Whoops! Home information packs have hit their first rocks, on the eve of their
becoming compulsory. You will recall that once it became clear that this
particular interference in private deals between citizens was unpopular and
would not speed up the property market, the Government adjusted its focus.
It said it would only apply to four-bedroom houses at first, and began to
put the emphasis on the energy performance certificate or EPC element,
claiming it as a vital green tool.
So The Sunday Telegraph got Jeff Howell, a chartered surveyor, to have his
own house inspected. Mr Howell had replastered it with environmentally
friendly hemp, insulated it widely and carefully, and monitors his energy
use. He called in two separate inspectors “trained” on the Government’s
programme, who both committed technical howlers, missing swaths of visible
insulation, and coming up with a low rating and an estimate of power
consumption four times higher than Mr Howell’s reality. “Box tickers, didn’t
even tick the right boxes,” he said scornfully.
One of them protested: “Our assessment is supposed to be a purely visual one,
we are not obliged to be thorough,” and the other said that the owner should
have explained what he had done (but is there always an original owner
present when a house is sold?). “I guess,” concluded this second inspector,
“any system could be more robust.” Yes. Quite. But Hips are not wobbly
picnic tables that we choose ourselves on a whimsical summer day; they have
been foisted on us compulsorily. Nanny government is making us eat them up;
but alas! Nanny is drunk again, and has put soap powder in the rice pudding.
The EPC promises to be another bright idea ruined by shoddy execution,
another bodge-up in Blu-Tack Britain. It recalls other fiascos: the Child
Support Agency, the chaotic implementation of family credit, rail
privatisation, the NHS computer system, the reforms to the Passport Office,
even the newly reported shortage of judges (in a country that has lawyers
like barns have mice).
It chimes with promises about border control promptly sabotaged by the
reckless scrapping of immigration checks, and with the storage of brand-new
flood barriers so far from floodable areas that they get stuck on a flooded
motorway. At the extreme one remembers the Millennium Dome, and Peter
Mandelson promising to launch “Surfball” as the game of the 21st century.
Only there was no game, no rules, no ball, no surf – only a soundbite. It
was the quintessential absurdity. Or you could go farther back and remember
the expensive rise and fall of the poll tax idea, or the ERM debacle with
interest rates whizzing up and down all morning.
For you can’t pin this brag’n’bodge culture entirely on new Labour. It goes
back farther, and politically wider. Indeed, the more I think about it, the
more I remember a speech by Tony Benn on a motion of no confidence in Mrs
Thatcher’s Government. I do not generally buy unreservedly into Mr Benn’s
visions, but cannot forget his words.
“Although we’ve been told we’re an entrepreneurial society”, he began, “this
is now a country that has an utter contempt for skill. You talk to people
who dig coal, run trains, doctors, nurses, dentists, teachers, toolmakers –
nobody’s interested in them. The whole of this so-called entrepreneurial
society has focused on the City news, every bulletin telling us what’s
happened to the pound sterling, this and that per cent against a basket of
European currencies. But skill is what built this country’s strength, and
skill is treated with contempt.”
He was on to something: something odd and sad. Britain produced great
inventors, engineers and makers: Brunel and Stephenson, Harrison and
Babbage, Faraday and Whittle. In administration this is the nation that –
leaving aside any wider moral questions – ran a vast empire with mostly
clockwork efficiency, imposing perfectionism whether in civil engineering or
clerical accurancy. In a novel of the 1930s I read the line: “One has a
feeling that in Britain we construct, whereas other countries contrapt.”
Whether that feeling was accurate then I cannot say, but it was a point of
pride that we made things work. Kipling’s splendid poem about engineers,
contrasting the practical “Sons of Martha” with the visionary sons of Mary,
thunders: “They do not preach that their God will rouse them a little before
the nuts work loose. / They do not teach that His Pity allows them to leave
their work when they damn-well choose . / As in the thronged and the lighted
ways, so in the dark and the desert they stand. / Wary and watchful all
their days, that their brethren’s days may be long in the land.”
Wary and watchful, skilful and expert: the need for these qualities is as
strong in systems – tax credits, child support, Hips training – as it is in
railway tracks and bridges. We still see such pride in some corners: the
Armed Forces, many emergency services, beleaguered parts of the NHS. Yet in
recent decades – perhaps influenced, as Mr Benn suggests, by the gambling,
short-cut, quick-rich ideology of the City – our public administration has
specialised in low-level, chronic inefficiency with a counterpoint of big
talk.
