I write this on the eve of The Birmingham Post's 150th Anniversary Gala Dinner, an event that celebrates exactly what it says on the tin.

We'll be celebrating the newspaper's history with just a little nostalgia, and perhaps a forgiveable amount of back-slapping, but moreover, the night sees the launch of the very website you are now reading.

Even as we look back and celebrate, the attention of my editorial colleagues, advertising staff and others is firmly focused on a future in which The Birmingham Post will be as vibrant a force online as it currently is in print.

The amazing hard work of everyone on the paper has resulted - I believe - in a truly historical advance for The Post. From now on, all the insight, news and analysis you have rightly come to expect from us is just a click away every minute of the day. We'll be breaking news and bringing you information on your sector of interest that you just can't get anywhere else - and even more than you can get in the newspaper.

Have a look around the site - our roster of knowlegeable and provocative bloggers will ensure The Post's reputation as a home for argument and debate live on into the digital age, and you can sign up for email alerts of your choosing. Even Post People has gone online, for heaven's sake!

As with any new project, sending one's new baby off into the world fills one with trepidation. Will it fulfill your expectiations? What are the services we don't currently have that you want to see? Tell me what you like and what you don't like.

I can't wait to hear from you.

This blog will bring you a selection of pictures taken from the Birmingham City Archive currently stored at the Central Library.*

An illustration of Birmingham's Town Hall from the 1830s:

The conviction of Steven Wright and Levi Belfield for murder has seemingly re-opened one of the most popular of criminological debates, particularly among the red top newspapers: Should we bring back the death penalty?

It seems to periodically re-surface when the more extreme cases of homicide come to light. In many ways it is a discussion that I feel inclined to avoid writing about, preferring to believe that as a society we have moved beyond narrow retributive in terms of punishment and entered into a more considered and enlightened phase. I have little sympathy for individuals the likes of those mentioned above. I

I have sympathy with the families who have lost their loved ones. But I have little sympathy for the death penalty either, because, ultimately however we dress it up the issue of the death penalty is one of revenge - no more.

It's an interesting question and one that is never really answered. Over the next few articles I'll be looking at some of the issues that the city is going to be facing and some of the creative and innovative approaches that we could look at to solve the city's problems, increase our quality of life and generally make us a better and more respected part of the world.

I've been living here for over ten years, so no, I'm not 'born and bred'. But having lived here for that time I've realised that actually there seem to be a lot of people just like me around - who want to have a say in how the city's changing and can look at the place with fresh eyes. So that's the perspective I offer - good or bad.

The Big City Plan

Blogging on the Birmingham Post site I hope I'll be able to air a few of my opinions, especially because I'm getting something of an insider's-eye-view of "The Big City Plan" that launched this week.

Top marks to Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell (Con Sutton Coldfield), who has been singing the Birmingham Post's praises in the House of Commons.

As the Post and Mail have reported, Labour whips have attempted to silence backbench Labour MPs such as Gisela Stuart (Lab Edgbaston) who believe the Government should hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

Mr Mitchell told the House of Commons: "I have been truly shocked by the menacing bullying tactics used by the Government Whips Office to cajole and intimidate their Back Benchers into the pro-Government lobby.

"Some particularly appalling reports have been carried in the excellent newspaper, The Birmingham Post, which this week celebrates its 150th anniversary as Birmingham's leading newspaper."

That's the spirit.

Hello everyone, a warm welcome to my blog. Let me introduce myself, I am the picture editor on the Birmingham Post.

I have worked here at The Post for the last 7 years , originally as a photographer and for the last 5 years as the picture editor.

Prior to moving to Birmingham I followed the usual photojournalist career path, trainee on a weekly newspaper, senior on an evening paper, staff photographer at an agency working for the nationals before going freelance.

Following my freelance stint I slightly changed tack and had a go working as a picture editor on an evening newspaper, I did that for 3 years before deciding to go back on the road when an opportunity arose at the Birmingham Post for a photographer, 2 years down the line the original picture editor left and guess who found himself back behind a desk.

Through this blog I hope to provide some insight and opinions on photography, the use of photographs in newspapers and the decision-making process behind the pictures that appear on the pages of The Birmingham Post.

It is no great secret that I am in favour of Britain's major cities being run by a directly elected mayor.

The old committee system, which lasted in local government for more than 100 years, was a recipe for compromise and slow decision making. The cabinet and leader system, which we have now, was an improvement but is by no means effective enough for a city with international ambitions like Birmingham.

It wasn't that long ago that some Labour councillors across the West Midlands fought against the cabinet-leader system on the grounds that they didn't want to promote the cult of leadership. So much better, they reasoned, to stick with swollen and time-consuming committees where even the doziest backbenchers could feel important under the delusion that they were exercising some power.

I do not know how much money is spent on public relations by West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority.

But one thing I do know. Whatever the figure is, it is a shocking waste of money.

This organisation has for 20 years or more been a communications basket case and has as a result failed completely to get its message across. Even when it has something positive to say, it doesn't say it very well.

The latest debacle over the Midland Metro tram extension through Birmingham city centre is a case in point.
It has been clear for months that the chances of securing Government funding for the £180 million track from Snow Hill to Five Ways is somewhere between nil and nil.

If you're reading this maybe you're a busy commuter frustrated by how the Government and rail companies organise the railway; or perhaps a leisure traveller who got stuck in the New Year shambles created by Network Rail at Rugby?

Or someone who wants a better bus service to get to work - without roads' gridlock turning a 15-minute ride into a Shakleton-style expedition?

I'm a transport consumer rep. and activist living in the city centre. I sit on national and regional consumer bodies that keep an eye on public transport providers. I got involved because I'm a public transport user. I've also been responsible for public transport policy in a small part of our region in the past. I now try to rattle the cage of those who run rail, bus and Metro services to get something better.

The lobby is in the unenviable position of being famous in its own right - always a bad thing for journalists.

When Tony Blair called the media a "feral beast", he meant the lobby. Blair's spin doctor, Alastair Campbell, set out to destroy it - and failed.

As you probably know, the lobby is the name given to political editors and senior reporters based in the House of Commons.

They are entitled to hang out in a room in the Commons known as Member's Lobby, which is off limits to anyone except MPs and lobby members, even other journalists.

Binge drinking, obesity, postcode lotteries and dying with dignity, these are just a few health issues that simply refuse to go away.

As The Post's health correspondent I don't want to stick with the mainstream or blindingly obvious, as am also interested in the off-beat stories and innovative break-throughs that could affect us all.

The health of the NHS itself, its finances, the workforce and how it is set to change in the coming years - whether patients or staff like it or not.

If you have ever glimpsed my occasional column, which has an obvious obsession with public health and fitness issues, then you will know I have a straight-forward, no-nonsense approach to staying fit and well.

What is it with our education system? Barely a week goes by without someone slagging it off.

Kids are not getting taught enough. Kids are taught too much or being taught in the wrong way. The qualifications system is in meltdown; our schools are perpetuating social division and behaviour is spiralling out of control.

Sometimes it seems like education in every other country is better than ours, more stable, less fraught. But is it just a case of rosy-tinted spectacles? The classic British inclination towards doing ourselves down and making things seem worse than they actually are?

Or is it the inevitable outcome of a centrally-run education system which is at the mercy of interfering and point scoring politicians?

Take a recent Cambridge University-led report into primary education. If it is to believed - or at least the way it was reported by the majority of the press is to be believed - today's youngsters are virtually subjected to systematic child abuse in the classroom.