Pope in Birmingham cost £280,000

That, the local cuts and the new library: where there's a will there's a way?

The Birmingham Post reports today that Pope Benedict's one-day visit to Birmingham last September will cost the public purse £280,000 - expected to be funded from the local police budget. According to the Post, "[t]he bill has left the force’s contingency budget short of cash for the rest of the year".

Of course you could argue that is nothing in a city where the pain of the Coalition cuts will be felt more than anywhere else, with £330 million (a whopping 28 per cent of all non-schools services from the council) set to be cut between 2011 and 2014.

On the subject, take a peek at this excellent piece by Paul Dale. Compare and contrast. The same council that is having to cut £330m worth of services is also struggling to find £590m (plus £6 million a year in interests) to cover the costs of the currently under construction brand new central library in Centenary Square.

Who knows. Perhaps the logic may be that, if you soon find yourself jobless and with front line services mangled to round it all off, at least you'll be able to cheer yourself up by reading books about the Pope's visit. In the new central library.

The response of a bully

A Tory councillor called for the stoning to death of a Muslim journalist. Oh but he was only having a laugh...*

"I was only joking and I didn't do no harm. It was wholly unintentional".

That's what bullies say. From the school playground all the way to Chris Moyles, the worst kind of cowards will always reply that it was all just supposed to be in good fun, and get-a-sense-of-humour, right?

And that's exactly the gist of what Tory boy and Councillor Gareth Compton said after being questioned by West Midlands Police over his public remarks on Twitter.

"Can someone please stone Yasmin Alibhai-Brown to death? I shan't tell Amnesty if you don't. It would be a blessing, really", wrote the 38-year-old Erdington ward representative.

Needless to say the country is laughing from Land's End to Wick.

Except what they're laughing at is Cllr Compton and his ridiculous lack of judgement. Because the bloke is not your average loudmouth ejit down the pub, a blogger with Tourette's, or an overpaid Radio DJ unable to tell shit from clay. Nor has this anything to do with the Paul Chambers case.

Compton is a councillor, an elected representative, a politician, a person holding public responsibilities at the largest local authority in the UK.

And he should have known better, the Tory, than to call for the stoning of a Muslim lady, Alibhai-Brown, who's already been the subject of many a death threat for her views on racism, Islamic fundamentalism, Iraq and other political matters.

And while I don't think Cllr Compton should be prosecuted (if anything it would be a waste of time and resources), the idea of a society not batting an eyelid in front of such vile "jokes" (especially when made by elected politicians) makes me feel uncomfortable.

Peace Gardens, Birmingham

South of the Border at Birmingham Library Theatre

A film by Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone to be shown at Birmingham Central Library.

[Guest post by Stuart R.]

In January 2009, Oliver Stone traveled to Venezuela to interview President Hugo Chávez, and examine the way Chávez has been portrayed in the U.S. media. Was Chávez really the "anti-American" force the media claimed he was?

Once the journey began, however, Stone and his crew found themselves going beyond Venezuela to several other countries, and interviewing seven Presidents in the region, telling a larger and even more compelling story.

In a series of casual conversations, Stone sits down with Presidents Chávez, Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and ex- President Néstor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and Raul Castro (Cuba).

This is the only screening of the film in Birmingham so book early.

South of the Border will be screened at Birmingham Central Library Theatre at 7pm on Friday 6th August. Tickets cost £4.50.

You can book online or by phone calling 0121 303 2323.

Council to axe 1300 jobs while splashing out £193m

News just in on the saga about the new library and the perma-regeneration of Birmingham city centre.

While work on the controversial new 'Library of Birmingham' is finally underway in Centenary Square, new projects are coming in concerning the future of Paradise Circus and John Madin's Central Library.

For those interested in how the site may look like in the future, sketches by architect Glenn Howells for Argent developers will be on display at a public information exhibition which is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday at Paradise Forum.

In the meantime, the debate's heating up over the recent announcement that 1,300 Birmingham City Council staff are likely to be axed. The idea is to save £27.7m which, according to GMB union, will affect "frontline services", that is to say "mainly community day nurseries and youth services across the city".