They prate of targets, benchmarks, inspectorates, initiatives. They toss out –
sorry, “roll out” – innovations with little idea of how to make them work.
They act like Star Trek captains saying, “Make it so”, only without
installing a reliable team of Scottys in the engine-room or Mr Spocks to
say, “Illogical”. When the Scottys and Spocks (civil servants or
professions) raise practical objections, ministers carry on saying “Make it
so” and stab buttons with showy energy as the ship lurches diagonally into
the next asteroid storm. Basic ideas have often been good and intentions
admirable. Which is not enough.
From what I saw growing up abroad, the British Empire was constructed by an organisation which expected managers to deliver. It was assumed that a Brit who was motivated enough to work in the Colonies would also have the sense and skill to deliver, even if given a regiment of yahoos to do it with or a workforce whose language you had to learn. Sacking someone was seen as a failure of management. Far from creating a legion of serfs, this mentality rewarded competence and responsibility at all levels. There was perhaps too much of the "ends justifies the means" too, but things did get done. The private sector works in a similar way. It's only in domestic government that incompetent workers can get away with blaming their superiors, underlings, or "the system" for the fact that the job isn't done; or to pretend that simply sacking or moving people will solve the problem. The solution is to cut government back to the minimum, pay less tax, and start doing more things for ourselves.
Delilah, Maryland, USA
Libby Purvis is quite right. My father rightly got an MBE as a government aircraft inspector who was not liked but who was respected. If he considered an aircraft part dodgy he would order it to be scrapped. This often caused resentment in the factory. But none of the helicopters he passed ever crashed. He had undergone a 5-year apprenticeship as a boy and knew his trade like the back of his hand. Men are alive today who might be dead if a less skilled and exacting inspector had passed their aircraft as fit for service. His was emphatically not the Blu-Tack generation. Such people are sorely missed.
J.Fletcher, Canterbury, UK
Spot on Libby.
Nice to see old Kipling finally being recognised for some of his accurate comments too. Contrary to the pc brigade's best efforts to denigrate him, in his native India (he was born there) he is recognised by many as a great story teller..a position of some stature in their culture.
Speaking as an engineer trained in both mechanical and electronics/computing disciplines I'm afraid the malaise of neglecting our engineering skills-base has gone on for a long time. Even in 1963 when I began my apprenticeship the subject was being fiercely debated and for all the proposals to fix the situation the run down into a "spiv" society that simply takes a cut from often shady deals has continued apace.
To Redline (Lawyer): if your self-serving comment is meant to be best legal think then ask why the public holds most of your "profession" in contempt. Real justice (as in the triumph of freedom and right over wrong) and the process involving lawyers is too often poles apart.
Peter Jones, Caernarfon, Gwynedd
"To Brooks in Munich: I'd rather live in a country known for happy amateurism than one which will be known forever for institutionalised mass murder. " - Ouch!
BTW Libby - great article.
Macelington, Nottingham,
We do seem to be in the grip of a national sickness at the moment - everyone in England seems to be aggressive, defensive, self-seeking, malevolent and proud of it, small minded and lacking in vision.
In the commercial property trade we have a protracted process caled "dilapidations", where there is always a lengthy dispute between the landlord and departing tenant about how much the tenant should pay for deterioration of the property while they have been in it. Australian surveyors are mystified by this process "we juts pay for what's been damaged and then move out!" they say.
A lesson for us all there, I think.
We also suffer from a phenomenon highlighted in "The Thick of It" - an inability to distinguish between spin and reality (not just at high level), and failing to realise that saying something isn't the same as doing it.
Eastern European immigration? Bring it on I say. We desperately need some new blood to improve the country.
H Ryder, London, UK
To Brooks in Munich: I'd rather live in a country known for happy amateurism than one which will be known forever for institutionalised mass murder.
Charles, Sydney, Australia
One thing that the UK & Australia share in common - "lands of the happy amateur". Big on plans and hype - low on substance and expertise.
