Vulnerable children's committee

Thanks for the comment.
I had a long meeting this am about the new commitee, deciding which things should go into Education and which into Vulnerable Children. There will be some overlaps but we are all determined that there will be no turf wars as this subject is far too important to us.
The new committee follows on from the Task & Finish committee that I chaired last year following the merger of the children's care services into the Education dept.
Its a fascinating subject, as if you open a door and find yourself faced with 2 or 3 more doors, a lot of work but a great deal of job satisfaction. Providing you get it right of course.

We shall be attending a family funeral in Norfolk tomorrow and won't be back until Friday.

Relaunch of MG

Today I attended the relaunch of the MG brand under NAC at the Longbridge plant.
There was alarge delegation from China including the Provincial Governor and the president of NAC, MPs including Mike O'Brien and Richard Burden. Mike Whitby drove the first car off the line.
I managed to do 2 radio interviews and also got 3 of the smaller radio stations an interview with Mike. It is often difficult for them when they are up against the big tv news crews.
Back to the Council House for lunch hosted by the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress who impressed the vistors no end, lots of cameras flashing as Randal spoke. Everyone seemed to enjoy the event so lets hope it leads to even more investment by the Chinese.

A few photos

Learning all the time. We've now found out how to post photos. Just to prove we are not on holiday all the time we've included one of Keith investigating a site behind Morrisons supermarket that gets a lot of littering. The site was cleaned up by the neighbourhood workers a few days later.
It's strange that people pay loads of council tax so that the council can pick up litter that the taxpayers have dropped.

welcome to our first poster

Thanks to Praugetory for putting us right. I have seen your name many times on Ian Dale's blog but never had a look before.
We are new at this blogging game but hope to bring something of interest to this site.
At the moment Keith is busy setting up a new Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Vulnerable Children. This is basically looking at Birmingham City Council's care system for children.
Comments and experiences are always welcome, especially from people who have been through the system or work/worked in it.
This is a period of great change for Longbridge during the post MG/Rover period, tomorrow Keith will be at the drive off of the first Nanjing Motor Corporation built car and there is the opening of the Innovation centre on the site of the old North Works car park.

knot tied

A really marvellous wedding. A packed church, a very moving wedding ceremony and a terrific party afterwards. We left at about 10.30 and the dancing was in full swing. Good luck to Tim and Keely. She looked absolutley stunning, Tim looked stunned.

Tying the knot

We are off to a wedding today. Tim Huxtable, councillor for Bournville is marrying Keely Rogers.
Keely is PPC for Northfield Conservatives. Hopefully we shall get some good photos if the weather plays ball.

Last evening, Saturday, we attended a thank you party hosted by Barbara Wood, the newest Councillor for Kings Norton who we helped to win her seat.
Also there were members from Kings Norton,Selly Oak and even Kingstanding.
Mike Whitby and Gaynor turned up and we all enjoyed a very enjoyable evening. Of course with all those politicians there the conversation soon turned to the usual subject.