February 2008 Archives

Football agents bug the hell out of me.

Today's three page special in the Birmingham Mail on Martin Taylor's agony at the Eduardo leg break is the result of a week's hard graft by our man at Blues, Colin Tattum.

His special relationship with the club and Taylor meant he was the only journalist to be given access to the player facing death threats.

Well, he was until Taylor's agent decided to give a mate on the nationals the same access at the last minute.

Which means the Mail piece today lost its absolute exclusivity.

I'm just glad that the 'other' paper that got the interview is the smallest national which no-one I know reads for it's football. And they tucked it on the back, as opposed to a page 1, 2 and 3 wipe out in the Mail.

Blues fans know to buy the Mail for such news, and I'm still confident we will have a sell-out day.

But football agents.... grrrrrrrrr

It was just before 1am when Mrs D sat upright in bed and, in a voice or horror, asked me why the wardrobe was shaking.

Always the news hound, I muttered: "Ignore it, it's the central heating, go to sleep," without moving or opening an eye.

I fear I may be a little sheepish arriving home tonight with today's front-page and leading website story (see here)

Fascinating debate raging on the website of Birmingham Mail columnist Adrian Goldberg re. elected mayors.

A trail entitled 'Birmingham Mail launches petition for elected mayor referendum' was started nearly a year ago on the forum at www.TheStirrer.co.uk

To date this has registered 181,205 hits, with 1,305 responses. This accounts for nearly 8% of activity on this alternative Midlands politico site.

Most interesting of all are the posters who register dismay, anger, nay, disgust at the subject. And yet they still can't resist commenting... day after day. A right row goes on most days.

I think it's great that so many people have been engaged in thinking and talking about politics. Not just those visiting The Stirrer, but also the 10,000+ who've signed up to the petition.

Watch this space for news about elected mayors as the petition reaches its final stages in the next three weeks

Back in a functional hotel room near London's Victoria Station now, quickly blogging before retiring to bed.

The evening meeting was a drinks reception at Westminster with David Cameron and his cabinet.

Very jolly they were too. Only one Tory MP in Birmingham itself, of course, that being Andrew Mitchell of Sutton Coldfield. A busy man trying hard to make a difference in a city of largely Labour MPs (and a large-bellied Liberal Democrat).

Andrew diligently introduced me to David Cameron, and an interesting conversation on the big themes in Birmingham. New Street, now accomplished in terms of the initial £400m Government investment, but also the future of the airport, the Metro, and the fact that the city is on the edge of attracting the attention of London and the business of the world.

Indeed, the Tories themselves are there this Autumn for their annual conference, as well as Labour arriving for its Spring conference this coming weekend.

But Cameron is himself coming to Brum first this week in what will be a real spoiler for Labour's mini conference. He is making the keynote speech at the 150th anniversary of our sister newspaper, The Birmingham Post.

Why the Tory leader, on a weekend when all the top men and women from Government are in the city? Well, according to my info, because he is an opportunist. Labour didn't offer anyone decent to speak, despite everyone decent being in town. The Tories took advantage of the gulf by offering their top man.

A bit of a spoke, you might think. That's politics.

The other word on the Tory grapevine was fascinating. The top grandees reckon Labour stand a chance of winning the next election if they hold it asap... but smirk because Gordon Brown has already ruled out 2008. He "stands a chance" in 2009, but hasn't got a hope in hell if he leaves it til 2010. That's their view, anyway.

The last interesting snippet was re. elected mayors. Mitchell, Cameron and Francis Maude all asked how the petition calling for a referendum on this issue was going (this is opposed by Birmingham City Council's Tory leader, despite cross-party support nationally).

All three were resolute in their opinion that such a poll should happen. Click here for the latest progress.

There are days when as editor you feel proud as punch. Sky high, in fact. When, you might ask?

Well, when that evening's newspaper has delivered content that is "the mostest, the bestest, the latest" (to quote the late Tony Dumphy, a class act of a chief sub on my previous paper in Middlesbrough).

If the Birmingham Mail can offer MORE detail than anyone else, in a BETTER way and the very LATEST news of the moment, then you instinctively know that night's readers will feel their 40p has been more than well spent.

And today I felt instinctively good about the content of the Birmingham Mail.

We had the mostest: (for example, five different angles and opinions on Martin Taylor's crippling tackle on Arsenal's Eduardo, gathered in exact detail by our man at St Andrews, Colin Tattum).

We had the bestest: (including not only the full list of winners from the Oscars on p3, but the best p1 picture [Marion Cotillard] and, to top it, our Monday fashion spread on pages 42 and 43 devoted to the winners and losers on Hollywood's red carpet... this thanks to the Press Association, but also with expert input from our own film buff Graham Young and women's editor Diane Parkes).

We had the latest: (too many examples, but start with the above Oscars, only available to the British press by 5am... fast work on four complex pages by our subs and picture desk here.

Move on to the emerging details from a weekend Washwood Heath shooting, with the first detailed quotes from witnesses and police in the morning, with stand-in crime reporter Jane Tyler compiling the jigsaw.

And, in a near perfect example of why all Metropolitan cities should retain live evening newspapers, read all about the breaking news at 1pm today that "Tomorrow's strike is off", the detail that tens of thousands of teachers, binmen and council workers needed to know, along with hundreds of thousands of parents and householders... all our readers. This one was down to our man on top of local government, Neil Elkes, and the quick-witted balls of the backbench in changing up the splash.

