Arena Birmingham, seen from the Library of Birmingham

Awards and Honours

Mercury Prize winner to be named on Thursday

Paul McCartney, Olivia Dean, Raye and Florence + The Machine are among the nominees for the album award in Newcastle.

Monday 19 October 2026 Source: Euronews

Council and Politics

Council and Politics

Council digs ditches to keep unauthorised camps off parks

Trenches have appeared at Daisy Farm Park, Manningford Road and Chinn Brook after a summer of encampments across the city.

19 October 2026

Council and Politics

Council raises £5.6 million from property auctions this year

A former special school near Redditch fetched £1.2m, and more sales are lined up for 22 October and 9 December.

18 October 2026

Shard End faces by-election after councillor quits over racist remarks

17 Oct 2026
Reform councillor sent package he feared contained asbestos

16 Oct 2026
Bin strike deal is waiting on the auditors, says council leader

15 Oct 2026

Crime and Safety

The canal bridge beside Winson Green prison

Crime and Safety

Man charged after imitation gun seized at Soho burglary

Leon Gordon, 45, is due before magistrates today after police were called to City Road early on Saturday.

19 October 2026

Crime and Safety

Villa fan stabbed 18 times after Europa League parade

Bobby Edmundson, 52, has been jailed for four and a half years for the attack in a Selly Oak street.

18 October 2026

Police hunt man after homophobic abuse on number 45 bus

17 Oct 2026
Beggars Bush landlady describes fight to save stabbing victim

16 Oct 2026
Yardley man charged with preparing acts of terrorism

15 Oct 2026

Transport

Transport

Boy, 16, dies after car hits railings on Shaftmoor Lane

Another teenager was seriously hurt, and a 19-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

19 October 2026

The Sentinel Spitfire sculpture at Castle Vale

Transport

The Birmingham roads where speed camera vans catch the most drivers

Fort Parkway near Spitfire Island topped the list for the first half of 2026, with 774 offences recorded.

18 October 2026

20mph to become the standard on residential streets, says transport plan

17 Oct 2026
Two young men seriously hurt as car hits tree in Kingstanding

16 Oct 2026
Tram work starts on the HS2 site for the final link to Digbeth

15 Oct 2026

Business

Business

Birmingham manufacturer Brandauer wins grant to make electric motor parts

The £199,500 award will help the precision stamping firm improve how it makes the magnetic cores of electric motors.

19 October 2026

Perrott's Folly and the Edgbaston waterworks tower

Business

The UK's first TGI Fridays, on Hagley Road, falls into decay

The restaurant that opened in 1986 closed two years ago, and the building is now covered in graffiti and boards.

18 October 2026

One Centenary Way repaint will run into 2027, says Paradise

17 Oct 2026
Birmingham Airport has its busiest September, and Jet2 extends Tunisia flights

16 Oct 2026
Deloitte opens its new Midlands headquarters at Paradise

15 Oct 2026

Health

Health

Joleon Lescott backs £1.5m appeal for Children's Hospital burns centre

The former England defender, treated at the hospital as a boy, gave £11,500 to the appeal to modernise the Burns Centre.

19 October 2026

Health

North Birmingham dementia pilot cuts waits from 31 weeks to 11

Memory Matters brings dementia nurses into 17 GP practices, and its leaders have welcomed the Prime Minister's pledge on a cure.

18 October 2026

Norovirus above average, and flu season may start early

17 Oct 2026
Hospital trusts and police launch Operation Cavell against attacks on staff

16 Oct 2026
£2m of fake weight-loss pens seized from Nechells warehouse

15 Oct 2026

Education

More school streets planned to keep cars away from school gates

The council's transport plan would close roads outside more schools to traffic at drop-off and pick-up times.

19 October 2026

The Aston Webb building at the University of Birmingham

Education

University of Birmingham "meal deal society" goes viral

More than 60 students turned up at a Selly Oak Tesco Express for the first meet-up, filmed for a TikTok seen a million times.

18 October 2026

Bournville School has the highest unauthorised absence rate in the city

17 Oct 2026
Heritage Academy in Highgate among 12 schools with perfect GCSE results

16 Oct 2026
University of Birmingham launches joint degrees with University of Lagos

15 Oct 2026

Housing and Property

Exempt housing linked to more than a third of homicides, police say

56 of 151 murders in two years were connected to exempt accommodation or shared houses, as a BBC Panorama investigation airs tonight.

19 October 2026

Housing and Property

Landlord fined over missing fire alarms at Solihull Heights flats

Avamore Ltd left one of three blocks on the Coventry Road without the required alarm system for six months beyond the deadline.

18 October 2026

Ladywood police station to make way for 137 flats

17 Oct 2026
Council to investigate landlord offering PS5s to homeless tenants

16 Oct 2026
Regulator orders exempt housing landlord Concept to plan for wind-down

15 Oct 2026

Environment

Stop, move, check: how to keep hedgehogs safe this bonfire season

A bonfire pile looks like a ready-made nest to a hedgehog looking for somewhere to hibernate, the charity warns.

19 October 2026

Environment

Draught-proofing: how to keep heat in as the nights get colder

Sealing gaps around doors, windows and floors is one of the cheapest ways to cut heating bills, but some vents must never be blocked.

18 October 2026

Rubbish piles up in Selly Oak streets months after last collection

17 Oct 2026
Drought worsens across England despite a wetter week

16 Oct 2026
Bulky waste collections could return as part of bin shake-up

15 Oct 2026

Sport

Aston Hall, one of the city's heritage sites

Sport

Mings says Villa's new-look squad feels "oxygenated"

The defender says the summer overhaul has brought freshness, and the group is starting to come together after two big wins.

