Blog
OPINION: Simmer Down – Peace and Unity in the Community
It was a long week. A week of negative comments written by a leading politician against women from a certain ethnic and religious background. These abusive comments were later defended by a leading comedian under the guise of comedy and the ‘freedom of speech’ mantra. The week continued with the media adding weight to these…
OPINION: My First Birmingham Pride
The idea of attending Birmingham Pride 2018 was an incredibly daunting one. Although I’m gay, I have never particularly gone out of my way to broadcast it to the world. It isn’t something I’m necessarily ashamed of admitting, but it’s not a part of my identity that I go out of my way to show.
LGBTQ+ groups calls for cultural appropriation ban at Birmingham Pride celebrations
A number of LGBTQ+ groups across the city have called on Birmingham Pride to ban cultural appropriation, following an I Am Birmingham article highlighting the issue was published last month. In light of several Native American headdresses being worn as ‘costumes’ at Birmingham Pride celebrations, representatives from queer groups of colour have condemned the practice.
OPINION | Life of ‘Dr Tony Xia’
“Always look on the bright side of life, always look on the light side of life. If life seems jolly rotten, there’s something you’ve forgotten…” Great song from the Monty Python film Life of Brian, a song which gives us Villa fans some solace in these dark and troubling times. The club has no money…
The second largest migrant community in the UK, Romanians still targeted with media misrepresentation
Newly released data on migrant population in the UK caused again quite a stir in the media. Most outlets, from tabloids to quality press, published the news: Romanians now number 411,000 in the UK, which makes us the second largest migrant population on the island. At the end of last month, the Office for National…
OPINION: Should Channel 4 really move to Birmingham?
There’s a lot of drums being beaten in the West Midlands right now, and none louder than in Birmingham, where hashtagged calls for Channel 4 to make the city its new home have become almost deafening. Between the Government pretty much forcing the iconic state-backed broadcaster to move out of the capital, and West Midlands…
REVIEW: The top 20 films of 2017
It’s been a strong year for Hollywood and independent cinema alike. 2017 has not failed to disappoint and you’ll find there’s a substantial amount of variety included in this list. This year, the top spot is taken by a movie which, although very well known in film-buff circles, is still unfortunately relatively unknown to the masses, despite the…
OPINION | IT: The real horror is not a killer clown, it’s us
Imagine coming home to a house where you can still smell the fragrance of a loved one who will never come back again, their clothes and belongings are still there, and you feel a deep emptiness as you step inside. Imagine coming home to a place where you know the demon of bullying stills haunts…
OPINION: The whitewashing of Birmingham’s street art continues
Stroll down Lower Essex Street this morning and, other than the usual gloomy summer weather confronting your commute into the city centre, you may also have notice the brutal removal of Golden Boy’s set of stencilled bespectacled faces that have adorned one particular building these past few years. Golden Boy is one of a group…
OPINION | Political activists scrawl city streets to chalk up Labour victory
On a cold and windy rainy Birmingham night, I found myself alongside some of the grassroots campaigners, all of us hoping to see The Labour Party elected on the June 8th. Armed with a box of pavement chalk, the group had taken to the streets of their constituency to spell out their message for a…