2011 has, of course, been a year of huge changes – from my turning 21 to moving to Britain’s Second City. It has also seen this website re-launched with a new name, layout and web host.

Unfortunately, with the webhost move, I have lost the web statistics from January to August, and since September the statistics have been sporadic with teething problems on Google‘s Analytics, and the new server’s own reporting software taking several months to update. Therefore, I can offer no accurate visitor statistics, and nor can I present (as I did last year) the most popular stories of 2011. Instead, I will review 2011 by those stories I found most interesting.

January

Liberal Democrat Councillor Cathy Sutton was forced to deny abusing her position to find favourable accommodation after a complaint made by former colleague Councillor Andy Stamp. Cllr Sutton was eventually exonerated in July – despite already having lost her council seat to one of Cllr Stamp’s Independent running mates.

Meanwhile… Rochester & Strood MP Mark Reckless claimed Southeastern were “unfit for purpose” and should be stripped of their rail franchise.

Quote of the Month: ”I can certainly understand the difficulty in resolving your inquiries whenever the advisers you have been speaking to are having problems understanding you.” – from a letter sent by BT to a Birmingham woman who had complained that she was unable to understand their Indian call centre staff.

February

Taxpayer-owned bank NatWest made life difficult for hundreds of students after deciding to pull a crucial College of Law loan at the last minute. The decision swung the ladder of opportunity of entering the legal profession away from students (like myself) and made a mockery of their “helpful banking” pledges.

Meanwhile… Public Sector union Unison were busy opposing the Council Tax freeze designed to help families during difficult economic times.

Quote of the Month: ”George Osborne’s council tax pledge is a con.” – Yvette Cooper, then Labour’s Chief Secretary to the Treasury said when the Council Tax freeze was first proposed. In February, Labour in Medway tried to claim credit for the freeze.

March

Concerns raised by businesses in Fairview Avenue about a new pedestrian crossing seemed to have been vindicated after an early morning accident in the proximity. I had previously aired their concerns here during the planning stages after business owners expressed grave concerns over road safety if the crossing was installed.

Meanwhile… I launched a new personal website to collate my personal biography, letters and press releases separate from this blog.

Quote of the Month: ”In a secret hearing this week Fred Goodwin has obtained a super-injunction preventing him being identified as a banker.” – Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming allowed the nation’s media to report on Fred Goodwin’s wrongdoings after breaking a super-injunction in the House of Commons.

April

#Medway2011 received praise from most readers for daring to predict the results of the local elections – even if those predictions were not in the Conservatives’ favour. In fact, the only criticism came from a Labour blogger trying to make political capital out of “writing off your own colleague”.

Meanwhile… Medway MPs Mark Reckless and Tracey Crouch welcomed investment in Chatham Town Centre as they officially opened a newly refurbished branch of Barclays.

Quote of the Month: ”We are not happy to accept the allowance during the first year while everybody else in the community is suffering from rocketing fuel, VAT and food bills.” – Independent candidate Dan McDonald on an election leaflet in Gillingham North, promising to waive the members’ allowance for the first year.

May

NatWest, everybody’s favourite taxpayer-owned bank, were at it again – this time breaking the pledge to keep branches open, even if they were the last bank in town. They put the viability of businesses on the Watling Street stretch of the A2 at risk by becoming the final bank to close it’s doors there.

Meanwhile… John Hemming again used Parliamentary Privilege to name Ryan Giggs as having a super-injunction to hide an affair.

Quote of the Month: ”The law is a farce!” – cried The Independent during the super-injunction fiasco. Hours after their heavily-redacted front page (hiding names that most people knew anyway), John Hemming named one of the subjects and the tabloids went crazy.

June

Councillor Rodney Chambers, the Leader of Medway Council, was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list after eleven years in charge. He was joined on the list by Bill Ferris, the Chief Executive of the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, who was also awarded an OBE.

Meanwhile… I received my final university results on an emotional Friday (then went and got ever-so-slightly drunk!).

Quote of the Month: ”My number one guiding principle since I started blogging in December 2006 has been supporting an open democracy. Democracy in Practice is, I believe, the most important website I have created to promote that principle.” – Me on (finally) launching Democracy in Practice.

July

The family-owned KM Group announced that it was bidding to buy several of rival Kent Regional News & Media’s newspapers, including the Medway News. Local Labour campaigners expressed concerns over the loss of competition, but I argued that the takeover may be the only way to save the paper and it’s staff…

Meanwhile… After a long campaign, a memorial was erected in Gillingham Park for the victims of the Gillingham Park Fete Tragedy.

Quote of the Month: ”The committee was only able to rule on the information provided to them by the council and the council conceded that it is normal procedure for councillors to get privileged access when dealing with their own personal issues.” – Cllr Andy Stamp claimed he was right to question his ex-colleagues over their conduct.

