Notes of a riot

Last night (8/8/11) the riots, which began in London following the shooting of a suspected gang member, spread out across the country and reached Birmingham City Centre around 7pm. Mindless violence, arson, looting and muggings continued right into the early hours of this morning leaving many areas in and around the city centre destroyed. This post compiles a selection of the news coverage surrounding the Birmingham riots.

Birmingham Riots 2011 Tumblr

At 7.44pm a live update of the events happening in Birmingham City Centre began, which went on to detail the senseless violence and destruction over a 7 hour period; with a blogger known as @CaseyRain posting pictures, videos and comments from the public showing the progress of the riots throughout the city centre and out into areas such as Kings Heath, Hansworth and Walsall. Below are some of the comments left by vigilant members of the blogosphere on the live Tumblr:

• 8:38 pm - kidsxheroes said: "Friends of mine in the city (who are now trying to get out) have said The Square Peg pub on Corporation St has been smashed up too."
• 9:04 pm - Reports of riots spreading to Chelmsley Wood, Perry Barr, Aston, Erdington, Handsworth…
• 10:26 pm - thepoetmagi said: "The Childrens hospital has been hit. Rioters were smashing windows and attempted to bomb steelhouse lane police station. My friends mum was there and was escorted out of the hospital by police. I assume other people were too!!"
• 12:55 am - Police station fire in Handsworth confirmed. Also reports of looting at Cash & Carry on Nineveh Road and elsewhere around Handsworth. Reports of trouble in Northfield and Selly Oak as well as the gay quarter in city centre where a man was apparently attacked by a gang of people and stomped on before being pulled to safety by a
  passing car, outside of the Missing Bar.
• 1:38 am - doodus said: "Something kicked off about 20 mins ago on Portland Rd, Edgbaston, by the Rainbow Casino. Heavy police presence, lots of shouting, a couple of shifty looking guys hanging out in driveways & behind bins, road was partly blocked and a few heavies turned up in cars.

To see the full scope of last night's events visit: http://birminghamriots2011.tumblr.com/

The Mirror

Headline: "Birmingham riots: 100 arrests as youths bring chaos to Bullring area"

Police in Birmingham have arrested around 100 people after rioters and looters rampaged across the city centre, mirroring the chaotic scenes in London.

Scores of shop windows and doors – including sportswear and mobile phones stores – were smashed by gangs as frightened shoppers and city workers looked on.

Assistant Chief Constable Sharon Rowe said: “We will not tolerate mindless violence anywhere in the West Midlands and are working hard to ensure that the offenders are identified and caught as soon as possible.”

For the full story visit: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/08/09/birmingham-riots-100-arrests-as-youths-bring-chaos-to-bullring-area-115875-23330961/

Youtube

Vast numbers of videos of the rioting and looting have gone up on Youtube over the last 12 hours. This BBC video seems to perfectly display the mindless vandalism which occurred yesterday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY-kaVSCw3Y&NR=1

The Telegraph

Headline: "Birmingham hit by riots as internet campaign encourages violence"

As an estimated 200 youths, many of them hooded or masked, congregated, West Midlands police put up a half-mile exclusion zone around the Bullring shopping centre, which shut early at 6.40pm.

Onlookers described thugs running with knives through New Street and one photographer was set upon by a group who beat him and stole his camera.

Police were prepared for trouble after a campaign on Facebook, BlackBerry Messenger and Twitter warned of violence and encouraged others to get involved.

For the full story visit: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8690273/Birmingham-hit-by-riots-as-internet-campaign-encourages-violence.html

My thoughts

The reports go on and on, with many conflicting views as to what was really behind the rioting and looting. There have been some suggestions that it was related to an increase in taxes, whilst other reports claim that it is because of the recession. Personally I fail to see either of these as being a valid excuse. Most of the looting was caused by opportunists, who jumped on the back of the rioting in order to bag themselves some free stuff from places such as Primark, Addidas and Footlocker. And this was only further proven when a spate of muggings occurred on buses in areas such as Walsall and Hansworth towards the later part of the night.

