Blog posts

Farmers are glad to possibly get rid of the Common Agricultural Policy, but Brexit enthusiasm stops here

Sir Peter Kendall was speaking at a Stratford4Europe event held in Stratford-upon-Avon on British agriculture and Brexit on January 10. The farmer and former officeholder has been talking about what the decision means for the industry, but also about the driver in the Brexit car.

A few days later, I also interviewed Mrs Alex De Ruyter and David Hearne, both economists at the Centre for Brexit Studies at Birmingham City University to dig a bit more into the topic. 

Continue reading Farmers are glad to possibly get rid of the Common Agricultural Policy, but Brexit enthusiasm stops here

#FightingForAir: the BBC2 documentary experimenting with easy ways of reducing street-level air pollution by 10-30%

On last Wednesday (January 10th), the BBC2 channel aired Fighting For Air. It is about an experiment carried out in Kings Heath, Birmingham to reduce air pollution on our sidewalks along busy streets.

The Birmingham City Council reacted positively to the programme, but viewers online were not satisfied with the council’s current efforts in tackling the issue.

See the story here, with reactions from the City Council itself, Sustrans and Urban Cycles ➡️ http://birminghameastside.com/2018/01/11/fighting-air-pollution/

In the UK, data journalism and investigations are getting more local

I was fortunate enough to attend Data Journalism UK 2017, the event’s second edition. The conference was held at the BBC in Birmingham.

Among other things, a significant insight was that data and investigative journalism are now much more interested in local stories than ever before. Typically, ground-breaking investigations and data stories are developed with the national or regional picture in mind.

But recent initiatives like the BBC’s Local News Partnerships, the Bureau Local and Urbs Media are set to broaden investigations and data scrutiny to local governments and organisations.

See how by reading this article ➡️ https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/in-the-uk-data-journalism-and-investigations-are-getting-more-local-than-ever/s2/a714339/