Dear readers — coming off the back of our fabulous event last Thursday, The Dispatch wants to thank everyone who attended, our panel and our audience members who asked brilliant questions. We hold these events to get to know our readers, but also to get to know our city better. Each and every one of you is a window into a particular field, industry, neighborhood, political party, church, mosque, hobby club, or school. We loved chatting to you all on Thursday night about our great city: its problems and its triumphs. Birmingham is still very undercovered, especially by national media: there are thousands of stories to be told.
But we need your help to tell them. Last week, our parent company, Mill Media, announced the hiring of Cameron Barr, a former managing editor at the Washington Post. He’ll be heading up investigations across all of our cities. We’re really excited about this development. Alongside the hiring of a third staffer at The Dispatch, we now have the capacity to launch more investigations — landing straight in your inbox.
However, we need your help. Our audience knows this city better than anyone. That’s why we're asking you for tip offs. From odd goings on in your neighborhood to city level political corruption: we want to hear from you. You can email us at editor@birminghamdispatch.co.uk or our staffers at kate@birminghamdispatch.co.uk and sam@birminghamdispatch.co.uk.
We’ll also be trialling a source clinic, where you can come and talk to us for twenty minute slots about the city. Samuel will be working from Lekker Café on 10 September from 12pm. Sign up sheet here. Please be prompt and respect the twenty minute time slot: we’re trying to fit a lot of people in!
Catch up and coming up:
- On Monday we published Kate’s investigation into the new, controversial, reign of David Mba, vice chancellor of Birmingham City University. You can read it here.
- We’ve got an exclusive interview coming up, as well as essays on Birmingham’s pop art phenomenon.
- Samuel is working on a piece about Islamic Relief’s influence in Birmingham. Familiar with the topic? Contact him at sam@birminghamdispatch.co.uk.
The Dispatch is hiring a third staff writer. We're looking for someone who believes in our mission, loves the kind of reporting we do and is passionate about applying our brand of journalism to many more stories in the years ahead. Think that might be you? Apply below.
Photo of the week:
Photo: Diji Aderogba. A view of St Chad’s Queensway. What do you think about the motorways that carve up Birmingham? Necessary transport measure or a concrete collar? Let your opinion be known in the comments!
Big Story: From Small Heath to Whitehall, Shabana Mahmood is made Home Secretary
Topline: The current Labour justice secretary and MP for Birmingham Ladywood, Shabana Mahmood has been promoted to home secretary by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Context: The prime minister decided on a last minute cabinet reshuffle last Friday. This reshuffle came after Angela Rayner, formerly deputy prime minister and deputy leader of the Labour Party, was forced to resign after accusations of financial impropriety.
The promotion: Mahmood has been promoted from justice secretary to home secretary (one of the great offices of state). She replaces Yvette Cooper, who has been promoted to foreign secretary. Mahmood’s brief will include dealing with immigration, borders and policing: hot button issues in 2025.
Competence? Mahmood is widely seen by Labour insiders to have dealt with her justice brief competently. Notable moments include managing the prison overcrowding crisis, stepping in to prevent the UK’s Sentencing Council promotion of pre-sentencing reports (which often reduce sentences) along race and faith lines, and balancing her ministerial role alongside personally held anti-euthanasia beliefs, during the The Terminally Ill Adults Bill. She has, however, been widely criticised by the right-leaning press, due to her decision to replace short prison sentences with ‘community punishments.’
From Small Heath to the courts: Mahmood grew up in Small Heath, attending a local primary school and King Edward VI Camp Hill before going on to Oxford to study law. She then trained as a barrister, joining Gray’s Inn. She practiced as a professional indemnity barrister between 2003 and 2010.
Family: She is the daughter of Mahmood Ahmed and Zubaida Ahmed. Mahmood Ahmed is a civil engineer, and was, for a time, the chair of Birmingham’s Labour Party. According to The Guardian, Shabana Mahmood has had close ties with the Labour right since an early age, with Tom Watson, the former deputy leader of the Labour Party, coming for tea at Mahmood Ahmed’s Small Heath house in the 1990s.
A loose grip on Ladywood? Mahmood has been MP for the central Birmingham constituency of Ladywood since 2010. During the last general election in 2024, Mahmood saw her vote share cut from 79.2% in 2019, down to 42.5%. This decline was largely down to her being perceived as weak on the genocide in Gaza by many constituents, who voted for insurgent independent candidate, and pro-Palestinian solicitor, Akhmed Yakoob. The 2024 contest was tense, with Mahmood’s Labour supporters reporting intimidation by Yakoob’s team.
Sparking discourse: Mahmood’s promotion to Home Secretary has sparked a large amount of discourse online. Many on the UK’s right have slated Starmer for the appointment, citing Mahmood’s support for Palestine, identification with the Muslim faith and perceived weakness on immigration. However, Labour insiders describe her as ‘hardline’ on law and order and illegal immigration. The Independent newspaper has described her as “the Maggie Thatcher of the Left,” and conservative Blue Labour peer Maurice Glasman called Mahmood “fantastic” and “the leader of our part of the party,” in reaction to her appointment as Home Secretary.