The destructing and widespread damage caused by these uneducated and violent thugs is nothing short of idiotic. If any of this was for a real purpose or cause, that has once again been lost in the senseless acts of violence, theft and vandalism that you caused in your own city - just as it was with the peaceful student protests that spiraled out of control in January of this year. Whatever point some of you felt you had to make you went about it completely the wrong way. Violence solves nothing, it only fuels the resilience of the authorities against your cause. You will not be heroes for your actions, you will only be seen as the scum which tarrs our city's name. Rebels without a cause, and no right-minded person will ever take you seriously.

I was truly proud to see the support for the police that has sprung up overnight. They handled the situation as best they could, with somewhat limited resources I might add. Facebook this morning is full of campaign pages supporting the amazing work of the police force and riot teams who worked through the night to protect our city, despite being massively outnumbered on all accounts.

This morning Twitter is brimming with unity and a sense of local togetherness with http://www.riotcleanup.com/ forming to help the nation join together to correct the mistakes of last night. Hundreds of people have headed to the Bull at 10am this morning to help put our city centre back together, and nothing makes me more proud to be a Brummie than to see how our sense of community stands tall in the face of all this mindless destruction.

What happened in Birmingham last night was worthless, pointless and disgusting. When it boils down to it, our city has been attacked by our own...and for what? I hope the stolen gear and senseless rage you showed last night were worth it, because today our local economy will be suffering as our businesses try to put themselves back together, and the residents and workers of the city - who's property and jobs you have put in jeopardy - will be trying to make sense of why they had to be caught up in the destruction you inflicted for your completely lost cause.

It is poignant to note, however, that amongst the broken glass and burnt out stores one thing remains solid as a rock - and that is Birmingham's sense of what is good and right, along with the knowledge that we are at our strongest when we are united. Be proud to be a part of the Birmingham community and support that in whatever way you can.

Saturday TV killed the entertainment star

Though many may deny it, most of us are guilty of becoming addicted to the vast number of reality TV and talent shows that have infiltrated modern viewing. Sitting glued to the box week after week, judging, criticising and gossiping about the contestants and their antics. We enjoy watching B-List celebrities squirm on “I’m A Celebrity” whilst they endure stomach churning Bush tucker trials in order to climb their way back up the popularity ladder – just as much as we enjoy watching fame-hungry nobodies sit around talking nonsense on Big Brother, being mildly amused by the thoughts and actions of a group of supposedly “normal” people doing “normal” things 24 hours a day.

One of our greatest guilty pleasures as a nation, however, is not to indulge in the plight of has-been celebs in the jungle or the antics of “average Joes” on Big Brother, but to spend weekend after weekend glued to a singing competition of gigantic proportions. That’s right, the nation seems to be addicted to Simon Cowell’s greatest (financial) triumph “The X Factor”. Ratings research board BARB recently announced (22/12/10) that the X Factor final – which aired on Saturday 11^th December and saw 27-year-old painter and decorator Matt Cardle scoop the first place spot – pulled in a massive 17.7 million viewers, and has therefore been crowned the most watched television show of 2010.

X Factor can be seen as being a great success not only for it’s ratings, but also for what it can do for the contestants who make it through to the live shows, and especially for those who go on to win the series. X Factor has previously given us Shayne Ward, JLS, Olly Murs, Diana Vickers, Joe McElderry, Alexandra Burke and (unfortunately, some may argue) Jedward, who have all had vast success during the first few years following their stint on the show – not forgetting, of course, the shows most successful contestant to date Leona Lewis (of Series Three), who’s debut album “Spirit” topped the charts in 11 countries and has sold over 6 million copies worldwide.

It could easily be argued that without appearing on X Factor, none of these chart-toppers would have been able to crack their way into the music business, and many would still be singing in pubs and clubs around the country. Talent shows such as X Factor can make worldwide popstars out of ordinary musicians and singers, taking them out of the local social clubs and helping them shoot to fame as the next big thing. X Factor’s motto, or so it would seem, is to seek out the talented members of the public and give them a chance to fulfill their musical dreams.

