Philip has now left his post overseeing the development of Birmingham City Centre, and has moved to Newham Council, filling a similar role regenerating the area in preparation for the 2012 Olympics.
I was due to meet with Philip during the summer, but as I traveled to the meeting by train, I received a telephone call canceling the appointment from his office, saying that he had been called away to deal with more urgent matters, much to my protest.
A complete waste of time and money demolished by what I feel to be a very inconsiderate last-minute action by his office- I will not be making the journey again.
Suzie is the CEO of Screen WM, the West Midland’s regional screen agency, and is responsible for ensuring that this area of the region’s creative sector continues to grow. Screen WM are also also working closely with Channel 4 and acting as a commissioning hub on the 4iP fund.
“At the moment due to the government announcements, Suzie is concentrating on future planning and the diary over the summer is purely based on these activities.” (via email from Suzie’s PA).
Hopefully this situation will change in the future and will allow me to meet with Suzie before this project deadline expires.
Salma Yaqoob is the leader, and former vice-chair, of the Respect Party and a Birmingham City Councillor. She is also the head of the Birmingham Stop the War Coalition and a spokesperson for Birmingham Central Mosque.
In 2006, Yaqoob received the Lloyds TSB Asian Jewel Award for Public Service Excellence while Harper’s Bazaar magazine named her in the top thirty list of British women, alongside Kate Winslet, all of whom they considered to be the most powerful in the UK.
In 2008, she was voted to eleventh place in the Birmingham Post’s Power 50 list of the most influential people in the city. She was included in the newspaper’s list again in 2009 at number 24.
In 2009, Yaqoob was included in the Muslim Women Power List run by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in association with The Times and Emel magazine.
According to The Guardian newspaper, Yaqoob is “the most prominent Muslim woman in British public life“.
Over a four month period, I have tried to contact Salma via email on several occasions, Twitter (twice) and have also left messages on her mobile telephone.
Unfortunately, none of these attempts have been successful, and to date, my requests for an interview have gone unanswered, and I have not received any replies whatsoever.
I can only deduct from this that Salma is not interested in taking part.
Unfortunately, there appears to be no image or photograph of Salma available via Creative Commons licensed outlets – only images with ‘All Rights Reserved’ licenses are available.
Councillor Mike Whitby is the elected representative for Harborne Ward, Leader of Birmingham City Council, Leader of the Conservative Group and Chairman of the Birmingham City Council Business Management Committee.
I have been in email contact with Cllr Whitby’s office since May 21st 2010.
Back then, I requested a short 30-minute appointment with Cllr Whitby, to conduct the interview with him, in exactly the same format as those on this page. Negotiations, explanations, questions, date adjustments and diary juggling have been continuing since then to accommodate Cllr Whitby’s diary.
On August 5th, I received email communication from Cllr Whitby’s office (with a restriction statement of confidentiality and legal statement attached), not only cancelling our appointment next week (planned for Monday 9th August), but also completely cancelling for the future.
Upon reflection, I will avoid the temptation to include my personal thoughts here, instead allowing the above factual report to accurately inform readers/ viewers of the situation surrounding this particular interview.
Fresh from his lecturing role in online journalism (and others) at Birmingham City University, Paul has just started the next stage of his career.
The founder of Help Me Investigate, Paul’s knowledge and experience comes from previous roles in editing magazines and websites.
During a short lunch break, I managed to spend some time with Paul at the Custard Factory, where we spoke about his professional and academic history, current trends and the influences of technology for holding those in power to account, and briefly touched on what the future for the media industry could possibly have in store.
I only speak the English language (well actually I speak a little French, but only when I really have to).
I live in England. I shop in England. I was educated in England.
The vast majority of my friends are English too, and whenever we meet, we too speak English and relate to each other about English traditions and culture, developments, activities, events, social gatherings, local issues affecting daily life, in fact everything that makes up my life is conducted in English.
