Keeping it local in Stourbridge

“People know who I am and what I stand for.”

Dear Patchers — Welcome to your Wednesday briefing.

As promised, today we publish part two of my time spent in the Black Country covering the general election. Labour is predicted to win by a landslide but that hasn’t stopped the Tory candidate poo-pooing the polls and talking a strong game. “I always take polls with a pinch of salt whatever they say,” she tells me.

This article is free to read but please consider becoming a Dispatch member today. Journalism — despite what we’ve been led to believe for the last 20 years — costs money to do well. That cash can come from advertisers, who aren’t especially interested in you as a reader, or it can come from people like you who care about quality. Some of our work will always be free, but £8 a month will give you access to everything, our entire archive and the events we plan to launch later this year.

Elsewhere, we keep you up-to-date with the latest goings on in Birmingham. With Premier League fixtures for next season released we reveal Aston Villa’s and Wolves’ first games, as well as what’s happening at the Palestine protest at the University of Birmingham and updates on rising bus fares.

As ever, take care. Dan. 

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Brum in Brief 

⚖️Legal action at UoB Palestine encampment: Protestors at the University of Birmingham Palestine encampment are raising money for a legal fund, after the education institution started proceedings to take them to court. Last week, the BBC reported that the vice-chancellor was taking these steps to "end disruption being caused to university land and activity". A spokesperson for the camp said they were disappointed this was taking place. Read more here and here.

🚌Bus fare rises: From the end of the month, West Midlands bus users will be paying higher fares as operators say they are struggling to meet rising costs. An all-day ticket is going up 30p from £4.50 to £4.80 while a week pass will rise from £17 to £18, though a single adult ticket will remain at £2 until the end of the year. The three-day contactless cap of £13 is also being removed and will only be available to SwiftGo users at £13.80. The West Midlands Combined Authority says bus franchising, which Parker campaigned to get elected on, is still on the table but added operators are under the cosh due the operating environment. All the new fares, here. 

⚽From Brum to London for Premier League kickoff: While Euro 2024 fever will have gripped many footie fans in the West Midlands, next year’s Premier League fixtures are already out. An all-claret-and-blue clash is first up for Aston Villa as they go down to London on the 17th of August to take on West Ham in their season starter. Wolves will also be in the Big Smoke, taking on Arsenal (with Villa playing last season’s runners up the week after). Full fixtures.

🦘Brummie struggles make headlines down under: Not news per se for all of us living in the city but funding struggles in our home have made headlines in…Australia. The reporting adds nothing that many are already feeling or experiencing — including cuts, pressure on public services and the emotional impact on many around the second city. That said, it’s a well-researched long read. Full feature.

💬Panjabi and Pahari-Pothwari Lit Fest: On 22nd June, Handsworth Library and South & City College host the latest iteration of the JAAG: Panjabi and Pahari-Pothwari Language and Literature Festival. The day will see talks, discussions, performances and workshops (with a creche for kids) all looking to connect Brummies to these languages and cultures. It all kicks off at 9 am with sessions across the day on language, identity and shame, fiction writing and the role mothers and daughters play in language. All the details.

🛣️Spaghetti Junction festival of dance: A free festival of live dance and music will take place on 27-28 July in celebration of Spaghetti Junction. Headed up by ME dance, the festival will kick off under the junction itself, with performers from the city and Leicester taking part and using dance to showcase migrant stories from that area of the city. Marcia Edwards, artistic director of ME Dance, explains, “Spaghetti Junction is a national icon, and we want to remember the people who made it and celebrate the communities that live amongst it now.”

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Keeping it local in Stourbridge

By Dan Cave

Until October last year, Cat Eccles, Labour’s Stourbridge parliamentary candidate, and Mohammed Ramzan, the Workers Party of Britain candidate standing against her, were party colleagues. “I’ve been a Labour member my whole life, my wife was a Labour councillor,” Ramzan tells me. “But this [version of the] Labour party, they’re a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It’s more Tory and more Conservative.”

Ramzan quit the party around the time of the Israel-Gaza conflict (which caused some issues for Labour councillors on the doorstep in the latest round of local elections) but tells me this isn’t the only commitment he’s standing on. Keen to impress his local roots, Ramzan says that people have a one-dimensional view of Stourbridge, as a wealthy town. Though it does has lower levels of social rent than the national average and higher levels of home ownership, Ramzan says the changing nature of the constituency’s boundaries — taking in a third of the old Dudley South seat — means areas with clear pockets of deprivation, such as Brierley Hill &Wordsley South ward and Netherton & Holly Hall ward are now in the new parliamentary constituency. Ramzan believes any new MP will have to focus on problems many in the community face, such as the cost of dentistry and the cost of living. “I feel that the minority, including the white working class, have been neglected,” he says.