 139 posts so that you can find related topics more easily. Nice to see Google are taking recommendations from the People's Republic seriously.

Also, you may have noticed a lack off updates on this blog recently. This is due to my new pet project, Support City Hospital which is a campaign blog to keep acute services in Birmingham from being damaged by short-sighted government and local healthcare policy. Pop by if you have some time and don't forget to sign the petition.

Some topics PRoB would have mentioned include Lynne Jones unfortunate announcement to retire at the next election as a result of boundary changes, leaving an inferior Blairite (Brownite) MP to "represent" Birmingham Selly Oak, Manchester winning the Super Casino (I wish I had put a bet on that!), the London Olympic finance fiasco, the spare Wembley pitch that Blues tried to unsuccessfully lay at St. Andrews and probably a lot of others that I can't remember.

Those of you who know me probably could guess what I was going to say anyway.

Birmingham or Baghdad?

Birmingham was once again the centre of a terrorist plot in the land that has become Al-Qaeda's number one target as a result of our glorius leader's "prescient" (spelled president?) foreign policy. A plan hatched by disillusioned muslims to kidnap a Muslim British soldier and behead him on television was allegedly foiled by the police, leading to 9 arrests and numerous houses across the city being searched. Leaving Big Brother to fill a gap in the market.

The media is full of angry muslims or so the national press would have us believe. On a local report I saw a lot of Muslims supporting the police action, but presumably this would not go down well in the rest of the country. So instead we are treated to the assorted cranks and nutters you can find in immigrant communities, who presumably would vote UKIP or Conservative under Michael Howard if they were white and middle-class (maybe the latter is a bit harsh).

One such nutter unfortunately is chairman of Birmingham Central Mosque, Dr Mohammed Naseem. In a previous post I took his side against Khalid Mahmood, but I was glad to see I did not support his views unequivocally. In his latest outburst he compares treatment of Muslims to that of Jews in Nazi Germany, and claims that the arrest were an example to the government justifying its political agenda.

Not quite Dr Naseem. Although I am no fan of this government, I am also no fan of those who seek to exploit their idiocy with their own brand of tomfoolery. These were not comments that helped the community, and not a great advert for British or Birmingham Muslims. Perhaps Khalid Mahmood is right after all.