This is big news, because exactly at the same time, as the Birmingham Post notes, "the council intends to borrow £135 million over 40 years, at a total cost of £300 million, to fund the [new library] project".

Top Tory brands Cadbury's workforce 'whingeing'

Press release from Unite the Union.

Workers from Cadbury's Marlbrook factory in Herefordshire are furious over comments made by Tory MP Bill Wiggin describing the workers who now face a very uncertain future as 'whingeing'.

Bill Wiggin said on BBC Hereford and Worcester: "Who wants to hire a whingeing workforce when you can have a positive upbeat one".

Unite, the union representing the workers, has charged Mr Wiggin with a complete failure to represent his constituents working at Cadbury, who have been told job cuts across the company are inevitable.

Mr Wiggin refused to sign an Early Day Motion calling for Cadbury to stay independent. On 15th January on BBC Hereford and Worcester, Mr Wiggin told listeners that he was not a fan of Unite - the union campaigning to protect his constituent's jobs - and the campaign would not make any difference as he believed Cadbury would not sell and stay independent. How wrong Bill Wiggin was.

On 20th January on the 8am news on BBC Hereford & Worcester, Mr Wiggin decided to again go on air, expressing to listeners that the Cadbury Marlbrook workforce should be more positive about the situation, as the new employer will not take kindly to whingeing.

Unite's national officer Jennie Formby said: "Mr Wiggin is a disgrace to his constituents and has done Cadbury's workers a great disservice. Voters will remember when this MP turned his back on Cadbury's workers in their hour of need.

"Cadbury's workers face an uncertain future, they are campaigning to protect their jobs - it's not whingeing, it's standing up for their livelihoods, homes and their families. This is a classic example of the uncaring Conservatives."

The union's convenor at the factory has written to Mr Wiggin to express the workers' fury.
***
Also read: Birmingham Mail- "Tory MP Bill Wiggin calls Cadbury workers 'whingeing'".

Cadbury? But that's the free-market, mate

Everyone's crying over Cadbury but the hypocrisy is vomit-inducing.

"A bitter taste in Bournville" and "Cadbury: Not such a sweet deal", writes the Guardian. "Why takeover bids rarely work", warns Jeremy Warner in the Telegraph. "Kraft takeover jobs bloodbath" and "High price for handing UK PLC to foreigners" are the headlines in the Daily Mail, while the Independent notes that "Bournville laments saddest day for 10 years".

Today's papers couldn't agree more. In essence, the widespread opinion across the spectrum is that another British institution is going, that the usual City "short-termists" are making a mint off the back of a local community, that the economic long-term interests of the country are being ignored and that Britain's surrendering to one too many foreign takeovers.

They're being very good at tutting at the "inevitability" of job losses, or at the CEO's £12m payout, or at the simple fact that the buyers Kraft are a company ridden with something like £22 billion of debt. Yet very few are grasping the fundamental reasons behind this mess.

For instance, the fact that the industrial policy of the past thirty years has been coherently and systematically biased towards the professional short-termism that turned London into the Mecca of City spivvery. And that's under the active complicity of both Tories and Labour.

Gordon Brown is crying that he'll do his best to secure jobs and the right-wing are shouting revulsion at the foreign companies who suck the blood out of British firms and then discard them like a piece of tissue after a couple of years. But this is the free market: a script we already saw with Rover and more recently with Bosch and Corus, "sorry very much, but it's all shareholders uber alles and tough for whoever's left to mop up the mess".

Bournville is one of the prettiest areas of Birmingham as well as one with a fairly solid community spirit. One can only imagine what would happen if the factory that's provided a living to thousands since the 19th century was to up sticks or be significantly scaled down.

And yet the picture's pretty clear. Like they point out at Unite, wherever it's gone in the past 10 years, "Kraft has sacked 60,000 workers to pay for other companies it has eaten up". The sourest irony of all is that the £7bn Kraft raised to table the bid were financed by RBS which is 84 per cent owned by the British government.

