King Adora- April-The Hare and Hounds
Despite what has been a slightly unsettling six year gap in their career, as King Adora takes the stage it becomes quite apparent that not that much has chnaged. The androgynous six foot diseased corpse of Maxi is still instantly recognizable and more so is his outrageously slutty scream and ‘look at me I’m a fucked up tortured soul’ demeanor. After launching into ‘The Law’ from their debut album ‘Vibrate You’ the audience were given an instant reminder of why they loved the trashy transsexual hermaphroditic glam rock in the first place.
The band manage to recapture how intense songs like ‘Bionic’ sounded first time round whilst still giving the audience something new to get excited about. This combination of nostalgia mixed with anticipation for the future sets King Adora apart from other bands that have made similar come backs. Despite the gig being somewhat more laborious compared to the somewhat brief and unpredictable action packed performances of their past, King Adora still manage to evoke darkness and despair with a sense of humor unmatched by any other band in the UK music scene at the moment.
Birmingham Shopping Guide
When it comes to finding seeking out the best places to shop in big cities, word of mouth is usually your most reliable source, so if you have just arrived in Birmingham, I am going to make your life a lot easier by telling you what would probably take you a year to discover. Birmingham is not lacking in good shops, however they are scattered all over the city and therefore there is a common misconception that there is no life outside the Bullring. There is! And here’s where you can find it:
COW Vintage, Digbeth: Grunge clobber from the 90s, paisley dresses form the 60s or spandex from the 80s- you are in for a treat and whichever fashion era is currently floating your boat you are bound to leave this shop satisfied. But give yourself at least an hour to find your way in and back out again. Birmingham’s biggest and most notorious fashion warehouse also has sister a warehouse in both Leeds Nottingham and Manchester and its enormity above anything else is what makes it so great for vintage clobber. Brilliant for vintage and retro fashion of any sort the warehouse is packed full of vintage dresses, belts and one off hand-made pieces. This place is a reliable haven for vintage fashion lovers all year round with wonderfully cheap boots, Barbour jackets and knitwear for the winter and mountains of jumpsuits, t-shirts and leggings for you to rifle through in the summer. Deliveries tend to be on a Tuesday so get down there at the beginning of the week to get the good stuff first. Unlike most vintage shops Cow has an exchange policy so keep your receipt in case you change your mind! COW is open 10-6pm Monday to Saturday and 11-5pm Sunday.
Yo Yo, 7 Ethel Street, Birmingham City Centre: Probably one of Birmingham’s longest running Vintage Shops. Small but crammed full with handbags shoes scarves and kitschy accessories it is a great place to secretly spice up an outfit you’ve bought from a high street store. Worth checking regularly for good steals because although it is small the stock is rare and dates back to the sixties. Yo Yo is open Monday to Saturday 10-6pm and Sundays 12-4pm, but don’t swear by this as they don’t.
Topshop, The Bullring: Topshop is proof that you can get high fashion clothes on the street, and that is why although an obvious choice it belongs on this list. It is the other flagship store in the UK therefore stocks all the collections the Oxford Circus Flagship stocks, on a smaller scale but still a blessing. Rare, Boutique and Unique are all on the second floor and with your 10% student discount this shop is an asset to Birmingham’s City Centre. Bullring opening times apply.
Urban Village, The Custard Factory: This is the best vintage clothing shop in the West Midlands. Urban Village hasn’t starting charging designer prices for vintage clothes like a lot of other outlets in the uk and the prices are beyond reasonable. This is vintage of the finest quality with absolutely no mass produced t shirts or rubbish and really helpful staff and clothes for both men and women. This is so good I almost didn’t share it with you. Open from
Vintage Fare, The Hare and Hounds: This only happens once a month but is well worth a visit as it’s a collection of all the vintage shops and wholesalers in the area who each have separate stalls. You can haggle with them as well which you can’t necessarily do in the shops. The vintage fare fills up most of the downstairs of the pub so you can have a drink whilst you peruse your way through rails and rails of vintage pieces at your leisure. No fitting rooms of course so serious shoppers will just have to make do with the toilets!
Atoo: If you are a young man who likes to spend a bit of money on his appearance then Atoo is money well spent. Although a bit too trendy for its own good, when it comes to men’s shops in Birmingham Atoo is its best kept secret with exclusive ranges from
Candy Store, The Burlington Arcade: Notorious for having customers such as Rihanna and Nelly this boutique is for serious skate and urban wear.
Eco Schools
Today is Britain’s first ever ‘Green Day’ which over 30,000 pupils across the country will be taking part in! Green Day gives pupils the chance to discuss environmental issues and put into practice making their school more sustainable.
Pupils are encouraged to wear a green item of clothing to school and to walk or cycle from their houses! Maths lessons will be used to calculate the students’ carbon footprint and in geography they will attempt to design a sustainable city.
