iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Join founding editor Kate Knowles as she sits down with @lukekennard.bsky.social to unpack the madness, heart, and romance behind one of 2026's most talked-about books.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

It’s not every day a novel about an out-of-work actor sitting zipped inside a giant black bag during uni lectures makes the Booker Prize shortlist... 🎒 But Luke Kennard’s Black Bag did just that! And we’re throwing an event to celebrate 👇

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Last week, we published a critical article about Joe Lycett’s BMAG exhibition EVERYTHING MUST GO. The writer argued that BMAG is neglecting its more “serious” artworks in favour of work that might have been a “series of Instagram posts”.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Huge news. We’re always banging on about how important it is that local journalism is paid for, but we know younger people often struggle to afford a news subscription.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

On Thursday, hundreds of cityfolk on their lunch breaks stormed the council building like insurgents. Why? The answer is simple. It’s the most culturally significant day of the year: International Day of Birmingham.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Last year, we wrote about the desi pub and its unstoppable rise. That article included the history, the politics, the culture, and even the role of the desi pub as a place of “multicultural intersection”. We won't be bothering with any of that today.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

We're only 16 members away from our goal of 2,000 by Sunday! Make the most of these offers before time runs out.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Joe Lycett's EVERYTHING MUST GO, on at BMAG until next Feb, is "a palette of bold, lurid colours and jaunty millennial sass" writes @danielcave_

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The Dispatch is turning 3! To celebrate, we want to get to more then 2,000 paying members by Sunday night.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

But not everyone is sympathetic. A few weeks before the fire, a letter began to circulate around the creative community. It outlined serious claim by more than 12 staff members ranging from: “threatening, coercive, intimidating and abusive behaviour towards women” to “significant unpaid wages”.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

“I am devastated, not just for me but for all the businesses and people who had found a safe, inclusive space to fulfil their dreams,” Patel told Birmingham Live after the fire, which West Midlands Fire Service has ruled accidental.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Art.Quarter was an exciting creative hub in Digbeth and the UK’s first, fully-halal food hall. Two Thursdays ago, the business went up in flames. Now concerning allegations by former staff members have emerged about Jordan Patel, the 48-year-old entrepreneur who founded the organisaion.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

In July, a tweet sent panic waves through Digbeth. It included the first visualisations of a multi-million pound rail do-up.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

“It’s deeply political,” says CAMRA member Matthew Curtis. “I think there’s favouritism and bias among the selection committee. I think it’s quite narrow minded that they keep giving it to the same pub”. I’m told separately of another Midlands landlord who threw a “big tantrum”.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Why does this pub in Tamworth keep winning pub of the year?

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Portsmouth, Bath, Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester and London have extensive 20mph networks. Even Cornwall has twice as many 20mph roads as Birmingham. And in Wales, they’re everywhere - although a BBC survey suggests 50% of people object to them. 📸:Sarah Chaundler, City of Cars.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Why did plans to lower the speed limit in Birmingham cause a media firestorm?

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Did the massive sporting investment in East Manchester actually improved lives in and around it? Our data analysis shows a mixed picture: On its west side of the stadium ( that faces the city centre), economic growth since 2002 has been strong— but east side... it’s been literally a 0% change

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

"People didn't understand why they needed to leave their homes". The fires in Stourbridge this week, which have left 19 homes gutted, have become a major national story. Kate Knowles reports on a reeling town and asks: what comes next?

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

The loudest opposition is coming from British Pakistanis. There's two main points of outrage: the festival’s connections to the Pakistani state, in light of a crackdown on Kashmiri protesters, and £30,000 it received in funding from Birmingham city council.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Flag raising last summer was dissected from every angle; national flags mean very different things to different people. But what about the place where it all began: Weoley Castle? What do the flags mean there, a year on? And has it changed the place, for good, bad or... at all?

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

NEW: Suspended Green Party councillor Siobhan Harper-Nunes was arrested this morning on suspicion of harassment. The news comes just days after she was charged with assaulting five people.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Why not share the entire excerpt Laurence?

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Flag raising has changed British politics. But what about the lives of the people who started it all? We headed to Weoley, to talk to the Birmingham suburb that kickstarted one of the most hotly debated political movements of the 2020s.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

We had a big debate in the Dispatch office this week: where is Birmingham’s buzz?

