Birmingham is also voting today. It's the biggest local authority in Europe, with 750k potential voters and a budget of £3bn. 
Brummie leader Mike Whitby is proud to champion the new-look city centre - and recently did well to secure funding for a revamp of New Street Station. The city has had a bad reputation for years - or so I thought, til I saw this - a long-forgotten promo film, "Telly Savalas looks at Birmingham" from 1979. It's priceless.
Kojak thought Birmingham was "a really great metropolis" back then, and loved its "modern rail terminal". He enthused about the breath-taking views: "You feel as if you've been projected into the 21st century...Yes, it's my kinda town."
Apparently, Telly spent hours in the 150-year-old botanical gardens, visited the motorway control unit, and checked out the Over-40s Disco Competition - "incredible". Mrs Taylor's moves are particularly good. He even loved the "intense traffic pounding along the elevated ring road" and "sophisticated shopping centre".
V funny. I wonder how many believed the hype back then, and what today's powerpoints will look like in 30 years' time...
Back to today's election...there are 40 wards in the city, each with 3 councillors. The current balance of power is: Conservatives (43), Labour (42), LibDem (32), Respect (2), Independent (1). One councillor per ward is up for election this year. No single party has overall control - the city has been run by a Tory-LibDem coalition since Labour were booted out in 2004. Looks like Mike will stay on as leader.
My friends moved from London to Birmingham a few years ago and they love it. Think it's improved a lot but is still not 'my kinda town'. I think people's attitudes towards where they live is often driven by how well their local footie team is doing. West Brom have just been promoted. If Birmingham stay up, that'll mean 3 West Midlands teams in the world's most prestigious footie league. Very impressive. Wait until Milton Keanes get a decent team. Then attitudes will change. I also reckon there's a correlation between the rise in gun crime and burglary in Nottingham and the decline of Notts Forest and Notts County. That's my theory anyway.
Posted by: Tony Franco | May 02, 2008 at 07:18 AM
See some of the footage here: www.bbc.co.uk//radio4/arts/tellysavalas.shtml
Posted by: Duncan | May 02, 2008 at 10:33 AM
I know what you mean, Tony (sort of). Not sure about the link between gun crime and Nottingham Forest, but Blackburn got a bit of a bounce in the 90s when Rovers started doing well. And Hull might feel better about itself if Hull City get into the Premier League this time.
Posted by: Dermot | May 02, 2008 at 10:46 AM