Cllr Akhlaq Ahmed wants to stamp out HMOs in his ward. What about the one his wife owns?
The house in Hall Green North is a supported exempt accommodation
Kate Knowles
Kate is a reporter from Birmingham who set up The Dispatch in 2023. She has written extensively about politics in the West Midlands and has investigated the region’s housing and hospitality sectors.
Birmingham
Featured Stories
Au Pairs agreed to split everything equally. Now their frontwoman wants it all
Birmingham's post-punk auteurs were the poster band for equality, but 42-years later they're embroiled in a bitter row
Red flags: The non-existent company behind Brum's Union Jacks
'It's 100% legitimate'
Latest Stories
Old square, new tricks
This city centre spot has had many lives — what should its next one look like?
Last minute dinner parties, Bearwood & Bollywood
An editor's edition from Kate
The future of Birmingham’s symphony orchestra is uncertain. Can grime help?
'Oh my God, it's actually happening. We're doing this'
Is this millionaire councillor lying about his address?
Wolverhampton's Milkinderpal Jaspal claims he lives in an Air BnB above a garage
The council says striking bin workers are violent. The union says that's rubbish.
It's week three of an all out bins strike and rumours are flying. Who do we trust?
Ancestral land owners, gangster pop stars and everything in between
An editor’s edition from Kate
50 years after they formed in Handsworth, reggae legends Steel Pulse are coming home
Lead singer David Hinds on the music of 'the masses' and the lesson he learnt from Bob Marley
Leaked recordings and scheming councillors: did Labour councillors engage in a ‘campaign of abuse’?
Shabina Bano claims she was the victim of bullying, harassment and misogyny by her former Birmingham Labour colleagues
An Irish hospitality tycoon promised to transform one of Birmingham’s most important buildings — three years later, and it’s falling apart
The clock is ticking on the Methodist Central Hall
A shock letter & a silent councillor: what really happened at Baby Aid Birmingham
And what it says about our city leaders
Want to get your child into a King Edward grammar school? The fight is fierce
'All they were interested in was their child passing the test, they didn’t care how it was done, they just wanted to pay for it'
Cancel culture on campus? Inside the fight for freedom of speech at the University of Birmingham
Two students may not be allowed to graduate because they participated in pro-Palestine protests
A tower block fire exposes Birmingham’s council housing problem
‘You just think of Grenfell. The first thing you think is you’re not going to get out of here alive’
No justice, no peace? Why hasn’t there been a public inquiry into the 1974 Birmingham bombings?
50 years after the Birmingham bombings, and no one is any closer to getting to the truth. The story of why, and how, a public inquiry hasn’t happened