Sweet Home Alabama

9 January 2008
By Jon Bounds

We’ve got hundreds of automated web searches set up to trawl for any mention of Birmingham anywhere, so a lot of effort is spend either flipping past, or working out ways to exclude, stuff about Birmingham, Alabama – sometimes a story just sounds so our Brum that we’re fooled for a second.

We’ve never been stupid enough to use a picture of Birmingham in the ol’USA tho’ – they look kind of different (and are mainly of the brilliantly photogenic Sloss Furnace) and are usually easily spotted. Hats off then, to the designer of the West Midlands Tory MEPs website:

brum1.jpg

Notice the big spiky building? The huge lampposts? No? Look a little closer:

alabama.jpg

No Rotunda, blue glass shower curtain, no BT tower? Oops. “In Europe, not run by Europe” they say, but they’re not sure are they?

(As an aside, I wonder about the copyright for this image – if they’d have got it professionally surely the photographer would have mentioned where it was taken?)

[EDIT] Turns out West Brom Blogger got here first – spotter’s badge and all credit to him. We saw it on Tom Watson‘s blog, and thanks go to Skuds.org for clipping the image.

Tags:

  • Seems all the publicity has nudged them into action - the site now features the Dalek's arse.
  • Thanks for replying. Its a little irritating to see it speading across the Web with Tom being hat-tiped when I know full well he nicked it from my blog, mainly because it just rubs in how many more people read Toms blog than mine!
  • ah, Mr Westbromblogger. Didn't know you were a Brummie.

    Haven't seem your blog post, I must admit to not reading your blog, a situation I will rectify. As I say in the post I saw it on Tom Watson's blog. Consider hats duly tipped to you too.
  • I would be intrested to know how you came across this story? It couldn't have been from my own blog a few days ago could it? http://westbromblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/i-dont... A hat-tip is usually considered polite.

    Yours, a fellow Brummie (living in excile in yam yam land)
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