Midweek Magazine

Photo © Patrick Moran

Granny Buttons writes a good blog. Perhaps writing from a narrowboat on the canals gives a better perspective on things, a chance to slow down and really observe what's going on. Take this post on the Fred Grove affair which has research, linkage and commentary without being dry or one sided. Great stuff.

Speaking of good blogs, I really should do a proper recommendation for D'log, an arts-heavy blog from a teacher at BIAD which I'd not come across before starting these Birmingham blogs despite it having run since 2000. Utterly invaluable for Created in Birmingham, sometimes embarrassingly so.

In his ongoing journey to find an online vehicle to match the quality of his content I notice Adrian Goldberg's The Stirrer is being mirrored on a blogspot blog which means he finally has an RSS feed. Unfortunately he's embedded his (also rather good) Stirrer TV onto each page so you can't actually read it, but it's a start.

The Tories are coming! If Cameron does win the next election the security arrangements in 2010 are going to be fun...

Laura of the Silver Feet wonders why so few people go to the gigs she goes to and offers advice to people wary of seeing live music on their own.

"Bugger everyone else. Stop asking if anyone else is going to gigs, get your own ticket or take a spur-of-the-moment decision and go down and pay on the door. Stand on your own, enjoy the whole gig - if you feel self-conscious, at least you can feel proud that you're not sitting at home wishing you were at the gig but couldn't go because you couldn't find anyone else to hold your hand. [...] Look into the bands yourself - don't expect the media to do it for you. If you don't recognise any of the names playing then take a few minutes to investigate them, don't just ignore it til someone says 'oh they're great'.

Cars are to be made in Longbridge again, two years after MG Rover shut the doors. 250 people will be employed initially (compared to the 6000 made redundant) manufacturing the MG-TF sports car. This is obviously good news but I wonder how much actual manufacturing will take place there. I never worked at Longbridge but did a bit of quality control at Land Rover over in Solihull and was struck by how massive the place was and how every vehicle seemed to be assembled from the smallest parts. I could be wrong but I suspect Longbridge will be doing the minimal amount of assembly of parts shipped in from abroad, just enough to get a "Made in the UK" sticker. But I wouldn't want to detract from what is by any measure a good thing.

Open Street Map is a project not unlike Wikipedia aiming to produce "free geographic data such as street maps to anyone who wants them. The project was started because most maps you think of as free actually have legal or technical restrictions on their use, holding back people from using them in creative, productive or unexpected ways." There's a Birmingham contingent who are making good headway in the city and metropolitan area though there's still a long way to go. One to watch and, if you're a map nerd, get involved with. (via)

Finally, photos of the old Bull Ring. No, not the really old Bull Ring. The one inbetween. I kinda miss it.

Okay, not really.