And until any of the major political parties will say it loud and clear that Britain can't carry on turning into a country exclusively centred around City gambles with the rest working in call centres and mobile phone shops, we will witness similar devastation time and time again.

So are all the opinionmeisters that today are crying crocodile tears for the "loss of a British institution" prepared to change their tack - given that they normally spot the dark shadows of "socialism" lurking behind the slightest governmental intervention (unless it's the banks bail-out)?

Are they prepared to accept that only a state that plays a bigger role in protecting manufacturing can halt the dependence on Bullshit Economy? Can they clock that protecting long-term stability, often the default policy in France, the US and Japan, doesn't mean that Stalin and Lenin are on their way back?

Sign the petition to Keep Cadbury Independent here.

Birmingham 4 London 0

Unlike the capital, bus fares in the West Midlands will be frozen in 2010.

Last year we criticised the OTT bus fare increases that hit the West Midlands right in the middle of the most vicious recession in decades.

We calculated that the price of public transport in Birmingham and surrounding areas had gone up by 70 per cent in four years- a rise unknown to any wage or benefit. Particularly badly hit had been single tickets and "Daysavers".

However, credit when due, National Express, the (fairly) new owners of Travel West Midlands recently announced that all bus fares will now be frozen for the first time in years.

In a statement displaying humanity, the company said: "The region’s largest bus operator is freezing the price of all bus fares into 2010 to help the region recover from the effects of the recession. Bus fares have traditionally been adjusted at the start of each year.

The West Midlands has the highest unemployment levels in the country, with over 200,000 people out of work. National Express took the decision to freeze their bus fares to ensure customers can continue to access education and employment at a low cost."

Look and learn, Boris Johnson.

My Birmingham album

I just started a Flickr album which I am gradually populating with all the photos of Birmingham I've taken through the years.

Unfortunately those prior to the year 2000 are few and far between and, who knows, good or bad, perhaps my increased interest for architecture and the city's heritage is a sure sign that I'm getting on.

Anyway. If anyone's interested in a visual tour of Britain's second largest city, please click here. Also, if you fancy contributing with any photo please contact us at the usual address and we'll be eternally grateful.

A permanent building site?

There are fears the Central Library, the revamped New Street and Priory Square may all undergo demolition at the same time.

In the last few weeks Birmingham was granted the go-ahead for the demolition of Paradise Forum (which includes John Madin's Central Library, Fletcher's Walk and the Conservatoire) as well as the official nod to the £600 million Gateway scheme to redevelop New Street station.

This blog is not discussing the merits of either building here, nor are we passing judgement on whether the money is being spent wisely or not. Simply we haven't got the information nor the expertise.

Many citizens, however, have come up with the following observation.

Between 2000 and 2003 Birmingham city centre was already host, right at its very core, to two of the biggest building sites on earth: the Bullring (see pic) as well as the Mailbox.

Rebuilding the Bullring was certainly necessary and the city benefitted from it. But if you worked (or lived) around town at the time you may remember the extensive redrawing of bus routes and the 3-year-long traffic disruption. Remember that awful ramp as you were walking into town from Digbeth?

Now, imagine the same again, or possibly worse, if both the end of Paradise Forum and the new-look New Street station take place at the same time (which they're expected to, for a period stretching at least up to 2015), along with the demolition of the so-called Oasis market (the block including both Priory Square and the old Academy). Birmingham will again be perceived as an enormous perma-building site, a reputation the city doesn't deserve.

Think of where all those sites are located. Could it be that visitors may notice two or three enormous craters right at the heart of the city? How bad will traffic be disrupted? How are both residents and businesses going to be affected?

Maybe I'm just talking bollocks. But I was just wondering if this "revolving door" style of revamping as done on such a grand scale is worth the above mentioned epic levels of hassle and disruption.

Countdown begins for Central Library

The government turned down the application to turn John Madin's library into a listed building.

After a long deliberation, Culture and Tourism Minister Margaret Hodge decided against granting Birmingham Central Library listed status.

This means that the demolition squad are one step away from being given the go-ahead, paving the way for the £600m redevelopment of Paradise Circus, which so far has been fiercely opposed by both the Friends of the Central Library and English Heritage.

