Dear Patchers — Welcome to your Tuesday briefing.
It’s been a slow start to the shorter week as we recover from a long (very exciting) bank holiday weekend of election coverage — you can read more about what happened in the mayoral and council elections here and here.
On that note, today we’ve linked to a story about Akhmed Yakoob, the independent mayoral candidate who made a splash, especially in Birmingham. He is going nowhere and wants to be the MP for Ladywood — read more on that below. Plus: we have news of travel chaos in Brum (both plane and car-centric), ongoing questions over the true cost of equal pay to Birmingham City Council, and some upcoming theatre and film highlights for the culture vultures among us.
I hope you enjoy the sunshine and we’ll be back with more tomorrow. Dan.
Brum in Brief
🚗Cannon Hill Carmageddon: Park-goers at Cannon Hill this weekend were greeted to the sight of rows of cars across the grass and paths. Reportedly drivers got in after a gate was left open. With it far from being the first issue regarding cars and safety in Brum, the outcry on social media has, understandably, been severe. One poster wrote: “This is dreadful, not just for the damage to the park but most crucially to the safety of park users.” Birmingham Dispatch is confirming if police were called (there are claims they were but did nothing) and Moseley councillor Izzy Knowles has said she will contact the parks department about more parking enforcement.
❓Questions over equal pay: The £760m figure widely quoted for Birmingham City Council’s equal pay ground is more likely to be £250m, according to the man parachuted in to oversee the council’s finances. Max Caller, appointed by government minister Michael Gove, explained the new figure with auditors Grant Thornton adding that the bigger figure was insisted on because of the way the council had managed its accounts in the past. Fred Grindrod, Labour chair of the council audit committee, added that the cuts the council has imposed as a result were a “punishment” rather than a chance to rebuild the city. All the details here [paywalled article].
✈️More Brum Airport chaos: From next month, Birmingham Airport has promised security queues will be quicker, thanks to the completion of a new £60m security hall. But for the moment, chaos is the order of the day. Bank Holiday jetsetters talked of queues snaking out of the terminal and onto the street, citing understaffing and inadequate signage. There were even claims passengers were fainting in queues. One posted on X: "Still chaos @bhx_official — trying to transit 1000s of people through a handful of lifts. Terrible organisation.” Full story.
🗳️’TikTok lawyer’ to stand as MP: Independent mayoral candidate Akhmed Yakoob, who won 11% last week’s vote, has announced his plans to stand in the next general election. The lawyer, who had been backed by MP George Galloway, said he will stand in the same seat as Labour MP Shabana Mahmood after campaigning on the war in Gaza in the wider WMCA vote. He said his success was the “beginning of the end” of the Labour Party in the Midlands and Birmingham. BBC analysis suggests that Labour’s position on Gaza has lost them support in areas with a significant Muslim population. More here.
🎭Striptease musical: Dubbed ‘the best ever American musical’, Gypsy is the story of the archetypal pushy parent and her superstar daughter. And from Saturday 11th it opens at The Crescent Theatre in Brindley Place for a week. It’s the first time the Tony, Grammy and Olvier-winning show has been staged in Birmingham for decades. Tickets start at a very reasonable £12. More here.
📽️Flatpack film festival: From 10th May onwards, film aficionados can enjoy Flatpack Film Festival across Birmingham venues. There’s everything from a trilogy of classic Linklater films at the Mockingbird, walks looking at Stirchley’s cinema-centric past, and movies from local filmmakers. On for 10 days, it all kicks off next Friday. All the programming info at a click.
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