Dear readers — we didn’t think we’d ever make it but the final week of January is upon us. At The Dispatch we celebrated the first pay day since Christmas with Friday chips and pints at 1000 Trades before going our separate ways: Samuel to watch a reboot of Mulholland Drive and Kate to catch the preview of two new exhibitions at Digbeth’s Eastside Projects art gallery. Check out our things to do section for the details on those.
In tremendously exciting news, this week we are welcoming our brand new reporter to the team! Madeleine Rousell is a West Midlands native who joins us fresh from studying for her masters in journalism in Sheffield. She brings experience writing for the likes of the Sheffield Star and the Independent with her. We’ve already thrown her in at the deep end and sent her out doorknocking for a story that will be winging its way to your inboxes on Thursday. Please give Madeleine a warm welcome in the comments and send her any interesting tips to: madeleine@birminghamdispatch.co.uk
What do you like about The Dispatch? What don't you like? This is your last chance to tell us, as our annual survey closes tomorrow. Get your feedback in to help us as we plan for our best year yet in 2026.
Catch up and coming up:
- On Saturday, the final essay in our series on Birmingham and British fascism traced the rise and fall of Simon Darby and the BNP in the West Midlands in the noughties. Reader Matthew Danks commented: “I was a young reporter in Dudley at the time Mr Darby was on the rise. He certainly was an operator, I’ll say that for him.” Catch Samuel’s essay here.
- Samuel also published a writer’s edition last Wednesday which sent him on a hunt for West Midlands Police officers who served in Bosnia in the 1990s. Do you know anyone who fits the bill? Read anything about WMP in the Balkans? Please — contact Samuel at sam@birmingamdispatch.co.uk.
Photo of the week
Photo: @Colatron. A photo of Druids Heath’s Kingswood House, one of 14 blocks built in the 1960s. The towers are currently slated to be demolished and replaced with a controversial redevelopment. But last week the council made the surprise move to request a court order to overturn its own decision to provide planning permission to the developer. The buildings were originally constructed as part of a slum clearance programme in the 1960s by City Architect Alan Maudsley and development company Bryant.
Brum in Brief
📉 Independent think tank Centre for Cities has published its annual outlook report today — and the news is not good for the West Midlands. According to the report, living standards (defined as disposable income) in the West Midlands grew at half the national average between 2013 and 2026. Disposable income grew by only 1.2% in this time frame, compared to 2.4% nationally, and 5.2% in the UK’s top performing cities: Warrington, Bristol, Barnsley and Brighton. Had the West Midlands matched this growth, everyone in the region would have an extra £3,500 on average. In short, the average Brummie has almost no more money in their pocket, than they did in 2013, despite sky-high inflation since 2022. We’ve reported on a slate of bad economic news the West Midlands has faced recently: here and here.
🇬🇧 French Authorities have banned a “far-right” movement originating in South Birmingham from pursuing activism in Northern France for a four day period. Ten unnamed activists from the Raise the Colours group are now barred from travelling to spots in Calais where they have regularly appeared since November, claiming to be journalists and filming migrants and NGO workers.
Kate Knowles
Activists from Raise the Colours had planned to carry out “Operation Overlord” on French beaches — disrupting channel crossings attempted by smuggling gangs and migrants, while filming the events for social media. In their email newsletters, Raise the Colours has strongly disputed the French ban, writing to followers that: “we assure you that WE WILL NOT STOP.” In another email, a day before the French ban kicked-in, the anti-migrant group had reopened volunteer applications. The message calls on members to “step up and help us continue the vital work of protecting our borders and communities.”
🏚️Central Methodist Hall is officially falling apart. That’s according to a group of Birmingham heritage preservation campaigners who’ve been keeping a close eye on the historic building, abandoned in 2017. Four years ago, an Irish tycoon promised to transform the Methodist into a grand hotel — but promptly went bust (we covered the implosion of Paddy McKillen Jr’s finances here). Now the Edwardian landmark is back on the market — and still rotting. The latest development is the disintegration of the building’s roof, with tiles disappearing at a rapid lick, as documented by Twitter account, TTFN which shared snaps of the damage — taken on 19 January — in a post. “Some new photos from this morning [showing] the increasing damage to the roof of the Central Hall,” they wrote in the caption.
