Dear readers — welcome to your Monday Briefing. It’s been a harrowing few days for the region and we hope you are safe and well.
Unsurprisingly, the fires that have ripped through our communities are the top story of the day. The blaze was so severe in Stourbridge that the prime minister travelled up from London to show his gratitude to the local fire service — and to announce support to help us get back on our feet. Keep your eyes peeled for our more in-depth look at the fires, and whether we can expect more outbreaks in summers to come, tomorrow.
Also today: one of Birmingham’s most high profile academics has slammed media treatment of the late Cambridge professor, Jason Arday, as a “public lynching”, and an arrest brings the European Athletics Championships to a standstill. All of that is in your briefing below.
Catch up and coming up:
- On Saturday, Moya and Kate unpacked a bitter funding row surrounding the Spirit of Pakistan festival which wrapped up at the weekend. Catch up here.
- Last week marked a year since we reported on the flag frenzy in Weoley Castle, which spread all over the UK. Jack Walton returned there to see if a movement that changed the country had the same effect on its ground zero. Read here.
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