‘‘The response from schools to the Green day project has been extraordinary. There is clearly a huge appetite for practical ideas which help young people make the connections between climate change and the buildings and places around us.” (Matt Bell, CABE’s Director of education.)
Schools in Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and Nottingham are taking part in Green Day in association with CABE and more than thirty schools alone in Birmingham will be taking part.
More news regarding eco-schools is that by 2020 the Government wants every single school in the UK to be a sustainable school. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) launched their Sustainable Schools Framework in 2006, the Secretary of State for Education, MP Alan Johnson set out challenging and long-term aspirations for schools to learn about sustainable development and practices into everyday school life.
Eco-Schools is an international programme that teaches schools how to be eco-friendly by providing a framework to help introduce these principles and ideas into school life. Eco-Schools is one of five environmental education programmes run internationally. It is now really easy for different schools to communicate with each other worldwide or alternatively find instructions on how to register your school. The programme is free and deals with all schools, primary, secondary, nursery orother more specific schools.
Below is a link to a map demonstrating how eco-friendly different primary schools across Birmingham are:
London needs help getting greener!
Residents of Birmingham will be pleased to know that despite being renowned for many things we might not be so proud of, ‘brummies’ are not so bad at recycling!
Surely our capital city should be setting a good example, but in fact recycling rates in London are among the lowest in the UK. Whilst the city’s appetite for cycling appears to be on the increase apparently there is a serious lack of recycling bins in the residential areas of London and the provision of recycling bins for mixed plastics is particularly poor.
“While Londoners’ facilities for recycling at home have improved greatly over recent years, it can be a real headache finding decent recycling facilities when you’re out and about – whether on the Tube, out shopping or at a football match.” (Darren Johnson, deputy chair of the London Assembly environment committee)
“London is a very fast-paced city, and I think people would welcome being able to recycle ‘on the go’.” (The Mayor)
The report, published by the London Assembly’s environment committee, says that if all of London’s plastic currently sent to landfill and incinerated was recycled, it would save around 1.2million tonnes of CO2 per year which would amount to £44 million pounds on cost!
So recycling “On the go” is perhaps something all fast-paced cities can do to prevent people’s fast-paced lifestyle getting the better of their greener side.
“People will soon find it easier to recycle when they’re out and about. ‘Recycle on the Go’ is a new drive to put accessible recycling bins in public places, developed by Defra, Recycle Now and Encams (Keep Britain Tidy).It’s already started, with The Royal Parks rolling out a recycling bin pilot in Hyde Park over the next three months. A good practice guide and a code of practice will help those responsible for public places to make recycling easy and accessible.” (Joan Ruddock, Waste and Recycling Minister Defra UK)
Ecological Recruitment
Ever though about getting a ‘green’ job? There are lots of jobs that people might not consider a career path that can be found in the business of recycling. In fact, with Britain’s current economic climate getting paid to save your environment seems like a good and life enriching option.
“Green jobs represent mankind’s best chance to escape the need to burn fossil fuels to power ourselves with electricity.” (Donald Pennington AC Associated Content)
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1748776/green_jobs_will_they_solve_work_search.html?cat=3
So how do you go about finding a green job? One way to become more familiar with green jobs in your area is to get involved with the green way of life! Attend local environmental social events so you meet more green people! There are loads of environmental events in Birmingham such as ‘Birmingham Friends of the Earth’ who meet monthly at The Rainbow Warehouse Digbeth. The website has details on how you can get involved and become part of this association.
http://www.birminghamfoe.org.uk/the-news/Get-Involved/index.php
The green job market has been described as “swelling amid the recession.” (Michael Szabo Reuters UK).There are said to be jobs in renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainability and social responsibility sectors.
“The green job market has proven resilient despite the recession and we have seen a steady increase in jobs being created.” (Andy Cartland, Managing Director at Acre)
Go Veggie for the day
Ghent, Belgium’s second largest municipality has announced a weekly ‘veggie day’ where residents of Ghent will banish meat from their diets for one day every week in an effort to reduce the city’s carbon emissions.
Even Council officials will be served vegetarian meals one day every week and are encouraging the rest of the town and its visitors to do the same. Plans to introduce the weekly veggie day into the city’s schools are currently being discussed.
Producing meat has a far greater environmental impact than growing the equivalent amount of vegetarian foodstuffs, both in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption. The town has stated that this is just one of the many ways they plan to reduce carbon emissions, and it is thought that this is the first town in Europe to take such a step!
If our love of meat may be increasing our carbon emissions then maybe its time Birmingham took a step to get veggie!
