Birmingham Post

Matters could have been far worse for the coalition had it not been for some pretty desperate arm-twisting and some swift re-writing.
Even so, the clause finally agreed was so wide-ranging that it could, in theory, give Whitby the right to take precedence over the Lord Mayor at almost any event.
The original amendment to the constitution was to note that the Lord Mayor must not be seen to be taking a lead or civic role in matters that are in the "lawful domain" of the leader of the council.
That was changed to matters that are in the "interest" of the leader of the council.
It could be argued that far from being watered down the clause was actually strengthened since it would be easier to argue that something was in the interest of the council leader than in his lawful domain.
Anyway, the dimmer councillors on the coalition benches seemed to be happy with this and duly voted in favour.
Whitby's people, meanwhile, mounted a damage limitation exercise that proceeded, shamefully, to put the blame for the entire episode on council chief legal officer Mirza Ahmad.
It was all a load of legal-speak and Mirza being officious, apparently.
As Sutton Coldfield Tory David Roy, himself a former Lord Mayor, put it: "The chief legal officer over-egged it a bit."
Whitby's spinners were also keen to point out that Birmingham has had some pretty dreadful mayors in the past who found it difficult to put two words together.
In future a verbally-challenged mayor would have to make way for Whitby, the great communicator, to meet and greet important foreign visitors.
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In this world of constant change it is good to see that a proud Birmingham tradition remains intact.
The election of new Lord Mayor Randal Brew earlier this week and the subsequent civic banquet gave VIP guests their annual opportunity to walk off with the elaborate and costly flower displays decorating the Council House.
A blind eye is always turned to what might normally be described as theft, because the flowers would only otherwise be thrown away.
It would be too much effort, I suppose, for the council to distribute the blooms to deserving old folk, to day centres or to children's homes.
My man skulking behind the dahlias described the rape of the flowers as an extraordinary site.
"People were just grabbing displays and walking off with them.
"One person even turned up at an after-banquet party clutching a load of flowers under his arm.
"You'd think they'd never been invited to a freebie before in their lives."
Let's hope the help-yourself mentality didn't extend to the silver cutlery and the gold-embossed plates with the civic crest.
Might be a good idea to count the spoons and for trading standards to keep an eye on the car boot sales.