Birmingham: It's Not Shit

Lord Mayor on Carling Cup Final result

Forget however many hundreds of pounds on consultants, here's a waste of council time. [link]

Lots Of Things To See And Do In The West Midlands: March 2010 by Russ L

Russ looks listings, so you really don't need to bother. [link]

Broad Street is Birmingham's culinary street of shame – Post

Richard McCombs give management-style “BID” speak, crap awards, and Broad Street’s culinary options a severe shoeing. And good on him. [link]

Shop

If you’ve ever moaned about Birmingham’s lack of independent shops then for the next six weeks (at least) you’ve reason to visit the Bull Ring and support a really indie operation. Brum’s award-winning Created in Birmingham blog has got the keys to a unit just opposite the Apple store — and they’re selling only the best stuff that is made in Brum: art, prints, fanzines, T-shirts…

The opening was last night, and the sales were looking brisk. Get yerself down:

• Location: Bull Ring, Level 3 Upper Mall West
• Opening hours: Mon-Sat 10am to 8pm. Sun 11am to 5pm

There’s also a dedicated shop blog, should you have help, products, or owt else to offer.

CSI Lift

Doing this to the Bull Ring lifts is all a lovely PR stunt for the CSI thing in the old Borders shop — until some old dear expires, knackered after taking the steps because the lifts are out of order.

Guesswork?

I’m quite “for” the idea of Brum being 2013 City of Culture. I’m not convinced that the council have the skills to make it great, and I’m still cynical about the idea that “the possibility” of hosting the “Brit Music Award, MTV music Awards, the BAFTAs, the Stirling Prize, the Turner prize” (all private organisations who can make their own decisions) will result in any of that actually happening — but in any event it’s better to have culture than not.

I am interested in the means used to justify it all (when huge cuts are being foisted on the council workforce). Minister for Fun Cllr Mullaney says :

“The benefits of winning this award will be enormous and can be summed-up as follows:

1. An estimated boost to the regional economy of £200 million.
2. The creation of thousands of jobs in our growing creative sector.”

and so on to where the more esoteric, but obvious, points about raised profile are made.

I’ve genuinely no idea how this is calculated, what I do know is that this sort of thing gets printed in the press and is then accepted as fact. I’ve wondered aloud before about how much benefit to the residents these “boosts to the economy” actually bring — and look a City of Culture would be exactly 10 times as good as a Conservative party conference.

I wonder if anyone’s done a real analysis of how the “estimated boosts” stand up to real ones — or should we give the practise the “estimated boot”?

And here’s waiting for the ‘CBSO plays the hits of Felt’ outdoor concert.

Brum makes shortlist for City of Culture

“In deciding on the four cities recommended – Derry/Londonderry, Birmingham, Norwich, and Sheffield – the panel was influenced by the expected step change each city was asked to envisage, if they gained the title and subsequent media spotlight.”

Wha?

via Race to become the UK’s first City of Culture hots up as Final Fourteen become Fantastic Four.

A Midland marvel – Project Datafile

Stephen Hughes, Council Chief Executive waxes a sort of clunky prose to the joys of PFI, and Capita's role in it. [link]

Celebrity supporters are behind Aston Villa — BBC Birmingham

An odd list, Pike out of Dad's Army, Tom Hanks, and some toff who is related to an old Chairman. [link]

Alien vs Editor

All the papers have gone with the release of the MoD’s records of UFO sightings, and published drawings of them (like this one seen in Smethwick). I’m not surprised that they’re all talking about it, as it’s nice safe weird news, but am rather disappointed that no-one can describe a long triangular prism thing without calling it a “toblerone”.

We’ve seen people reporting all sorts of nonsense like in “Kingstanding at 4am on March 18, 1997 when a man claimed to have discovered an illuminated blue triangle hovering over his garden.”

Lot of drugs about in the late 90s weren’t there?

And as for the Smethwick, there’s surely a claim for some copyright over the design of the Tardis…