IT SAYS much for the stature of Duncan Edwards and the other Busby Babes who died in the Munich air crash that, 50 years after the tragedy, they are still remembered with such sadness and reverence.
These were extravagantly talented young players, a truly golden generation taken from us before they had realised their full potential.
RIP, lads. You are still sorely missed.
AS DRIVERS sit tapping their steering wheels in frustration while they sit in jams on Birmingham's congested roads, it is clear that something must be done to get our city moving again.
Year after year more cars pour on to roads whose capacity is not infinite.
DO NOT disregard Jaguar's glitzy launch of its new XF model in Monte Carlo merely as a junket.
Hundreds of influential motoring journalists from around the world are being invited there over the next six weeks.
TRAFFIC cop Gavin Blease dismisses suggestions that he acted heroically as he wrestled with a gunman who had already opened fire.
"I don't think it was anything exceptional," says Pc Blease, describing how the drama began after a routine decision to question a man acting suspiciously.
IF THIS country is serious about reducing the damage it causes to our world, the government's plans for a generation of eco-towns must proceed.
We need to build homes, schools and workplaces that are environmentally friendly and encourage people to travel less or to use public transport.
HARD work, goodwill and common sense have averted a strike by Travel West Midlands bus drivers.
Thank heavens for that because such a stoppage would have caused mayhem – snarling up roads with extra cars and leading to widespread absenteeism at workplaces across the region.
THEIR music could hardly be more different.
Rhydian Roberts, just 24, is the new X-Factor singing sensation and Andy Hamilton, aged 89, is a jazz saxophonist with a pedigree stretching back many decades.
FOR eight years its peace officers have patrolled Birmingham's troubled streets.
The Haile Selassie Peace Foundation has calmed community tension, built bridges with the police and helped persuade jailed offenders to live law-abiding and valuable lives.
GRAFFITI blights neighbourhoods.
Those daubings on walls, fences, bus shelters and park benches speak of an area in which youths roam after dark, free to deface and damage without fear of challenge.
DO NOT be surprised that Birmingham author RJ Ellory has shot to fame with his book A Quiet Belief of Angels chosen by the Richard and Judy Book Club.
This city has a fine and distinguished literary tradition which – in typically Brummie fashion – has remained largely hidden.
IT IS too early to start celebrating success as Midlands hospitals battle against those dreadful infections MRSA and Clostridium difficule.
But let us at least recognise the efforts of health managers, doctors, nurses and other staff in driving down the number of cases over the past six months.
THERE but for the grace of God go all of us.
Yesterday's narrowly averted disaster at Heathrow is a stark reminder of how often our lives are in the hands of others.
THE confirmation that 375 Midland jobs, which were once part of the proud Britannic empire, are being lost to India and Scotland marks yet another nail in the coffin for the region's business base.
OLDER readers will remember the bleak days that came in a cloud of dust in the middle years of the last century as much of Birmingham's architectural heritage was bulldozed.
Now we are more enlightened and have realised that fine old buildings add interest and character to our city.
IF BIRMINGHAM has real ambition to become an international city then it needs an airport to match that aspiration.
Ryanair's plan to massively increase its services from Birmingham International Airport is a step in that direction. And it is a welcome one.
BIRMINGHAM lost many of its architectural gems in the barbaric redevelopments of the the 1950s-70s.
A whole lot more would have been flattened and replaced had it not been for the efforts of the city's Victorian Society, this year celebrating its 40th anniversary.
NO-ONE can sensibly argue that the badly needed upgrade of the West Coast line can be achieved without disruption.
Such major projects inevitably mean rail closures and with that comes inconvenience for passengers.
VISION and courage were qualities that made Benazir Bhutto a major and charismatic figure on the world's political stage.
And they were, of course, the very qualities that made her a target for forces of hatred and intolerance intent on destabilising Pakistan.
HEALTH Secretary Alan Johnson shoulders a huge weight now that he has made a decision vehemently opposed by many medics and patients.
He has approved hugely controversial proposals to move emergency surgery services from Birmingham's City Hospital to Sandwell despite warnings by one campaigner that it will cost lives.
THE fleet-footed have long complained that while places such as London and Newcastle have high-profile runs, Birmingham has nothing.
But, just like buses, you wait for ages then two turn up together.
IT IS probably too early for families in Kitts Green to pop open the champagne just yet, but there is good reason for them to be hopeful that a controversial probation centre might be moved.
Justice Minister David Hanson met campaigners and head teachers yesterday and was sympathetic to their arguments.
WE ARE delighted to have brought a little Christmas cheer to classrooms across the West Midlands.
Fourteen schools are sharing a slice of £20,000 from our Top Class Cash promotion.
TODAY there can be no disguising the depth of disquiet surrounding Birmingham City Council's
Seventy per cent of the workers offered new contracts connected with the pay plans have not signed them.
MINISTERS and civil servants should think long and hard before deciding where to site this region's new super-prison.
They must also be open about their plans and consult the residents near whose homes the jail will be sited.
THERE is solid good sense in Immigration Minister Liam Byrne's call for new arrivals to be introduced to truly British traditions such as the BBC, countryside walks, darts and a good old cuppa.