It's not yet know what is going to happen at the site. According to the Birmingham Post, "bulldozers won’t be able to move in until the summer of 2013, when the Central Library will be replaced by a £193 million library in Centenary Square", right next door to the REP theatre.

The most likely outcome is that Paradise Forum will be converted into an outdoor mixed development of shops, offices and apartments to link together Chamberlain Square and Centenary Square.

Goodbye to the old Birmingham Academy...

...welcome to the new one.

Another piece of Birmingham's recent history is about to vanish. The 70s site of the former Hummingbird, more recently known as the Birmingham Academy (or Carling Academy, like the Worthingtons Cup's poor brother) is now being cleared out and awaiting demolition.

Nostalgics may remember the dozens of gigs they watched there, and -as a live music venue- it was actually alright. It provided the city with a mid-sized venue for those bands that could not fill up places like the NEC and the NIA. Until it re-opened in 2000, our only option was the Wolverhampton Civic and Wulfrun.

At the Academy, I watched Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros (an amazing gig, in a half-empty venue, a year before he died, god bless him), an out-of-steam Pulp on their final We Love Life tour, Morrissey on his 2002 comeback thingy (when he introduced Hand In Glove he said "this song is older than you, and you", pointing at the crowd), Suede just before they split at the end of 2003 (with Razorlight as support!) and the unbelievable Bauhaus reunion in 2006.

As a club, however, the Academy sucked, plain and simple, especially the main room which -unlike other legendary hangouts like Snobs, XLs and Edwards no.8 (the latter two now defunct) -was too big and impersonal. The bouncers were spectacularly hostile too. Still, god knows how many times I went and the amount of money I spent!

In any case, Birmingham's not losing out, because a better and more effective Academy (now re-branded 'o2 Academy') is now opening at the site of the former Dome at the top of the Bristol Road. It will house three venues: the Academy 1, with a capacity of over 3,000 people, the Academy 2 (600) and the smaller Bar Academy for local bands and after-gig parties. Each of them has been fitted with dressing rooms and showers for the bands, which should make local acts feel particularly chuffed.

After a weekend of christening events, the 'opening ceremony' will climax on Sunday with a gig by Birmingham's own Ocean Colour Scene.

One thing will be missed however. The old Oasis market, part of the complex that housed the Hummingbird along with Argos and other shops, is yet to find a new home.

In the meantime, if you have any memories of the old Academy/Hummingbird, feel free to share in the comments section.

Rejoice: EDL won't be back in Brum

An update on the Birmingham riots.

The good news is that the English Defence League finally announced that they "will not be coming back to Birmingham in the near future".

The bad news is that, for the time being, the shit-stirrers achieved what they wanted. No matter how much the national media plays it down, race relations in Brum took another blow as the city appears scarred by the second consecutive set of riots in four weeks.

In the meantime, local website The Stirrer features the two most informed pieces so far on last Saturday's riots.

'Business as usual' points out the idiocy of those EDL claims that "they're not a racist group", while at the same time frothing at the mouth as they chant against Islam as a whole.

The 'Riotous Brothers', instead, substantiates what we already mentioned as regards the August 8 clashes: the fact that a seemingly spontaneous group of Asian youths (with no affiliation to any anti-fascist group) turned up and was very aggressive towards a lot of people who had nothing to do whatsoever with the EDL oiks.

For the record, one of the most useless pieces on the whole affair bears the signature of Times columnist David Aaronovitch. In an article titled 'Birmingham riots: young men looking for the excitement of a fight', Aaronovitch puts it down to a load of kids up for a ruck. 650 words of nothingness.

###
Permanent Revolution has an interesting report on last Saturday's events.

Birmingham: more ugly scenes to come?

West Midlands Police announced they're not going to ban tomorrow's EDL march.

Last month, the shaven headed football geezers of the English Defence League were given permission to protest "against Islamism" in Birmingham city centre. That was met, as announced, by a counter-gathering sponsored by UAF (United Against Fascism) which took place outside the Bullring. As widely predicted, within an hour, mayhem ensued.

