Author: Umar Hassan

Credit: Marsjo for Pixabay Underrepresented communities who want to work in the video game industry have called for more diversity in the sector. Black Girl Gamers, POC in Play and Women in Games are a few video game communities who are trying to bring more diversity into the industry. These communities are trying to improve the representation of women, people of colour and the LGBTQ+ community who want to pursue a career in video games. The state of diversity in the current UK video game workforce Credit: TheXomil for Pixabay. In the 2020 Games Industry Census conducted by The Association…

Credit: IWGB Game Workers A leading trade union which campaigns for video game workers’ rights has criticised the use of “crunch culture” being used in developing video games. Crunch is a form of unpaid overtime where workers at a company or studio work long hours to finish a video game project they’ve been working on for months or years. The Game Workers branch of The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB Game Workers) has been campaigning against crunch since the union was created in December 2018. Ending crunch culture in the video game industry IWGB Game Workers first executive…

Birmingham has the highest number of internet devices sent out of all local authorities in England. Photo by August de Richelieu from Pexels Figures from the Department for Education revealed an estimated 9,294 devices were sent from the government to local authority and LA-run schools in Birmingham in the 2020/21 academic year. Schools in Birmingham are being sent laptops and tablets for almost 1 in 20 students within its school student population. Compared with other local authorities, Birmingham isn’t receiving the most laptops and tablets per pupil. Camden in London is in first place with laptops and tablets being sent for more…

Credit: Elliott Brown for Flickr After 50 years of service, the Perry Barr flyover will be closed to the public as part of plans to regenerate the area. Here is what you need to know about the closure of the Perry Barr flyover. Why is the Perry Barr flyover closing? The flyover is closing as part of £500m of investment made to redevelop Perry Barr. This includes a new housing development on the old Birmingham City University City North Campus and a renovated Alexander Stadium, which will be the main site of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. How will…

Credit: Elliott Brown for Flickr Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Council has failed to spend almost half of its total budgeted money in its annual budget for the first four years since the council was formed. In the town council’s 2019/20 accounts, out of its £1.86m annual budget, £1.3m was spent on local services, leaving £0.5m budgeted for spending unspent. The figures come after Birmingham Eastside revealed that Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Council had failed to spend over a third of its budgeted funds in its 2018/2019 accounts. Read: Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Council criticised for failing to spend over third…

Credit: kalhh for Pixabay. Smoke alarm systems have triggered thousands of false alarms for the West Midlands Fire Service. Home Office data revealed that more than 27,000 false alarm incidents were recorded by the fire and rescue service for WMFS, covering the three recent financial years (2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20). A spokesman for West Midlands Fire Service said: “It potentially diverts our crews away from a genuine emergency, from their prevention or protection work, or from training.  “It also increases the risk to members of the public and our crews as they respond on blue lights to provide a timely…