Some more bits from our Monday briefing below⬇️

Your Monday briefing is here: 🥊An independent councillor has raised “bullying” concerns about a council staff member, claiming they placed “undue pressure” on two planning officers to push through controversial regeneration plans in Druids Heath without vital financial details

In 2003, Deborah Douglas’ worst nightmare became reality when she discovered a pea-sized lump in her breast. It took several months until she mentioned it to her GP. Just days later, she was shaking hands with Ian Paterson. 📸: Deborah Douglas

"Saturday morning, 8:30 am. I’m off to Erdington. To go litter-picking. Maybe it’s the sleep deprivation talking, but I’m really looking forward to it." Click the link below to read more on Shaun Patrick Hand's day out with the litter guerrillas⬇️

Piss, needles and political aspirations: the litter guerrillas cleaning up Brum In today's story, @ShaunHandAuthor donned a high vis jacket and headed out on the streets of Erdington and Digbeth with Brum’s bravest — litter picking groups. You can read the piece below⬇️🔗

🧵Spend your commute catching up with what you may have missed! On Monday we published our briefing, which has everything from news, to media picks, to our to do list.🗞️ Read that here:

Birmingham Live finally changed their misleading headline today, clarifying that the meningitis case they were reporting on was from 2022. You can read more of our report on the case of Reach PLC clickbait in our Monday briefing which is linked below on the next post.

Our Monday briefing is out now‼️ 🧵Today's top story is Birmingham Live taking the meningitis outbreak as an opportunity to fearmonger. Yesterday, the Reach PLC publication published the headline: “Birmingham student unable to walk, talk or see after catching meningitis”.

🧵Have you read our weekend piece on Birmingham's sausage dynasty - Lashford's? If not, check out some previews below and read more at the link!🔗

There's only two days left to apply to join our team at The Dispatch! To find out more & apply, click the link below!🔗

WE ARE HIRING 🚨 We’re looking for two great writers to help us get our new newsroom off the ground.

🚨 Final call ‼️ We're officially building and we need a name. Have your say now.

✔️ Agree strongly. I love (and pay for) @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social and I read @millmedia.bsky.social’s other titles too. Might take out a paid sub to @manchestermill.bsky.social even though I don’t have particularly close links to Manchester, just because it’s so damn good

Read our briefing: Top story➡️ Members of Stirchley Co-operative Development (SCD) — a community-led initiative to build 39 homes & three spaces for worker-owned businesses — say their housing association partner has hiked the cost by £2m making it no longer affordable for the group to buy.

There's only a week left to apply to our staff writer opening! Click below for more info⬇️

Welcome to The Dispatch’s first ever good news edition: Click the link below to read more🔗

Fantastic reporting from Moya and @robbiejourno.bsky.social on the Glasgow fire.

20 pledges to go. We’re ready when you are.

Every year 20,000 dogs descend on Birmingham. Their owners come with one goal: to win.

⏰ We’re into the final stretch of our campaign to launch a new newspaper for West Yorkshire - and we’re now at 433 pledges. In this week’s newsletter, @djstimms.bsky.social explains where things stand and why this final push matters.

One week to go to see if a new independent news outlet for Leeds and West Yorkshire will actually happen - if you'd like to see it and haven't yet pledged support for @leedsnewlocalpaper.bsky.social, please consider doing so. #LocalJournalismMatters

Less than a week left ⏰ A month ago we said: if 500 people backed the idea, we’d launch a new local newspaper for West Yorkshire based in Leeds. Overnight, we’ve just surpassed 400 pledges 💫 That means we’re within touching distance - but nothing is guaranteed yet.

Spend your commute reading our briefing⬇️ Is Brum Pride in debt? Does our city undersell itself? Plus, an appeal has been set up for the funeral of the man stabbed to death in Alum Rock last week. Click the link below to read more:

350 pledges. 150 to go. If we reach it, we launch 🚀

🚨 Monday briefing is here🚨 🧵Today’s top story: Something curious is going on between Birmingham Pride and St Johns Ambulances. Last week, The Dispatch saw an email that appeared to have been sent from SJA to volunteers: (read below)

🚨Our sister title, @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social , is hiring. They're looking for a superb writer to cover Birmingham in depth. If that's you or someone you know, click here: millmediaco.uk/2026/03/02/w... The deadline is the 22nd March, so get those applications in.

