Exclusive: Court transcripts contradict Shabana Mahmood’s denials about a notorious vote-rigging case Click the link below to read more🔗⬇️

Exclusive: Court transcripts contradict Shabana Mahmood’s denials about a notorious vote-rigging case The judge in the case says the home secretary’s statement ‘appears to bear no relation to reality’ via @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/exclusive-co...

Have you read yesterday's piece yet? Click below for ghosts, UFOs, and pig men⬇️ Plus, our Brum in Brief: 🎓Scholars and students are pushing back on management BCU who have pulled the plug on the Black Studies MA 🎻CBSO announces their new season

So, we’ve got a name. Introducing: The Exchange. A new newsroom for West Yorkshire - built on the idea that places matter, stories matter, and that information shouldn’t just sit there.

🛸Pig men, UFOs, and ghosts — the West Midlands has it all. In today's feature, we explore the local legends, stories, and folklore tales that refuse to die. Click below to read🔗👻

Your Monday briefing has arrived‼️ 🧵Today's top story is the question on everyone's mind: what comes next for Birmingham? Plus: where might alliances form? A blue alliance would still fall short of a majority, and so would need the support of Independents.

Read our round-up of yesterday’s local election results below:

In the same week as the elections, this came out from the amazing @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/exclusive-sh...

Despondent Labour activists, jubilant Greens and a Reform councillor now serving on TWO local authorities. We encountered it all at Birmingham's seismic count yesterday, which ended 14 years of Labour dominance. So: what now? Read our report.

Last weekend, the government tried to stop us from publishing our exclusive story on the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. Yesterday it was discussed on Private Eye’s podcast with Ian Hislop, Helen Lewis, Adam Macqueen and Andrew Hunter Murray. Watch below⬇️

Nice read… nice pics @aaronjlaw.bsky.social

Great contributing thoughts and images to this positive piece!

Shannon Lee was found dead in 2023 after an agency healthcare assistant did not properly check up on her. The 22-year-old carer had been admitted to Hallam Street Hospital in West Brom complaining that she could hear voices telling her to tie a ligature.

Coventry City’s revival is an endemically feel-good British underdog story, a West Midlands Full Monty. And the football club isn’t an anomaly — there’s a general feeling that Coventry might be about to enter a new moment in the sun. Read the full story here🔗

Exclusive: Why did Shabana Mahmood vote using the wrong ballot in 2004? A new postal vote discrepancy – and two very similar signatures  Click the link in our bio to read the full story🔗 www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/exclusive-wh...

It is absolutely extraordinary for the special advisor of a serving cabinet minister to be threatening a British media outlet with an injunction on what seem like deeply spurious grounds. You cannot get an injunction for defamation: the saying is "publish, and be damned" for exactly that reason.

🚨EXCLUSIVE: Shabana Mahmood’s postal ballot was investigated in a 2004 vote-rigging scandal in Birmingham The future home secretary submitted two postal ballot documents with very different signatures:

This story is a major scoop from @kateknowles.bsky.social, whose incredible contacts in Birmingham are really paying off for @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social. It was overseen by @cameronbarr.bsky.social. Don’t mess with these cats. www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/exclusive-sh...

An interesting piece from the @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social ... www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/exclusive-sh...

Shabana Mahmood’s special advisor threatened us with an injunction and two different lawsuits last night in an attempt to block this story linking her to a notorious vote rigging case. I think it’s strongly in the public interest. So here it is. www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/exclusive-sh...

EXCLUSIVE: The Dispatch can reveal that Shabana Mahmood’s postal ballot was examined in an explosive vote-rigging trial, in which the judge concluded there had been “widespread fraud” in two wards at the 2004 Birmingham city council elections.

🧵Catch up with The Dispatch: 🗳️At the weekend, we published a story on Brum's young Tories. 📰On Monday, our briefing covered anger over Kickstarter money for food business Low n Slow.

So proud to see five of my wonderful colleagues listed for the Paul Foot award. 👏👏 It’s the second year now that a @millmedia.bsky.social investigation has been up for the top UK journalism prize. Huge thanks to all our paying members who back this model/team/vision - it’s working!

🧵Over the last week or so, a Morrisons branch in Aldridge has made national news. Long-serving store manager Sean Egan was sacked after tackling a shoplifter in December. His story prompted a protest in Aldridge, and has sparked national debate.