19 October 2026

Sport

Manzambi header wins it for Villa at Newcastle

The 21-year-old, who chose Villa over Newcastle in the summer, scored the only goal at St James' Park.

18 October 2026

Millar double sends Blues past QPR and into the promotion race

17 Oct 2026
Davies wants Blues to stay in the top four

16 Oct 2026
Jackson puts the team first after Villa's record night

15 Oct 2026

Arts and Culture

A sign for Thinktank at Millennium Point

Arts and Culture

Cine-Excess horror festival returns to Birmingham this week

The cult cinema festival runs from 19 to 24 October, with awards for Wrong Turn director Rob Schmidt and The Hills Have Eyes stars.

19 October 2026

Arts and Culture

Tony Iommi recalls his last call with Ozzy Osbourne

The Black Sabbath guitarist told Ozzy to get some rest the day before he died, weeks after their farewell show at Villa Park.

18 October 2026

Judi Dench joins 100 Archers cast members urging BBC to stay in Birmingham

17 Oct 2026
First look at The Cadburys, filmed in Birmingham

16 Oct 2026
BBC boss says The Archers is "going nowhere" as anger grows

15 Oct 2026

Community

Centenary Square seen from the Library of Birmingham

Community

More people leave Birmingham for elsewhere in the UK than arrive

The city lost almost 20,000 people to other parts of the UK in the year to mid-2025, while Rugby grew faster than anywhere in England.

19 October 2026

Cathedral Square and St Philip's Cathedral from above

Community

Children to put their parents on trial for witchcraft at the Lock-Up

The police museum on Steelhouse Lane is running Halloween courtroom sessions from 28 to 30 October.

18 October 2026

Polar Express train ride returns to Moor Street

17 Oct 2026
St Paul's Church in the Jewellery Quarter gets £944,000 to save its roof

16 Oct 2026
Cadbury World unveils a giant chocolate pumpkin

15 Oct 2026

Weather

Victoria Square and Chamberlain Square in the rain

Weather

First named storm of the autumn possible later this week

A strengthening jet stream could steer a deep low across southern Britain on Friday, bringing heavy rain and gales.

19 October 2026

Weather

Wetter and windier weather likely into November

BBC Weather's monthly outlook says Atlantic systems should bring rain and wind later this week, with a mild, unsettled mid-November most likely.

18 October 2026

Why has the UK not had a named storm yet?

17 Oct 2026
Dry weekend ahead, with a chilly night and frost in places

16 Oct 2026
Severe drought declared in parts of southern England

15 Oct 2026

Technology

Technology

Disney to take on most of bankrupt Character.AI's staff

The entertainment giant will offer jobs to at least 60 employees of the chatbot company, which filed for bankruptcy last week.

19 October 2026

Technology

Microsoft pulls out of UK's flagship AI datacentre in Essex

Nscale's Loughton project loses its anchor tenant after the grid operator said it could not supply enough power until the 2030s.

18 October 2026

Many NHS trusts turn down Palantir data platform

17 Oct 2026
Musk unveils Tesla Roadster he calls the world's first flying car

16 Oct 2026
Online adverts used to plant "zero-click" spyware, researchers say

15 Oct 2026

Science

Science

Orionid meteor shower peaks this week

Fragments of Halley's comet will streak across the sky, with the best views after the Moon sets in the early hours of 22 October.

19 October 2026

Science

Japan's ancient supervolcano brought both collapse and growth

A study of the Kikai-Akahoya eruption 7,300 years ago finds some communities shrank, while others grew as survivors moved.

18 October 2026

Roman space telescope performing almost 30% better than expected

17 Oct 2026
Arctic sea ice ties for tenth-lowest summer minimum

16 Oct 2026
Cancer rates rising faster in under-50s in England, study finds

15 Oct 2026

Economy

Economy

Profit warnings hit a two-year high as war drives up costs

UK-listed firms issued 65 in three months, and housebuilders have already issued more this year than in 2008.

19 October 2026

The United Nations headquarters in New York

Economy

Drone attacks make the Black Sea the deadliest sea for shipping

Six ships were hit in ten days, insurance costs have soared, and fears are growing for grain exports.

18 October 2026

Bank of England governor walks out as Russian minister speaks

17 Oct 2026
IMF tells Healey to target pensions and welfare, not banks

16 Oct 2026
UK economy unexpectedly grows in August

15 Oct 2026

National

Up to 20 maternity units in England may have to close, NHS leader warns

Matthew Hopkins says centralising births is "inevitable" because of doctor shortages and rising caesarean rates, but midwives disagree.

19 October 2026

Heartlands Hospital and the Heartlands Treatment Centre

National

NHS staff who snooped on tiger victim's records should be sacked, says Cooper

Two ambulance staff are under investigation, and 15 Nottingham hospital staff have been dismissed over the Calocane victims' records.

18 October 2026

Plaque honouring African-Caribbean prisoners stolen days after unveiling

17 Oct 2026
Violent pornography showing strangulation to be banned from 6 November

16 Oct 2026
Former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson jailed for 15 years

15 Oct 2026

World

Alberta votes on whether to stay in Canada

Voters are asked whether the oil-rich province should remain, or hold a second, binding vote on independence.

19 October 2026

World

Macron condemns "unbridled violence" after 2,400 arrests across France

Town halls were stormed and burned and more than 1,500 shops looted, as peaceful protests over schools were overtaken by riots.

18 October 2026

Hurricane Trudy strengthens as it nears Mexico's Pacific coast

17 Oct 2026
Trump calls Ukraine's refinery strikes "a disgrace" as Europe rallies behind Kyiv

16 Oct 2026
School roof collapse in Peshawar kills 34 children and a teacher

15 Oct 2026

Awards and Honours