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Latest Birmingham articles

The Guardian view on Conservative conference: struggling to break out of the comfort zone | Editorial

The Guardian view on Conservative conference: struggling to break out of the comfort zone | Editorial

Kemi Badenoch’s personal brand is not strong enough to revive a party that so thoroughly lost the trust of the British people For a party that keeps losing elections, the Conservatives have enjoyed a remarkably upbeat conference in Birmingham this week. A party with a strong regicidal impulse is united behind Kemi Badenoch. Opinion polls show the leader’s personal ratings, while not spectacular, outperforming the wider Tory brand. Mrs Badenoch exuded confidence in her keynote speech on Wednesday, setting out what she believes is a path back to power. The strategic focus is the economy. The Conservative leader expects Andy Burnham’s honeymoon to come to an end when his chancellor delivers a painful budget later this month. A spending review will then compound the pain, forcing grim trade-offs on a prime minister who has a reputation for deferring hard choices. Continue reading...

Andy BurnhamBirminghamKemi Badenoch
Oct 7, 2026 · byThe Guardian
Tories delight as satirical tapestry pokes fun at ‘turncoat’ Robert Jenrick

Tories delight as satirical tapestry pokes fun at ‘turncoat’ Robert Jenrick

Reminders of banished Reform UK defector were all around the Conservative party conference in Birmingham As Kemi Badenoch basked in the applause of the Tory faithful at the close of her pivotal speech at Conservative party conference last year, one member of her shadow cabinet looked less than enthused. Robert Jenrick, bested by Badenoch in the leadership contest a year earlier, looked on, and – as one shadow cabinet member now recalls – had to be prodded by Lord Ashcroft to applaud. “If you’re plotting against someone, then you at least pretend to like them,” they say. “The thing about Robert is he’s not even a good machiavellian.” Continue reading...

BirminghamKemi Badenoch
Oct 7, 2026 · byThe Guardian
Justin Ellis helps US cap a perfect international window with 1-0 win over Canada

Justin Ellis helps US cap a perfect international window with 1-0 win over Canada

A chippy and at times ugly friendly nonetheless gave Mauricio Pochettino’s side four wins out of four, with another young player making the difference. Before 1878, a referee trying to get players’ attention was left to waive a white handkerchief in the air. It was an imperfect practice, asking an infractor to be self-aware enough to look for a doffed doily after hard contact. The game forever changed when Joseph Hudson, a Birmingham-bred tool maker who founded Acme Whistles, showed up to an FA Cup match in 1878 with his signature product in tow. On Tuesday, nearly 150 years after Hudson’s innovation, referee Steven Madrigal paid the architect a hearty tribute. Continue reading...

BirminghamCanadaMauricio Pochettino
Oct 7, 2026 · byThe Guardian
Kemi Badenoch is the most rightwing leader in Tory history. Isn’t it time she got some actual scrutiny? | Owen Jones

Kemi Badenoch is the most rightwing leader in Tory history. Isn’t it time she got some actual scrutiny? | Owen Jones

Farage’s scandals have allowed Badenoch to get her party back in the race. But her programme would be no less ruinous for our country The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, will march on to the conference stage in Birmingham feeling buoyed. “Kemi’s soaring,” coos the Sun , and that sums up the prevailing wisdom. More than four in 10 Britons think she is doing well as Tory leader, compared with a third who think otherwise. As Nigel Farage’s stock has plummeted thanks to scandals over a £5m personal gift and donations from crypto billionaires , the polling suggests that the Conservatives could regain the mantle of Britain’s main rightwing force. Yet Badenoch has been the beneficiary of circumstance. Her tenure as opposition leader has been defined by Keir Starmer’s project imploding almost as soon as it gained power. When Reform UK enjoyed its seismic polling lead, the Tory plight was double-edged: they were starved of attention, but that inevitably resulted in a lack of scrutiny, too. It has been easy for Badenoch to appear formidable while her opponents have disintegrated. Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

