Whenever I think of Birmingham, all that springs to mind is that line by Mike Harding: “How can two and half million people have a speech defect?”

I can’t help it because I know very little about the place. I’ve rarely visited and then some years ago on business, so I hardly got to know the city. All I have is an abiding memory of flyovers and flyunders, particularly the latter; narrow lanes and high speeds seemingly inches from concrete walls and pillars worryingly reminiscent of a similar tunnel in Paris in 1996. Read more ›››