Brace for £150m cuts
Brace for £150m cuts
Plus: Uefa bans Legia Warsaw fans from future matches
Good morning readers — welcome to Thursday’s Dispatch.
Our Brum in Brief today leads on the bracing news that Birmingham City Council has announced its first round of cuts as it tries to make savings. Do click through to complete the survey to let the council know your views ahead of the next round which is expected early next year.
On a lighter note, tonight is the Foka Wolf and Tat Vision Christmas extravaganza. If you are going, have fun and expect mayhem! And if you haven’t already, read our interview with the pair from Tuesday:
Brum in Brief
✂️ Birmingham City Council has revealed where it will make cuts in its first round of budget-saving measures since it effectively announced bankruptcy in September. The BBC reports: “Headline figures show savings of £57m planned for the children and families department. City operations, which looks after things like highways and bins, is due to take the next largest cut of £29m.”
📨 The council has also launched a public consultation to discover which non-statutory services should be prioritised in next year’s budget cuts. It makes for rather grim reading - for example, residents have five options of services that are “most important” to them.
⚽ Legia Warsaw fans have been banned from buying tickets for the club’s next five away games by the Union of European Football Associations (Uefa) following recent violence at Villa Park. The side has also been fined 100,000 euros (£86,100). The BBC reports: “Uefa said the punishment was "for crowd disturbances, acts of damage, throwing of objects and lighting of fireworks" on 30 November.”
🍉 The Big West Midlands Protest for Palestine takes place on Saturday in Birmingham City Centre, outside Barclays Bank from 1pm.
🏗️ Two new, 35 storey towers of 1,205 bedrooms for students at University College Birmingham have been proposed for the city centre next to the Birmingham and Fazeley canal. The university is keen to create a new “campus style” purpose-built student residency.
🎄 A reminder that it’s Foka Wolf and Tat Vision’s Christmas variety show Piss Mass Party tonight at Nortons in Digbeth. Tickets £11 - bring your sense of humour.
✍️ Budding writers can meet up with fellow wordsmiths at the West Midlands Writers’ Guild Christmas get-together tonight at the Sly Old Fox on Hurst Street. Non members welcome, the advert says: “If you're a writer, we'd love to see you anyway.” From 7pm.
Why are you publishing the march for Palestine date. Do you not understand the hurt to the Jewish community when these hateful marches happen. From the river to the sea is a Hamas chant to ethnically cleans the area of Jews. Jews who have been in that land for thousands of years. No Arab country want anyone to do with the Palestinians. Why are we facilitating their agenda.
Why no protests when Syria bombed and gassed it's own people. Yemen killing its own citizens. Iran hanging women and people they don't like. Turkey murdering two million Yadzis. Etc. No only when Jews are fighting back is there an outcry. Why doesn't Egypt open it's borders to take injured. Why has not one Arab country taken one Palestinian. Israel was there thousands of years before Islam came along.