This is local news for local people

I admit I’m struggling with the debate surrounding the BBC’s £68m plans to dramatically increase its online coverage of local news.
The proposal has, inevitably, met with criticism from regional newspaper groups who are unimpressed that the Beeb would use licence payers money to fund the significant expansion to a network of 65 local sites.
Ofcom has [...]

First Post, blue badges, flying saucers and woggles

A new week and there is a new era and a brave new world kicking off a new round-up:
The Birmingham Post has relaunched as a compact as part of the radical overhaul of newspaper publishing in the Midlands.
First impression last, so they say. And by and large first impressions of the smaller Post are positive [...]

Petitions, children in need, going nuclear and the Funky Chicken

A frustrating week for many reasons and a busy day to end it, so here’s a quick round-up:
I’ve signed a couple of petitions this week, they’re poles apart in many respects but both are issues that I’m personally interested in.
The first was prompted by my post earlier this week about how my career-carer juggling act [...]

Sour golf grapes, a Tory blog-fest, multicultural mistakes and bad dogs

A weekend round-up taking you into the heady worlds of sport, politics, religion and crime:
One of The Birmingham Post’s sports writers appears to have stirred things up on both sides of the Atlantic with a blog criticising the behaviour of US players and fans at the recent Ryder Cup.
He’s not very complimentary about the winning US team or [...]

Birmingham confuses, the old school tie, an end to long lunches and Kanye vs Kermit

A quick round-up during a break from the newsletter writing and researching:
Will the real Birmingham please stand up.
The city is apparently still struggling to get the right message to the right people and still failing to match Manchester’s positive PR and image.
The latest report on perceptions of our major cities and towns provides a few points to cheer [...]

Doing business in Birmingham in 150 words or less

The business profile of Birmingham has been exercising my thoughts of late, initially prompted by an email conversation and some pertinent questions posed by a blogger based in the US.
His first was: “So can you sum up Birmingham’s business profile in 150 words?”
I was still thinking on this challenge when The Birmingham Post announced that business [...]

Foot-in-mouth chef, a summer’s lament, censorship and real men wear pink

A start of the working week round-up:
Fat-tongued saviour of school meals and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver (I’m not a fan) has bitten the hand that has fed him very well over the years.
In an interview with Paris Match, the cook has lambasted the UK’s booze culture and inability to recognise good cuisine.
“England is one of [...]

Its not all work, work, work, you know

I’m not entirely sure the dust has actually settled on this week’s announcement of a radical shake-up of TrinityMirror’s newspaper publishing operation in the Midlands.
Such is the scale of the changes being proposed, the fall-out will be swirling around for some time to come.
For one thing there’s the 90-day consultation process involving all 300-odd editorial staff, [...]

The last Post or trumpeting a brave new world?

There was talk of a radical relaunch of The Birmingham Post when I joined in 2001 and just about every year until I left in 2006.
Now the bold changes are actually about to happen [Edit - my second take on the plans is here].
And they are certainly radical, impacting across all TrinityMirror’s titles in the Midlands.
The [...]

Self-portraits, dolls, cannibalism and writing blogs

It is shameless plug time again.
The wife has created a book from the 366-day self-portrait photography project she completed in May.
It was never Rachel’s original intention, but the project chronicles her struggle to cope with her illness and all its implications over the course of the year.
I’m obviously completely and utterly biased when I say it is an amazing [...]