Is Brum Pride in debt?

Dear readers — we hope your weekend was better than Madeleine’s. Intending to take a 45 minute flight to Dublin for a short getaway on Saturday, she instead spent four hours waiting on the runway sans book or headphones. After gradually growing more and more frazzled such that she started to resemble Michael Douglas in Falling Down, she was eventually allowed back inside the building. Alas, two hours later, with no plane in sight and clutching an emotional support carton of Marlboro Golds, she cut her losses and dragged her boyfriend back into Birmingham for a consolation spag bol at La Bellezza. She’s almost back to normal — just don’t mention Guinness or shillelaghs and all will be well.

Moving on, we are still on the hunt for the best, most brilliant and entertaining writer this side of Tamworth Castle. If you are — or know — a reporter who is great at sniffing out stories and can turn phrases to make grouches laugh and grown men weep, check out the job description below. And please share it far and wide so as many people as possible hear about it.

And finally, an update on our (potential) new sister title in Leeds. We gave ourselves one month to find 500 people in Leeds who wanted to back us to launch a new newspaper. Amazingly, 350 people have signed up, but there's only one week left to find the missing 150! Please share this link with anyone you know with a Leeds or West Yorkshire connection. And if you'd like to support the local journalism revolution sweeping the UK, then pledge your support to help get us there. The minimum pledge is just £7.16.

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Catch up and coming up:

At the weekend, Kate went on a food-focused expedition, or as Bearwood Parish Council called it, “a Hunter S. Thompson style (presumedly LSD-induced) journey through Bearwood (aka Las Beargas) in search of snacks.” Catch up here.
On Wednesday, Madeleine went to Wolverhampton to report on how pedestrianisation has impacted local businesses. “Fabulous article,” one reader commented.
At The Dispatch, we are in high spirits after Birmingham’s brief 16 degree spell last week. Alas, the sky is grey again — but we haven’t lost hope. Starting next week, we’ll be publishing The Dispatch’s Good News Edition and we want your knowledge.

If there’s anything — or indeed anyone — that you thinks deserves a spotlight, get in touch with Madeleine at madeleine@birminghamdispatch.co.uk

Photo of the week

Not so much a red carpet as a grey bit of paving, this shot by Naresh Dalvair nevertheless captures the calm before the storm ahead of a screening of Peaky Blinders: Immortal Man. The film premiered on Friday, with the first showing at the Mockingbird Cinema at midnight on Thursday.

Brum in Brief

🌈 Something curious is going on between Birmingham Pride and the charity St John Ambulance (SJA) which has provided medical support at the annual LGBT+ event since at least 2013. Last week, a screenshot was shared with The Dispatch of an email that appeared to have been sent from SJA to its team of volunteers in the West Midlands, suggesting all was not well in the relationship. “Unfortunately we will not be able to support the event this year due to the organiser’s considerable outstanding debt from previous events,” it read. “Despite extensive efforts by our events and finance team over the past year to assist in clearing these payments, there has been no progress.” The Dispatch understands that SJA does not comment on internal communications or discuss commercial matters publicly, but when we reached out to them they did not dispute the legitimacy of the screenshotted email. A spokesperson said: “St John Ambulance has not been formally approached by Birmingham Pride about providing medical cover for the 2026 event. Birmingham Pride has long been an important and much‑valued event for St John Ambulance, and our volunteers have been proud to support the celebrations over many years.” As for Birmingham Pride, they declined to comment on allegations about historic debt, but claimed that their invoice from St John for medical provision at Pride 2025 had been paid in full last 22 April. Know anything about this story? Get in touch at editor@birminghamdispatch.co.uk

🚂 Our city’s habit of underselling itself (that old chestnut) has once again lit a fuse under proud Brummies. Over on the R/Brum Reddit page, a poster has posed that “we seriously under utilise some of the famous things to come from Birmingham and the Midlands,” arguing that if we did, we might boost tourism and the economy. Some of the responses are enlightening. For one thing, we at The Dispatch had no idea until now that the creator of Thomas the Tank Engine, Reverend Wilbert Awdry, started writing the famous stories while he was a vicar at St Nicolas Church in Kings Norton in the 1940s. Elsewhere, commenters have offered solutions: “the best thing Birmingham could do for its reputation is fix the triangle between New Street, Moor Street, and Digbeth Coach Station,” writes one commenter, concluding that these high traffic zones leave a bad impression on visitors. “Imagine being someone from out of town or, god forbid, out of the country, having to change from New Street to Moor Street and walking through the underpass of broken dreams.”

