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Heir to Manzoni
Alan Clawley on the legacy of Clive Dutton. Clive Dutton, who died on 7th June aged 62, was no friend of the Central Library and, in pursuing its destruction, he shunned the convention that council...
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Downing the Ziggurat III
Alan Clawley on the latest developments in Paradise. “They paved paradise And put up a parking lot“ Joni Mitchell In my previous Birmingham Press article I predicted that serious demolition in Paradise...
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America, bloody America
Richard Lutz ponders the state of the States. Off to a family event, sunny skies in DC, a trip or two, and the inevitable TV pictures of grief, shock and endless debates on the airwaves about guns,...
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Today’s trousers are just pants
Andy Munro gets dressed in Room 101. I was looking at my ‘extensive’ wardrobe just as my visiting daughter walked into the room. She took one scathing look at my combat trousers hanging up and...
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Time for change
Alan Clawley wonders when architectural tastes began to alter. Ladywood Sure Start centre, (c) Alan Clawley. Historians are tempted to look for precise dates and circumstances when a change occurs....
View ArticleThe Forgotten
As the nation remembers 7/7, Steve Beauchampe issues a reminder of an earlier terrorist attack. On Tuesday the nation marked the tenth anniversary of the London transport bombings, which claimed the...
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The slow death of the Public Architect
Alan Clawley on an extinct species in town planning. The Public Architect is mainly a twentieth century phenomenon that lasted from the end of the Second World War to the mid-1990s. Local authorities,...
View ArticleIf roads were like arteries
Alan Clawley comments on the ever-increasing amount of road traffic Road engineers like to tell us that roads are like human arteries and traffic is like blood. It’s a useful analogy but one that...
View ArticleThe John Peel of politics
Britain’s next Prime Minister could be a 70-year old former winner of Beard of the Year who’s become a hit with young voters. Steve Beauchampé assesses Jeremy Corbyn’s chances. My only surprise is that...
View ArticleThe things they say
Spot the difference in BBC coverage. “Birmingham Smithfield city centre development plans unveiled A £500m plan to regenerate part of the centre of Birmingham has been unveiled by developers. To be...
View ArticleScrutiny too late
Alan Clawley asks what city councillors were doing four years ago. Council Scrutiny Committees were criticised in my article Truth About The Cuts (27th May) for not being up to the job of keeping a...
View ArticleAnyone but the other three
Under Corbyn the haves will have a little less and the have nots will have a little hope, writes Steve Beauchampé. I did not vote for Labour in the 2015 General Election. I have not voted for the party...
View ArticlePreston leads the way
Alan Clawley reports on a Brutalist success story. What do Preston and Birmingham have in common? They are both cities that are run by councillors who wanted to demolish their most important 1970s...
View ArticleGive peace a chance
A peacenik may lay down with some unsavoury characters. Better that than selling them weapons writes Steve Beauchampé. The BBC, whose coverage of the Labour Party leadership race has often felt...
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Military resistance
Richard Lutz ponders the cash Britain spends on defence and asks whether it’s really worth it. > Last weekend I blundered into a military re-enactment day in a big park. Guys dressed as the SAS,...
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Give ‘em Shelter
Prime Minister David Cameron hasn’t looked anything like a leader this week writes Steve Beauchampé Dangerous seas Photo: The Birmingham Press It’s been a bad week for Prime Minister David Cameron....
View Article2020 Vision
The trick isn’t to give people what they want, but to give them what they don’t yet know that they want, says Steve Beauchampé. The consensus amongst political analysts is that Labour can’t win power...
View ArticleGod save us
The national anthem is a national embarrassment and we should commission a replacement, says Steve Beauchampé. Britain’s national anthem is an absolute dirge. Bristling with pomposity from the first...
View ArticleArgent not credible on Library
What future for the Central Library? wonders Alan Clawley. Argent’s pronouncements about the demolition of the Central Library are no longer credible. When I met Argent boss Rob Groves in June 2014 he...
View ArticleDazed and confused
David Cameron has no credibility when it comes to Syria or Middle Eastern politics in general says Steve Beauchampé. In August 2013 Prime Minister David Cameron tried unsuccessfully to get House of...
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