Dear readers — what do the beloved architecture critic Jonathan Meades, the Pennsylvanian indie rock band Spirit of the Beehive and the former mayor of Wolverhampton (and serial military record exaggerator) Greg Brackenridge have in common? Very, very little to be honest, but they all feature in today’s Monday briefing.
Beyond that, we’ve got the latest on Birmingham City Council’s tumultuous finances — including a £180 million injection from the government, loads of great cultural recs for you to enjoy and a very gothic home of the week.
Here at The Dispatch we’ve got our eyes glued to our big (imaginary) Transfer Deadline Day style screen as another month rolls to a close. We’re currently 11 members shy of our target for the month, 80, so it would be great to have a last push to get over the line. The Dispatch currently runs at a loss, but we’re working hard to try and create a sustainable model for considered, nuanced journalism in Birmingham. If you like what we do — come on board.
Catch up and coming up:
- Jack’s weekend read about Lozell’s councillor Waseem Zaffar revealed that despite the Labour politician’s campaigns against HMOs, his former home has become exactly that. What’s more, a tenant at the property — which was signed over to Zaffar’s sister in 2021 — has alleged she lived in awful conditions there. Zaffar denies any wrongdoing. Catch up here.
- Samuel is publishing an interview and feature piece midweek on the documentary maker Jonathan Meades’s work in the West Midlands. Expect lots on buildings, a heavy dose of dry humour and an appreciation of Severn Valley cabins.
- Know anything about either vigilante patrols or private security firms operating in Birmingham? Contact Samuel at sam@birminghamdispatch.co.uk
Weather
🌥️Tuesday: A sunny start will turn grey by late morning. Max 9°C.
☔ Wednesday: Cloudy, followed by light rain. Max 8°C.
☀️ Thursday: Bright and sunny. Max 8°C.
☀️ Friday: Sunny again — Spring is around the corner. Max 8°C.
🌥️Weekend: A mix of sun and cloud. Max 9°C.
We get our weather from the Met Office.
Photo of the week
A grotto of moss and weed covered putti spotted over the main arch of Birmingham’s Methodist Central Hall on the weekend. Photo by Samuel McIlhagga/The Dispatch.
Brum in Brief
💰The government has granted Birmingham a bailout to the tune of £180m as part of an exceptional financial support (EFS) package given to 30 councils. The influx of funding comes after the City Council delayed its upcoming budget meeting by a week, after Whitehall refused to let them hike council tax to above 7.49 per cent. Word among Labour insiders in Birmingham is that the £180m figure is higher than they were expecting. The support enables Birmingham to take out capital loans to fund revenue spending, on the basis they will pay off the debt in future by disposing of assets and cutting back on frontline services. However, the government has also, for the first time, prevented councils in receipt of the EFS from selling off community and heritage assets like parks and art works (the decision not to sell Birmingham’s £451m art collection was already taken last year). EFS was first brought in in 2021 and since then, the number of local authorities struggling to balance the books has grown. However, critics of EFS see it as a short term fix that piles debt on local authorities.
🖥️ As it happens, that financial boost couldn’t be more timely… a new report has revealed that it could cost taxpayers £90m to fix Birmingham City Council’s beleaguered IT and finance system. The Dispatch has covered the Oracle debacle at length in the past, such as here, but to recap: the system went live in 2022 and was meant to streamline HR processes and payments, but has been racked with issues ever since. The new report by auditors Grant Thornton, which the council received on 11 February but only published last week, criticised the way the IT programme was designed and implemented and how the local authority managed financial pressures after issues were uncovered. It also suggested that the IT issues were a “contributory factor” in the council’s financial crisis. The headline figure, though, was that £90 million — twice the sum the council sought in June 2023 to fix the system. Leader of the opposition, Conservative councillor Robert Alden said the fiasco was “an abdication of responsibility on a grand scale” by Labour. A council spokesperson said the authority will “take on board” the report’s findings and that they are “making significant progress” reimplementing the Oracle system. Still, the council won’t have a working IT system until at least next year which is a pretty big deal for the biggest local authority in Europe.