I was in the city centre when I saw the ugliest scenes since the October 2005 riots.

Innocent people (regardless of their ethnic origin) randomly having the shit kicked out of them by gangs on the rampage, hundreds of riot police effectively closing down the perimeter between New Street, High Street, Bull Street and Corporation Street, helicopters roaring in the air, tons of tension that lasted until the following day and violent scenes that were shown by the media worldwide.

None of the groups involved (and I underline, none of them, and this comes from an anti-fascist), emerged with much dignity. The police carried out over 30 arrests, and Birmingham went through an ordeal that was totally uncalled for.

So it is with utter disbelief that we learnt West Midlands Police refused widespread calls for a ban and are to allow the same demonstrations again tomorrow. In a statement, the police say: "At this stage we believe two groups intend to protest peacefully", adding that "the ability to protest is a fundamental democratic right", which sounds eerily similar to the optimistic statements in the run up to the August 8 riots.

While the appeal to democratic rights is an admirable one and the police are confident they can contain it, more consideration should be given to the overwhelming majority that does not want to run the risk of repeating August 8.

The simple truth is that Birmingham already witnessed how this has nothing to do with "the ability to protest". And, anyway, when the experiment was tried last month, it turned into complete chaos, with hundreds of Saturday passers-by seeking refuge in shops as violence erupted. So who exactly would benefit from a repeat of that?

Add to the equation that tomorrow England are playing Slovenia around the time of the planned demonstrations and the police panglossian approach appears even more puzzling.

(h/t Liberal Ladywood)

Bullring fume alert

Although the authorities are working to reopen it later today, it looks like the Bullring, Birmingham's showcase shopping centre, is going to remain shut for the bank holiday weekend.

The problem began on Thursday when a "mystery incident" involving a possible chemical contamination of the ventilation system led to over thirty complaints of nausea and dizziness. According to BBC News, "Police said any contamination remained 'unexplained' and it was not known if it was from an accident or malicious act".

The Birmingham Post instead reports a more recent version of the events with the police describing the chemical leak as "an accident". "The incident is not being treated as suspicious and appears to be due to fumes from a cleaning product", said a spokesman for the Community Safety Bureau at Steelhouse Lane.

The Bullring shopping centre, which was rebuilt from scratch and re-opened in 2003, features over 140 shops. It has an average of 36.5 million visitors a year, making it the most visited shopping centre outside London.

The Unite for Jobs march

Thousands took to the streets in Birmingham asking for the Government to join other European countries in their support for manufacturing.

7,000 people braved the rain yesterday to march from Hagley Road to Centenary Square in a bid to call on the government to "halt the job crisis". Demonstrators joined in from all over the country, including steel workers from the beleaguered Teesside Cast Products.

Workers are calling for a temporary short-time working subsidy to keep skilled people in work and halt a "tsunami of job losses" and the permanent disappearance of skilled jobs in manufacturing. "We need factories and plants open for when recovery comes because if they go they will be gone forever," noted Unite joint leader Tony Woodley in Centenary Square.

While the usual suspects in the financial sector keep announcing "signs of recovery", manufacturing in the UK has claimed 67,000 jobs in the first three months of 2009 alone (compared to 29,000 in January-March 2008) .

Birmingham was picked to host the event as the West Midlands is amongst the worst-hit region by the recession with almost one person out of ten now out of work. 88 per cent of the region's losses has come from manufacturing. In turn these are the people who start defaulting on their mortgages - with a dramatic knock-on effect.

The UK secondary sector employs just short of 3 million people and the automotive industry alone makes for the third biggest market in Europe. Yet, the current hemorraging of jobs we are witnessing doesn't seem to be regarded as a top priority.

The Government rustled up massive amounts at the blink of an eye to bail out the banks. But, in the words of Tony Woodley, "It's no good putting £900bn into bailing out the banks if the banks are not releasing funds to keep cashload available. The Government has to show Mr and Mrs Ordinary in the streets here that [it] cares about their jobs [and] cares about people losing their homes".

