HomeBlogs & ViewsBirmingham Mail ColumnistsDavid Bell

It's better to arrive than to travel

IT USED to be better to travel hopefully than arrive. Read

Charity must begin at home

IT WAS October 2005 when the earth moved in the foothills of the Himalayas. Read

Political put-down is a real let-down

AS an insult, it lacked a lot in snappiness, spite and spleen. Read

Britain needs a bill of rights - now

NEARLY 200 heroin addicts have won a £10,000 a head payout because the authorities stopped them taking drugs in prison. Read

Relative burgled by addict

A HEROIN addict who burgled his grandmother's home has been spared further time behind bars. Read

That's the way the money goes...

GETTING elected to the House of Commons is better than being enrolled in the Mafia. Read

A nation where nothing succeeds like failure

IT USED to be that captains went down with their ships. But this is England, a country where nothing succeeds like failure. Read

Passengers are such an inconvenience

THIS week's edition of You Couldn't Make It Up comes courtesy of Virgin Trains, whose services on the Manchester-Birmingham New Street-Euston run are becoming increasingly over-crowded. Read

Drink up chaps, it's the taxpayer's round

WHAT makes my blood boil is not so much being used as a human cashpoint to bail out the government but the incompetent way our money is spent. Read

An over-taxed toast to revenue creation

DURING the first 12 months of the failed attempt to impose a Continent-style cafe culture on Birmingham, violent crime at weekends shot up by more than nine per cent. Read

Why Euro gravy train is for their eyes only

FORMER Prime Minister Ted Heath sold it to us on the false premise we were joining a free trade area. Read

Don't look now, but you're being watched

BIG Brother is watching you. And his surveillance is becoming ever more intrusive. Read

We pay the piper, he calls the tune

SUPPOSE we must all be thankful for the downfall of Derek Conway. Read

Why Metro will never take off

I'LL tell you a secret about the senior Birmingham politicians involved in planning a city centre Metro. Read

Pupils locked out by PFI squeeze

ARSON-hit Perry Beeches School cost £15 million to rebuild seven years ago and its sporting and recreation facilities are second to none. Read

Put an end to cotton wool culture

THEY'VE been rolling cheeses down hills in Gloucestershire for time immemorial. Read

Playing the grand game of targets

LAST year police were on the track of a lad who raised £700 for Comic Relief and kept the money. Read

Democracy will never catch on!

IT LOOKS, at first glance, like an eye-catching step forward for democracy. Read