Celebrating 10 years of Albert Bore

He's been soldiering on since then, leading a distinctly second-rate Labour opposition to the council's Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition.
Much of his time is spent at Birmingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, where he is the chairman, and in Europe where he is a leading member of the EU Committee of the Regions.
He is waiting, most people assume, for the political tide to turn when he will be able to regain his rightful place as council leader.
He will probably have to wait a long time for that eventuality.
It is unlikely, given that Birmingham re-elects only one third of councillors every year, that the coalition will lose office until 2015 at the earliest.
Ironically, if the Conservatives win the next General Election, Sir Albert may have a better chance of regaining power.
David Cameron is promising Birmingham a referendum on whether the city should be run by a directly elected mayor - and there are no prizes for guessing who the Labour candidate might be if a mayoral election were to be held in, say, 2012.
Of course, this anniversary wouldn't be complete without talk about plots against Sir Albert.
It is no secret that six or seven councillors are so disillusioned with opposition that they intend to step down at next year's May council elections.
New blood will come on board in some of the seats that Labour manage to hang on to - the new Labour group may be in the mood to elect a different leader. Some even suggest that Sir Albert may be prepared voluntarily to call it a day.
The question is, naturally, who has the desire and the ability to take over?
One name keeps cropping up - that of Andy Howell.
The former deputy council leader joined the list of politicians whose public life ended abruptly after they dared to challenge Sir Albert for the Labour leadership. A botched attempt to return to the council last year, when he failed to be selected in Kingstanding, left Howell bruised and his first instinct was not to bother again.
But friends are intent on persuading him to put his name forward to the list of potential Labour candidates for the 2010 elections.
The signs are that he may do just that.