August

Violent rioting spread across the country, including Birmingham, copying lawlessness originally only seen in one borough of London. However, despite the selfish, thuggish behaviour and opportunism rife and the fear it spread, the man in charge of ensuring Birmingham’s children were educated correctly claimed that their actions should not have relative consequences.

Meanwhile… Past and present students of the Kent Law School at Medway started a campaign against the University of Kent’s plans to close it down.

Quote of the Month: ”The great and the good of Birmingham will meet tomorrow to discuss the riot – behind closed doors. All 120 councillors and 10 city MPs agreed to keep the public and media out of the emergency session to avoid grandstanding. Here’s another novel idea. Open up the meeting and just don’t grandstand.” – The Sunday Express Cross Bencher mocked Birmingham’s politicians.

September

Birmingham City Council faced strong criticism and anger after it effectively banned Poppy collections in Birmingham City Centre – despite it being the 90th anniversary of the Poppy Appeal. It refused licenses to the Royal British Legion to collect on certain dates, but other charities also due to collect on those dates stood aside for the Poppy Appeal.

Meanwhile… It was announced that the M6 Toll road was losing £1m per week.

Quote of the Month: ”Growing our economy has to be the number one priority for Britain, and the Government is not sitting on its hands. With initiatives like the Regional Growth Fund, putting up to £10 million into this new plant and Enterprise Zones boosting growth across the country, we’re making the UK a better place to invest and do business.” – Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg claimed whilst announcing that Jaguar Land Rover would be creating 2,000 new jobs in the West Midlands.

October

The family-owned KM Group confirmed that it was withdrawing it’s bid to buy it’s rival’s newspapers after the Office of Fair Trading referred it to the Competition Commission. The Group claimed that the cost involved was disproportionate, whilst one former Managing Director slammed the framework the OFT worked to.

Meanwhile… Rochester and Strood MP Mark Reckless married Catriona Brown in Westminster Cathedral.

Quote of the Month: ”I know that residents, particularly on the Hoo Peninsula, have been sick of hearing rumours and stories in the press, usually The Sunday Times, about a potential ‘Boris Island’ or similar and I want the record set straight for my constituents once and for all.” – Mr Reckless was still busy trying to ascertain the government’s position on a new airport in the Thames Estuary.

November

Kent Regional News & Media announced that it was closing two of the newspapers the OFT had blocked the KM Group from buying. The move meant axing potentially 34 members of staff but had to be used as the last resort after the papers lost their profitability and the OFT prevent their possible saving. The Medway News printed it’s last pages on 8 December.

Meanwhile… Labour came to within five seats of a majority of Birmingham City Council after gaining a councillor in Sparkbrook from Respect following a by-election.

Quote of the Month: ”I ask the Leader of the House for an urgent debate on the responsibilities of social media and networking sites, and on whether one should have to provide some form of identification to set up an account.” – Gillingham and Rainham MP Rehman Chishti called for stricter ID verification on social media sites in the House of Commons after a fake Twitter account was set up in his name.

December

Medway Council once again offered free parking to residents and visitors alike in all of it’s car parks in the run up to Christmas. In total, four days of free parking were provided in the busiest shopping week before Christmas to boost trade in the High Streets of Medway.

Meanwhile… This website turned five years old, and announced that the focus would be returning to Medway (along with me!).

Quote of the Month: ”I’m not making that up, we’ve seen it in there. It’s an horrific injury and it’ll be pretty sore and I’m sure his wife won’t be too happy about that tonight either!” – Gillingham Football Club Manager Andy Hessenthaler jests after winger Chris Whelpdale’s testicles were split during a nasty challenge. #whelpdalestornscrotum became a trending topic on Twitter in the UK – and a photo of it was helpfully re-tweeted by one of his team mates (WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGE ON LINK):

@talkSPORTDrive #whelpdalestornscrotum http://t.co/rKqF9dUl

Wednesday 28th December 2011 18:06 via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@spillsy17

Danny Spiller

This is just a taste of the fun and seriousness covered by Alan W Collins and Birmingham and Beyond in 2011. Will 2012 prove to be as exciting and thrilling for The View from Medway? There’s only one way to find out…

Principally, I am trying to complete a (very) belated round-up of 2011, although a combination of packing, being in Medway over the New Year and my birthday and the amount of spare time I don’t have has continued to push this down my list of priorities.

Hopefully, once the bulk of the packing has been completed and the 2011 review has been published, I will be able to restart at the very least the regular Quote of the Day feature, although regular blogging may take some time to recommence.

The next big thing, of course, is the re-branding to The View from Medway. The most obvious changes (i.e. the logo, the site name, etc.) should take place this weekend. Other, less visible changes will take more time to filter through, though they should be completed by the end of the week.