I'm not proud of everything in the Birmingham Mail every day. On many days I kick myself, if not staff bloopers. But today, of all days a Monday (too often a slow start to the week), I felt chuffed to be editor.

As I read it en route to London for an evening meeting, I felt that for Midlanders it was a better, more useful read that any other paper on sale today.

And as I get ready to put my overcoat on at the end of a busy week, I thought I'd muse for a second on the drinking I did this lunchtime.

Oh what joy to be allowed to drink as part of the job!

Very important meeting. Very important contacts. A table full of very senior gents (and a lady). Starters, main course plus cheese and biscuits. 12.30 sit down, best part of two hours to dine and discuss issues, successes and potential stories for the future.

I bet there was gin and tonic, Chablis and port, I almost hear you snort (or is it just myself snorting?)

Alas, pre-dinner drinks were tomato juice (with Worcester Sauce to splash in if sir wants). And with lunch there was still water. And coffee.

I felt like a drunkard in a desert of sobriety.

What is this modern world coming to?

(Excuse me now, for I'm phoning Mrs D to nip under the stairs and prepare some chilled vino for tonight.)

There I was, happily putting on my overcoat at the end of a long Thursday, when an angry email complaint arrived.

In short, it read: 'Will you discipline your WBA reporter for racial abuse of the Welsh on his blog.'

I immediately clicked onto Chris Lepkowski's blog. Provocative, I thought, but funny and more than allowable as column-style footy opinion.

But then I read the 107 responses flying in.... they started calmly, but soon became a nasty war of words between the Midlands and South Wales, with rude sheep being the politest subjects aired.

Seriously, one or two posts were threatening, others very derogatory towards women and some most disrespectful of recent tragedies.

On the phone immediately. In came the multi-medi editor for an hour of editing and rejecting, and I posted my own messages trying to calm the waters. Plus emails to complainants who contacted me directly to defend a blog that I felt was not a prblem (although some of the responses it triggered were!)

But what a great magnet for readership, attracting 100+ surfers who'd possibly not arrived on our .net site before.

Bloggers need to be careful, of course. If you read the entirety of Chris' blog and responses you'll see how the spat started and ended (though the worst messages are now spiked).

And we editors thought we had problems with controlling what goes in print!

You can read the episode here: http://blogs.birminghammail.net/westbromwichalbion

Reg Pither's comment on my last post is an interesting one about Blackberries.

I'd like to say I had rejected a Blackberry at work. I cannot think of anything worse that taking my email load on holiday with me, peeking at them on Saturday and Sundays, or even in the middle of the night. Several friends and contacts of mine who have one do all of these.

"Oh it's easy," they say. "It means I can spend just ten minutes a day on the beach dealing only with the urgent emails and ditching the spam, and that helps when you get back to work because you don't spend two hours clearing the backlog."

Hmm. Yeah, right. So where did that two hours come from then? And did you really enjoy peace of mind on hol?

Not for me.

That said, I haven't even been offered this modern tool (and so can't be as senior as Reg).

But I'm glad. I'd hate a Blackberry, (though I do love blackberries in crumble).

Would you believe me if I told you I nearly choked at the screen again today?

It's the danger of computers these days. Whereas years ago we would have departed to the canteen for beans on toast or sarnies, the flickability of searches, discarding email or checking breaking news on the screen means most in-the-office journalistic lunches are left-handed quick munching while clicking away, eyes on monitors.

I was at it again and suddenly realised the fluffy white-breaded sandwich containing chicken, bacon and mayo had absent-mindedly disappeared in two minutes. And that's when the strange blocked feeling in my oesophagus had me worried.

I won't go into the detail of what I had to do to clear this impending problem, but it involved a red-faced scurry to the gents and a forceful finger.

I have now placed a post-it note on my screen warning me to chew, swallow and pause while surfing.

Meanwhile, I've not died yet. Now, where are those crisps...

I've said it before and will say it again today. Local and regional newspapers have to live and work in the 'village' they serve.

While it's easy for the nationals to concentrate on the extremities and fanaticism of the terror trial, and today they do, it is also selfish of them. They can march into our communities and cause their headline havoc, then creep off again to their wine bars in London.

Here in Birmingham we will reap what we sew, and so I am proud of the newsdesk's plans on today's coverage.

Yes, we can and will highlight the extremities that came out in the trial. The Birmingham Mail is a newspaper of record and it is important that people know the full story.

But we have gathered some great reaction from community leaders and the ordinary Alum Rock citizens that takes this story forward.

Mosque leaders insistent that they must visit all those convicted to 'get inside their heads' to build a better understanding of what drove them to their crimes. Hopefully to then spread this understanding and to deter others from following the same route.

Traders and residents telling the world that their inner city suburb is normal, that 'fanatics' are in a minority and that they want to work with the rest of Brum.

Largely indigenous authorites take heed.... we all need to get into the minds of our fellow citizens as well. Are their better ways we can integrate? Can the police learn a lesson or two from the way their raids are perceived amongst the Islamic community? Can we move forward together?

I hope so. The Birmingham Mail will certainly refrain from making easy headlines from this story. We must reflect the wider normality of our suburbs.