Updated 2:59am 12 February 2012:

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Paul Dale

Paul Dale

Birmingham's German market proves to be red hot attraction

BIRMINGHAM’S German Christmas market turned out to be a red-hot attraction, despite the snow and icy weather.Read

Row over Birmingham's salt supplies

COUNCIL bosses have been accused of being ill-prepared for the coldest winter for decades after they cut by half a request for salt needed to keep Birmingham’s roads clear of ice and snow.Read

Call for Birmingham City Council staff to get bonus if they don't go sick

STAFF at Birmingham City Council should be paid an annual cash bonus if they get through a year without once being off sick, a former trade union official has suggested.Read

Birmingham Council recruits army of temporary workers in case of binmen strike

COUNCIL bosses have admitted recruiting an army of non-union labour to run refuse collection services in Birmingham if binmen go ahead with a work to rule and strike.Read

Social services damage Birmingham's reputation

SUB-STANDARD social services for children are threatening to damage Birmingham’s reputation, city council leader Mike Whitby has admitted.Read

Birmingham City Council spends £200k on gravestone 'topple tests'

CASH-strapped Birmingham City Council has spent almost £200,000 since 2007 on controversial safety tests for grave headstones, it has emerged.Read

Weather is snow joke for firms in West Midlands

WORKERS taking snow days during the Arctic weather are costing Birmingham and West Midlands businesses £73 million a day, it has been claimed. Read

Public questions Birmingham crime fall statistics

SERIOUS crime fell by 11 per cent in Birmingham last year – but a significant proportion of people refuse to believe their city is safer, police chiefs admit.Read

Drink, drugs and mental health problems contribute to 'toxic mix'' in deaths and injury of 22 children in Birmingham

DRINK or drug-fuelled violence combined with mental health problems contributed to the deaths and serious injury of 22 children in Birmingham since 2006, a social care chief has claimed.Read

Birmingham City Council accused of doing the Government's 'dirty work' over cuts

UNION leaders have condemned Birmingham City Council’s planned £308 million cuts package, accusing the authority’s Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition of being over-eager to slash front line services.Read

Revealed: Full extent of financial crisis at Birmingham City Council

THE huge scale of the financial crisis facing Birmingham City Council became clear last night after plans to shed at least 10,000 jobs over the next four years were unveiled.Read

London only 40 minutes away from Birmingham by HS2 trains

RAIL journeys between Birmingham and London will take a staggeringly short 40 minutes when a planned high speed rail service is up and running, it has emerged.Read

Chief executive confirms thousands of jobs to go at Birmingham City Council

THE city council will next week confirm the biggest spending cuts for decades, with an admission that thousands of local authority jobs will disappear over the next four years.Read

New bid to save Birmingham Central library from demolition fails

THE Government has refused a fresh request to save Birmingham’s Central Library from demolition.Read

'Boring' science no fun any more, says Birmingham Science Park Aston expert

UNNECESSARY health and safety regulations are to blame for the plunging popularity of science at school, a Birmingham expert has claimed.Read

Birmingham teacher backs students

A BIRMINGHAM teachers’ leader has praised student demonstrators whose violent occupation of the Conservative Party’s offices in London resulted in 54 arrests and left ten people requiring hospital treatment.Read

Lie detectors dropped by government

A LIE detector tried out by city council bosses to detect benefit fiddlers has been dropped by the Government – but will still be used in Birmingham.Read

Hundreds to pay respects at Remembrance events

HUNDREDS of people are expected to pay tribute to the dead from all wars at Birmingham’s Remembrance Day Parade tomorrow.Read

Dinner ladies and cleaners set up co-operative in Birmingham

HUNDREDS of school dinner ladies and cleaners are set to leave Birmingham City Council and work for themselves in an effort to keep their jobs.Read

Sutton Library closed after builders botched the job.

BOTCHED installation of electric cables over three decades disturbed asbestos in the roof of a Birmingham library forcing the building’s closure, an investigation has shown.Read

Author Profile

Paul Dale has been writing about local government in the West Midlands for more than 20 years. The Post's public affairs editor, he is a previous political editor of the Coventry Evening Telegraph and Local Government Correspondent of the Oxford Mail.