Dear Patchers — Welcome to your Wednesday briefing.
While Rishi Sunak is facing up to voters and the media in the general election campaign, four West Midlands men are on trial over their alleged misuse of the Prime Minister’s famous Eat Out to Help Out scheme. The accused are said to have used the scheme as part of a con to get £2.4m of government cash over the pandemic period.
Elsewhere, we bring you the latest on Resorts World, glitch-ridden IT systems and a project which celebrates Birmingham green spaces. Take care.
Brum in Brief
🏟️ So long Resorts World: Resorts World will be no more as it changes it name to bp pulse LIVE as part of a new sponsorship agreement. The 15,000+ capacity venue will change its moniker in September with bp pulse saying it will aim to support increased electric vehicle travel to and from the area. Elen Macaskill, chief customer officer at the firm, added: “We are excited by our thrilling new partnership and to add our name to such a prestigious music venue.” Full story.
🍽️ Eat out to Help Out Trial: While Rishi Sunak, the brains behind the infamous pandemic hospitality scheme Eat out to Help Out, is currently facing down the judgement of the public, four local men have gone on trial over accusations they fraudulently claimed over £2.4m partly using the scheme. Six men in total, three of whom are from Birmingham and (another is from Walsall), are alleged to have made dozens of illegal claims for Small Business Grants, Bounce Back loans, Eat out to Help Out and Self-Assessment payments. One of the alleged crimes includes making over £500,000 from the scheme. The trial is ongoing at Birmingham Crown Court. Full details.
🖥️ Brum Schools ditch IT system: An IT system that left school leaders unable to plan budgets and ended up with them being threatened with bailiffs will be withdrawn from schools in Birmingham. Glitches with Oracle’s system led to headteachers waiting for months to figure out the size of their budgets. As a result, councillors have promised to move primary and secondary schools to an alternate system by September next year. Read more.
🌳 Green Birmingham project: A photography project highlighting Birmingham’s green spaces has gone on display in the city. It’s led by Brummie photographer Jaskirt Dhaliwal-Boora who captured local residents as they immersed themselves in nature around our busy shared home. “Green Spaces [the name of the project] is a celebration of what it means for these seven individuals to be from or discover Erdington anew, and how we can immerse ourselves in nature, to uplift and hold us, to piece us back together," said Jaskirt. More here.
📚 Stuart Hall aficionados: For those who love the work of Stuart Hall, and are of an academic bent, a whole-day symposium which will use the Hall worldview to help excavate modern politics is on offer at the end of this month. It takes place on Cannon Street in central Birmingham with sessions on New Labour and Populism. Full details.
🎾 Tennis helping: If you’ve already one eye on Wimbledon, get into the swing of things by heading to Edgbaston’s Priory Tennis club for the Rothesay Classic, the perfect taster before a summer of courtside action. British No.1 Katie Boulter is joined by reigning champion Jelena Ostapenko, Barbora Krejcikova, and Roland Garros semi-finalist Mirra Andreeva as they all look to claim the Edgbaston crown. All starts on the 15th. Full details.
‘For those who love the work of Stuart Hall, and are of an academic bent, a whole-day symposium which will use the Hall worldview to help excavate modern politics is on offer at the end of this month’ — will it cover his seminal work as the presenter of It’s A Knockout?
Sunak himself should be on trial for Eat out to help out, it was responsible for many excess deaths as well as being ripe for corruption.
Like pretty much everything else this binfire of a government did and do.
Get them gone .