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Posts by Tom

This week’s planning committee (13th Feb) is a big one - a few major applications, some deferrals coming back and a new chair (not sure why) with some big shoes to fill as the last two have been very capable. So here are a few thoughts. 1/n

1 year ago 10 5 2 5

This also has the benefit that if (when) the council have to move from the Council House to elsewhere in the city centre – but presumably still nearby – the name ‘Newhall’ can go with it.

1 year ago 1 0 0 0
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I am once again suggesting we start referring to Birmingham City Council (et al) as ‘Newhall’.

We don’t have a City Hall, ‘Town Hall’ is a music venue, and the name ‘Council House’ has a very different meaning.

Newhall was/is the name of the estate that this part of the city centre was built on.

1 year ago 3 0 1 0

Which area? 👀

1 year ago 0 0 1 0

Just, and I cannot stress this enough, build HS2 in full.

1 year ago 250 52 10 5

This could be High Street, Corporation Street, Bull Street, Union Street, Albert Street, etc., but BCC is broke.

1 year ago 3 0 0 0
Screenshot of @bakebirmingham post on Instagram, which says they'll be at Tilt, 2 City Arcade B2 4TX, today Saturday 7th.

Screenshot of @bakebirmingham post on Instagram, which says they'll be at Tilt, 2 City Arcade B2 4TX, today Saturday 7th.

If you like cake and you're in Birmingham city centre today, the DELICIOUS Bake cake stall will be popping up in Tilt from 10.30 (they were supposed to be at Kings Heath market but... *gestures at weather*)
www.instagram.com/p/DDOudj-iYk...

1 year ago 6 4 1 0
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Has McDonald’s Sparked a Class War in Stirchley? Is the American fast food joint a democratising force, offering cheap food for all, or an unwanted corporate presence threatening a hard-won independent economy?

No, of course it hasn’t. It’s a proposed drive thru on a thriving high street. It will encourage driving, choking the high street with congestion and fumes. It’s not compatible with a people-focused, sustainable future. That’s why there’s opposition.

www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/p/has-mcdona...

1 year ago 40 10 3 0

This purple monstrosity makes me want to throw things at the TV every time it pops up

1 year ago 0 0 0 0

utterly grim to do that and not do HS2 in full

1 year ago 35 1 2 0

the thing that fills me with dread is that we're about to find out what policy Haigh stood in the way of such that she needed to be gotten rid of, and it's not likely to be good

1 year ago 213 33 10 0

Don’t tempt fate

1 year ago 0 0 1 0

This is really sad, actually.

From what I’ve read, the original conviction seems very heavy-handed.

Even if it was a more serious - but spent - conviction, our political system should not bar people from public office high or low, which is effectively what has happened here.

1 year ago 44 2 8 1

Their faces! So tempting.

1 year ago 0 0 0 0

I’ve just seen the phrase ‘extended Brummie’ used to refer to someone from the West Mids and I nearly fell off my perch

1 year ago 1 0 1 0
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Two thirds of country back assisted dying Largest study yet reveals attitudes just days before historic vote, but justice secretary brands bill a ‘state death service’

Two thirds of the countryback assisted dying
www.thetimes.com/article/97d2...

1 year ago 226 49 23 11
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“Orchid Jo”: Empire, Satire, and Political Self-Fashioning Narratives of nineteenth-century orchid collecting and their role in constructions of personal and national identity.

I’m giving a talk about Victorian depictions of orchid collecting including imperial adventure fiction and satires of Joseph Chamberlain. This Wednesday 27th November at Birmingham uni. Details here:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/orchid-jo-...

1 year ago 19 10 0 2
Aerial view of two crosswalks. On the bottom, a new design where the crosswalk is elevated and has a much shorter crossing distance. On the top, the old design where the sidewalk disappears into the road and has a longer crossing distance.

Aerial view of two crosswalks. On the bottom, a new design where the crosswalk is elevated and has a much shorter crossing distance. On the top, the old design where the sidewalk disappears into the road and has a longer crossing distance.

On the bottom: a raised crosswalk with daylighting, where the intersection narrows for better visibility and shorter crossing distance.

On the top: a traditional crosswalk where the sidewalk essentially disappears into the road for crossing.

Rue Louis-Hémon at Bélanger

1 year ago 862 174 19 18

Of course. It’s even got a dedicated tram spur from Dudley.

1 year ago 0 0 0 0

There’s taxis and then there’s ‘taxis’. The real bold move would have been to pedestrianise Moor Street, with taxis accessing the station via the Queensway or via Park Street (when that end of the station is redeveloped).

1 year ago 0 0 1 0

Anything that’s not a dedicated bus lane (i.e. allows taxis) is unsuitable here. Also the pedestrian realm and usability suffers with the way the cycle lane’s been included. The bus mall also ceases to function for any services that do a u-turn (as the cycle lane makes impossible).

1 year ago 0 0 2 0

I really dislike the Moor Street Queensway gateway plans. Nowhere near innovative enough, still too much space dedicated to private motor vehicles

1 year ago 0 0 1 0
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Birmingham New Street remains busiest West Midlands station Regulators reveal the most popular and least used stations in the West Midlands.

New Street’s still the busiest station outside of London? It’s almost like it’s at the heart of the railway network (yes, this is a dig at Derby).

1 year ago 3 0 0 0

I think I would listen to these views more if they had an answer for the up to 650 odd terminally ill people who commit suicide every year because of the law as it stands/they can’t afford to travel abroad to do so peacefully and legally (where they must also die alone)

1 year ago 7 2 1 0
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After years of trying to discover the identity of the ‘monarch’ it appears we haven’t had one since at least 1889 (possibly 1852).

The fact we have no leader miraculously went unnoticed as everyone assumed that the oldest and greyest person they didn’t know at the council meetings was the monarch.

1 year ago 2 0 0 0

Council elders have determined that until ownership of the tip is shared, no concession can be made on the Reservoir.

1 year ago 2 0 1 0

As per supporting documentation:
“Yellow is Balsall Heath
Green is Moseley
Purple is Kings Heath
Blue is recent/historic loss
Red is contested”

1 year ago 1 0 1 0

I’m reliably informed that delegates from Balsall Heath and Kings Heath strenuously deny
a) the name ‘Kingdom’;
b) the concept of an unelected monarch for the area;
c) the name ‘Greater Moseley’.

Apparently names such as ‘BaMoKi’ (1997) or ‘South Birmingham Triumvirate’ (2016/18) are preferred.

1 year ago 0 0 0 0

Might be brave and try the new Yorks in Chamberlain Square (I’m half convinced it’s a collective hallucination)

1 year ago 2 0 0 0
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Rail engineer sacked after raising Euston safety concerns Gareth Dennis, a railway engineer working for Network Rail supplier Systra, was sacked after repeated complaints from the former chair of Network Rail (now Rail Minister) Lord Peter Hendy. Lord Hend...

Anyway, longish interview with me here that captures my thoughts nicely: metro.co.uk/video/rail-e...

1 year ago 54 4 1 2