The Dispatch is hiring a staff writer! We're looking for a third writer to join Kate and Madeleine at our HQ in the Jewellery Quarter. If you love high quality writing and value local news with no ads or clickbait, consider applying. Click for more:

🚨Our sister title @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social is hiring! They're looking for a brilliant writer to work with Kate Knowles and Madeleine Rousell and cover Birmingham in depth. If that's you or someone you know, here's where to go: millmediaco.uk/2026/03/02/w... Deadline 22 March.

In Birmingham, we’re looking for a really fantastic writer - someone who can document the city with originality and wit, as well as doing in depth reporting. @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social has two great reporters and has taken off with readers. millmediaco.uk/2026/03/02/w...

🚨 GOOD NEWS: we’re hiring staff writers in Birmingham and Glasgow 🚨 These are full time roles in which you get proper time to do quality work. You will write ~1 story per week, working with phenomenal @millmedia.bsky.social editors. Applications close soon. Please share 🙏 millmediaco.uk/jobs/

🎉Nearly the weekend, head into it well informed. Catch up on what we’ve published this week by following the link below to our website. There’s a Monday Briefing to digest, as well as a story about Wolverhampton. Read both here🔗 www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk

Catch up with what we’ve published this week: Our Monday Briefing, where the headline was the battle for the budget (now passed). There’s also a couple of bits on our to do list that could help you plan your weekend…

Great work by the dispatch. Certainly food for thought for pedestrianisation advocates like me.

You may have missed our Brum in Brief yesterday: 🗞️ A man in his 20s has died following a stabbing on Bridge Road in Alum Rock on Tuesday, which also left a woman with non-serious injuries. 💰Birmingham city council passed its budget on Monday. Read more below⬇️

Banning cars was going to revive Wolverhampton’s centre. Why’s it empty? We spoke to some shops in Wolverhampton. Three sit on Victoria St, which was pedestrianised in 2023. They say that the move has greatly affected their trade. 📸Ian Hughes

It's nearly lunchtime, and what a great opportunity to get stuck into our popular weekend read on Yorks cafes. It's completely free to read, you just need to sign up to our newsletter. You'll get high quality reporting on Birmingham landing in your inbox every single week.

🚨Your Monday Briefing is here 🚨 🧵 Is Birmingham a “cesspit”? That’s how Jane Jones, an independent councillor, described the city during a budget debate last week. Labour leader John Cotton, however, said the non-bankrupt authority is a "thriving powerhouse.” 📸: Irina Mackie

Launching a new newsroom is simple in theory: If 500 people back it, we build it ⚒️ We’re working towards bringing independent journalism to West Yorkshire - and support like this from Robyn Vinter really means a lot.

🧵Just in case you need more convincing to read yesterday's story on Yorks cafes, here are some glowing reviews from readers⬇️

☕️ Don’t miss our must-read weekend piece on Yorks cafes — plus, if you’ve read it and you’re not signed up, why not join for free? You’ll get high quality journalism landing straight in your inbox every single week. 🔗Head to our website to find out more and read the Yorks cafes story.

🧵Less than 12 months after opening, Yorks cafe closed its 100-seater flagship branch in the Paradise development. A sign in the window read: "Dear Customers. We are having to close while we resolve a few issues. More announcements to follow." No announcement followed. 📸:Insta

🧵Spend your Friday evening catching up with what we’ve published this week. ⚽️On Monday, you may have missed our briefing, where the top story was a committee report on the government’s handling of the banning of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from Villa Park

⭐️Don't miss out on yesterday's story about Birmingham's drag queens embracing 'bastard' drag. Plus, click the link below for our Brum in Brief to stay caught up before the weekend www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/cheap-hairy-...

🧵Plus, don’t miss our Brum in Brief: 🥘 UNESCO could recognise Birmingham’s Baltis 📄 Labour’s Weoley and Selly Oak councillor, Jamie Tennant, is the subject of a confidential complaint to Birmingham City Council, alleging gross misconduct, we can reveal (read more🔗)

🧵“Bastard drag is camp, fun, and a bit silly,” Jazmin Sparks, a drag titan of Birmingham says. “I think that's a good thing as well about Birmingham, we like to reclaim power words.”

Still need to catch up on our Monday Briefing? Click below⬇️

Nearly half way to 500 - wow 🤩 The support so far has been brilliant - and it shows there's real appetite for serious local journalism here 📰

Have you read yesterday's Monday Briefing yet?

"In the Industrial Revolution, every big city in the north had a local champion newspaper." @tomforth.co.uk thinks cities like Leeds deserves one again. 👑

🚨Your Monday briefing is out now🚨 Today’s headlines: ⚽️A report by the Home Affairs Committee has found that government intervention in the banning of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a Europa League match against Aston Villa last year was “lazy and clumsy.”