Sunak’s playing the short game
The pandemic has inspired innovation at the Hippodrome, writes ROZ LAWS
CHANCELLOR Rishi Sunak’s Budget will fail to tackle Birmingham’s jobs crisis, according to Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds.
She spoke to the Birmingham Post following a Budget statement which extended measures providing immediate help to businesses, including the furlough scheme, but which critics say was short on concrete proposals for “levelling up” the North and Midlands.
The West Midlands urgently needs help to create jobs. Mayor Andy
Street has warned that the Covid pandemic and lockdowns destroyed 100,000 jobs in Birmingham, Solihull, Coventry and the Black Country.
Young people, and people from ethnic minority communities, have been hardest hit, the mayor said in a written submission to the Chancellor.
Benefit claimant figures show nearly one in seven people now looking for work in parts of Birmingham, and five of the ten constituencies with the highest jobless rates across the entire UK are in Birmingham.
Ms Dodds knows Birmingham well, and lived in Kings Heath when she worked as senior lecturer at
Aston University for four years, teaching public policy. And is still an honorary professor at the university.
She said: “We had hoped that we would have a budget that would really secure the recovery, protect our NHS and help rebuild Britain, as we rebuild our country after this pandemic. Unfortunately we didn’t get that. We got a number of short
term measures such as continuing the VAT reduction and continuing the furlough scheme.
“We are pleased the government has listened on those. I have spoken to West Midlands businesses and it was very clear those measures were overdue. But in the long term we didn’t see those measures that would have helped us to secure the economic recovery, and particularly to rebuild our NHS.”
So what type of measures does she have in mind?
With elections for a West Midlands Mayor taking place on May 6, Ms Dodds is keen to stress how closely she is working with Liam Byrne, her party’s candidate.
She said she backed his call for Government support to develop “green” manufacturing in the West Midlands, including support for carmakers switching to the production of electric vehicles.
“I have been working with Liam on
his vision of the West Midlands becoming the green workshop for the UK. But we’re not seeing that strategic approach to green transport, which we want to see across the West Midlands.”
She also said Labour wanted to see more “retro-fitting”. This means upgrading homes with insulation and renewable heating systems to make them warmer while using less fuel.
“Retrofitting is a scheme where we could quite speedily help with particularly the youth unemployment problem, and be helping our environment and be reducing energy bills for families who are struggling with their fuel bills in the West Midlands.
“This would be something that could quite quickly help people.”
Her other big criticism of the Budget is the decision to limit pay rises for many NHS staff to one per cent. She said: “We’ve already got recruitment problems for the NHS in the West Midlands. The nurses have been through so much. And this decision will ultimately cost a lot, if it affects recruitment and forces the NHS to depend more on agency cover.”
In fact, Labour is hoping to make the NHS pay cut a key issue in the May 6 local and regional elections. While the councillors and mayors being elected across the country have no responsibility for NHS pay, Labour leader Keir Starmer says the poll is a chance for voters to send a message to the Government on the issue.
Measures in the Budget that directly affected the West Midlands included £59 million to reopen stations at Darlaston and at Willenhall, in the Black Country, on the Walsall to Wolverhampton line, and to reopen stations at Moseley, Kings Heath and Hazelwell, near Stirchley, on the Camp Hill line in south Birmingham.
And £50 million was provided for a transport scheme at a proposed new development called Arden Cross, near the HS2 Interchange station in Solihull.
This will create 3,000 new homes and up to 6 million square feet of commercial development, and is designed to make the most of the economic opportunities provided by HS2.
There was £155 million in support for what the Government calls “regional towns” in the West Midlands, including Wolverhampton, Kidsgrove and Rowley Regis.
DEAR Editor, Unfortunately I never watched Meghan act in the Suits TV series, but after watching her performance on the recent
Oprah Winfrey interview I must admit what a really good actress she is.
She looked shocked, bemused and teary all at the right time.