It would appear to some, then, that the X Factor strives to promote the UK’s entertainment industry, by showcasing the hidden talents of our great nation - but how true is this in reality? The show this year aired on both Saturday and Sunday evenings, from 7.30pm until 10.30 pm – the time that most pub and club entertainers are out performing at venues across the country. If the vast majority of the public are staying in to watch the latest X Factor performances, then who is out watching and supporting the rest of the country’s musicians and singers as they perform?

In the wake of the recession our country faced at the start of 2010, many types of businesses and professions were hit hard, and the UK entertainment and leisure industry was certainly one area to feel the severity of the blow. With the pubic as a whole tightening their belts, a night down the local pub or social club seemed to fall at the bottom of the list for many people – and if the clubs and pubs are losing business, then they simply cannot afford to pay out for performers and entertainers, so both the businesses and the professionals are suffering, not only from a lack of funding, but also – it would seem – from a lack of interest.

The social club scene used to be the place to be of a weekend for many of the generations before us, but the young crowd these days would much rather be on the dancefloor in one of the numerous nightclubs across the country, than down their local social club watching an act perform. So with today’s reality television stealing the spotlight of a weekend, a reported 40 social clubs a week closing down due to a lack of funding (BCC report, March 2010) and the changes in the social nature of the newest generations, the future is looking bleak for all those involved in the UK’s local entrainment industry.

Profile – Peter Jones of Series 1 duo “2 To Go”

30-year-old, Peter Jones – a pub and social club entertainer – appeared in the first ever series of the X Factor back in 2004, as part of duo “2 To Go”. Peter and singing partner Emma Paine made it through to the live shows, as part of Louie Walsh’s category, but were voted off in the third week by their own mentor. Here, Peter talks about his time on the show, how he feels it helped his career and what he thinks should be done about the current lack of support for pubs and social clubs across the UK.

What made you want to audition for X Factor?

The main reason for auditioning was that the X Factor was the first talent show that accepted groups. Previous shows (fame academy, pop idle etc) were only interested in solo acts. Also we thought (maybe naively) that as it was a brand new show it would be a new and refreshing approach to talent contests.

How did you find your time on the show?

It was certainly a great experience. Walking on to the stage with a live audience in the finals is a hard experience to beat. You certainly get a taste of the glitz and glamour. On the other hand you also realise it is not all like that. There's a lot of waiting around, and a lot of staged reactions. For instance, we all new full well that Louis would be our mentor but we had to act like it was the surprise of the century. There was a lot of that sort of thing. But it was a great feeling to get through the auditions especially considering the numbers involved. We were proud to get as far as we did, and the live tour which followed was one of the biggest highlights of our career!

After leaving the show, did you find that people recognised you more?

Yes, we had a lot of people stopping us in the streets. There was a lot of recognition. We still have that today, especially when we're seen together - of course not as much now as it was then.

Did you go back into singing in pubs and clubs?

We never left the clubs completely, it wasn’t right to walk away from our careers to take the chance that we might make it big. In the end, we didn’t get a big break, but when we went back to performing full time we did a lot of great venues, including the Nottingham concert hall, Lincoln castle and Epsom race course. We also started to play casinos and we had lots of corporate events.

Do you feel appearing on the show helped or possibly hindered your career?

There is no doubt the X Factor helped our career if only in a small way. During the two years after the show our standard of gigs was definitely higher than before. As the years went on we found we started to do more clubs again. Inevitably, as new X Factors came and went, our series was put to the back of people's minds, but we are still remembered and the X Factor reference is still a selling point for us.

I wouldn't say it has hindered us but there is no doubt that other finalists have come off the worst for their experience. I believe we were in the bracket of doing well enough to achieve a slightly higher status, but we were never at risk of being dropped or ridiculed by the X Factor as we were never picked up by the record company and we didn't quite get far enough to merit that kind of attention.

Have you noticed the recent decline in the public's interest in going to their social club to watch an act perform? Why do you think this is?

The decline in audiences at clubs is becoming a worrying problem. Contributing factors to this issue are undoubtedly the increasing prices of drinks coupled with the smoking ban. Certainly it is a lot cheaper and easier to stay at home with friends or family and have a few drinks whilst watching Saturday night telly. I don't know whether people are deliberately choosing to not go and see the acts, as I am informed by the club secretaries that the clubs have become less busy in general and not just at the weekends. Also I believe that a lot of clubs will close because they have an outdated principal. It is sad to say, but some clubs are only attended by an elderly audience, and to put it bluntly, when they are gone that will be it. Unfortunately I think the working men’s club ethic has become an old fashioned one and I’m not sure how this can be changed.