These are things that help create our country's unique identity, comfortingly recognisable, soothingly enjoyable.
THIS area has got a long and distinguished history of producing high-class athletes.
So it is fitting that next year's Olympic trials should be returning to Birmingham after a four year absence.
PASSIONS are invariably raised when the rights and wrongs of abortion are debated. It is an issue which continues to polarise opinions.
But even those who support the right of women to terminate an unwanted pregnancy should consider carefully the reservations of doctors about plans to make the procedure available in GP surgeries.
TODAY this city is gripped by a pay dispute that probably impacts on more families than any that has ever come before.
Birmingham City Council's radical review of salaries will inflate the wage packets of some of its staff and mean losses for others.
HOW ridiculous that a British teacher has been jailed in Sudan for naming a teddy bear Mohammed.
No offence was meant by Gillian Gibbons.
IT IS one of Birmingham's most famous landmarks. A vital artery which supplies lifeblood to the West Midlands.
Spaghetti Junction also has a strategic importance which stretches far beyond our region.
So the revelation that part of the ageing structure is crumbling so badly that engineers are having to monitor part of 'underbelly' 24 hours a day are extremely worrying.
Continue reading "Why We Must Act Over Spaghetti Junction" »
HARD work, determination and imagination have ensured that Birmingham's adult care service is at last performing well.
We send our congratulations to staff and the officials and councillors who oversee them on the two star rating the service has been awarded by the Commission for Social Care Inspection.
JUST one hurdle remains to be cleared for Birmingham finally to get the money it needs to replace ramshackle New Street Station.
Government sources insist that only a few more details are needed from the city council and then the go-ahead can be given in mid-January. Let us hope that is the case.
THESE have been worrying days for Birmingham City fans.
A run of bad results in the league, the recent defeat by Aston Villa, uncertainty over Carson Yeung's planned takeover and the resignation of manager Steve Bruce to join lowly Wigan had combined to cast dark clouds over the club.
TRAGEDY could have visited when Victoria McKenna went into labour while alone and gave birth to a baby who was not breathing.
But calmness, strength of character, know-how and a little bit of luck ensured that Victoria can now cuddle a healthy baby boy called Lewis.
THEY are the lifeblood of our communities, the countless voluntary and charity groups that work quietly in the background.
Usually they are low profile. Always they make a real difference to the lives of people around them.
A SEASON that promised so much for Blues is threatening to end in chaos and disappointment.
The team, newly back in the Premier League, had not set the world alight with their results so far this campaign.
PITY our poor farmers as they come to terms with yet another threat to their livelihoods.
A year that had already seen outbreaks of foot and mouth disease, bluetongue and flooding has now witnessed an outbreak of a deadly form of bird flu.
TUNE into television to watch proceedings in the House of Commons and you see benches predominantly occupied by white, male MPs.
A few women are dotted here and there, some occupying front bench seats. Likewise a few dark faces.
NO-ONE other than Lynton Fletcher will know just why he walked back from his getaway car so he could take the life of a man who posed no threat to him.
This was the sort of cold, calculating crime that would be beyond our comprehension were it not for the grainy images that captured this terrible, tragic incident on February 9, 2004.
THE might of foreign armies did not defeat them yet the threat of a few numbskulls who purport to be Blues or Villa fans is set to leave their plans in tatters.
How shameful that the Firs branch of the Royal British Legion has been forced to cancel its Remembrance Day parade because the police needed to provide roadblocks will instead be busy ensuring that afternoon's local derby passes free of trouble.
THERE will be a great deal of sympathy for Lesley Wallace, the Birmingham grandmother so frustrated by the service her street receives from the city's binmen that she took drastic action.
Lesley bagged up the rubbish that had been spilled or ignored by the collection team in Yew Tree Avenue, Yardley, jumped on a bus to the city centre and then emptied it defiantly on the Council House doorstep.
NO-ONE was attacked or even threatened by the nine-year-old boy found to be hiding a knife at a Birmingham primary school.
But the very fact that he was carrying a blade will fill every right-thinking person with alarm.
AT THE age of 14, Ryan Pettigrew and Jade Scarrott should have had their whole lives ahead of them.
But they never got the chance to realise their potential. Never got the chance to follow a career or raise families of their own.
DOESN'T it gladden your heart to hear about people like Steve Ford, who despite crippling arthritis has spent the past two decades making dreams come true for sick youngsters in local hospitals?
We are delighted that the 49-year-old ex-postman has been named our latest Local Hero.
IN THE jargon of officialdom, they are known as NEETs - standing for "not in education, employing or training".
Those of us who work hard at our jobs or studies have a different description for this hard-core of teenagers happy to do nothing - wasters.
THERE is a momentum growing in our campaign for a referendum to allow Birmingham's voters to decide if they want an elected mayor.
Names came in their thousands again when an action day was held last month and even more are expected to be added to the petition on a second day of action on Saturday, November 10.
THE cause of social harmony is done no service if Government ministers refuse to dip deep into Treasury coffers to provide the funds needed by councils and other public bodies to cope with the influx of immigrants.
Pressure mounts on crucial services such as schools, housing, hospitals and transport unless they are financed to handle the greater burden that an increase in population inevitably brings about.