robkewley.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Such is the impact of graffiti in Birmingham City Centre, building owners are now having to obtain planning permission to remove it. Nuts how costly this is becoming.

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

I don’t think anybody has suggested Southport was “a fascist uprising”. Rather it presented an excuse for a lot of racist people to spread racist conspiracy theories and engage in and incite racist violence. That is a matter of record. The desperation to pretend otherwise is bizarre.

submitted 1 day ago • 57 comments

I think thjs developmemt is hugely damaging for one of Birmingham’s most significsnt heritage assets. Of you want to comment. Search for application 2024/03468/PA on Birminghan planning website www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Has our money been returned? @richardparkerwm.bsky.social

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Our Monday briefing is out now! Including: 💰 Birmingham Pride director settles with creditors - but how much of an £8m+ bill owed to public bodies was paid back? Plus: Wolverhampton councillor Milkinderpal Jaspal, a man of many addresses, won't stand for re-election.

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Good to hear Tice getting pushed on specifics of how Reform would reduce immigration by Amol Rajan this morning. A single thread was pulled this morning and the hole already appeared. Charlatans.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Reclaiming this as a progressive having heard a number of left wing commentators framing this as something Reform voters get energised about. Concerns about littering transcend politics. It should trouble us all. Litter 'nightmare' as street cleanliness worst on record www.bbc.com/news/article...

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

First time in Birmingham city centre in a while. Everywhere is in such a neglected state. Tagging is widespread including buildings that I’ve never seen targeted before. Pavements filthy, stained and littered. It’s a really depressing sight.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

‘All of us, it sometimes seems, are suffering from the political equivalent of road rage, manifested in either futile shouting or tense silence.’ www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

If the citizens of Canada and now Australia are recognising what’s at stake from far right politicians following 100 days of Trump’s second term, why are the citizens of the UK so voraciously leaning into the populist misinformation of Farage and Reform?

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Jenkyns gets hit by the dull reality of county councils. #ukpolitics

submitted 10 days ago • 36 comments

‘Experts have warned the country has created a £2bn industry of underregulated providers of stopgap housing, some of which are supplying dirty, rat-infested and dangerous accommodation, according to those who live there.’ www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

submitted 16 days ago • 1 comment

So the first real policy decision on active travel or road safety by this government is a law targeting cyclists which will do nothing for road safety, briefed to a newspaper which openly hates cycling. Whatever your hopes for active travel from current ministers, perhaps calibrate these downwards.

submitted 19 days ago • 42 comments

"Online discourse has collapsed into incoherence, as a cacophony of voices — not all of them human — fight to be heard and digital monopolies profit from the disorder." Welcome to slop world: how the hostile internet is driving us crazy - on.ft.com/44Afrqt via @FT

submitted 23 days ago • 2 comments

The exempt housing crisis continues to ravage parts of Birmingham with promised legislation and action taking an inordinate about of time to enact. Anger as little family terrace in Erdington 'flipped' into homeless hostel www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midland...

submitted 25 days ago • 2 comments

Adeley labelled the licensing system for drivers as the “laxest in Europe” as he said the UK was one of only three countries to rely on self-reporting of visual conditions affecting the ability to drive. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

We know budgets are a little tight right now. So for Spring, we're running a very special offer: 50% off a Dispatch membership for the first three months. Support local journalism, for less than £1 a week.

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

Queuing up first thing to nab final copy of @suedehq.bsky.social Sci-Fi Lullabies Vol.2 for Record Store Day 2025 at Polar Bear Records in Kings Heath, Brum.

submitted 32 days ago • 0 comments

The White House just issued this statement: “The President won his second round matchup of the Senior Club Championship today in Jupiter, FL, and advances to the Championship Round tomorrow.” How’s this real life?

submitted 38 days ago • 1691 comments

Good on @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social for pursuing this story. There’s a lot that’s fishy about this story. Doesn’t exactly shed Wolverhampton’s Labour group in a positive light.

submitted 39 days ago • 0 comments

A scandal that gets scarcely any coverage. A far greater challenge to Birmingham than the current bin strikes. ‘30,000 and rising - how Birmingham has become country's dumping ground for troubled homeless’ www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midland...

submitted 39 days ago • 0 comments

The reason the EU, S Korea and Japan don’t by American made vehicles is because they’re generally too big, uncompetitive, depreciate badly and frankly, have little brand value.

submitted 41 days ago • 1 comment

Should be an #AprilFool but isn't 👇 A thread🧵 The NHS and @unibirmingham.bsky.social is building a "Health Innovation Campus" and once completed it will have what? That's right a multi storey car park with THREE THOUSAND spaces 🤔 🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗 So let's look at the plans...

submitted 42 days ago • 3 comments

The arrival of Eid has brought with it the return of night time street racing in my part of South Birmingham. It’s so frustrating that this selfish, dangerous and massively disruptive behaviour by largely male drivers continues to blight communities. No Policing, no Council response.

submitted 44 days ago • 0 comments

Important context to this row: Adults from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds are overrepresented in our prisons. Minister threatens to override sentencing rules www.bbc.com/news/article...

submitted 46 days ago • 0 comments

Let this be a lesson to everyone: Trump won't relent if you give in; he's a bully. The only thing that will get him to back off is to punch him back.

submitted 46 days ago • 50 comments

Blimey. One of Nigel Farage's biggest donors, and the owner of 55 Tufton Street, is helping the Russian military effort www.nytimes.com/2025/03/28/w...

submitted 46 days ago • 168 comments

NEW Latest figures show backlogs increasing in both Magistrates & Crown Courts in England/Wales. Figures for Dec 2024: Magistrates: 309,838 - up 14% in 12 months & around 80,000 more than before Covid. Crown: 74,651 - 11% up in 12 months. The backlog has doubled in 5 years...

submitted 47 days ago • 1 comment

We have such an abysmal approach to urban design in Birmingham - yet more evidence www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

submitted 54 days ago • 1 comment

Glad the bin strike is getting the attention on the BBC. Unions and Council are causing untold harm and need to sort out this mess. I’ve not known a more dysfunctional service that waste management in Birmingham www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/ck...

submitted 55 days ago • 0 comments