I don't know how much the standard of acts reflects in the turn out of audiences, but I will say that there are now a lot of cheap and cheerful acts who are now getting a lot of work as the clubs cut their budgets. I have seen some of these acts and think I would say that there has definitely been a drop in standards.

I say this not only from my own experiences but also from what people tell me in the clubs I perform at. I don't know if this is a contributing factor or not. Having said all that there are still lots of great (and busy) clubs out there, so there is still a club spirit. I am still lucky enough to make a living from the clubs and I am still having great nights working in clubs across the country, so there’s still hope for performers yet!

A Week in a Daily

This week (24/01/11 - 28/01/11) I have been fortunate enough to spend my time at the Birmingham Post & Mail, working as a staff reporter in their editorial department. So I thought I'd share with you all the triumphs and pitfalls of my week at a daily newspaper.


Monday

Arriving at 10am, I was greeted by the ever-friendly and helpful Ms. Davis, who handles all of the work placement students when they first arrive. I did the usual tour of the office, before being assigned to my desk.

I was prepped in how to work the system by John Marsden and given the task of preparing the Post's property supplement - requiring me to phone around local estate agents in a specific area and research house prices, transport links, town attractions and local schools.

After this I was taken out to the Villa home ground in Perry Barr to help with the filming of the Darren Bent mania happening there due to his recent signing.

Not a vastly interesting first day, but they like to test the water with you I think.

Tuesday

A much more eventful day entirely! I was signed over to the hands of the Newsroom team, and Content Editor Andy Richards kicked of the day with an impromptu pop quiz for me by saying:
"So, what news have you got for me then?"

Despite being awake at 6.30am and watching the news whilst I had my standard breakfast of strong coffee and a cheesy crumpet, I literally came over as a deaf mute all in the one moment, and couldn't come up with a single interesting thing to say!

Seriously bad timing for me to actually be speechless for a change, and he advised me to always come prepared with fresh ideas. As he said, even if they don't get used at least it shows that I'm keen and that I'm aware of what's happening in the world. Let's face it, everybody loves a trier...and that's definitely what I'll be from here on out!

I was then set the task of reworking two different press releases into 150 and 250 word stories. This required talking to the PR companies behind the press releases, organising interviews with the people involved in the stories and gathering pictures and background information to fill out the articles with.

Later in the day I was asked to compile a follow-up story on a litter of abandoned puppies from Birmingham Dogs Home. The Mail had published a "Homes Wanted" plea in their Saturday edition, and it had seen a major response from readers who had gone on to adopt all 14 helpless animals. I compiled a 350 word picture lead, including quotes from the head fundraiser at the charity, and the story is due to be run (with my byline) later in the week. Success at last!

My final task for the day was to transcribe a letter from a convicted armed robber, who had written to the paper from prison in order to address some accusations which had been made about him in the media recently. Obviously I cannot divulge any of that information here, but it certainly was an interesting read. It's amazing what they will trust you with on your second day!

Wednesday

A bit of a slow start to the day, unfortunately. I started my day by adding a final quote to the 150 word article on a pie-making contest, before being assigned a 100 word weather report to write. Obviously not front page news, by my work in print is still my work in print! View it here: "Snow could be on the way back to Birmingham"

I went for my third experience of a news conference, held at 10.30am and 1.30pm, involving the editors of all the different sections of the paper. The news conference helps keep the whole team in the loop regarding what content they have already got, what they need to chase up and where each potential story will feature in the newspaper.

Following this, I arranged an interview with a local swimming apprentice for the following day, which would help solidify my 250 word story on her and her successes. I then received some good news from Content Editor Andy Richards, who said that my 350 word story on the abandoned puppies was being turned into a full page story, and he set me the task of tracking down the new owners for a photocall. Apparently the paper want to run a full page story in a few weeks, and then do a recap of the animals 12 months from now, to see how far they've come.

