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The Stirrer

M6 Toll is on the right road

Transport campaigners this week dubbed the M6 Toll a “costly failure”, but have they seriously totted up the price of life without it?Read

The Stirrer

Simply folk in need of help

BIRMINGHAM MP Andrew Mitchell is well-placed to point an accusing finger at the “woefully inadequate” global reaction to the Pakistan floods crisis.Read

The Stirrer

PM's plan is class warfare

CRITICISING David Cameron for being out of touch because of his public school background always brings the charge that you are waging “class war”.Read

The Stirrer

Punishing our own people

Only the most hardline bigot would deny the contribution of immigrants to Britain.Read

The Stirrer

Innovation? We invented it!

A fascinating nugget of Birmingham history came to light this week following the sad demise of snooker great Alex “Hurricane” Higgins.Read

The Stirrer

And still the kids suffer

AFTER the latest damning report into Birmingham’s children’s social services, the question has to be asked – when will heads roll?Read

The Stirrer

Pity Moat for lethal neglect

AM I wrong to feel sorry for Raoul Moat, the crazed killer who took his own life last weekend in Rothbury?Read

The spycam row goes on

ON SUNDAY I was privileged to chair the public meeting where a senior police officer said sorry for botching the consultation over a new generation of CCTV cameras planned for inner city Birmingham.Read

The Stirrer

War has no half measures

This week, barely audible above the World Cup vuvuzelas and the “hear, hears” of the budget, news slipped out that another soldier had died at Birmingham’s QE hospital.Read

The Stirrer

‘Spycams’ a step too far

THE row over Birmingham’s new generation of CCTV cameras simply refuses to go away.Read

The Stirrer

We should try to understand, not condemn

IMAGINE if during The Troubles of the 70s and 80s, a six-ship flotilla of foreign do-gooders had moored off the Irish Sea with the intention of delivering “aid” to the poor benighted Catholics of Belfast.Read

The Stirrer

Our foreign aid should be a source of pride

In the past few days, the Government has made more cuts than Edward Scissorhands at a hairy bikers’ convention – and we can be certain there’ll be more snip, snip, snipping in the months ahead.Read

The Stirrer

Let's prove Brum's up for the Cup

LORD Triesman may have been a philandering old fool or the innocent victim of a tabloid sting but one thing’s for certain – the scandal around his resignation mustn’t be allowed to damage England’s World Cup bid.Read

The Stirrer

Let's sideline the haggis-munchers in our government

FOR years, voters have turned out at election time to chose their favoured government and a victor usually emerges in short order – either Labour or Conservative.Read

The Stirrer

Travellers need to live somewhere

THE ugly face of bigotry reared into public view again this week as villagers in Meriden circled the wagons – or in their case 4x4s – to protect their local area from an invasion by travellers.Read

The Stirrer

Taxpayers will pick up equal pay bill

HARD-pressed Birmingham taxpayers could be forced to shell out a whopping £3 billion before the city council finally meets its obligations under equal pay laws.Read

The Stirrer

Ash horror? Don’t make me laugh

WHATEVER happened to the British stiff upper lip? Judging by our reaction to the Icelandic volcano story, it’s gone so limp I doubt whether even Viagra can help.Read

The Stirrer

Election? The whole system stinks

MORE than a week into the election campaign and my hunch is that all but the most hardened party hacks are still undecided who to support – or whether to even to vote at all.Read

The Stirrer

What a sick way to build hospitals

THE bulky curves of the new QE Hospital loom large on the horizon of south Birmingham, hammering out an unmistakeable statement of intent.Read

The Stirrer

MPs don't understand bus misery

JOHN Hemming generated a few unintentional belly laughs in Parliament recently by daring to raise the cancellation of a local bus route.Read