Brooks, Munich, Germany
After this comment i am tempted to declare my intent to stand for parliament on a manifesto of common sense and down to earth realism: 1 have 3 a levels in sciences (maths physics and chemistry) I have worked in both the city and engineering (construction industry) and i have a diploma in economics from the OU. but sadly even if elected would have no effect as one vote in the commons is orrelevant. the party system would hamper any attempt to bring the real world to westminster. so this country falls apart as it looses the analytical mindset and rewarding of hard work ( i include real entrepreneurship in this not the creation of electronic profits).
guess i'll just have to get on with life as best i can
Ben, folkestone, uk
As a long-serving Conservative local District Councillor, I read Libby Purves’s piece yesterday with a mixture of appreciation and despair. Appreciation because she hit the nail squarely on the head; despair because I keep on asking our local Tory MP how life for us councillors will be any different under a Conservative government, but no answer do I get. David Cameron and his colleagues need to read her article and start enunciating clearly how local authorities are going to be allowed to operate for the best interests of their localities and not be forced into a one-size-fits-all stick-and-carrot regime tightly regulated from Westminster.
Tony Dunn, Marlow, Bucks.
"unwelcome expertise" or nitpick at blu-tack?
Mike beat me to this basic point, but, amplified:
I agree with Libby's argument, though she has
rather mixed her Generations of Star Trek,
through not checking her Data. Jean-Luc Picard
gives his diktats "Make it so" or "Engage" to a
team of 'Geordis' rather than Scottys (not Geordies, T-shirted in Absolute Zero) .
Management trainees polled in the late 90s
usually voted Picard their "ideal leader" because,
with the infrastructure of the Federation and Starfleet Academy behind him, he still managed
right action in crisis situations. Kirk made more
major errors, which were generally solved in
top-level Head of Department expeditions.
Verity Cinnabar, Oxford,
Head guilty of safety lapse (Times Wed Aug 1 page 20)
From a distance one cannot judge on the merits of this particular case involving a paid Head but headlines like this frighten the living daylights out of those who might otherwise volunteer to join and help run 'youth groups etc'. However well we might think we are looking after children the potential for a one in a million tragedy (like the one in the report) makes the heart run cold. I have heard legal comment say that, so long as proper procedures are in place, then there is nothing to fear. The snag is that one can end up in court facing huge legal bills while lawyers, judges and juries decide what 'proper procedures' are and whether they were in place. When things go wrong there are parents and 'the establishment' who will seek the ultimate sanctions against those have put their heads above the parapets, however well meaning volunteers are. The worry of such a threat just isn't worth it for many of us!
Jeffrey Smith, Worcester, England
CHARGE of the LIGHT YEARS AHEAD BRIGADE.
By a remarkable coincidence, I submitted ‘Have your say’ on the 30 July, to Lord Heseltines article ‘Public figure at the Helm ‘ , Business > Industry Sections>
Media.
Starting from different viewpoints, the conclusion was the same.
Lord Heseltine has generated wealth, and argued that he should carry on. I felt that he was well placed to do more, the exploration and discovery into a new age of web publishing. This requires the nurturing of the Knowledge Creators, and Management backup that can create profit and support the logistic requirements of high ability employees on high calibre tasks. That is the MISSING LINK, which Bletchley Park bridged during the war, and which is vital to the future wealth of our small Island. Reimbursement in future earnings of the high cost of obtaining first and subsequent degrees has not yet reached public discussion.
Gut Liam, Hertford, England
I have for some time thought that this government has been the most incompetent in my lifetime, but your insight suggests the problem may be deeper. In my youth the best qualification for a high flying job in public administration was a first in classics or "greats" from two universities. I think I am right in saying that not a single scientific or engineering invention in the 19th century came from our universities. Naturally then the products of these institutions tend to despise and mistrust those who come from the other side. Plainly this culture continues, and coupled with our inclination to elect MPs who have never had the experience of managing anything but their own political careers, leaves us only with the "musn't complain" option!