💷 An appeal has been set up to fund the funeral of the man who was stabbed to death outside a primary school in Alum Rock last week. Ali Alshmari, 30, was attacked on Bridge Road where emergency services arrived shortly after 12pm on Tuesday. Iqbal and Sons Bereavement Services, a charity providing free Muslim burials for families in need, is looking for £4,070 to cover the costs. In their appeal, they describe how Alshmari arrived in the UK from Iraq in 2025, alone, and as a student carrying "hope in his heart". Footage taken by freelance journalist Martin Fricker, and shared with The Dispatch, showed a police officer administering CPR to Alshmari but he was later announced dead at the scene. A 32 year-old man called Mahmood Ibrahim has been charged with murder and attempted murder. (BBC).

Quick Hits

Local artists TatVision made their mainstream telly debut on Britain’s Got Talent at the weekend where their papier mache puppets of baby versions of Ant and Dec and a betowelled Simon Cowell alarmed the judges and confused the audience. Not Brummies, however, who lapped up the chaos on Instagram.
The only Reform councillor in Walsall, Graham Eardley, has been suspended after he “acted aggressively towards a female volunteer.” (BBC)
Residents in Stockland Green say fly-tipping has left their neighbourhood feeling like “living in a third world slum.” (Birmingham Live).
Residents living in the Canal Wharf complex in the city centre have described their homes as “unliveable.” (BBC)
A single has been released to mark a year since the indefinite bin strikes began in Birmingham (BBC)

Media picks

🍲 Celebrity chefs hoping to make a comeback in financially-troubled times could do worse than a boost by the Guardian’s food critic Grace Dent. And for local big hitter Glyn Purnell, whose Michelin-starred eponymous venture closed in 2024 prompting a fierce voucher-based backlash, and who recently announced last orders at his Henley-in-Arden gastropub The Mount, that vote of confidence couldn’t have come soon enough. Thankfully for Purnell, it’s here, in the form of a rave review for Trillium, the restaurant he opened in December as a way of dining “without rules”. In practice, that appears to mean doing away with stuffy etiquette and choosing what you want, be it small plates of coddled duck egg and a potato scallop served with caviar and beaujolais, or a chocolate mousse paired with a fanta. The approach has won over Dent, anyway. From the moment her first serving appeared, she writes, “I was already somewhat in love with this weird, bold, silly restaurant.”

🗞️ In 2024, the University of Birmingham's student newspaper Redbrick was briefly “saved” when a Gofundme launched by students (and covered by The Dispatch) raised £5,000 in donations. But that boost doesn’t seem to have made a big difference, according to Dr Tom Cutterham, the co-author of a recent report on Redbrick’s ongoing financial struggles. Speaking to Concrete magazine, he said that when he arrived at UoB in 2016, Redbrick would come out “basically every other week” whereas now “it could only be two or three times a year”. He chalks that up to several issues, primarily the fact that students have less time these days to put into extracurricular work and budget cuts. If there was more money coming in from the student union, he says, “that would solve so many problems, and it would make the paper so much more prominent.”

Our to do list

🗣️ Talks

On Thursday, head over to the Midlands Arts Centre for a panel conversation on how global migration and diaspora in the West Midlands has contributed to life and culture. There’ll be opportunities to share your own thoughts and stories during a Q&A afterwards too. Pay what you choose for tickets, and secure them here.

🎭 Theatre

Myra’s Story, the four-time smash hit at the Edinburgh Fringe, arrives in Brum straight from the West End on Sunday. Take your seats at The House to watch what Broadway Baby called an “outstanding play.” Tickets are selling fast, so click here to secure yours. Enjoyed our recent article about drag queens in Birmingham? On Saturday, The Allure Speakeasy show at the Old Join stock promises showgirls, comedy and jaw-dropping entertainment.

🎨 Art & heritage

On Wednesday, pop into Gulp in the Jewellery Quarter for an ‘Art will eat itself’ International Women’s Day celebration with sculptor, jeweller, and artist Siobhan Ledden. Expect food and relaxed conversation on creative processes. Last Saturday marked the beginning of the National Lottery’s Open Week, which offers free days if you present a lottery ticket from any date.