The latest news, updates and events in Birmingham
Police officers arrested 13 protesters following a demonstration at a Home Office immigration centre in Solihull yesterday evening. The group were apprehended just after 9pm on Monday (April 29), after preventing access to Sandford House, where they had spent most of the day in support of 5 asylum seekers who had reportedly been detained by authorities in…
A prestigious Birmingham ballet school is celebrating 20 years by launching a new photography campaign championing some of its best and brightest. Last year, Elmhurst Ballet School celebrated its centenary, and the celebrations are continuing into 2024 as the school marks 20 years in its current home in Edgbaston, Birmingham.
A Birmingham community cohesion advocate has denounced suggestions by former Prime Minister David Cameron that opposing the government’s Prevent programme “enables terrorism”. In a new report published this week, former PM David Cameron has claimed people who oppose controversial de-radicalisation strategy Prevent are fuelling terrorism, but Mashkura Begum – who is openly critical of Prevent – feels…
The Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, has launched £15bn worth of housing, regeneration, commercial and infrastructure development opportunities to international investors at the MIPIM property conference in Cannes, South of France. MIPIM is the world’s leading real estate event, bringing together over 20,000 property professionals from around the world, including over 4,000 investors,…
West Midlands migrant organisations have called on the UK government to grant Afghan refugees sanctuary in the region, following the current humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. As people desperately attempt to leave Afghanistan in a bid to escape instability and violence in the country, pro-migration groups are demanding PM Boris Johnson to announce a strategy granting…
As the nation’s third lockdown in less than a year is underway, police forces across the country have received revised government’s regulations to enforce COVID-19 safety restrictions on the public, with maximum fines of up to £6,400 per person. Although there has been confusion at times during the previous two lockdowns as to who can be out and about, as…
Social gatherings of more than six people will be illegal in England from Monday in response to a sharp rise in coronavirus cases across the country. Currently, the lawful limit on gatherings is 30 people but a new legal limit will ban larger groups meeting anywhere indoors or outdoors for social purposes, according to Downing Street. From Monday,…
Birmingham City Council has launched a new drop and collect service to provide citizens an easier opportunity to get tested for coronavirus. Due to a recent rise in the number of cases in the city and Birmingham being placed on the national watchlist, the local authority is actively testing local households to prevent the spread of…
A national cinema chain has announced it is giving thousands of free cinema tickets to NHS key workers to express gratitude to them for their hard work during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Odeon cinemas has begun offering Blue Light Card members the free tickets, as a way of saying thank you to these public sector heroes across the country.
Smethwick MP John Spellar has taken up the case of a 75-year-old woman living in the West Midlands, who has been threatened with deportation by UK immigration services. The Member of Parliament for Warley revealed he is working with campaigners to secure Gurmit Kaur the right to stay in the country under exceptional circumstances.