Birmingham Post

Property: Grade Ii* Jacobean Opulence

In a county known for the staying power of its landed families, important marketplace arrivals concentrate the attention of the highest spenders. This summer has seen Northamptonshire emerge firmly on the international property-hunters map with some record-breaking instructions in the uppermost price brackets.

Residential Property: Something a Little Different

It's quirky - but it could catch on. Asked to do something different at its scheme in Stratford-uponAvon, George Wimpey examined all the angles. Its designers decided that less could be more in the new Trinity housetype and came up with triangular rooms.

Residential Property: Heritage Court Takes Shape

Bloor Homes is building two bedroom apartments at Heritage Court in Kenilworth, 29 homes in a variety of layouts, priced from pounds 195,950. On the outskirts of town off the Coventry Road, the A429, the scheme is taking shape in the former grounds of St Joseph's School, near neighbours including unspoilt woodland.

Residential Property: Thatched Village Cottage

The Broadway office of Hamptons is quoting a guide price of pounds 750,000 for Pepper Cottage at Peppercorn Lane, Kemerton near Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire. On the lower slopes of Bredon Hill close to the border with South Worcestershire, this is an unspoilt village, nine miles from Evesham and 11 from Cheltenham.

Residential Property: Home Plan for Wharf Lane

Bryant Homes has announced plans for more than 500 apartments and houses at Wharf Lane, Solihull. John Shepherd and FPD Savills will handle the marketing of the new homes, 199 planned on the first two phases. Sarah Jane Hart of John shepherd said: 'Wharf Lane will appeal to a wide range of buyers from families to investors and even downsizers. The Solihull housing market has been desperate for houses of this size for years and we expect demand to be huge. The Wharf Lane scheme will eventually...

Residential Property: Blending in at Park View Court

Developer Ambrosden Court Ltd is releasing two of four new homes under its County Homes banner at Park View Court, Kineton in Warwickshire. The cottage-style properties have been specially designed to reflect local, period architecture, constructed of aged red brick with both stone and brick contrast detailing.

Is the Tide Finally Turning for Blair On Iraq?

Could the tide finally be turning for Tony Blair over Iraq? News from the nation has been almost entirely bad for months.

Perspective: Balancing Business and Family Needs ; Jacqui Smith, Mp for Redditch and Industry and Equality Minister, Was in Worcester Yesterday Hosting a Round-Table Discussion with Employers and Parents About Balancing Work and Family Priorities. Here She Outlines How She Believes New Employment Laws Are Making a Difference

How can we balance the needs of business with the needs of our families? That is the question that I have been asking local businesses and parents at events designed to get past the surveys and get at the facts. Just over a year after we introduced the right to ask for flexible working, we wanted to find out what was really happening in workplaces around the country. We have been holding a series of regional meetings with parents and employers, which have provided a useful snapshot of the imp...

Perspective: Euro '04 - More Than Football

Jacqui Smith is to officially open the new offices of Black Country Chamber-Sandwell today. Members, patrons and partners of Black Country Chamber, as well as Sandwell MPs, and local authority representatives, will be attending the event at the new premises at the National Metalforming Centre in West Bromwich.

Archive

25 years ago A rebel Midland doctor today launches his own 60p-a-week health service. Dr Eric Dewesbury, aged 56, of Coverntry, who has quit the National Health Service after 29 years, said yesterday that several hundred of his 3,500 former NHS patients had agreed to join his scheme. He will charge them 60p a week, with 30p for children, 50p for each surgery attendance, pounds 1 for a home visit and pounds .150 for visits at night, weekends or Bank Holidays.

Theme for the Day

They Said

Anniversaries

On This Day: 1865: William Boothfounded what was to become the Salvation Army, in Whitechapel, London. 1900: The Paris Metro underground system opened. 1928: In Britain, women over the age of 21 were given the vote. 1937: Amelia Earhart disappeared on the last half of her round the world flight from California. 1964: AmericanPresident Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Bill prohibiting racial discrimination. 1990: Over a thousand Muslims were killed during a stampede in a pedestrian tunne...

Culture: Shrek's Tasty Second Slice of Mud Pie ; Mike Davies Reviews the Week's New Cinema Releases

SHREK 2 CERT PG 92 MINS It's usually a rule of thumb that sequels are never as good as the original and take proportionately less money. There are a few honourable exceptions; Aliens, The Empire Strikes Back, The Godfather II. To which list - with a box office that's already approaching $400m in the US alone - you can now add the follow up to 2001's Best Animation Oscar winner. Reuniting the original cast (minus John Lithgow's Farquaad who was last seen becoming dragon dinner) for what is ess...

Review: Corporate Lear Fits the Bill ; King Lear Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford Upon Avon

If a certain simplicity of design, and an unswerving competence in modernistic eccentricities is what you are looking for at Stratford, then Bill Alexander is your man. Mr Alexander, the sometime Birmingham Rep artistic director, has come up with a Lear for the corporate age. The characters meet on a particularly hideous stage - a non-atmospheric design of bleakly shabby bare bricks and black steel girders - and they discuss their problems and ambitions watched by other characters as though t...

Culture: Win a Vip Seat at Pavarotti Concert

This summer, the makers of Ber-tolli and The Birmingham Post are bringing one lucky reader and their guest the chance to attend the ultimate alfresco event: the only UK date in 2004 that's part of Luciano Pavarotti's global tour. Pavarotti will perform in front of a sell-out crowd in the beautiful surroundings of Leeds Castle, Kent on July 17. As part of this event Bertolli and The Birmingham Post are offering one reader and their guest the opportunity to enjoy this event from the VIP enclosure.

Shrek People

Scope, the charity for people with cerebral palsy, benefitted from the Shrek 2 premiere at the Vue Cinema in Star City last night. Among the guests were the Bantocks: At the back Tracy, Tony and Becky with Lee One celebrity guest was Central TV presenter Charlie Neil

Motoring: Hyundai Slashes Cost of the Matrix

Hyundai has slashed the price of one of its cars by pounds 1,000, and made three of its range cheaper to run. The sticker price of the Matrix 1.6 GSI has been reloaded, from just under pounds 11,000 to pounds 9,995. Together with the Getz and Trajet, the Matrix also comes with free servicing for three years or 30,000 miles.

Motoring: New Rav4 Luxury Model

Toyota has introduced a limited-edition version of its RAV4 model, which gets some fancy cosmetic touches, and a pounds 1,250 price increase. Called the RAV4 Granite, it is based on the XT3 version, which is already a highequipment model.

Motoring: Timing Just Perfect for S40 Launch

The timing seemed just about perfect for Volvo. News that compact saloon the S40 had struck gold with top marks in four independent crash tests coincided with the arrival of what's probably pick of the range, the 125bhp 1.8-litre engine. And what better time to celebrate than late June with its mystical 'white' light summer nights and first harvest of fresh home- grown produce.