During summer last year, I was invited to deliver a piece of work in Moscow. I do not speak Russian, I speak English. Everybody in Moscow speaks Russian.
I arrived at the airport to be met by a Russian-speaking driver wearing a smart suit and cap, holding up a small notice board with my name on it (spelt correctly). I walked up to the driver, offered him my hand to shake and said “Hello” in English. He replied with something in Russian, we shook hands with us both smiling genuinely, with him looking like he was genuinely pleased to see me. He indicated our travel direction, and I followed him to his car, my bags were loaded into the boot, he opened the rear door for me, and I took a seat inside.
Hand signals and gestures were exchanged whilst we both tried to make conversation during the journey to my hotel, but in summary, I think the only information I collected from him was his name (Andre), and he the same from me (which he already knew from the notice board he’d held up earlier).
After being successfully transported to the hotel, I spoke with the receptionist in broken English, a huge relief I have to say. Handed the keys to my room, successfully navigating the lift (with floor numbers in English) and bedroom door, I was greeted by emergency evacuation instructions in Russian, a TV that played Russian programmes, and restaurant and room service menu also printed in Russian.
My client was English, who happened to be working in Moscow, and he spoke Russian. From that point onwards, everything I delivered, completed and experienced for this short contract was passed via my client. The only part of this Russian experience I understood really were the communications via smiling faces and nodding heads of approval. To sum it all up, if my client had not been there to interpret all communications, I would have been truly lost.
Today, my father (aged 87) received his very first laptop computer (a mac) so he can use it for some of the work he does with the Burma Star Association. Currently he has a basic digital stills camera which he uses quite a lot when out on social visits with his pals, and doesn’t own a mobile phone.
He’s not looking to design websites or run a blog, twitter, facebook or anything like that- he’s just looking to learn how to type letters so he can post them to people, burn some photographs to dvd so he can post them to his pals (none of whom know how to use a computer or access the internet, emails etc), and use search engines and find out information about potential funding available for his voluntary members group.
He knows how to open the box and unpack the contents, has figured out how the power supply works, and has managed to turn the computer on. He knows what he wants to do and he knows how to communicate with his network. All he needs is a little help in being shown how to do some really basic tasks.
He also knows how to use a telephone to call me, in English.
Knowing him, I suspect he’ll be learning Russian soon.
The Chief Executive of Birmingham Council is a busy guy at the moment.
The future of public service delivery is coming under greater scrutiny, significant spending cuts across the sector are slowly emerging, and organisations such as Advantage West Midlands and Business Link are under increasing pressure to reduce costs and spending.
The same applies across all areas that BCC manages, not just business and industry in the West Midlands.
I managed to steal 10 minutes of Stephens time at his office, asking a few questions about his management and leadership style, past influences and what sort of influences will affect Birmingham’s future.
Simon’s musical background brings with it not only experience and knowledge, but recognition and strong leadership skills, plus a wealth of experience on the international platform.
Coordinating large scale orchestra and choir productions, and small scale intimate concerts as part of his daily routine, Simon gives me an insight about how he leads the Town Hall teams, how the operation runs, and how the venue itself plays a key influencing role in the city’s culture.
As the Chief Executive of University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Julie and her team have just undertaken a huge move of patients, professional medical staff and facilities to the brand new Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham in Selly Oak.
Drawing from her front line experience in nursing, Julie has adopted a “bottom up” approach to consulting with patients and staff, to ensure that effective leadership and management is successfully delivered, helping the relocation take place successfully, winning the support of all involved, and the press of course, at the same time as maintaining high standards of care at what is now a huge medical facility for the region.
I spent a few minutes with Julie to find out how her management styles have taken shape over the years, and how she applies them on a day to day basis.
You know, there comes a time when you meet someone that is truly the leading authority in their specialised field- for me, that time was today, with Nick.
Such a wealth of knowledge and experience guide Nick’s leadership choices, and if ever there was an example of good teamwork making a real difference to someone’s life, then surely, this is it.