Finally, I would like to wish you all a belated Happy New Year and I look forward to providing more enlightening, informative and challenging, high-quality content when I have returned to some semblance of normality!

What started five long years ago on a whim as Alan Collins’ Political Opinions has evolved into the centrepiece of a fledgling online political collection – the well-read and well-respected Birmingham and Beyond.

It has gone through four designs, three server changes, two URL changes (though old URLs still point to the site to ensure that existing permalinks still work) and one major relaunch when Alan moved from Medway to Birmingham in August this year.

Despite the changes, though, the website has been consistent in quality and maintains a balanced check on local authorities and the coalition government whilst supporting the Conservative Party and the conservative movement.

It is now also seeking to integrate more with social media – embedding tweets in posts and creating Twitter-friendly headlines and first few words. For example, today’s Quote of the Day referenced Medway Messenger reporter Alan McGuinness, who is on Twitter as @Alan_McGuinness. The first paragraph of the post read:

“@Alan_McGuinness, writing¹ in today’s @MedwayMessenger, seems to doubt recent Medway Labour claims surrounding the new bus station in Chatham”

Note how the reporter and the newspaper are named using their Twitter usernames, with links to their profiles? This also means that when the automatic tweet is sent out to signal a new post, it appeared on Twitter thus:

Latest: Quote of the Day: 12 December 2011: @Alan_McGuinness, writing1 in today’s… http://t.co/YN4UXXPy

Monday 12th December 2011 17:34 via GoogleReplyRetweetFavorite

@BrumAndBeyond

Birmingham & Beyond

Note that once posted on Twitter, the reporter’s username is automatically turned into a mention.

There is also a Facebook page and, though incomplete, a Google+ page for Birmingham and Beyond.

But, there are bigger changes afoot. As you are probably by now aware, Alan will be moving back to Medway next month. It would therefore be inappropriate to continue the website with a Birmingham focus and title.

It is perhaps fitting, therefore, that on this website’s fifth birthday, as we look forward to a glorious future, we can announce that, on an as yet undecided date, we will be once again re-brand, as:

Both these numbers are forwarded to Alan’s mobile at no extra cost to you, but at a pre-pay credit cost to Alan. Although the call rate is nominal, the cost does add up quickly when there is a high volume of call traffic.

Following the news that Alan will be moving back to Medway, he will no longer be adding calling credit to the Birmingham number, which means that when it runs out, calls to the number will no longer be connected.

Please ensure that, if you presently use the Birmingham number to contact Alan, you instead use the Medway number: 01634 543303.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your co-operation.

And it did. Alan W Collins survived for three years with the same name, same editorial style and, for the most part, same theme. Despite a mixed three years in my personal life, this website retained a constant, consistent, brand.

That was until the biggest change of my life occurred in August. I took the biggest gamble of my life, left my two secure jobs, my family and my home to move to Birmingham. The original plan was to study the Legal Practice Course and work part-time around it but when it became clear in July that I would be unable to secure funding, I deferred my course and sought full-time employment instead.

I moved to Balsall Heath on 21 August and rebranded this website Birmingham and Beyond. I invested in a new WordPress theme and moved it from my Medway-based hosting to my primary server to present me with more options and more control. It also saved money as I was working off two paid-for servers – and the web-based server was cheaper and offered unlimited everything.

It is now 7 December. It is over four months in to my official tenancy (having started when I signed the paperwork two weeks before we moved) and I am still painfully unemployed. At the last estimate, unemployment in my area stands at around 33%, whilst youth unemployment (which I fall into) stands at over 40% – the former being three times the national average.

Despite hundreds of applications, I have received only a handful of phone interviews, fewer face-to-face interviews and not one ultimate job offer. Competition is fierce – “not enough experience” and “over-qualified” are two phrases I have heard all too frequently. To top it all, I am not in receipt of any benefits from the government and am surviving purely by the generosity of family and friends – indeed, it is costing my parents more now than it did when I was living at home.

I think, by now, you may have guessed where this is going. Obviously, my situation here in Birmingham is not sustainable.

On Friday, I returned home to Medway to visit family and friends, before coming back to Birmingham yesterday. Whilst there, I put some hours in to help both my previous employers out and that, really, sealed the deal. Everyone complains about their job from time to time, but you only really appreciate it when it is too late.

The past three months, stuck inside the same four walls doing little more than making job application after job application and acquainting myself with daytime TV have begun to drive me a little bit mad. I have recently taken to driving Nessa to university and waiting parked in a lay-by all day just for a change of scenery. But one can only count so many sheep before they, too, send you baa-rking mad (sorry).

So the decision has been made, and only the practicalities and dates remain to be organised. I have, from February, a new house to move in to and can, until then, go back to my old abode.

