Silly season almost-true story puts Brum in the headlines

Posted: December 30, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Politics | Leave a comment
Updated 4 minutes ago
  1. So it all started with a bit of holiday season flammery in the Birmingham Mail. Former Black Sabbath manager Jim Simpson wanted Birmingham Airport renamed in honour of Ozzy Osbourne:
  2. Call to rename Birmingham Airport after Ozzy Osbourne

    Boss of Birmingham’s Big Bear Music calls for tribute to Black Sabbath singer after naming of John Lennon Airport in Liverpool
    Birminghammail
  3. Reading the piece carefully, I’d wager it was prompted by a letter from Jim in response to some previous articles in the Mail about plans for a Sabbath inspired music festival in the city.
  4. Black Sabbath Day still on the cards as plans revealed for ‘From the Midlands With Love’ festival

    Black Sabbath interested in Birmingham event and Wonderstuff frontman approached over new city music festival.
    Birminghammail
  5. That’s pretty standard practice in a quiet newsroom in the dead zone between Christmas and New Year. Extract the choicest bits from Jim’s letter, phone a rentaquote councillor, and you’ve got more than enough for a tidy page lead (and the picture library’s full of old Sabbath pics, too.) It doesn’t hurt either that your interweb chappie always tells you how good Sabbath-related tales are for your Google-juice (whatever that is).

    But then the whole thing takes off (pun intended). And in the process, puts Birmingham, its airport, its status as the birthplace of the global heavy metal movement, its very name, and even that of a back bench councillor from Sutton Coldfield on the world map. Even Usain Bolt ‘s ‘big up’ Birmingham eulogy didn’t get this much airtime outside of the city.

    First, the nationals, as bored as their regional cousins, pick it up:

  6. Birmingham Airport could be named Ozzy Osbourne Airport in honour of Black Sabbath frontman

    Council chiefs are considering following in the footsteps of ­Liverpool and Belfast airports by honouring a hometown star
    Mirror
  7. Then it went, errr, mental:
  8. Britain’s heaviest metal may soon be landing at Ozzy Osbourne Airport

    Get ready for the coolest airport code you’ll ever see on a baggage tag: OZZ. It seems the city fathers of Birmingham, England, are considering renaming the local airport in honor of everyone’s favorite whacked-out heavy metal frontman, Ozzy Osbourne.
    Msn
  9. Ozzy Osbourne In Talks For Hometown Airport Honor – Starpulse.com

    Ozzy Osbourne could soon have an English airport named after him as the record company boss who discovered Black Sabbath is calling for a name change to honor the local hero. Jim Simpson, head of Big Bear Music, wants Birmingham Airport to be turned into a tribute for their hometown star Osbourne, who founded the metal band there.
    Starpulse
  10. Ozzy Osbourne International Airport? Rocker’s Hometown Government ‘Intrigued’ by the Idea

    Will the airplane overtake the bat as the flying object most associated with Ozzy Osbourne? British recording industry vet Jim Simpson, who discovered Osbourne’s pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, is mounting a campaign to rename the rocker’s hometown airport after him, the Birmingham Mail reports.
    Hollywoodreporter
  11. Notice how Jim is now ‘leading the charge’ (he only wrote a letter), and ‘council chiefs are in talks’ (no they’re not). Hey ho, since when have facts needed to get in the way of a good headline?

    And finally – you know a story’s really made it when the satire sites start having a go:

  12. Ozzy Osbourne Birmingham Airport Plagued With Bats

    BIRMINGHAM – England – When you land at Birmingham’s renamed Ozzy Osbourne Airport, the first thing you notice are the bats and the dulcet tones of Black Sabbath being played through the intercom. “Since we renamed Birmingham International airport honouring the famous Brummie Ozzy Osbourne, we’ve noticed a marked increase in the bat population.
    Dailysquib

Posted: May 5, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Politics | Leave a comment

moilyas

 

And that’s another year of trudging to the poll booths done with. And another demonstration of how as a nation we are truly pathetic. That is the only way to do justice to the apathy that demeans the local election process.

