850 years of Brum history at risk, potentially for some more student blocks 😖

www.speakersfestivals.com/lewes-speake...
I'll be giving two walks based on my book #OurIslandStories for this festival on Saturday 9th May, 2026 in #Lewes @lewesdc.bsky.social

Yesterday Hannah Spencer MP came to Birmingham to help us celebrate having a candidate in every single one of the 101 Birmingham local council seats, meaning EVERYONE in Brum can #VoteGreen on May 7!

#VoteGreenInBrum

New #OnlyinBirmingham podcast episode 2 on the Birmingham Bull Ring market closure
podlink.com/1852555730/e...

Sunday listening from my Only in Birmingham podcast On the closure of the Birmingham Bull Ring market with Raj Pal.
podlink.com/1852555730/e...

Sunday listening from my Only in Birmingham podcast On the closure of the Birmingham Bull Ring market with Raj Pal.
podlink.com/1852555730/e...

New episode out today

Latest episode on Birmingham Bull Ring market: history, closure, why it matters
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/2...

Short review of my new #OnlyinBirmingham podcast with Raj Pal
www.wearebrig.co.uk/news/only-in...

Short review of my new #OnlyinBirmingham podcast with Raj Pal
www.wearebrig.co.uk/news/only-in...

Great article
www.liverpool.ac.uk/csis/blog/20...

Celebrating these women who use their time and skill for fun postbox-topping art that also educates. I've often wondered who they are and here are some of their faces
ourscene.org/fruity-foots...

I am the Green Party candidate for Bournbrook and Selly Park

100% - we have to tackle this road safety emergency urgently. I've been involved in local road safety campaigning. Now citywide we must come together with evidence based solutions: no road death should happen on our collective watch.

100%. Birmingham has a road safety emergency. We cannot tolerate road deaths. Behind every collision is a parent, partner, child, grandparent & the wrecked lives of those left behind. We will work with residents to address this emergency and create safe, healthy routes through the city.

UN votes to recognise enslavement of Africans as 'gravest crime against humanity' The landmark resolution calls for an apology and contributions to a reparations fund, without specifying an amount.

“The resolution - proposed by Ghana - was adopted with 123 votes in favour and three against - the United States, Israel and Argentina.
Fifty-two countries abstained, including the United Kingdom and European Union member states.” www.bbc.com/news/article...

Great article
www.liverpool.ac.uk/csis/blog/20...

💥Every Monument Will Fall
UK Paperback Tour Spring 2026

Thur 30 April Birmingham
Fri 1 May London
Tue 5 May Oxford
Wed 6 May Manchester
Thurs 7 May Bristol

More details/tickets here >> www.danhicks.uk/talks

Campaign seeks 50 objects to ‘take the heat’ out of Englishness debate Billy Bragg, Caroline Lucas and Kojo Koram among those encouraging people to share cultural artefacts

The 5 objects I contributed were:

Desi Pubs (cultural meeting places)

Tipu's Tiger (wooden Indian tiger mauls European soldier)

The Bronte sisters (female talent)

Benjamin Zephaniah (humour & moral muscle)

Tolpuddle Martyrs (courage; concern for all)

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

#OtD 17 Mar 1916 half of the 12,000 women working at the Armstrong-Whitworth Elswick munitions factory in Newcastle went on strike for better pay. They won on 24 March, and went out again in 1917 winning more improvements including tea breaks stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8905...

Birmingham's Midland Hotel hosted the Conservative MP Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood speech in 1968 but, earlier than this, Labour's Oswald Mosley broke the Chamberlains' grip on power in 1929 before creating his new fascist party. By 1931, Birmingham people had violently driven him out of the city.

Birmingham's Midland Hotel hosted the Conservative MP Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood speech in 1968 but, earlier than this, Labour's Oswald Mosley broke the Chamberlains' grip on power in 1929 before creating his new fascist party. By 1931, Birmingham people had violently driven him out of the city.

New-ish film I participated in about colonial Yorkshire. See thread for link and password to see the film @themerl.bsky.social @handhyorkshire.bsky.social

Happily I can now share this film I participated in: Walk The Land opens up the colonial history of the Yorkshire Dales. It's by a great Dutch film maker Peter Delpuet & features the poet Testament, with other locals being spontaneously interviewed. Password WTLDocmakers!
vimeo.com/755262849

Happily I can now share this film I participated in: Walk The Land opens up the colonial history of the Yorkshire Dales. It's by a great Dutch film maker Peter Delpuet & features the poet Testament, with other locals being spontaneously interviewed. Password WTLDocmakers!
vimeo.com/755262849

"We're not an island of strangers, we're an island of neighbours."
Will be interesting to see what happens in my city Birmingham (7 May) which, as local historians point out, has always been the front line of Fascism: Oswald Mosley and Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood speech.

www.theguardian.com/society/2026...