Can all these people coming out in support of her not see the performance she put on?
Des Mucklow, New Oscott village
Birmingham
THE theatre may be closed and the stage dark, but that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing happening at the Birmingham Hippodrome.
Behind the scenes it’s a hive of creativity, with staff adapting and finding new ways to shine a light on the region’s talent.
Later this month the Hippodrome will be using its digital channels for the first time to live stream two vibrant and energising events, to give young people a platform and inspire virtual audiences.
First up are the semi-final and final of UniSlam, the UK’s largest team poetry slam tournament. That’s followed by the live broadcast event TEDxYouth@Brum, with young people discussing their futures. Speakers include Radio 1’s Rakeem Omar and poet Casey Bailey.
Chris Sudworth, director of artistic programme at Birmingham Hippodrome, says: “We’re delighted to be partnering with these events for the third year, to amplify the voices, creativity and ideas of our city’s young people.
“We would have seen the wonderful energy of young people taking over the theatre but now we’re going digital, which gives us more opportunities and a wider audience.
“I hope the events help people to understand the breadth of the work we do at the Hippodrome. We are really proud of the panto and hosting large scale musicals, but there’s also a huge body of brilliant work in the city that doesn’t get that visibility.
“The pandemic has given us space to shine a light on the work we do away from the stage. For example, we’re in 20 schools across the city every week with our Hippodrome Education Network, taking inspiration, creativity and support where it is needed most.
“Even though the stage has been empty for a year, we’ve been able to prioritise our work outside the building to remain engaged with our communities and create exciting opportunities for people that lift the soul a little.
“It’s important to recognise what a challenging year it has been and that young people have done a lot of thinking to reimagine what the future could and should look like. “The theme of ‘Insert Future Here’ was planned for the cancelled 2020 TEDxYouth@Brum event, but it’s become even more resonant after everything that’s happened.” TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design and is a global organisation with a mission to discover ‘‘ideas worth spreading’’. TEDx brings the spirit of TED to local communities through independently-organised events, designed to spark discussion, and TEDxYouth is an annual, free event led by a team of under-25s.
The 2019 speakers at the Hippodrome included singer Jamelia, fashion designer Alexandria Chantiluke and activist Aliya Hasinah. This year’s speakers on March 30 include comedian Cassandra Nelson and mental health author ZeZe Jones, alongside Rakeem and Casey. The colourful host will be Birmingham drag artist Yshee Black and there will be performances from Lady Sanity, Xhosa Cole and Darcy Holmes.
Going online may threaten a little of the event’s vibrancy but the organisers have grasped the digital challenge of making it a fun watch. “We’re all tired of Zoom talks,” says TEDxYouth@Brum organizer Elizabeth Lawal. “This will be a far more innovative experience. The speakers will be pre-recorded and you’ll see a whole world come to life behind them. We are really testing out what the future of the creative industries will look like.
“And it will be interactive. In between the speakers, we’ll have workshops and live streaming parties which we hope everyone will join. You can chat and ask questions of the speakers.
“This is a scary and difficult time but we want to champion how, against the odds, young people have managed to thrive. This can be a time for innovation and opportunity, even though things are so bleak. We want to bring encouragement to audiences, who I hope will be inspired and can unlock new ideas.
“It fills me with hope to see such passion and enthusiasm in young people. Our logo is a lighthouse because we want to shine a light on talent and be a beacon of hope.” TEDxYouth@Brum will also feature a digital project from Birmingham Hippodrome’s Young Advocates, a group of 16 Brummies aged 14 to 22 receiving mentoring. UniSlam began as a one-off event at the University of Birmingham in 2013 and has grown into an annual festival of the spoken word. The semi-final on March 20 will see the country’s top eight student poetry slam teams go head-to-head before four compete in the grand final a week later.
The last event was held at the Hippodrome just before lockdown last year.
UniSlam director Toby Campion says: ““We considered cancelling this year’s event, but we thought it was really important to give young people a platform to share their stories.