In short, I’m coming home to Medway!

I have already been offered one of my old jobs back and I know that the other would probably appreciate the extra help I could offer until I could get something full-time. My family and friends are, naturally, happy that I will be returning and I am looking forward to being able to return to helping out the Conservative Party in an active role.

Quite what this means for Birmingham and Beyond, though, is presently unclear. Naturally, the name will need to change – although I am reluctant to revert to Alan W Collins, so suggestions on a postcard would be helpful – but the new WordPress theme will remain. I will update you on any new plans for the website as they are formulated.

Birmingham will always hold a special place in my heart – and a return move here will not be ruled out in the mid- to long-term should it become more viable. But I realise now that now is not – and, in all honesty, never was – the right time. It is only through taking risks in life that we live and learn, and, unfortunately, this risk has not paid off. I have no regrets about any decision that I have taken so far in life and do not instead to start now. I don’t know what course my life will take next, nor what my situation will be in 12 months’ time. For now, it is enough to repeat my earlier statement with both excitement and anticipation as I prepare for yet another new (old) chapter in my life:

I am coming home to Medway!

“You can have your say on this, or any other article on Birmingham and Beyond by using the comment box below. You can also Tweet @BrumAndBeyond or visit Birmingham and Beyond on Facebook. A new page for Google+ is also currently under development.”

Well, just now, I tweeted the posted update on the Facebook page, which, in turn, updated Twitter:

Development of a new Birmingham and Beyond page on Google+ has been temporarily postponed whilst decisions about its future are being made.

Wednesday 30th November 2011 23:19 via FacebookReplyRetweetFavorite

@BrumAndBeyond

Birmingham & Beyond

Just to clarify, I am not proposing the closure the website – with living life around the house unemployed as I presently am, this is one of the few things that keep me sane. However, I do need to make some big decisions about various aspects of my life as I cannot survive being unemployed forever, and this website will be involved somehow in whatever the result is.

I cannot say any more than that at the moment, and of course my friends and family will need to be told first, but I promise I will update you fully as soon as I can.

In the mean time, you can expect the usual high-quality news and opinion to continue indefinitely!

Under the previous title Alan W Collins, this website was voted number 15 in the Conservative blogs, a huge increase from number 53 last year.

It also made the Top 300 UK Political Blogs for the first time, at number 262.

Birmingham and Beyond‘s Founding Editor Alan W Collins was also successful in the new categories recognising individual bloggers.

He made the Top 300 UK Political Bloggers, at number 266, the Top 50 Right-Wing Political Bloggers, at number 40, and the Top 50 Conservative Bloggers, at number 22.

Responding to the vote, Alan said “obviously I am thrilled that so many people, without prompting, voted for me and my website this year and would like to whole-heartedly thank all those of you who did.

“I have never shied away from controversy, and have always campaigned for issues which I believe in. I see this vote as an endorsement of both myself as a blogger and this website as a blog.

“However, there is still much work to do and, having now settled in after The Big Move, am prepared to put in the time and effort necessary to make this website even better.

“The relaunch as Birmingham and Beyond opens an exciting new chapter for this website, and I look forward to sharing the best and the worst of Birmingham, Medway and UK politics with you in future.”

Featuring a brand-new theme and enhanced social media interaction, Birmingham and Beyond carries the high-quality articles you loved from Alan W Collins to a new era.

You will already have seen the new theme in action over the past couple of days, but this official relaunch has allowed me to prepare the new incarnation in its entirety.

The primary domain name has now been changed to birminghamandbeyond.co.uk. However, all existing permalinks to alanwcollins.co.uk should still work.

On the right-hand side, you will see an improved sidebar, featuring new ways to share articles you like, more social media options from Birmingham and Beyond and Alan W Collins and a photo slideshow from recent posts.

The Facebook page has been updated, and a new Twitter profile has been set up, both of which will host exclusive content over the coming days, weeks, months and (I hope) years.

So why not take a look around the new Birmingham and Beyond and give any feedback to the design in the comments section below!

The new name, logo and design are all clearly displayed now, but there are a few changes that still need to be made before the relaunch can take place – along with a few tweaks to the new design structure.

I will continue to update this post until the website is ready for relaunch.

I had previously indicated that this website would get a fresh new look, but, to clarify, it will be reinvented, and begin life afresh as Birmingham and Beyond.

More details will be available soon, but here is a brief overview:

• Alan W Collins will be re-launched as Birmingham and Beyond;
• Birmingham and Beyond will feature a brand new design, whilst retaining the existing quality of content; and
• To preserve permalinks, the primary website address will remain alanwcollins.co.uk, though new domain names will be registered as well.

This is an exciting time for both myself and the blog, so why not keep checking back, or, better still, subscribe to my latest posts by e-mail, for updates.