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This is my take on politics in the Midlands - a region of five and a half million people with a diverse, exciting political landscape
17:29 UK time, Tuesday, 22 May 2012
We must not delude ourselves. Just because we did not sign up to the euro does not mean we are secure against the economic mayhem causing ructions right across the European mainland.
Just ask John Spencer.
11:47 UK time, Tuesday, 15 May 2012
Are city kids worth more than their country cousins?
Of course not, you reply.
12:40 UK time, Thursday, 10 May 2012
First it was the country pub. Then the village post office. And now the rural bank is becoming the latest casualty of what is widely portrayed as the demise of country life as we know it.
Across the UK, over 1,200 communities have lost their banks altogether, according to the Campaign for Community Banking Services.
13:13 UK time, Friday, 4 May 2012
It was party time in Birmingham's imposing Council House last night.
As the night turned into the wee small hours of the morning, the atmosphere became more and more boisterous.
14:29 UK time, Wednesday, 2 May 2012
"It's all happening in Henley-in-Arden," said my colleague.
"Everybody knows that," said I, playing for time. It transpires that what exactly IS happening in Henley is a parish council election.
11:13 UK time, Tuesday, 24 April 2012
They are less than 20 miles apart. But the fortunes of Midlands rivals Birmingham and Coventry could hardly contrast more sharply.
One has had a distinguished history of consistency at the top level, but now its direction of travel seems to be unswervingly downhill.
16:32 UK time, Monday, 16 April 2012
Any political commentator given a word association exercise would have no hesitation in saying what goes with 'mid-term' - and that is clearly the word 'blues'.
Halfway though most parliaments comes the point where the main opposition party traditionally gains ground.
17:58 UK time, Tuesday, 10 April 2012
"The government must act!"
How often have successive administrations been told they need to get a grip of 'the housing crisis' to prevent an entire generation from being, in effect, priced out of the market?
15:20 UK time, Tuesday, 20 March 2012
"It's good news!"
Again and again we're told: "We're living longer!"
13:30 UK time, Tuesday, 13 March 2012
"You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time."
The words of the poet John Lydgate were famously modified by President Abraham Lincoln who replaced the word 'please' with 'fool'...
17:54 UK time, Wednesday, 7 March 2012
It's a week of headlines about 'Super Tuesday' in the US Presidential race. But we 'over here' are not to be outdone.
Thursday, 15 November 2012 to be precise... If elections are your thing, you will be in for a treat.
13:47 UK time, Wednesday, 29 February 2012
"Perhaps the bishops should give up politics for Lent."
The then Trade Minister and MP for Coventry South West, the late John Butcher, landed himself in the middle of an unholy row when he tried to make light of attacks on the Thatcher government's economic policies by leading figures in the Church of England.
11:58 UK time, Tuesday, 21 February 2012
"Decontaminating the brand". It's how the Conservatives had defined the challenge facing them in opposition.
Nowhere was this more the case than in the NHS.
16:58 UK time, Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Q: What do Tuesday, 6 March and Thursday, 15 November have in common?
A: They're both "super" days, whatever your opinion of what actually happens during the course of them!
13:07 UK time, Tuesday, 7 February 2012
Figures obtained by BBC One's Sunday Politics programme in the Midlands reveal the number of prosecutions brought under the Hunting Act in our part of the country since it came into force in 2005.
Just one!
15:46 UK time, Tuesday, 31 January 2012
"The landfilling of waste, especially biodegradable waste, can pollute the environment and produce greenhouse gases which contribute to climate change."
So says DEFRA, justifying the rationale behind the government's imposition of a landfill tax.
14:19 UK time, Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Ministers keep telling us we need to rebalance the economy: manufacturing industry must take the lead in delivering the recovery and even-out the glaring disparities between different parts of the country.
Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal the sheer scale of the challenge they are setting themselves.
16:46 UK time, Tuesday, 17 January 2012
It's exactly 20 years since a committee headed by the former chairman of the famous chocolate making company, Sir Adrian Cadbury, published its report on business ethics.
It's a gently reassuring epithet. But the mood did not last. Business is in the dock once again, over executive pay.
11:17 UK time, Tuesday, 10 January 2012
It's a sign of the times and a depressing reflection of economic conditions here that our biggest export earner to China is not Land Rovers, Jaguars or JCBs, but scrap metal.
With soaring demand for metal in the Far East has come an equally rapid growth in metal thefts.
13:10 UK time, Thursday, 15 December 2011
"We must rebalance the economy!"
It's the government's mantra for closing the gap between north and south.
First experience of Parliament as a young BBC journalist was a session of PMQ's when Harold Wilson was being interrogated by Margaret Thatcher.
Reported on The Troubles in Northern Ireland for four years including the worst-ever IRA attack on the army at Warrenpoint.
First became a Lobby journalist at Westminster as part of a team of correspondents which included such legendary figures as John Cole and John Sergeant.
He has been on the "inside track" at Westminster from the "high water" mark of the Thatcher period, through the Blair/Brown era to the unfolding drama of the Cameron/Clegg coalition.
Patrick grew up in Birmingham and went to university in Manchester. He has lived in Birmingham for 25 years.
John Hess
Political editor, East Midlands
Political musings from the East Midlands to Westminster
Paul Barltrop
Political editor, West of England
Thoughts and analysis on politics in the West of England
Andrew Neil
Daily and Sunday Politics
People and policies that make Westminster tick
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