Phil Burrows
@supergm.bsky.social
1.1K followers 2.2K following 630 posts
Data, business & product analyst in my day job, coder in the evenings (Ruby on Rails, Typescript, AstroJs). Interested in federated charities, theories of change and tech for good. Has a lot to say about Druids Heath and Birmingham.
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Reposted by Phil Burrows
zackpolanski.bsky.social
The Spectator (owned by GBNews owner Paul Marshall - estimated wealth of £800 million) doesn’t like taxing wealth fairly.

I wonder how they got to this editorial decision?

Let’s tax wealth fairly, fund front line services & make hope normal again.

join.greenparty.org.uk
Polanski is talking nonsense about wealth taxes.
Reposted by Phil Burrows
lpcooley.bsky.social
The mood at this meeting was a very good demonstration of the strength of feeling in Stirchley against the repeated fixing of flags to lampposts, by a group of people who don't live in the area, and the associated intimidation that the community has been subjected to in the past three weeks.
supergm.bsky.social
Here at the Stirchley Neighbourhood Forum where the headline act is the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster. Proceeding are about to begin.
Picture of the very loose agenda for tonight. The headline act is Simon Foster.
supergm.bsky.social
On to a cheerier topic and
Mary is talking about putting the Xmas lights up.

There are totes lolz about the Xmas lights keeping the flags away.

Everyone laughed

The end.
supergm.bsky.social
We're closing the meeting now with a great bit about consensus and working together.
supergm.bsky.social
The person behind me is beautifully, emotionally and eloquently stating how the increase in racism damages communities and trust in the police.
supergm.bsky.social
The forum is now trying to work out what it can do.
supergm.bsky.social
He would expect the law to be enforced if crimes were reported. He cannot direct anything operationally though as he's a politician and it's out of his control.
supergm.bsky.social
He says the community must absolutely report offences.
supergm.bsky.social
He's 64 and he's never seen anything like this. It's not something that's been seen in this country. There is a wider political agenda.
supergm.bsky.social
He finds the division, hate and racism from the flaggers to be abhorrent. He doesn't want to see it in the west Midlands or in Stirchley.
It's clearly more than just flags.
supergm.bsky.social
He finds it very useful to hear the strength of concern from the community forum.
He's keen to work with us going forward to see what can be done.
It needs to be a joined up response from various bodies.
supergm.bsky.social
The PCC has had conversations about it with the police constable including this morning.
supergm.bsky.social
The vice-chair is saying that we're limited for time. An audience member asks for the PCC response.
supergm.bsky.social
J asks whether the police can turn the cherry picker around to prevent a breach of the peace.
supergm.bsky.social
I took a break to talk about the far right connections. Someone else is talking about how to prevent this from happening again.
supergm.bsky.social
Another audience member says that Birmingham has lost control.
The audience is getting more passionate.
There are clear offences that are taking place.
supergm.bsky.social
An audience member says that the peace wasn't being kept because of the provocation. It's a national issue that they are monitoring.
supergm.bsky.social
He wouldn't be responsible for counter terrorism. He acknowledges that people are making money on social media.
His first priority was to maintain the peace.
supergm.bsky.social
Sergeant John Cottrell stands up to respond. He gives his background and the month he moved to Selly Oak and became responsible for the area.
supergm.bsky.social
Someone else asks "We want to know why they had a police escort down the high street?"
supergm.bsky.social
M now talks. It's really hurtful to see what's happening to our community.
*There are shouts from the audience saying that the police facilitated it.*
It's an insult to the people that fought the Nazis.
supergm.bsky.social
There are people who are too afraid to come to this meeting because of far right.
HUGE APPLAUSE FOR D.
supergm.bsky.social
D then talks about his connections to Stirchley. He talks about how close knit and kind we are.
He lists the offences that have been committed by the flaggers.
He then talks about how the police needs to get a grip on it.
supergm.bsky.social
They have been lying about local people, putting videos about local people online without their consent.
We know they have connections to the far right.
A HUGE APPLAUSE for S.