The Birmingham demo netted the unexpected support of former CBI boss Lord Digby Jones. "I'm losing my marching virginity today", he said on joining the rally. "We've got to get the skills of this country in manufacturing kept, maintained, ready for the upturn. This government aren't putting anything into making sure that happens".

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today, Jones, himself a Brummie, said: "It is the duty of a government to invest in the short term in the skills of the country to make sure that, when the upturn comes, the flexibility can return because you've got skilled people in work. You can have all the flexible labour market in the world but, if you haven't got anybody in work, what's the point? I don't want the investors in manufacturing in a year's time to say: 'Well, we haven't got any skilled people in manufacturing in Britain we'll go somewhere else'".

"On this issue Unite are absolutely right", he added.

New Birmingham Library unveiled

The idea is to build a monumental landmark but is it right to get the taxpayer to fork out £200m in the midst of the biggest recession in sixty years?

Plans for the new Birmingham library were finally unveiled last week. Though finished products never look like those glossy designer sketches, I will admit at this stage that it does look quite impressive. Tucked between the REP theatre and Baskerville House, its six glass blocks sitting on top of each other have the potential to turn it into a truly iconic building.

However, objections are being raised on three grounds and the New Library Zealots will have to do better than repeating like a broken record that "no one else is doing anything like this" alongside the hollow ring of words like "hub", "inspirational" and "21st century".

First off, spending £200 million on any building during such a massive recession shows that Birmingham City Council may be having a problem or two with grasping priorities. It may have made sense during the credit-binge years but, with 34,000 people in the West Midlands joining the dole queue in the last quarter alone (with the total standing at more than 200,000), wouldn't the money be better spent elsewhere? Are the masses on the dole and their families going to be cheered up by a "21st century hub"?

To hear, in the current climate, the Council leader and his friends repeat that the new Library will be the most monumental ever ("Britain's biggest ever public library") and that it'll have the world's top architects flocking to Birmingham smacks a bit of Weimar-style delusion of grandeur.

Two. As a Birmingham Post reader points out, monumental library projects don't take into account the digital revolution of the last decade. Once issues of storing original material are dealt with, are we sure we're still going to require hugely expensive spaces in the future? Incidentally, restoring the current library would only cost a fraction of the £200 million needed for the new project - with estimates ranging between £30m and £100m.

Three. The issue of space. The project is most certainly ambitious, but wouldn't Centenary Square end up looking a little cramped? Don't forget that the new library would not only tower over the REP, but it will also squeeze past the 1930s grade II listed Baskerville House, with the risk of turning the most spacious Birmingham square into your nan's cluttered attic.

More on the tormented history of Brum's libraries here.

More on the new "Library of Birmingham" plan here.

Click here to read about why the current library should be kept instead.

*****

UPDATE, 12/04/2009

The new library pockets the unexpected support of top blogger and Labour Councillor for Sandwell Bob Piper. "The New Library doesn't impress me, but I'm slightly biased", he told Hagley Road to Ladywood, citing his past opposition to the "brutalist bloody mess" that replaced the old library in the early 70s. "Whilst I may not be in love with the latest design", he said, "I think the demolition of the existing library and the revolting mall and tacky hotels, does provide an opportunity to open up the City and make a pleasant walkway from Chamberlain Square through to Centenary Square".

On the point of funding lavish projects during a crisis Councillor Bob Piper said: "I must admit to thinking the same about the ICC/NIA project when it was first mooted, but I was wrong. Sometimes iconic buildings can stimulate economic regeneration that will outlast the short term recession - the US did the same, spending their way out of the depression with big infrastructure projects like the Hoover Dam".

Forking out on the buses

Take the price hike on West Midlands buses and put it next to Gordon Brown's and the CBI's call for a wage freeze. It's happy days all round.

Let's not beat around the bush. Britain in 2009 is the place where the 'little people' are being slapped in the face for the years of binge enjoyed by what Tony Blair famously referred to as "the wealth creators". But while the wealth creators may have to cut down on a Ferrari or two (if that), let's have a look at how the 'little people' are being left to fend for themselves.