If you are more carnivorous than you would like to admit then take it one step at a time and go to the next Birmingham Vegetarian and Vegan Society and learn more about why becoming a vegetarian could be good for you and your environment. Meetings cost two pounds to attend and are every week at The Church Centre, Carrs Lane opposite Moor Street Station. Anyone can attend and the next meeting takes place on Tuesday 26th May.
Another way to have a few more healthy and environmentally friendly days is to try some of Birmingham’s great vegetarian restaurants.
The Warehouse Café, Digbeth and Manic Organic Café, Kings Heath both are both vegetarian restaurants with creative healthy and organic dishes. If you love curry Jyoti on the Startford Road is a great vegetarian curry house!
“It is really nice to see such an authentic operation happening in the middle of nowhere in Birmingham. You should check it out for a wicked curry.” (Jamie Oliver)
Eco-town protestors
Campaigners against the Warwickshire eco-town will be heading to court for the second time. BARD- Better Accessible Responsible Development Campaign-are opposing the prospect of a development in middle Quinton.
The new home development will contain 6000 homes as part of the Government’s pledge to increase UK housing, but some people believe the location is not appropriate.
“The information provided by the Government on eco-towns has been confused, flawed and inadequate, thereby making it impossible for ordinary members of the public to engage in serious consultation. It is regrettable that we now rely on the court appeal for us to be given an opportunity to consult on the principle and criteria for new environmentally friendly affordable settlements.”
(David Bliss –Head of BARD)
Campaigners claim the eco-town consultation process is flawed due to its complete lack of communication with residents. The Department for Communities and Local Government have now extended the consultation period and residents and objectors have until the end of April to respond if they wish.
There are eleven potential schemes in total including the development in Quinton.
http://bit.ly/pbSNO for consultation on proposal.
Do local communities have enough say in what goes on? And to what extent does the Government actually consult them?
Beavers with benefits
Environmentalists are introducing beavers back into our environment! I personally had not noticed they had gone but i’m glad they are back!
Four beaver families all the way from Norway have been captured and will now be in quarantine for six months due to the positive effect they have on our environment. This project is part of the native mammal reintroduction and the project is being run by the Scottish Wildlife Trust and Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. (RZSS)
Each little beaver family consists of a male, a female and anything up to three yearlings.
Project manager for the Scottish Beaver Trial Simon Jones said:
The Metro needs a new editor.
I do not know if anyone else happened to see the new story in Birmingham’s metro on monday “Will anyone sleep with my Down’s son?” What a lovely headline. Or is it a question? How nice to basically pimp out your own son to every metro reader in the West Midlands. Disturbing.
In this particular issue of the metro the editor also dedicated one miniscule paragraph to the most dangerous paedophile and monster yet known to man Josef Fritzl maybe walking free in 6 years. An entire page was then dedicated to how drunk Lindsay Lohan has been getting lately. The picture of Lindsay Lohan on the front of the metro took up nearly the whole page, whereas Gordon Brown’s picture was but a mere passport picture hidden in the top corner of the page.
It is reassuring to know how in touch the metro is with what is newsworthy!
Charity shopping gets even better..
Recycling clothes is a great way of helping your environment that people often forget about. Some of your local charity bins will even accept clothing and textiles and home recycling bins provided by your local council can be used for textiles too.
However a more rewarding way of recycling your clothes is taking them to your local charity shop. Charity shops are on every street corner in Birmingham so instead of throwing your old threads away donate them to a charity. This way not only will you be giving to charity but you will be helping your environment.
Oxfam in particular is a great charity shop for recycling because clothes that are not wearable or do not sell get sent to Oxfam’s Wastesaver, a textile recycling plant based in Huddersfield. It is really important to recycle in every aspect of our lives that we can, and textiles is often a part of the recycling industry that gets forgotten.
“It is estimated that more than 1 million tonnes of textiles are thrown away every year, with most of this coming from household sources.” (www.wasteonline.org.uk)
Textile recovery helps our environment on so many levels, reducing the need for landfill and reduces global warming through the decomposition of woollen garments in particular. This all results in less pollution because we save energy on not importing goods from abroad.
Oxfam and The Salvation Army in particular sort collected material and then sell it onto merchants. The Salvation Army, Scope, and Oxfam also use a bank scheme alongside with other methods. The Salvation Army is the largest operator of textile banks in the UK, including a door to door service and there are now over 2000 banks. An impressive 70% of items put into clothing banks are reused as clothes. The majority of the UK population is already involved in charity shopping because it is such an effective method of recycling. But if you are yet to jump on the bandwagon here are some tips of where to find some in Birmingham.
Oxfam
St Mary’s Row, Moseley
110 Kings Heath High Street
880 Bristol Road South, Northfield
86 High Street, Harborne
The Salvation Army
496 Stratford Road, Hall Green
9 New Street, Erdington
72 Shadwell Street, Birmingham
24 St Chads Queensway
