Today as I write, October 15th, is Blog Action Day. The concept being to encourage blogs around the world to all write about one issue on the same day – hoping that through the various niches (gadgets, Birmingham’s creative scene, photos of sad bankers) the message will reach as many people as possible. This year the theme is poverty. Poverty isn’t fun (no matter how much of a laugh hanging around with Vernon Burgess might be), there are areas of Birmingham that have some of the highest poverty rates in the UK — Ladywood is the worst area in the country for child poverty. It isn’t the place of BiNS to offer trite solutions, so all I’ll do is point you in the direction of a couple of local organisations who are doing something to combat povety — in the hope that you’ll find one that fits with your worldview and you can support in some way. St Basils — works with young people to prevent homelessness. They’re organising their annual sponsored Sleep Out, if you can handle the cold you can get involved. If you’ve a yen for something on a more global level, the Birmingham Jubilee Debt...