A coloured voting box

In Birmingham for example, alongside the traditional voting for local councillors, was a referendum to decide whether the city should be run by an elected mayor. It was one of 10 English cities holding such a ballot.

 

So when the populace gets its chance to vote for local representatives or use it as an opportunity to voice discontent at the national government, and at the same time is presented with an historic opportunity to change local governance, what happens?

 

Less than a third of those eligible can be bothered putting an x or a tick on a piece of paper. In secrecy. Without the need to…

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Elected mayors – it’s all about the city vision, stupid

Posted: April 27, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Politics | 10 Comments

Colmore Row, Birmingham

It seems any argument between supporters and opponents of elected mayors sooner or later reaches an impasse when each side declares their preferred model of local governance is ‘more democratic’ than the other.

For the ‘yes’ side, the principle of each and every voter having a direct say in who leads the city is seen as irrefutable proof that the democratic gods are on their side.

The nay-sayers dismiss this, pointing out that voters already elect the councillors who currently make that choice, and a democratic mandate therefore runs like a thread from the ballot box to the leader’s office.

What’s more, say those who object to mayors, local councillors are more in touch with the issues in their neighbourhoods, and therefore more closely represent the key concerns of the electorate than a distant mayor ever could. These individual ward-level local concerns together form Read the rest of this entry »

Labour senses historic city council election victory, while Tories and Lib Dems sulk in silence

Posted: April 26, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Birmingham City Council, Politics | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments
Birmingham City Council House is in Victoria S...

Birmingham Council House

The Labour Party is continuing to ramp up its campaigning efforts in the run up to the Birmingham council elections on May 3, in stark contrast to the city’s ruling Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition which has made no effort to seek publicity in recent weeks.

A flurry of policy announcements by Labour during April included a promise to give a wage rise to 2,743 low-paid council workers and a commitment to appoint a “Victims Champion” to make sure that the voices of those affected by crime are heard in all local authority departments.

Further details setting out how Labour would go about making sure that the council uses its £1 billion-a-year procurement powers to buy goods and services from local firms is expected before polling day.

Labour’s 16-page manifesto – A Vision for Birmingham – has been regarded as Read the rest of this entry »

Mirza Ahmad: ‘I can run Birmingham and be a barrister at the same time’

Posted: April 25, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Birmingham City Council, Elected mayors, Politics | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

Mirza Ahmad

Mirza Ahmad has become the first of Birmingham’s mayoral candidates to suggest that he would be able to combine running the city with a second full time job.

Dr Ahmad, a lawyer, is promising to accept only a “fraction” of any recommended pay package for the mayor, but intends to continue to practice as a barrister from St Philip’s chambers.

The former Director of Corporate Governance and Monitoring Officer at the city council also took a sideswipe at his former colleagues, describing them as working in “highly overpaid, inefficient and ineffective structures”.

He made it clear that he would abolish the post of Read the rest of this entry »

Posted: April 25, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Politics | Leave a comment

There’s another election going on, you know. Solihull’s Joe Tildesley tells Top of the Cops why he wants to be the Tory candidate for West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner

TopOfTheCops.com

  • To increase the number of Police officers actually deployed on an operational basis. I will work towards the early return of the recruitment of Police officers, whilst ensuring that within the bounds of legislation both Special Constables and Police Community Support Officers play a full part in cutting crime.
  • To maintain a sustained reduction in the overall crime level across all communities and every part of the West Midlands. That can only be achieved by ensuring that we have the highest quality staff, well motivated, with officers prepared to daily ‘work and patrol with purpose’.
  • As well as fulfilling my statutory commitments to the Police and Crime Panel, I will establish formal communications with all seven Metropolitan Borough areas in the West Midlands. I will listen and respond to the concerns of communities and residents groups. I pledge to be a visible…

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