🎖️ Return of the Brack: Former Wolverhampton mayor Greg Brackenridge is back in the Labour party after being served a formal warning for ‘stolen valour’ (Brackenridge claimed to be a former Royal Marine when in reality he hadn’t completed training). Brackenridge, or councillor Walter Mitty as he’s now known in a number of Facebook pages for real ex-servicemen, was temporarily suspended while his party investigated the allegations, and also stood aside as chair of the West Midlands Fire Authority. While Labour confirmed the Brack was back, they didn’t comment any further on the specifics. Whether or not he’s been allowed to keep his Iraq war pin badge remains, as yet, a mystery.
🖊️ The Dispatch headed along to the launch of Milk White Steed, the debut collection of comics from author and Tamworth native Michael D. Kennedy, at BMAG on Sunday. Published by Drawn and Quarterly, the story collection is inspired by Caribbean folk tales, combining the everyday with the fantastical and surreal. Speaking at the event, Kennedy says he was inspired by lots of different West Midlands culture, including historic photo archives from which plucked characters and created their backstory. He also drew from his memories of catching the bus home from outside The Square Peg pub in the city centre, where he said there are “plenty of characters, plenty of stories to be told.”
🍳 24 schools in Birmingham — the second highest number after Devon — will serve free breakfasts as part of a government pilot involving 750 schools across England. From April, Labour say 180,000 pupils will benefit from the breakfast clubs with over a third of the schools in deprived areas. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told the BBC that the intervention “will make such a big difference to children's life chances, to parents' ability to work.” Two Birmingham constituencies — Ladywood and Hall Green and Moseley — were recently identified as having the highest rates of child poverty in the UK. Schools in both areas feature in the pilot.
Quick hits:
🛬 It has been announced that the The World Screen Tourism Summit is coming to Birmingham in November, capitalising on an uptick in demand for location scouting and film tourism in the city. Over the last decade, films like Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning and Ready Player One have been shot in Birmingham.
🪖 Labour MP for Erdington, Paulette Hamilton, is calling for a “serious discussion” about conscription, in response to the Ukraine crisis and the USA’s refusal to underwrite NATO defence spending. Perhaps Greg Brackenridge will put his hand up.
⚽ An investigation has been launched into Walsall Wood Community Football Club and Walsall Wood Saints Junior Football Club over regulatory concerns. Both clubs failed to file proper documents with the Charities Commission.
☪️ The Ikon Gallery will host an exhibition on Muslim life in Birmingham. ‘What Did You Want To See?’ by artist Mahtab Hussain, will be on from 20 March to 1 June.
Media picks
📰 In anticipation of tomorrow’s interview feature with Jonathan Meades, catch this piece in The Oldie by the man himself on the allure of Birmingham. Meades describes Brum as “a city full of rich oddities and pleasingly bewildering contrasts” while discussing the 2022 reissue of Pevsner’s guide to the area. Although, he regrets the cleaning up of the Black Country: “In the days when the floors of two-room pubs were glossy with freshly hawked Dudley oysters…the Black Country really was black with soot. My revenant grandfather (b. Oldbury, 1880) would recognise very little of what actually remains.”
📰 In response to the deputy prime minister Angela Rayner’s report on rogue landlords (which aims to restrict housing benefit income to negligent supported housing providers), Handsworth housing activist Shuranjeet Singh has written a letter to The Guardian. Singh details how supported accommodation: “blights [the] community. With family housing turned into private rented housing, we have seen our neighbourhood torn apart by poor service providers.” Very true, and some of them are even linked to councillors…
Home of the Week
Always wanted to live in a French Gothic-style former church with vaulted ceilings and a gigantic rose window? Look no further than this three bedroom flat in Edgbaston which is on the market for £500,000.
Our to do list
🎸 On Tuesday, shoe-gazy psychedelic, post-rock, post-pop band Spirit of the Beehive play the Hare and Hounds in King’s Heath. Doors at 7:30 pm. Tickets from £19.15.
🎤 Award-winning singer Claire Martin joins guitarist Jim Mullen at the Old Joint Stock for Jazz on Tap on Wednesday. Expect “swing and soul” in the American tradition. From 7.30pm, tickets are £27.80.
📖 On Thursday, hear from the writer Vincenzo Latronico on his latest novel at Voce Books. Perfection follows millennial Berlin expats Anna and Tom as dissatisfaction with their aspirational lifestyle sets in with age.
📸 Attend the private view at the RBSA (Royal Birmingham Society of Arts) this Thursday as ‘the Godfather of Black British photography,’ Vanley Burke, opens the gallery’s 2025 Photography Prize. Doors at 6 pm.
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