With the announcement from Transport Minister Grant Shapps MP, that national Public Transport networks will recieve a £2 billion grant, are Birmingham City Council doing enough to protect transport workers and commuters from the Covid-19 outbreak? George Bunn investigates. An independent review was announced on the 21st May looking at infections on London buses after it had been revealed that 33 bus workers have died after contracting Covid-19, 29 of those being drivers. Is there enough protection for Birmingham bus drivers to prevent further deaths? And what is the risk to these key workers? Johnny Meharry, speaking for Unite the…
Author: George Bunn
Image: Pixabay Students from the University of Birmingham medical school have been competing against each other to raise money for various NHS charities by seeing who can run, walk and cycle the most miles. The competition, organised by the Medical School sports clubs, is made up of six different sports clubs all competing to log the furthest distance. These clubs are the men’s & women’s football and rugby teams, as well as the Hockey and Netball teams, all consisting of students from the medical school. James Jobling, the Fundraising Representative for the Birmingham Medical School Football Club said that the…
Labour MP Jess Phillips spoke last night to supporters and Labour voters ahead of her campaign to be the next party leader. The event took place with the aim to “build up a grassroots campaign” for her to succeed Jeremy Corbyn . The event took place at the BVSC in Digbeth with the MP for Birmingham Yardley speaking to Labour Party Members. The MP acknowledged the failings of the election campaign. She said: “We have fought hard, but three words is all it took for Boris Johnson to win trust and to be believed. “People simply didn’t trust us to…
Labour leadership candidate Jess Phillips MP will speak this evening to voters in Birmingham. According to the organisers, the event is part of the “Team Jess” series and is aimed at building a “grass roots campaign to speak truth and to win power across the country.” The event comes after the MP for Yardley was confirmed as one of the four candidates for Labour Leadership on Tuesday. Tonight’s meeting is taking place at BVSC Digbeth, and is open to anyone with any questions for the MP. Make sure that you’re following Birmingham Eastside on Twitter for updates from the leadership…
Councillors in Birmingham met yesterday to discuss the future of a plan aimed at helping fitness levels in the region. The ‘Active Communities’ scheme is designed to help the region come together to improve physical and social health. Director of the Active Wellbeing Society, Steve Rose said: “We know that physical activity is not just good for physical health, but for social and mental health and general happiness and wellbeing. “Our job is to try to reach out to people who are not active, and bring them into the scheme.” Image: Pixabay The proposal for the scheme was met positively…
Birmingham City Council will be hosting a meeting tomorrow to scrutinise a scheme aimed to improve local fitness levels. The scheme, entitled “Active Communities”, aims to improve the region’s fitness. It is one of 12 pilot schemes happening across the country, which came about after a £100 million grant from Sport England. Picture: Pixabay The council have said that the scheme should engage with everyone in Birmingham and Solihull and that it wants to: “position sport and physical activity as vehicle for bringing people together in their communities.” In addition to this, the scheme will be encouraging a better relationship…
Labour members met in West Bromwich last night to discuss what went wrong for the party at last year’s general election. The meeting featured talks from Dudley North campaign manager Darcey Luke, and Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana, who were speaking on the record loss suffered by the Labour Party in December’s general election, where Labour lost seats in Northfield, West Bromwich and Dudley. Coventry North MP Zarah Sultana on the failings of the Labour Party Darcy Luke said that the failure suffered by the party can be attributed to “Electoral failures of the campaign, as well as the shifting…
A meeting will take place tonight (Monday November 18) in Solihull to provide free advice to anyone affected by the Windrush Scandal. The session, part of a wider campaign, will be taking place at the New Testament Church of God in Kingshurst, Solihull, and aims to help people claim benefits and legal advice following the fallout from the Windrush Scandal. The session is being run by Dr Desmond Jaddoo, Chairman and Co-founder of The Windrush Movement UK, and Rachel Okello, an Immigration solicitor. Dr Jaddoo said that he views this programme as being “an acknowledgement by the government that mistakes…
Image by Captain Anonymous from Pixabay Business owners in Birmingham have been voicing their concerns about the council’s proposal to introduce a parking levy as part of a ‘clean air initiative’ in Birmingham City centre. As part of the proposal, which aims to reduce carbon emissions in the city centre, businesses will have to set parking charges of £500 a year for private parking spaces. However, the proposals have been met with opposition from business groups, who are questioning the integrity of the report and the effect on businesses. Director of Birmingham Westside business group, Mike Olley, has condemned the report. He said: “The overwhelming…
Families have been joining other protestors in Birmingham to demand the government take urgent action on the climate crisis as part of a worldwide series of climate strikes.