Birmingham in need of radical transformation

By Kate Cooper on Mar 17, 11 03:40 PM in

Lord Adonis delivered an excoriating Lunar Society Annual Lecture last Tuesday. Whatever your views on HS2 (vital in my view as Adonis'), an elected mayor (ditto), Adonis gave us facts and figures that are rarely heard in public debate here. It sometimes takes an outsider to say it as it is.

Birmingham, he said, "faces something of a crisis" and is in need of "a radical transformation under strong purposeful civic leadership".

Not a single politician among them, but many others there told me how refreshing it was to hear stuff about the city put in such bald if disconcerting terms. And that until we all, political decision-makers included, face up to what's happening -- or more particularly, not happening in this city of ours, it will inexorably decline.

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2 Comments

Getafix said:

As a Brummy now living outside the city it is striking to look in from the outside and realise just how poorly Birmingham is doing on a national and international level. The place is run like a bad parish council, with absurd and hopelessly under-qualified characters like Whitby and Tilsley making a mockery of civic leadership and accountability. Adonis is only too correct in his analysis and this kind of proverbial kick up the backside is decades overdue in Birmingham. We can only hope that the current govt. in Westminster delivers on its promise of a referendum on an elected mayor. If not, there really is no prospect of anything changing for the better.

March 20, 2011 3:42 AM

Competitions said:

Birmingham is not a small city and it has its own history and worth in the UK's development.

May 16, 2011 11:27 AM