Imagine you're in the bottom 27% per cent of UK families who don't own a car. As Margaret Thatcher once charmingly said "travelling by bus is a sure failure in anyone over the age of twenty-six". You're one of them (and so am I) and public transport is our only way to access work and do our daily business.

This is how prices in the West Midlands have shot up in the past four years:

- 2005: £1.00

- 2006: £1.20

- 2007: £1.40

- 2008: £1.50

- 2009: £1.70

Correct. A single bus ticket in the Birmingham area now stands at a mindblowing £1.70. Last year, Travel West Midlands justified the price hike with the need "to offset rising fuel costs". But with oil prices back down again, what have they got to say now?

Now, if your wages were to follow the same trend (that's a 70% increase in four years), your minimum wage would have gone up from £5.05 in 2005 to £8.58 in 2009. In the real world, though, there was only a 9% rise to the current £5.52, and that's still getting our CBI bosses' knickers in a twist.

Of course National Express, the new owners of Travel West Midlands, will point towards the swanky new buses that ooze CCTVs from all pores and indeed they do look very good. They will then advise you to purchase a "Daysaver", but that too went from £3.00 to £3.30 in one go.

That's about buses. Then, with the official inflation rate above 4 per cent, the ever mighty council tax and unstoppable utility bills, Gordon Brown had the cheek (or maybe something else) to call for "wage restraint" (2 per cent, in his view), and also to urge HM's subjects to enjoy shopping sprees down the High Street. All the while the Confederation of British Industries (CBI) has seized the opportunity to call for a minimum wage freeze.

Remember that, according to the governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, the current rise of inflation has nothing to do with wages. "Pay growth has remained moderate", he said (except for boardroom pay, of course, up by 37%).

In conclusion, when will a journalist, any journalist, ever confront our Labour and Conservative politicians with the above mentioned figures and the simple question: how on earth are ordinary people supposed to make it?

Ode to the record shop

With former Virgin Megastores going into administration, the day record shopping joins moustache-waxing in the graveyard of obsolete activities is getting closer.

Very soon popping into town to buy a CD, let alone a vinyl, will be remembered the same way some of us recall dialling numbers on a rotary phone. Completely obsolete. Our memories of hours spent bumming around record racks are destined to follow the footsteps of our ancestors' tales of fountain pens, moustache waxing or sword fighting.

I wrote 'destined to become' but, really, it's one step away. The news that Zavvi, known to a generation or two as Virgin Megastores, is going into administration, threatening 3,400 jobs, signals another blow to the old world of record shops and music-related purchases - at least in the way we grew to know them. Yet, in the words of Nick Hornby, author of that ode to the record shop known as High Fidelity, "at the time, it felt like it was there forever".

At some point in the 90s, I landed a crap job as a receptionist at a now defunct hairdresser's on New Street. Even though each shift felt like holding my breath under water, the job gave me a chance to be right in the middle of town and lunch time felt like an epiphany. Instead of wasting precious time chewing on Boots sandwiches or similar, I figured it'd be an excellent opportunity to hop from record shop to record shop.

I could spend ages in each, flicking through books, and sifting through records and CDs, staring hypnotically at the sleeves, wishing perhaps that I had enough money to buy at least one hundred at a time. To me, each band was a distinctive world made of song titles, sleeves, logos, photos and hairdos and, in the pre-google days, records and books were the only window to this mythical realm. The collection of music all stacked in one place, the magazine racks and the zines at the front, the dust and the musty smell were all part of a musical junkies' haven.

Town had a healthy range of independent stores. There was a tiny VIP outlet tucked away in the Piccadilly arcade off New Street with a remarkable supply of 7"s and CD singles that would make my wallet throb like fuck. Past the law courts, there was the legendary Plastic Factory. And then Highway 61 and Reddingtons Rare Records, the latter a real teaser with posters and the most unlikely memorabilia. Out of all the independent retailers there are only two survivors: Tempest on Bull Street and Swordfish on Temple Street, the place where a long time ago I managed to dig up the original 7-inch release of Hand In Glove.

