Birmingham Dispatch

Dear readers — a truncated briefing for you this morning, as Kate isn’t back until tomorrow and we’re running on the back-up generator (aka, Moya). The (slight) breather from the oppressively hot weather comes to an end this week and like many in the city, we’ve been wondering where on earth we can go to cool off.

How can technology improve education? The UK is in the midst of a huge discussion about how children interact with digital technology. The proposed ban for under-16’s rightly puts social media in the spotlight. But technology in schools also has the potential to free up teacher time, improve student inclusion and support learning. Edtech UK works with schools to understand how teachers, parents and students can benefit from the appropriate use of technology.

Birmingham is where my journalism career began. I was 27 and after a stint as a civil servant and teaching English in Colombia, this was a new chapter for me. I remember my first few weeks in the city, hitting up retro-themed pubs in Digbeth, and venturing out for long walks in Sutton Park.

At first, I think they’re simply overcome with World Cup fever. Several of the melee gathered outside the Turtle Bay in Birmingham city centre, donning their England football shirts and novelty hats, are also holding St George’s flags. It’s the flag bearing a “Black Country patriots” crest that gives them away. That and the periodic chants of “Keir Starmer’s a wanker.” And that’s before we get to the two women dressed in long, white Knight’s Templar capes adorned with blood red crosses.

Dear readers — Dispatch subscriber and former Birmingham Mail editor, Steve Dyson, was prompted to get in touch after a recent investigation into billionaire football boss David Sullivan by The Times and BBC’s Panorama. Explosive allegations of historical sexual assault were levelled against Sullivan by seven former models, leading to his resignation as chair of West Ham. Sullivan denies any wrongdoing.

Dear readers — welcome to your Monday Briefing. Kate is once again at the helm, steering the great ship Dispatch alone this week. No icebergs up ahead. Today, MP for Selly Oak Al Carns has hinted heavily that he is planning to make a bid for Labour leader and take Keir Starmer’s job — but the Daily Mail has revealed one of his biggest supporters is a local businessman who has served time for fraud. That’s our top story.

Calthorpe Road looks like a typical street in the Georgian part of Edgbaston, lined with the stucco-fronted villas that once housed the city’s elite. There is nothing about number 38 which immediately sets it apart. Like most of its neighbours on what has become a traffic gyratory, it’s no longer a home, functioning today as a health centre. But this innocuous house has a remarkable place in history.

Dear readers — today we delve into the debate around smartphones and children’s safety. How are schoolkids in Birmingham being affected by their pocket computers? And should they be banned? Photo of Birmingham demo taken by an eyewitness. 🚨 Around 40 demonstrators gathered in Victoria Square last night as part of nationwide protests in the aftermath of a knife attack in Northern Ireland on Monday.

Dear readers — welcome to your Monday Briefing. Madeleine is back from her holiday in the sun-drenched island of Kos: the birthplace of Hippocrates and home to one of the largest excavated ancient agoras in Greece. Her review? “Nice, but a bit boring with not much history.” Speaking of historic arenas for democratic debate, Birmingham’s Council House was alight with drama on Friday evening as members finally elected their new leader.

New Orleans, 3 December 1999: Professor Charles Craddock, an expert in blood cancer, slinks into the main hall at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Head pounding with the combined effects of jet lag and a hangover, he considers walking straight back out again. The flight from England lasted an age, and dinner is calling. He chides himself. He’s come all this way, he thinks. He ought to at least stay and listen.