Zero Hours contracts – nothing new under the sun

Professor Roger Seifert, Professor of Industrial Relations at the University of Wolverhampton, gives his opinion.

Hairy Today, Gone Tomorrow

Richard Lutz writes about how his beard landed him a night in a cowboy jail

The degeneration of Paradise Circus

Alan Clawley highlights the strange machinations that have blighted parts of Birmingham city centre.

Memo to all sections in Department of Health

Laurence Inman has seen a secret memo and, in true Wikileaks fashion, reveals its contents just prior to his arrest.

An act of Christian charity

Dave Woodhall talks about Villa’s new signing.

The return of the good times?

But will they by-pass Birmingham? John Duckers takes issue with the city’s obsession with food when really it’s manufacturing that drives job creation.

G4S – When crime really does pay

Steve Beauchampé takes issue with government and corporate hypocrisy, tazered with a dose of racist malignancy within the private sector.

What’s in a name?

Larry Inman ponders this whilst contemplating an outbreak of violence.

When the state steps in

Alan Clawley looks back at the controversy surrounding the old and new Birmingham Libraries.

Let’s get ready to mumble

Andy Munro provides a mid-close season report on the situation at St Andrews.

Cybercrime to Springsteen via Sexsmith

Laurence Inman has a lesson in cyberspace and is in a merrier mood than of late.

Fry’s the limit

Laurence Inman on having it all yet having nothing and has some words of advice for Stephen Fry.

Road rage

When is a law not a law? When it’s a motoring law, argues Dave Woodhall.

John Duckers on the rubbish revolution taking place in Birmingham

Wheelie bins are hitting the streets of Birmingham in a campaign funded by tax payers. John Duckers has come up with other ideas for those pesky plastic uber bins.

Surveillance Scandal: It Will Lead Back to Obama

The latest e-spying scandal has Obama’s fingerprints on it, says Richard Lutz

Streetwise

Laurence Inman has been studying the decline of the high street.

UK foreign policy key to tackling extremism

Reyhana Patel dares to raise the possibility that UK foreign policy may be the real issue that’s ignored when tackling extremism in the UK

Second Chance, USA

Go on, re invent yourself. Half of America does, says Richard Lutz

Better This Time? Afghanistan as the “Graveyard of Empires” 1979-2014

The 25th anniversary of the Afghanistan withdrawal announcement by the Soviet Union

Screengrab: That Movie You Just Got To Watch on Tv This Week…

This week’s film on the box is a Caine classic, says Richard Lutz

Obama: Droning On

The US will cut back on drone attacks. But innocent victims still are under fire, says Richard Lutz

The future’s not looking so good

Some people are just so off-message. Laurence Inman is one of those people.

Not with a whimper…

Terry Wills is still trying to get over Sunday at the Hawthorns.

Northern soul

Dave Woodhall sees Villa sign off 2012-13 with less than a bang.

The season now ending

Terry Wills is not a happy Baggie, even if he is about to see history being made.

There’s only one…..

Dave Woodhall pays tribute to a very special footballer

One step closer to home

Dave Woodhall refuses to bite his nails on the penultimate weekend of Villa’s season.

Confessions of a Middle Class Woman

Sheilagh Matheson on the secret stashes we all keep….

Wigan peers

The football season’s coming to an end and, at the Hawthorns, Terry Wills is starting to think it can’t come too soon.

Overground and Underwhelmed

Stage 1 of the £598m New Street Station redevelopment opened last week. The Birmingham press were impressed, the Birmingham Press wasn’t. Steve Beauchampé reports.