Then there were the big ones. Birmingham was home to Tower Records on Corporation Street, while Virgin Megastore had a humongous place right next to Oasis market and, later on, another one in the Pavillions on the High Street and I can't quite remember if the big HMV next to it was already there. Some 'indie' kids would stick to the cliché that those corporate department stores lacked of atmosphere and were exactly the same all over the country. But for all their faults, like good old Woolworths, they felt immortal.

And yet, Tower Records kicked the bucket a few years ago, and when the one remaining Zavvi in the Pavillions shuts down next month, HMV will remain the last big record shop in town. Suddenly, it won't lack atmosphere and it won't look the same as everywhere else. But placed again a 'download here' click and an online shopping basket, now it's got the hell of a torch to carry.

My own encounter with the benefit system

Why the new crackdown on benefits will put off thousands of genuine applicants.

And so Gordon Brown's government has decided unemployment and incapacity benefits are draining the country's wealth. In spite of successive crackdowns, 2009 will see even more restrictions and conditions attached to the country's social security. Lie detectors and rabid dogs against 'cheats' is James Purnell's idea of helping people find a job.

Harpymarx recently made the point that the new measures will simply put off more people from seeking help. What the tabloids don't tell you is the thousands of people who already refrain from applying because they find the system too hostile and/or complicated (the official figures of underpaid benefits are £1.8bn for the Council tax and £1bn of total benefit expenditure from the DWP).

Now, I've never signed on myself. But the one time I needed urgent help (after having paid tax for years) is enough to convince me that Harpymarx is bang on. In 2005 my council tax situation was becoming untenable. I was literally cutting down on everything in order to meet the payments. I found out that in such circumstances you can apply for a discount or Government help and I was probably entitled to some discount.

I don't know if you're familiar with those Birmingham City Council green forms, the size of a thick magazine- as many as fifty pages of complex papers to cope with, and they are nothing short of intimidating and the means tests unbelievably humiliating and invasive. There is no chance that even a literate or articulate person can sit through them and fill them out on their own. Granted, you can head to your local neighbourhood office and queue for a day hoping for help, and I guess it's an interesting observational experience too, but it's something more akin to Dante's 7th circle of hell. That is what I did.

I remember trotting there, 'Council Tax Benefit' form in tow, in a hopeful frame of mind, "don’t they tell you that those who are entitled to benefits shouldn't shy away from applying?" But, as I walked in, I realised how understaffed our local neighbourhood office in Ladywood was. Packed to the smithereens. The mere sight of it made me wonder whatever possessed me to even think that I could give it a go (perhaps the hallucinating prospect of a yearly bill of £1357.72- that is £113 a month, 15% of my monthly wage), filled as it was with kids running around bored, while their mothers were patiently killing time in a queue that in no way was going to be dealt with the same day.
That aside, there's the issue of having every penny of your income and your bank account scrutinised by your local authority. The queues, the complexity, the printed threats ("if you provide inaccurate information you can be prosecuted", just reading that makes you feel shifty) and the intrusiveness. Most people simply find it unapproachable, let alone OAPs. It's no coincidence a third of families entitled to Council tax benefits don’t claim and wrestle with their bills instead.

And, of course, even if you put up with the whole process it doesn’t mean the discount is granted. The previous year despite the tax going up way further than my salary, the Council rejected my offer of payment and demanded the full whack instead. Which is how my arrear payments started piling up.

That day, at the Ladywood office, I decided to give up. They told me they wouldn’t have been able to deal with that queue on the same day and asked me to come back another time. Which for me, meant booking a day off work, which was out of the question. You don’t want to lose your job. You won't be entitled to any dole for months if they sack you and anyway you don’t want James Purnell and his rottweiler telling you to get your arse into gear.

I was left wondering if the government expects all workers to demand an annual pay rise in line with the Council tax, but you already know the answer. It's no coincidence that the total number of those living below the poverty line in Britain has doubled in the last twenty years. But in Britain there are more pressing matters, such as Gordon Brown's crackdown on the culture of "life on benefits".