Dear readers — today we have an extract from the debut book by Michael D. Kennedy, a cartoonist and illustrator from Tamworth who lives in Birmingham. Kennedy's work has appeared in places like The New Yorker, The New York Times and The Atlantic and his comics collection Milk White Steed, which is set in and around Birmingham, was published last month. He introduces the excerpt below but first, here's your midweek briefing.
Brum in brief
📻 UB40 have come out in support of striking bin workers while appearing on BBC WM radio. Speaking to Ed James on Tuesday, singer and founding band member Robin Campbell said: "Being a binman is a dirty job but someone has to do it and I think they should get paid whatever they're worth." He and drummer Jimmy Brown were also quick to reject the idea that residents should be embarrassed of the city following weeks of international press coverage about the crisis that has led to messy streets and piles of uncollected rubbish.
🗑️ Meanwhile, a resolution to the strikes is still out of reach (at the time of writing) although 85 per cent of rubbish has reportedly been cleared from the streets. However, there has been more coverage of the potential, broader implications of the dispute. This article in Moneyweek considers the impact of equal pay disputes on private sector employers, while Angela Rayner has come under fire by Conservative shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith for upcoming reforms to workers rights and union powers. He says the changes will make strikes more disruptive, as reported in The Times here.
Quick hits
🚄 HS2 is set to undergo a 'programme reset' involving a cost and schedule review. The first trains are supposed to leave Brum for London between 2029 and 2033 but CEO Mark Wild cannot confirm if this is still the case.
⚖️ The 15-year-old boy charged with the murder of 12-year-old Leo Ross appeared in court on Tuesday for an initial hearing ahead of his trial next month. The five week trial at Coventry Crown Court is expected to begin on 23 June.
📺 Joe Lycett's new Sky Max TV series United States of Birmingham, in which the comedian travels to the US and Canada in search of 18 other Birminghams, has been called "weirdly edifying and gently revealing" by The Independent.
With my work, I’m attempting to recreate classic Beano or Dandy comics combined with dark fairy tales, horror, science fiction and social history. I use these contrasting forms to write short stories about overlooked elements of Midlands life. These usually involve the experiences of the working class, ethnic minorities and those who have been pushed to the margins throughout British history. They are, effectively, folk stories.
My debut book Milk White Steed is a collection of ten comics (seven of which are about the Midlands) that often focus on characters from the Caribbean diaspora. My parents' families came to Birmingham from Barbados and Ireland to rebuild Britain after World War Two. This movement of people made me think about the folklore that migrated with them. Did spirits smuggle themselves in suitcases and cross the Atlantic to settle down in Small Heath or Aston? What lives would those spirits live? Would they also complain about the weather here? What events were they a part of? Who would they haunt?