B Dunleavy, Southampton,
my own experience, having been in both private and public sector is that people on a payroll will do as little as they can to get through the day, in private companies they get away with it far less easily because someone knows how many hours they have been on one task and they want to see the output, in the bottomless pit that is the state sector ..... !!!!!
blue blue eyes, plymouth , uk
I agree absolutely and it's just as bad in the private sector. I work in pharmacy which has recently had new fangled "medicine use reviews" imposed on it (for no extra resources of course) by HMG. There are huge barriers to implementation in many pharmacies but the management of the big pharmacy chains think that the "make it so" attitude will miraculously deliver. It isn't working because most of them have no understanding of what really makes things tick (never having done the actual job) and come up with some frankly ludicrous ideas to increase the numbers of MUR's. When the flaws in their ideas are exposed they just glaze over and mutter some management babble such as "let's park that for now" or "think out of the box". No amount of reason seems to penetrate their thick skulls: they have boxes to tick and targets to meet. It's much the same with other badly thought out (and often conflicting) targets and so on that they dream up.
Steve, Swansea, UK
So we have lawyers like barns have mice do we? Well, speaking as one myself, let me tell you why. It's because we are skilled professionals with marketable services. Skills that people value. Kind of undemines the rest of the piece Libby.
Redcliffe, London,
To err is human. To err continually and recieve large public services management paypacket plus benefits and pension is divine. The system that fails is self-perpetuating and wont go away while those inside the system reap their unjust reward from Britain's 'gravy boat Armada'. You are absolutely right; the 'all for one and every man for himself' Baby Boomers have made this country a misery over the last 40 years and there's no sign of it drawing to a halt yet. Viva la revolution! Ariba!!!
Tim Harris, Colchester,
Carry on Libby - telling it like it is.
Oh that our politicians were as understanding/honest as are you.
Reg Austin, Bracknell, UK
I believe the distinction between 'construction' and 'contraption' comes from John Wyndham's *The kraken wakes* (1953). I cannot give the page number, but, early in the book, Wyndham's narrator comments on the loss of shipping in Asia, and observes that the public are not at first concerned, because "while we in the Occident construct, those in Orient contrapt."
Although I concede Mr Wyndham might have been borrowing from an earlier source.
Ted Tedford, London,
"...the newly reported shortage of judges (in a country that has lawyers like barns have mice). "
That should read "...like sewers have rats)."
Homer, London,
Another nitpick - the qiote about construction/contraption comes from John Whyndam's The Kraken Wakes, published in 1953.
And be wary of looking back at golden ages of heroes. Another poet celebrated engineers: William McGonagall's two poems about the Tay bridge "will be remember'd for a very long time".
Simon Richards, Brussels, Belgium
I dibdn't know the poem. Thank you for introducing me to it.
This problem goes back into the ninteenth century when the Indian Civil Service provided a haven for surplus Univerisity graduates. A a more everyday level we still have the boy labour problem identified by Tawney in 1909 and until we find a way of quantifiying respect for skills outside that of the ability to write 14,000 on any given subject at the drop of a hat the problem will continue.
Jane Knight, Didcot, Oxon
The reason there were no Scotties in the engine room, or Spock's to say "illogical" is that they had been dead for two centuries before a Star Trek captain, Jean Luc Picard, coined the phrase "Make it so"...
stuart Robb, Hitchin, Herts
I think the problem lies in wider society. We are encouraged to let it all hang out and liberate our "inner child", rather than apply self-discipline to learn physics or string a good sentence together. We are brain-washed into admiring celebrities who do nothing to earn their fame. I suspects this suits the powers that be in politics and big business - it's much better for them if we're just passive consumers, rather than skilled, intelligent citizens who know our own worth and can question what they're up to.
K John, London, UK
The introduction of the national curriculum and the destruction of school Physics fit this pattern.
Geoff Sargent, Cardiff, UK
As always, Libby has something interesting and thoughful to say, and the comment provoked is particuarly interesting this time. I would take issue with the notion that the malign influence is the "gambling, short-cut, quick-rich ideology of the City". Rather I would suggest that the public service ethos where failure is never punished is the problem. Neglect flood defences and award yourself a bonus. In the free market, if you screw up, you get fired and your company might go under. That's a great incentive, if unsubtle. Incidentally, there must be many, many pensioners who would like to pay poll tax, even increased by inflation, than today's crippling council tax.
Mike Fowle, Felixstowe, Suffolk
Whilst I agree pretty much whole-heartedly with the article, I feel the need to be ridiculously pedantic and point out that the phrase "Make it so" is one used by Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the Enterprise D (and E), an officer who has had (will have ?) very few dealings with Mr. Scott or Mr. Spock - though he has indeed met both of them - who were (will be?) of course members of Captain Kirk's crew on the original Enterprise ("none of this A, B, C or D malarkey" to quote Mr. Scott)
Jon Elliott, London,
"Yes. We have lost interest in people who do and are now a rentier society of opinion formers, city boys and benefit recipients. Meanwhile German factories have full order books........................."