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

He is known for his cinematic shots of 1980s and 90s Manchester - and of course for capturing 'Madchester' on camera. But it was in the squats of Birmingham where Richard Davis got his start.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

BIG news about the Methodist Central Hall. The future wasn't looking great for this Victorian beauty. Not only was it growing more dilapidated by the day, but it was stuck in limbo because its former owner ran out of money.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Writer Shaun Hand’s band, The Bluebeat Arkestra, was one degree of separation from B-Town. They played the same venues, shared mutual friends, and probably bought drugs from the same dealers...

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Fast forward to the present day, and there’s something strange about the way B-Town is depicted now. Check Wikipedia and you might get the impression that it was all a joke that got out of hand:

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

It’s 2013 and Digbeth is suddenly, unironically, one of the coolest places in the UK. The NME has dubbed it “the Shoreditch of Birmingham”, largely because, for the first time since the 1960s, multiple local bands are hitting the big time at once.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Calling all millenial brummies! We have a bumper read about 2010s indie music scene B-Town coming out this weekend and we want photos. Dust off your Facebook (or even MySpace) logins and send us your best pics from: 📸gigs 📸house parties 📸club nights at the Rainbow + more

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Burnham's plan is to turbocharge devolution, handing significantly more powers away from Whitehall and to the regions. But is the West Midlands ready? One school of thought claims the WMCA currently does not have anywhere near the capacity to pull off Burnham’s vision.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Andy Burnham is prime minister. And it only took 25 years, two failed Labour leadership contests, and some viral paparazzi shots of him running in very short shorts to get here. What could his premiership mean for the West Midlands?

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Andy Burnham is prime minister. Is he going to promote Shabana Mahmood to chancellor? And does she even want the job? 💼 That's the top story in today's Monday Briefing. 📰

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

'It’s kind of dreary, it’s kind of rainy, everyone’s kind of depressed' That's the impression a lot of ppl, like the artist Laisul Hoque, have of Birmingham before they come here.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Don't forget: The Dispatch is hiring! We're looking for a brilliant staff writer to join Kate and Olivia covering all things Birmingham and the West Midlands.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

And one worrisome side effect of the recent good weather? The glare from Grand Central Station has caused Lime bikes to smoke perilously in the heat. 🔥

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

The man who headed up the fight for free education was merchant-turned politician George Dixon. In 1867, he set up the Birmingham Education Society to advance his aim. Two years later, it became the National Education League.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

The Ikon Gallery is among Birmingham's finest buildings. But this landmark was not originally a civic icon. It was, in fact, originally Oozells Street Board School, and its history is a testament to the city’s decisive role in fighting for free universal education.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

In the 1920s and 1930s, lidos in Britain boomed, part of an interwar municipal public health push. But everything changed in the 1960s. A government report on sport and community recommended more swimming pools - but said they should be indoor. Lidos fell out of fashion.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

The way Dale Clark describes Malvern Park Lido in the 1960s sounds more like a film scene. Then there was the pool; bright blue and cold as anything. When he was cooked enough, Clark would amble over for a dip, submerging his body inch by inch until there was no turning back.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Read the story here: www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/where-did-al...

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

On one of the most sweltering days this year, we're asking what happened to the West Midlands lidos? And will we ever get them back?

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Oh, who was named with Ben Cullen in Oxfordshire county council’s injunction against RTC to stop them putting up flags on lampposts? And who appeared with Ben Cullen in the dock at the High Court when RTC lost that case? Well that would be... Ryan Bridge!

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

But is that true? Because here's RTC co-founder Ryan Bridge pictured at dinner with Ben Cullen, on marches (wearing RTC merch) with Ben Cullen, and in the airport with other activists — and Ben Cullen...

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Ben Cullen is currently in court on charges of making over 70 indecent images of children, including 22 Cat A images - the most serious. Now Raise the Colours is denying a connection with Cullen. “Ben Cullen was not affiliated with Raise the Colours," a social media post states.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Raise the Colours is the Birmingham-based group that claim responsibility for starting the practice of sticking St George's flags on lampposts. 'Saving our women and children' is one of their taglines There's an RTC Oxfordshire too & its most prominent member is one Ben Cullen.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

📍Role Details • Location: Birmingham/West Midlands (full-time resident or willing to relocate). • Salary: £30k-35k (with potential for increase next year). • Basis: Full-time • Start Date: August/September 2026. • Deadline: Friday 31st July 2026. 💡Candidates need 3+ years of journalism experience.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

🚨 We are hiring a Staff Writer for our Birmingham team 🚨 We are seeking an exceptional writer capable of documenting the stories of Birmingham and the West Midlands through agenda-setting, high-quality reporting.

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