Nothing is off the table: Reputedly, she has said to friends that “nothing is off the table” in her mission to ‘restore’ law and order: including revisions to European human rights law and moving migrants from hotels to military barracks.
Brum in brief:
➡️ Reform UK held their party conference over the weekend at the NEC. Warwickshire County Council leader and Reform councillor, George Finch has told the BBC that he wants to “wipe the floor” with the opposition in next year's all-out local elections in Birmingham and Coventry. Reform holds Staffordshire and runs minority administrations in Warwickshire and Worcestershire county councils. It now has its eyes set on the urban heart of the West Midlands with party strategists anticipating a capture of Labour-run Sandwell, a very strong showing in Coventry, and to secure a place as the largest party in Brum.
🚙 Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has told production workers not to return to work until at least 9 September, as they continue to battle a cyber attack that occurred last week. According to the Birmingham Mail, JLR has suspended activities at its plant in Solihull and engine production facility in Wolverhampton.
⛐ MP for Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley, Tahir Ali, has called for tougher rules on pavement parking. In a parliamentary committee last week, Ali said that: “There needs to be a parity in the law which makes it illegal across the entire country, tougher action against those breaking the law and councils being given the resources to take enforcement action.” Currently, pavement parking is only properly banned in London and Scotland, with rules against the practice inconsistently applied across the rest of the country, according to the Birmingham Mail. A proposal to ban pavement parking nationwide is currently slated for October.
🏚️ The Friends of Bradford X account has highlighted the extent of rotting buildings in Digbeth, after issuing an FOI request detailing fires in the area. According to the Friends of Bradford Street: “Since 2021, there have been 28 fire service callouts across 4 derelict sites in the Bradford St area, placing a huge strain on resources and public safety.” The account detailed the “worst offenders,” listing: “Connaught Square, [the] SK Building, 42 Moseley Road and a site near 212 Bradford Street.”
Quick Hits:
👑 The King visits the Birmingham Oratory. (Royal Family).
🏗️ Birmingham’s tallest skyscraper is finally finished. (Building, Design and Construction Magazine).
🚶A nudist walk planned for a Harborne park has been cancelled after “online abuse.” (BBC).
🍲 A new Colmore Square food hall has opened. (Birmingham Mail).
🗑️ A steel firm boss has said fly tipping in Birmingham is a “nightmare” for small businesses. (BBC).
🎭 Labour-led Cannock Chase council accused of handling asset transfer process in “underhand” manner after rejecting community bid to buy local theatre (Express and Star).
Media picks:
📹 An anonymous Youtuber named GWVillager has produced a long video essay named ‘A Plan for Birmingham: the second city that's second rate.’ The video explores the relative decline of Birmingham in comparison to other large British cities, with the narrator explaining that: “[the] West Midlands have contributed hugely to our modern world. But the modern world has given little back to Birmingham, and, today, it's poorer, emptier and uglier than much of the rest of the country. Its people do not deserve this.” GWVillager recommends a series of solutions to the city’s impasse, including breaking up Birmingham city council, primaries for the West Midlands mayor, and rapidly improving the area’s public transport. Our piece on Birmingham’s productivity by Daniel Timms also gets a citation!
📰 Jake Hall of The Independent makes the case that Birmingham, a “much-maligned city,” is secretly the “most cultural spot in Britain.” Hall takes us on a weekend tour of Birmingham, featuring Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Black Sabbath: The Ballet, The Nightingale Club, Voce Books, BRIG Cafe, Cow Vintage, The Old Crown Pub, Ikon Gallery, Mocking Bird Theatre, The Hare & Hounds, and the Grand Hotel. Hall concedes that: “despite these gems, Birmingham’s claim to second city status is often undermined; its cultural output overlooked.”
📕Andy Munro, a longtime food writer, has recently released The Balti: Its Birth, Its Boom Years, and Beyond published by Fonthill. Munro is the previous author of Going for a Balti and The Regeneration Game which narrates the Jewellery Quarter’s gentrification. The Dispatch attended the book’s launch party at Shababs, alongside historian Carl Chinn and Lord Mayor Councillor Zafar Iqbal. Munro’s book describes how the humble Kashmiri dish, often known as a bāltī gosht in the mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan, came to prominence in Birmingham in the 1980s and 1990s - sparking a ‘craze’ that formed the Balti Triangle around the Ladypool Road.
Our to do list:
💬 On Tuesday, head down to Jewellery Quarter’s 1000 Trades to hear former minister Clare Short reflect on the Iraq War and turbulence in the Middle East.
🎙️ On Wednesday, Eric Idle is looking on the bright side of life at Symphony Hall.
🎥 On Thursday, the Independent Horror Society hosts an indie showcase of short films at the Custard Factory.
🎵 On Friday, jazzy R&B singer HERÁ launches her new EP at Centrala.
📽️ Pray for good weather; stone cold family classic The Princess Bride is being screened in Moseley Park on Saturday.
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