BirminghamKeir StarmerKemi Badenoch
Oct 6, 2026 · byThe Guardian
Don’t mention the Iron Dome: comedy genius Kemi on warpath at Tory conference | John Crace

Don’t mention the Iron Dome: comedy genius Kemi on warpath at Tory conference | John Crace

Conservative leader’s ‘It’s a Britannia Shield’ announcement proves no one does farcical improv better than her Just another day in Crapland. It’s amazing what you can get used to. You can’t say the Tories haven’t put a lot of thought into their party conference. It takes some programming skill to make every day even more dismal than the last. You come expecting very little and get even less than you bargained for. Schopenhauer would be in dreamland. The very act of being has never felt so inconsequential. But yet there’s something very comforting about this. You leave the Birmingham theme park attraction feeling better about yourself than when you arrived. Who knew abject failure could be quite so much fun? You find yourself congratulating some members on being able to dress themselves. A curious hybrid of an endangered species and care in the community? Continue reading...

Birmingham
Oct 6, 2026 · byThe Guardian
Hamlet’s goodbye, the last of Leigh, Birmingham blues and a vampire in Vienna: 12 great films at the London film festival

Hamlet’s goodbye, the last of Leigh, Birmingham blues and a vampire in Vienna: 12 great films at the London film festival

Our critic picks out some of the most outstanding cinema screening at the UK’s most prestigious film event in 2026 This film puts Andrew Scott in line to become the first out gay man to win the best actor Oscar . He plays Ian Charleson, who became a star in Chariots of Fire and in 1989 took on the role of Hamlet at London’s National Theatre when Daniel Day-Lewis withdrew, despite being desperately ill with Aids, knowing that the strain would accelerate his illness. For Charleson, the play’s themes of life and death, truth and falsehood, justice and injustice, were all too real. Continue reading...

Andrew ScottBirminghamLondon
Oct 6, 2026 · byThe Guardian
Conservative plans to slash aid budget by 90% to ‘irreparably damage’ UK’s global credibility, charities say

Conservative plans to slash aid budget by 90% to ‘irreparably damage’ UK’s global credibility, charities say

Party’s pledge to reduce aid budget from £9bn a year to £1bn to fund new prison places branded as ‘posturing’ Conservative plans to slash the aid budget by 90% would leave the UK unable to cover existing contributions to the UN and World Bank, and “irreparably damage” Britain’s global credibility, several organisations and charities have told the Guardian. In a series of announcements at the Tory party conference in Birmingham, Kemi Badenoch said that as prime minister she would reduce the aid budget from £9bn a year to £1bn, to part-fund 50,000 new prison places in England and Wales. The culture budget would also be slashed by £1bn a year to fund the plans. Continue reading...

Banco MundialBirminghamEngland
Oct 5, 2026 · byThe Guardian
No queues, empty seats and the worst speech ever heard: welcome to the Tory conference | John Crace

No queues, empty seats and the worst speech ever heard: welcome to the Tory conference | John Crace

Birmingham event is like a safari park attraction where we get to see the remnants of a party in a protected habitat At the Labour party conference in Liverpool last week, Andy Burnham floated the idea of electoral reform. This week in Birmingham, the Tories have come up with a plan of their own: voting with their feet. How to put this nicely? Let’s just say that the Conservative party conference is extremely civilised. No queues for the food concessions. No queues to get into any of the halls. In fact, the organisers are delighted that anyone has turned up at all. Continue reading...

Andy BurnhamBirminghamLiverpool
Oct 5, 2026 · byThe Guardian
Badenoch is trying to match Farage step for step – but it’s a dance of death for the Tories | Polly Toynbee

Badenoch is trying to match Farage step for step – but it’s a dance of death for the Tories | Polly Toynbee