🧵Have you read yesterday's briefing yet? ➡️The top story was: where did over £50k worth of Kickstarter money for Low n Slow actually go? ➡️Also: the Conservatives made looking into a Brum underground their headline pledge for local elections. ➡️Plus: media picks, to do, and quick hits 📷:Kickstarter

Joined a packed house for @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social first ever Hustings #Birmingham Yes the bins but questions/topics from audience included flags, addressing 18-24 year old unemployment (particularly those with disabilities), council tax increases & seeking refund of overpaid pension funds

Amid Hong Kong's gleaming skyscrapers, Andrew Carter began to long to eat a chicken balti pie at Elland Road at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon. Our weekend read is a moving personal essay on a life lived in and outside of Leeds - but always shaped by the city. You can read the full article below

Council leader John Cotton has announced that a deal to end the bin strikes is "within sight." From the Council House, Cotton said he believes an offer to address "ballpark issues" discussed at ACAS can be made. Video below:

Your Monday briefing has arrived: 🧵Low n very, very slow: Andy Stubbs of Low n Slow, a BBQ stall which was once a Digbeth Dining Club regular, has garnered much hostility after £53,577 worth of Kickstarter funding to start a restaurant seemingly went nowhere. 📸: Kickstarter

In Harborne, two Tory candidates donned their 'woke suits' and headed out door knocking. The pair, @hurasenberg and @AmaarShahzada are hoping to inject young blood into the party by winning at the polls in two weeks time. Click the link for more on Brum's young Tories:

Who got the new Camp Hill line over the line? Click below ⬇️

2,500 open cases: a day inside Birmingham's courts Double-booked interpreters, broken screens, and a system buckling under a backlog that's doubled since 2019 via the excellent @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/2-500-open-c...

The much anticipated Camp Hill line finally opened this month — who's to thank?

🧵Catch up with The Dispatch: ☕️Our weekend read was all about one of the city centre's last greasy spoon caffs, Cafe Neo, and what the future holds for the owner. Photo: Roland Leon

🧵Click the link below for today's story, as well as our Brum in Brief:

There are more than 2,500 open cases in the Birmingham courts, a figure which has doubled since 2019. Cases are being delayed to 2029 and backlog is increasing. Will David Lammy's 'swift courts' help? Photo: Chris McAndrew/UK Parliament

📍Your Monday briefing is here Dispatch exclusive: New Street is set to get 24 new escalators in a £17m replacement. A poll by More in Common has confirmed our analysis of the Birmingham local elections Plus, Coventry FC are back in the Premier League. 📸@aaronjlaw/Insta

“I personally think it’s a form of social cleansing. They don’t want us. They want Greggs, they want Starbucks.” Andreas Neofitou has worked at the same humble greasy spoon since he was 13 years old. His father, ‘Hercules’, started running it in the 1970s. 📸Roland Leon

🗞️"Nowhere is as broken as Birmingham,” Nigel Farage said in February. “We’re going to throw everything we’ve got at those Birmingham elections.” As he uttered those words, a bitter row was unfolding among his party in Brum. Click the link for more🔗

🧵This week at The Dispatch so far: 🗞️On Monday, our briefing covered the suggestion that Birmingham is heading for a 'mad coalition' next month. 🗳️On Tuesday, we published a story about power struggles at Reform UK Birmingham. ⬇️⬇️

icymi long-term members of Reform UK who wanted to be candidates for the Birmingham council elections have been given the cold shoulder, while former councillors from local Conservative and Labour parties have quietly embedded themselves in the party. This has not gone down well.

"Nowhere is as broken as Birmingham,” Nigel Farage said in February. “We’re going to throw everything we’ve got at those Birmingham elections.”

🧵Wind down your day by catching up with what you've missed: 🎥Our weekend read was on The Electric cinema – and plans to save it. 🗞️Yesterday's briefing unpacked whether Birmingham is heading for a 'mad coalition.' Both can be read on our website at the link below🔗

🧵The Electric cinema closed down in 2024 and was a huge cultural loss for Birmingham. Developers Glenbrook planned to build on the site. 📽️But now, there could be an alternative on the horizon. Flatpack festival have fully-costed plans to see the site reopen sustainably.

Some quality lines again in today's @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social 😅 Brummies, if you don't already know, get to know.

🧵Your Monday briefing is here‼️‼️ Today’s top story is whether a coalition would be chaotic for Birmingham. We published a data report last week which suggested that was the most likely outcome, but an article in The Times suggested reluctance from key players.⬇️

🗞️ Government insiders have told the Times that Birmingham is heading for a "mad coalition" that could threaten the delivery of public services. Is it fair? Read our Monday briefing now for all the West Mids news you need to start your week.

We got data expert Joey D'Urso to crunch the numbers ahead of the local elections. It's not looking good for Birmingham Labour. But what party is most likely to lead the city council after 7 May? Read on to find out: www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/data-report-...

🧵 On Birmingham's historic Station Street is the nearly 120 year-old Electric Cinema. Film enthusiasts know it very well. Others might not. But beyond film fans, the Electric could become very significant for Brum at large. At least, that's the bet of Ian Francis.

What are these teen ‘link-ups’ happening across the country? I was on the phone to my colleague Moya on Wednesday and one just started happening around her! She’s written a very fun @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social piece about what the teens said. www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/a-hectic-hou...