Totally agree.
To say this country has gone to the dogs is an insult to dogs.
jill, uk, uk
The core thrust of the item is absolutely correct. Poitics has become the pathetic art of trying to please everyone particularly those whimpering minority pressure groups. The end result is a huge lake of legislation which is so shallow it neither works or lasts but just prevents progress. The 19th century governments were not hampered by small minded imagery but saw a bigger picture and used our skills and our strengths as a nation to make this nation great. Since the 1914-18 war there has been no forward vision and we are suffering the consequences on a daily basis.
mike gee, bournemouth, uk
Absolutely spot on, Libby - this encapsulates so much of what is wrong with modern government. But as usual, we get the politicians we deserve.
People vote for 'strong' leaders who 'get things done' - and as often as not that means precisly riding roughshod over experts who say it won't work.
And the public resents the influence of 'lobbying' which is usually no more than experts (albeit experts with a vested interest) trying to bring some of that expertise to bear on public policy.
Of course, by the time it does all go wrong, the Minister and often the Government responsible have already moved onto pastures new - usually the board of a major company, often linked in some way to the system they have fouled up.
As P.J. O'Rourke puts it: "Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy, the whores are us."
Marcus Cotswell, London, UK
Looking at Britain from the outside as I have done for the last 30 years since I left the country, I am more and more amazed at what you people have to put up with. What started as a Monty Python satirical sketch, turned into humorless reality. When someone now says "It's a fair cop, but society is to blame" are they not saying "It's the root causes"?
Instead of treating the growing attacks on common sense behavior and personal freedom with the contempt and stoicism that the British were were always famed, you all knuckle under and let the loonies make you jump through hoops.
Its the satirical columnist I feel sorry sorry for. Real life in Britain keeps trumping their attempts humorous fiction.
Avi Linden, Jerusalem, Israel
Unfortunately big mouths get little minds elected. That is the thin end of the wedge.
Minnie Ovens, LA, CA,USA
I agree with the main points of the article, and I think a major cause is because we have been ruled by politicians who tend to be lawyers, career politicians, ex public sector workers, etc. Few politicians seem to come from the wealth generating sector, or have ever had to generate wealth.
In places like Germany or Japan there's a real and justified respect for engineers, whereas in Britain it's lawyers and accountants that rule the roost.
paul n, sheffield, uk
Elect a career politician and you'll get someone who understands tas raising but has little idea of project management, design and build or production lead time. They ordain and it will be so ... Rubbish. Let's get some industrialists back into the government - as elected officials or as advisors, whatever, but get someone who understands that making money isn't a gamble. The city machine is just as guilty as the government of ruining the value of investments, particularly the crucial pension funds.
Sack the gamblers and talkers and get some workers back in the door.
KR, Stockport,
There could be a suspicion that the HIPS scheme to enable better information for house buyers could have less transparent purpose.
Had house price inflation ended abruptly and the market become moribund, the deflationary effect could have impacted widely in the house selling industry. Providing HIPS services could help stabilise agents and surveyors work, and (if implemented ideally) provide an information base with many possible uses, including frequent revision of rateable value at lower cost.
As the huge additional home equity created over recent years remains a route to possible tax-free gain for houseowners, levying direct tax on that to help fund future government expenditure increases might have political repercussion. However, the HIPS offer opportunities for extracting taxation as VAT and on the income earned from providing the service.
The difficulty remasins of enforcing uniform standards without recourse to law relying on the professional duty of care.
dr venables preller, Warminster, UK
This is a bit rich - the problem of undervalaution of skills, particularly those associated with engineering and technology, go back far, far further than (as Libby Purves implies) the 1980's, and the liberalisation of the City.
The problem is more deep rooted - it's to do with the domination of our political and media culture with an arts-educated elite, of which Libby Purves and her BBC compatriots are prime examples. And it's gone back years - so far as I recall our sole Prime Minister with at least a partial science or technical education was Thatcher - and even Gordon Brown is an oddity with a real training as an economist (as opposed to PPE).