“We weren’t sure how many would enter, given the challenges everyone has faced, but 18 teams have sent in video submissions.” The finals will be live streamed from DRPG Studios, showing prerecorded performances but with a live host and readings from the judges, including Inua Ellams, Mona Arshi, Paul Tran and Deanna Rodger. Tickets cost from £6.
The teams consist of four or five members and each poem has to be no more than three minutes and 10 seconds long.
“The diverse poems can come from a place of anger or sadness – topics include racism, homophobia and mental health – but also joy,” says Toby.
“It’s interesting how few poems actually mentioned Covid. There have been some really strong submissions, ranging from more traditional rhyming poems to entries that are close to rap.
“The performances can be electrifying and really bring the words to life. I hated poetry at school, but the poetry at UniSlam makes what can seem inaccessible much more relevant.”
Tickets for UniSlam on March 20 and 27 and TEDxYouth@Brum on March 30 are available at birminghamhippodrome.com
EVERING Road is the name of a strip of houses in Hackney, northeast London.
It’s also the place Tom Grennan lived out the dizzying highs and lows of his last relationship – and the place that gives his second album its name.
“It was the hub of love, the hub of heartbreak and the hub of redemption too,” he recalls in the sandpaper voice that has quickly become his calling card.
“All these different things happened in this house and on this street.
“This relationship was all around that area. It just felt right to name it that,” he says.
“I love that road and I loved that house but I also hated the person I was in that house. I didn’t really know who I was.”
Tom, 25, grew up in Bedford. He had no aspirations in music and trained to become a professional footballer, playing for Luton Town before his career stalled.
Much has been made of the fact his first real performance came at a house party, egged on by friends to sing Seaside by The Kooks, a twee indie favourite.
After that, he began to gig around London’s small venues circuit, before being spotted by the boss of Insanity Records at The
Finsbury Pub during a gig to some 30 punters.
He was signed off the back of that performance.
Since then he has gone on to collaborate with Chase & Status, Ella Henderson, Bugzy Malone and superproducer Fraser T Smith and reached number five with his debut album, Lighting Matches, in 2018. But it is instantly obvious listening to Evering Road that this album is a step forward. “My first album, I didn’t really know what I was doing,” he admits.
“I was learning on the job and frankly it did what it did and people loved it.
“But this album I really knew what I wanted. I really knew what I wanted it to sound like.”
After initially being positioned as a kind of indie singer-songwriter, Tom has settled into the more mature role of gravel-voiced soul singer.
He admits he started out aping Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys and Scottish favourite Paolo Nutini before trying the vocal stylings of Tom Jones, Elvis Presley and Ray Charles on for size.
Now he just sings as himself. “I’m not conscious of trying to sound unique,” he suggests. “That’s what comes out my throat.”
Evering Road is an excoriating listen. It is both an apology to the girlfriend he wronged and an attempt to purge the guilt he feels.
“I wouldn’t say it is a break-up album in the sense of, ‘Feel sorry for me, cry about it’. But it is a break-up album the way I am owning up to what I have done and I am trying to better myself.
“I am saying sorry and that I have done these things I have done and I have made mistakes, but I am trying to be forgiven for them.
“It is a heartbreak album but it is also an album that is saying, ‘I am a better man for it’.”
The pandemic has been hardest on young artists on the cusp of breaking into the mainstream – artists like Tom.
But he is philosophical about the missed opportunities. “Everything pans out the way it is meant to,” he says matter of factly. “We are all in the same position, so I haven’t really felt hard done by.
“I have had more time to sit with it, which is sometimes a lucky thing.
“I have had more time to prepare myself and just wait until the right time. 2020 might have been my year, but 2021 is now hopefully going to be my year.”
I didn’t really know what I was doing. I was learning on the job Tom on his first album
Evering Road by Tom Grennan is out soon on Insanity Records