Birmingham Post

School Turns Failure Into National Success

A Birmingham school that until last year was judged to be failing today leads a list of the country's most improved primaries. Heath Mount Primary School in Sparkbrook is rated best in the country for improving the performance of pupils in national numeracy, literacy and science tests between the ages of seven and 11.

No Pay and Now No Job for Engineering Firm's Staff

Staff at a Birmingham engineering firm who worked without pay last Christmas have been hit with another festive blow this year - they are all going to lose their jobs. The 96 staff at MTB Metafin Limited, based in Bordesley Green, Birmingham, will be made redundant by the end of the year after administrators failed to find a new buyer for the company.

Stadium Would Be Boost for Inner City

Birmingham's new multisport superstadium would be fully owned by the city and act as a catalyst for regenerating deprived areas, the council boss charged with spearheading the project said yesterday. Ken Hardeman, cabinet member for regeneration, also promised council tax payers that the ambitious sporting project would not cost them a penny and would help raise the profile of the city across the world.

Revelling in a Teenage Assault On Our Senses ; Busted at the Nec Arena

In an age when the diversity of modern pop seems sometimes to only extend to the different colour T-shirts today's boy or girl band is wearing, Busted blows through the charts like a breath of cool fresh air. If guitar-bands are meant to be dark and serious - take note Oasis - Matt Jay, Charlie Simpson and James Bourne are fun personified.

Pounds 300m Library Dream Is Put On the Shelf

Ambitious plans for a new Birmingham library at Eastside look certain to be ruled out on cost grounds by the city council's ruling ConservativeLiberal Democrat coalition. The Richard Rogersdesigned building - a futuristic four-storey elliptical lozenge with glass curtained walls, a giant canopy and roof gardens - was trumpeted as the grandest of the city's great regeneration projects by the previous Labour administration.

Festival of Urban Culture Coming to Brum As Part of Pounds 2.1m Sweetener

Birmingham's pounds 2.1 million consolation prize for failing to become European Capital of Culture 2008 will help fund scores of arts-based projects across a broad range of neighbourhoods and communities. The cash award from the Millennium Commission and the Arts Council is the funding base for a 14-month celebration of urban culture, beginning in January.

Regulars Choose Our Biggest Wonders

Pubgoers have chosen the Seven Wonders of the West Midlands - with the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley topping the poll of must-see attractions. More than 13,000 votes were cast for a shortlist of 27 contenders in a competition run by Banks's brewery.

Owners's Pride As Vow to Museum Pays Off

The owner of Britain's National Motorcycle Museum yesterday expressed his pride after the venue reopened little more than a year after it was almost totally destroyed by fire. Roy Richards was speaking as the museum opened on the day he predicted it would - despite initial claims that it would take two- and-a-half years for it to 'rise from theashes'. The building, at Bickenhill, near Solihull, went up in flames on September 16 last year, causing millions of pounds of damage and destroying hu...

Ex-Lecturer's Suicide Fall

A worker watched in horror as a retired lecturer plunged 100 feet to his death from a motorway flyover, a city inquest heard. Deputy Coroner Christopher Ball recorded that John Debley, aged 69, of Balden Road, Quinton, who was suffering from terminal lung cancer, killed himself.

Nec Blow As Bike Show Moves to Stoneleigh

Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre has been dealt another blow after the annual Bike Show announced it was leaving the venue after ten years. The Bike Show is to move to Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire because the park has better outdoor facilities.

Headache Over Liquor Licences

Switching responsibility for issuing liquor licences from magistrates courts to local authorities will land Birmingham City Council with a huge financial and operational headache. From February, the council is to assume control of all licensing functions - including applications for pubs, clubs, off-licences, restaurants and public entertainment. Licensees will be able to apply to remain open for 24 hours.

Birmingham Jewellery Students

Birmingham jewellery students have produced unique festive decorations for a cancer centre in a city hospital. Among them Nobuko Okumura (above). Artists from the University of Central England's School of Jewellery took part in a competition to find the best designs for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Edgbaston. The winning commission has just been installed, as part of an arts programme to enhance the patients' well being.

Midlanders Happier with Their Health Care

Patients in the West Midlands are more satisfied with their local health services than most people in Britain, according to a new MORI survey. More than 1,200 people took part in the poll commissioned by Birmingham and the Black Country Strategic Health Authority.

Rifle Inquiry Women Freed

Two women arrested after a rifle was stolen from an army barracks have been released without charge, police said yesterday. The pair were freed after being questioned on suspicion of firearms offences, West Midlands Police confirmed.

Blair Condemns Animal Extremists

Animal rights extremists accused of victimising a Staffordshire family were condemned by Tony Blair yesterday. The Prime Minister said there was no excuse for their actions, because Britain already had some of the strictest animal welfare laws in the world.

Graveyard Snatch Arrest

A 62-year-old woman arrested yesterday by detectives investigating the theft of a body from a graveyard was released on police bail last night. The woman was detained in the Burton-upon-Trent area by officers investigating the desecration, which is thought to have been the work of animal rights extremists.

'Fifth Bed' Did Not Cause Ward Deaths

A review into whether patients died at a Midland hospital because of overcrowding on wards has found the problem did not contribute to the deaths. The University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust launched the investigation last October following reports patients died at Walsgrave Hospital, in Coventry, as a result of five beds being put into bays designed for four.

Reid Makes Pledge On Mrsa

Health Secretary John Reid yesterday told a medical conference in Birmingham that scientists had discovered a method to fight the hospital superbug MRSA. Speaking at the National Institute for Clinical Excellence's conference at the International Convention Centre, Dr Reid said experiments had shown silvercoated catheters could stamp out the stubborn infection which is resistant to antibiotics.

Lower Leagues 'Should Get Bigger Share' of Football's Tv Cash

Football clubs outside the Premiership believe they do not get a fair share of money from broadcasting. They backed proposals from a Midland MP who called for top clubs to double the amount they pass on to the lower leagues.

Birmingham Artist's Watercolours Sold for Pounds 74,000

Three watercolours, by one of Birmingham's favourite artists, fetched over pounds 74,000 when they were sold at auction in London. The three pictures by Walter Langley had been predicted to sell for a total of pounds 45,000 at Bonhams auction house.