At conference here in Birmingham I’ve found a growing swell of opposition to the leader – and a vision of the Conservative party to come You can walk all the way from Somerset to Sussex without crossing a Tory-run constituency, if you wish. You could also travel through each of the counties of Wiltshire, Hampshire, Dorset and Surrey without setting foot in Tory lands. They are now mainly Liberal Democrat, and there’s not one Tory MP in all of Oxfordshire. Is Kemi Badenoch bothered? Everything she does seems cleverly designed to keep those places lost to her forever as she woos Reform voters, unsuccessfully. The more she leans right, the more she repels home counties moderates. Those Reform voters are not coming back, psephologists say. Without reclaiming the old “blue wall”, there is no hope, ever, of a Tory majority, say both profs Tim Bale and Rob Ford and just about every political authority you care to ask. Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

BirminghamHampshireKemi Badenoch
Oct 5, 2026 · byThe Guardian
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Is Kemi Badenoch abandoning the Red Wall?

Is Andy Burnham an easier opponent for the Conservatives than Sir Keir Starmer? At the Tory conference in Birmingham, Kemi Badenoch’s team sniff a chance to attack the prime minister – with a particular chance to seize on and attack his economic argument. Sam Coates and Anne McElvoy pore over Badenoch’s “The Right Way” pamphlet […]

Andy BurnhamBirminghamKeir Starmer
Oct 5, 2026 · byPOLITICO Europe
How former Premier League goalkeeper David Stockdale rescued and revamped FC Farsley

How former Premier League goalkeeper David Stockdale rescued and revamped FC Farsley

Former Brighton and Birmingham stopper has his family getting their hands dirty rebooting Leeds club They held a sweepstake in the FC Farsley office. How many fans would come for the first men’s game at their Throstle Nest ground in more than two years? David Stockdale, the owner and first-team manager, was cautious, predicting 140. After all, the old club, Farsley Celtic, played in Buxton for much of the 2024-25 season and missed the 2025-26 campaign after going into liquidation. When 480 came through the gates to watch the all-new FC Farsley play Collegians FC in a Yorkshire Amateur League contest, Stockdale realised the scale of his achievement in getting the club back on their feet. There remains an enormous amount of work still to do – and Stockdale was operating a digger before this interview – but it was the first step of a fresh journey for the Leeds-based club. Continue reading...

BirminghamBrightonLeeds
Oct 5, 2026 · byThe Guardian
Manchester City v Arsenal: Women’s Super League – live

Manchester City v Arsenal: Women’s Super League – live

⚽️ WSL updates from 4.30pm BST ⚽️ Read Moving the Goalposts | Follow us on Instagram WSL half-time scores The five 2pm games will resume any second now. These are the half-time scores: Aston Villa 0-0 Crystal Palace Brighton 2-1 Charlton Everton 1-1 Birmingham Tottenham 0-3 London City Lionesses West Ham 0-1 Chelsea Continue reading...

BirminghamChelsea
Oct 4, 2026 · byThe Guardian
Tories plan to expand free childcare to high earners to end ‘cliff edge’

Tories plan to expand free childcare to high earners to end ‘cliff edge’

Kemi Badenoch says those earning more than £100,000 should not be discouraged from working more The Conservatives have unveiled a proposed £700m childcare giveaway for high earners ahead of their annual conference, saying they would end the “cliff edge” where free entitlement ends at salaries above £100,000. The plan, set out the day before the event begins in Birmingham, follows the earlier proposal by Kemi Badenoch’s party to abolish most stamp duty , another change to taxation that would disproportionately benefit wealthier people. Continue reading...

BirminghamKemi Badenoch
Oct 3, 2026 · byThe Guardian
‘RuneScape’-Inspired Animation Series in the Works From Lyrical Animation and Jagex

‘RuneScape’-Inspired Animation Series in the Works From Lyrical Animation and Jagex

Lyrical Animation is developing a new animation series based on “RuneScape” in partnership with creator Charlie “MoistCr1TiKaL” White and game developer Jagex, the company’s CEO Jon Bellamy announced on stage at RuneFest in Birmingham, UK, on Saturday. The project will bring the world of Gielinor to the screen, and marks a new step in Jagex’s […]

Jagexneutral
BirminghamCharlieJagex
Oct 3, 2026 · byVariety