And Libby....don't try to argue that this is a private sector problem - name the last trained engineer who headed the Department of Energy - or indeed any Whitehall head of department who has anything other than an Arts or Humanities degree.
Andy Dawson, Crowthorne, Berks, UK
This has been known for a long time. I remember Jim Callaghan saying that he could pull the levers but he couldn't guarantee anything would happen at the other end.
John C, Helston, UK
Whenever new ideas are proposed by politicians we should think much harder about whether government can actually deliver them. Grand ideas with botched execution are useless. Unfortunately, after several years experience of working with civil servants I have to say that by and large they are amateurish, lazy and utterly un-commercial and should not be trusted to "make it so" on anything major.
Tony Gosling, London, London
If this Government, Public Sector Infrastructure and short term view of Finance had existed in the 18th &19th Century would the Industrial Revolution have taken place? Would the risks have been taken to develop new industries and would those great men Brunel and others whose engineering skills built britain encouraged to achieve excellence? I suspect the answer is no and that dumbed down britain will never again achieve anything of note!
John, Manchester,
We have all been effectively taxed around £400 every time we move and guess what the British public will lap it up. We have increased the percentage of people in the country carrying out purely box ticking exercises that banks nor consumers would buy a house on the basis of. The environmental information within this form could be found by taking the surveyors report and going on line. What a waste of money. I shall be exploiting all the legal loop holes in this policy to get out of paying for it when I sell my house.
John, Egremont, Cumbria
Aye. Indeed, the day it was announced that the NHS finally - no doubt to the government's utter delight - had more middle-managers than beds - was the day we should have turned the lights out and all got the hell out.
The Banana Republic of Tiny Britain.
Jeremy Poynton, Fromeville, 51st State
Mike, New York, USA, quite right it was Jean Luc Picard who used to say "Make it so" and usually added Number One, meaning the executive officer. However, what concerns me about the whole HIPs game is that the Homeowner will now pay for a survey, one has no idea of what standard and quality, that could be used to increase the iniquitous Council Tax without the government paying for a revaluation process and thereby avoiding what should happen and that is protests against the Council Tax.
Kenneth Armitage, Suffolk, England
I had hoped that when Blair left office we would have discovered the identity of the idealistic 14 year-old who formulated government policy for New Labour. I m disappointed.
However it s reassuring that government by wishful thinking is continuing under Brown.
dh rowlands, cardiff,
I have written this before- just ignore the rules, disobey them.
If only 10% of drivers refused to pay the London CG and challenged the fines, their cases would tie up the Courts for years and years and the whole scheme would grind to a halt.
Others would join the protest and finally the politicians would start listening and anti liberatrians authoritarians and communists like Mayor Livingstone would be finished.
Bad law is bad law. We British have uncommon good sense and we should follow what comonsense dictates.
Stan Coveney, Sydney,
When Lord Marshall ran CEGB and Denis Rooke ran British Gas I had faith that engineers made things work and had reserve capacity for when things broke down - now that my electricity is delivered in cables owned by an American company and my gas comes through pipelines owned by Chinese companies, I experience breakdown and frequent power cuts.
It is a country where the essentials are bootstrapped and the frivolous is over-hyped. We lack quiet competence and instead live in a meretricious Ruritania
TomTom, Leeds, England
Yes. We have lost interest in people who do and are now a rentier society of opinion formers, city boys and benefit recipients. Meanwhile German factories have full order books............................
Carol, UK,
Great article. One nitpick, though: nobody ever said "Make it so" to Scotty or Spock.
Mike, New York, USA
Quite right. Problems of management come as a consequence of politicians efforts at micro management. Restrictive and prescriptive rules are handed down from on high. Those at the coal face are then forced to follow such rules to the letter without any allowance for discretion or common sense. The result is rigid, inflexible and contradictory decisions and a refusal to listen because 'rules are rules'.
I have been a victim of this lack of flexibility only recently and have suffered financially as a consequence despite the best efforts of my MP to untangle the bureaucratic knot. I have written to the Whitehall department responsible for setting down the rules that are being so strictly and absurdly adhered to but of course have had no response.
It is time politicians and Whitehall learnt to trust those who administer things at the coal face, who deal with people rather than just statistics. They have turned administration into a kind of inflexible and faceless Napoleonic code.
Paul Owen, Birmingham, UK