💙 Former West Midlands Mayor, Andy Street and former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson are launching a “new movement” hoping to attract millions of “politically homeless” voters back to the Conservative Party. Street is unveiling the plan today and aiming to pick up the votes of seven million Brits who describe themselves as either “centrist” or “centre-right.” Street said: “There is still a really, really strong centre-right who believe in Britain.” (BBC).
Quick Hits
💉 A third of private weight loss drug patients in the West Midlands are in debt because of injections. (Express & Star).
🥙 Coventry MP, Zarah Sultana, backs Coventry restaurant in Kebab Awards. (Coventry Telegraph).
🚄 Arguments about HS2 have erupted again: this time centering on a £100 million “bat shed.” (The Times).
🏚️ Walsall is the most deprived place in the UK, according to Demos-PwC Good Growth for Cities Index 2025. (Express & Star).
Media picks
📰 The New Statesman has visited a recently spruced up Digbeth boozer: The Anchor, as part of their new weekly pub review. The anonymous reviewer writes that: “locating this gem requires a complex game of dodge the building works. It’s easy to miss if you don’t make it past the giant crater that is the former wholesale market.” Despite the author’s trepidation surrounding Birmingham’s constant state of construction, they are full of praise for the Anchor’s interpretation of a famous West Midlands delicacy, the cob: “They’re proper. Cheese thick as a doorstopper, beautiful silverside beef with lashings of onion chutney.”
📰 Diana Munday, a founding member of the groundbreaking Birmingham Pregnancy Advisory Service (now the British Pregnancy Advisory Service), has been remembered in this Times obituary following her death earlier this month. Munday was a key architect of the 1967 Abortion Act which legalised abortions under certain conditions in the UK. As a prominent activist on a controversial subject, she received regular death threats and anonymous phone calls featuring a baby’s voice crying “mama, mama, you murdered me”. Undeterred, the night the bill was passed, Munday and her fellow activists popped champagne on parliament's terrace. However, as The Times writes, “Munday only filled her glass half full because the job, she said, was only half done.”
Our to do list
📽️ At the weekend, Eastside Projects launched two new exhibitions. In Compensare: For the Swallows We Weigh local artist and qualified social worker Marley Starskey-Butler draws on their experience observing staff and families at a therapeutic play centre to explore the ever-shifting landscape of family support. Take off your shoes, tread the soft-play carpet and view videos of two movement artists inspired by interactions between staff, caregivers, and children. The accompanying, original electronic score is inspired by changing adoption legislation — it’s also a bop.
🖼️ Sarah Al-Sarraj’s panoramic scenescape Nar Marratu depicts an imagined future when distinct wetland communities are brought together by the transformative effects of global warming. Far from pessimistic, Al-Sarraj envisages the radical possibilities for new forms of communication and organisation brought by the submerging of large patches of the UK under water. Both exhibitions are on until 4 April.
📚On Friday, head to Waterstones for a fantasy author panel and book signing with Petra Lord, Antonia Hodgson and Alwyn Hamilton. Pick their brains about the fantasy writing process during a Q&A, and have the opportunity to meet them afterwards. Tickets are £6 general admission, or £5 if you’re a Waterstones loyalty customer.
🎨Head to MAC on Saturday for your last chance to hear Birmingham artist Hardeep Pandhal discuss his exhibition Saag and Fish Fingers before it leaves the gallery on Sunday. Tickets are available from £2.
🎤Or, spend your Saturday at Wolverhampton’s Arena Theatre. A week before the Literature Festival officially starts, they’re previewing the fun with a 15-person Poetry Slam. Tickets start at £12 for concessions, or £15 for adults.
A previous edition of this briefing stated a third of private 'wealth' loss drug patients in the West Midlands are in debt because of injections. This has been corrected.
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