The whole story is a feel-good piece, and brightens up the array of news on offer, and it don't half make the Mail look good as well! Plus, I'm more than happy to have a full page story on my third working day! Even more success at last.

Thursday

Today was spent at Birmingham Crown Court, with the paper's court reporter Ross McCarthy. As many of you will know, I have studied Media Law for the past few months as part of my University course, so I was pretty familiar with the whole procedure any way. However, the main issue I noticed when trying to report on court cases as a student was that the court officials are much less forthcoming with their information than they are when it comes to the press.

Ross was able to stride into the court with a list of all of the main cases for that day under his arm - many accompanied by Police press releases with the main information about the case included - so he was already at a great advantage to my humble efforts previously.

Also, the court usher was more than happy to fill in any blanks he had. Considering I couldn't even get ages and addresses off them half the time, I was glad to see that when you do get your press badge you seem to be taken more seriously as a writer and are privy to better info as part of that.

We got to watch a highly interesting case, involving four men and one woman from across the Birmingham area, who had meticulously planned two armed robberies - one at a cemetery and the other at a bank (both in Hansworth) - both of which were linked.

The clear pull factor in this story was that the gang had stolen the JCB digger used to dig the graves at the cemetery, and driven it into the wall of the bank in order to steal tens of thousands of pounds. I have posted the link to Ross' final article here for you to peruse: "Birmingham gang 'smashed into bank with JCB', court told"

A great story and it certainly was an interesting case to watch.

Friday

My final day at the Birmingham Post & Mail - for now. It was go go go from minute one today, as I had an interview with a local swimming apprentice, who had recently won awards for her academic and vocational successes, to complete and type up to begin with.

After this, I was set the task of chasing up emails, phone calls and photographs that we were yet to receive. It's the little things like this that hold up production in a newsroom, as not having a good quote or a strong image to head the story with can make the article you're working on seem rather incomplete. The story I wrote on Tuesday about the 14 abandoned puppies from Birmingham's Dogs Home was written up and waiting to go, but the lack of images to accompany the full page spread meant that it couldn't go to print until we had them. Nightmare!

I was then asked to draft up a story about a group of organisations in Cannock who had buried a time capsule under the newly built fire station. It was all very lighthearted, accompanied by nice pictures of the school children and the chief firefighter burying the time capsule. Stories like this are hardly front page news, but as I was told by Content Editor Andy Richards, The Birmingham Mail does like to try and keep an even mix between hard news stories and lighthearted stories of human interest - to give the paper a more rounded overall feel.

Usually, the big new is big news because it's bad news - an unfortunate but accurate fact to acknowledge. By including as many little lighthearted filler stories as possible, the paper hopes to give a better balance to what they report on and therefore what their readers have on offer to them.

My final task for the day was to research and write up an 800 word piece for the Birmingham Post's Valentines Day supplement, due out in the second week of February. It was intended to be an informal yet informative article on the best places to eat out this Valentines Day. I chose to include a wide range of different restaurants, in different areas across the city, so that there would be something for every taste and every budget.

My thoughts

Overall, my time at the Birmingham Post & Mail was quite successful. I got to write a fair few stories which are likely to be published, I got to experience what it is like to work in a bustling newsroom environment, and I learnt a great deal about the way a regional paper such as the Mail works to appeal to its core audience.

The only minor issue I had during my time there was finding that I didn't always have enough work to keep me occupied. Obviously, there are only certain articles that I was going to be trusted with, and being a rookie journo I was keen to impress and often blitzed through the work faster than they had expected.

With the newsroom being such a full-on commitment every day, the editors simply don't have the time to work consistently with us students, so I did end up having to find work for myself to do quite often during the week.

Andy Richards did say he would have loved to have spent more time with me during the week, as he was impressed with my writing style and organisational skills, and would have liked to helped me develop those further - but the restraints on his time as Content Editor every day meant that this was just not possible.

I'd happily go back again, and after working there for only a week I can honestly say I would feel right at home in a newsroom environment such as the Mail's. A regional newspaper might be the perfect place to start my blossoming career as a journalist after all.