1.
Coat of arms of Birmingham
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The coat of arms of Birmingham - the heraldic emblem of the English city of Birmingham - was first used in 1838 and has changed several times since, as the former town grew and developed into a city. Following the incorporation of Birmingham as a borough in 1838, the approved the design of a seal comprising The Birmingham Arms. The arms were used from about 1413 to 1536 by the de Bermingham family. The quartered shield featured in the first and fourth quarters five gold lozenges or diamond shapes conjoined in a diagonal bend and these were the original arms of the de Berminghams until about 1343. The second and third quarters were divided vertically with an indented line and this should have been coloured in black and white, but in the version adopted by the corporation it was coloured gold and red. These were in fact the arms of another branch of the family, in 1867 a new seal was made, and at the time the discrepancy in the colouring of the second and third quarters was noticed. However, it was decided to retain the colouring, in 1889 Birmingham was granted city status, and to celebrate this fact, the corporation applied to the College of Arms for a grant of supporters to the arms. It was then realised that the used by Birmingham had never been officially granted, so a full grant of arms, crest. The shield was altered, with the addition of a fess or horizontal band across the centre. This comes from the arms of the Calthorpe family, Lords of the Manor of Edgbaston, a mural crown - resembling a city wall - was placed on the fess to represent local government. The crest consisted of an arm holding a hammer, symbolising industry. The supporters were two figures, a male figure representing industry and a female figure representing art. By 1930 the city felt that the design looked too old fashioned and adopted a new depiction designed by the Birmingham School of Art. These arms continued in use until the abolition of the corporation, a new City of Birmingham was created, including the old city and the former borough of Sutton Coldfield in 1974. New arms were granted to Birmingham City Council in 1977, closely based on the old arms, instead of the ermine fess a cross was introduced, charged with a bishops mitre. These come from the Sutton Coldfield corporation arms and commemorate Bishop Vesey of Exeter, a native of Sutton, a Tudor rose was added to the 1889 crest. This was the device of Sutton Coldfield from at least 1619 until 1935, as the College of Arms does not allow two bodies or persons to have identical supporters, they were swapped to opposite sides of the shield. The male figure now holds a cupel, a used in the manufacture of jewellery
2.
Metropolitan district
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A metropolitan borough is a type of local government district in England, and is a subdivision of a metropolitan county. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts, however, all of them have been granted or regranted royal charters to give them borough status. Metropolitan boroughs have been effectively unitary authority areas since the abolition of the county councils by the Local Government Act 1985. However, metropolitan boroughs pool much of their authority in joint boards and other arrangements that cover whole metropolitan counties, the term metropolitan borough was first used for administrative subdivisions of the County of London between 1900 and 1965. However, the present boroughs of Greater London, which have different boundaries and functions, the current metropolitan boroughs were created in 1974 as subdivisions of the new metropolitan counties, created to cover the six largest urban areas in England outside Greater London. The new districts replaced the system of county boroughs, municipal boroughs, urban. The districts typically have populations of 174,000 to 1.1 million, metropolitan districts were originally parts of a two-tier structure of local government, and shared power with the metropolitan county councils. They differed from non-metropolitan districts in the division of powers between district and county councils, the metropolitan districts are administered by metropolitan district councils. They are the local authorities in the six metropolitan counties and are responsible for running most local services, such as schools, social services, waste collection
3.
Lord Mayor of Birmingham
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This is a list of the Mayors and Lord Mayors of Birmingham in the West Midlands of England. Birmingham has had a Mayor since 1838, the office was raised to the dignity of Lord Mayor when Queen Victoria issued Letters Patent on 3 June 1896. By modern convention, the Lord Mayor stands for a year, Lord Mayors are non-political and non-executive during their term of office and act as Chair of the Council. As the First Citizen of Birmingham, the Lord Mayor represents not only the City, the honour of being Lord Mayor is now usually alternated between the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat Groups. In normal circumstances the Lord Mayor becomes Deputy Lord Mayor for the following year
4.
Conservative Party (UK)
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The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a political party in the United Kingdom. It is currently the party, having won a majority of seats in the House of Commons at the 2015 general election. The partys leader, Theresa May, is serving as Prime Minister. It is the largest party in government with 8,702 councillors. The Conservative Party is one of the two major political parties in the United Kingdom, the other being its modern rival. The Conservative Partys platform involves support for market capitalism, free enterprise, fiscal conservatism, a strong national defence, deregulation. In the 1920s, the Liberal vote greatly diminished and the Labour Party became the Conservatives main rivals, Conservative Prime Ministers led governments for 57 years of the twentieth century, including Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher. Thatchers tenure led to wide-ranging economic liberalisation, the Conservative Partys domination of British politics throughout the twentieth century has led to them being referred to as one of the most successful political parties in the Western world. The Conservatives are the joint-second largest British party in the European Parliament, with twenty MEPs, the party is a member of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe Europarty and the International Democrat Union. The party is the second-largest in the Scottish Parliament and the second-largest in the Welsh Assembly, the party is also organised in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The Conservative Party traces its origins to a faction, rooted in the 18th century Whig Party and they were known as Independent Whigs, Friends of Mr Pitt, or Pittites. After Pitts death the term Tory came into use and this was an allusion to the Tories, a political grouping that had existed from 1678, but which had no organisational continuity with the Pittite party. From about 1812 on the name Tory was commonly used for the newer party, the term Conservative was suggested as a title for the party by a magazine article by J. Wilson Croker in the Quarterly Review in 1830. The name immediately caught on and was adopted under the aegis of Sir Robert Peel around 1834. Peel is acknowledged as the founder of the Conservative Party, which he created with the announcement of the Tamworth Manifesto, the term Conservative Party rather than Tory was the dominant usage by 1845. In 1912, the Liberal Unionists merged with the Conservative Party, in Ireland, the Irish Unionist Alliance had been formed in 1891 which merged anti-Home Rule Unionists into one political movement. Its MPs took the Conservative whip at Westminster, and in essence formed the Irish wing of the party until 1922. The Conservatives served with the Liberals in an all-party coalition government during World War I, keohane finds that the Conservatives were bitterly divided before 1914, especially on the issue of Irish Unionism and the experience of three consecutive election losses
5.
Labour Party (UK)
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The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Labour later served in the coalition from 1940 to 1945. Labour was also in government from 1964 to 1970 under Harold Wilson and from 1974 to 1979, first under Wilson and then James Callaghan. The Labour Party was last in government from 1997 to 2010 under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, beginning with a majority of 179. Having won 232 seats in the 2015 general election, the party is the Official Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the party also organises in Northern Ireland, but does not contest elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Labour Party is a member of the Party of European Socialists and Progressive Alliance. In September 2015, Jeremy Corbyn was elected Leader of the Labour Party, the first Lib–Lab candidate to stand was George Odger in the Southwark by-election of 1870. In addition, several small socialist groups had formed around this time, among these were the Independent Labour Party, the intellectual and largely middle-class Fabian Society, the Marxist Social Democratic Federation and the Scottish Labour Party. In the 1895 general election, the Independent Labour Party put up 28 candidates, Keir Hardie, the leader of the party, believed that to obtain success in parliamentary elections, it would be necessary to join with other left-wing groups. Hardies roots as a lay preacher contributed to an ethos in the party led to the comment by 1950s General Secretary Morgan Phillips that Socialism in Britain owed more to Methodism than Marx. The motion was passed at all stages by the TUC, the meeting was attended by a broad spectrum of working-class and left-wing organisations—trades unions represented about one third of the membership of the TUC delegates. This created an association called the Labour Representation Committee, meant to coordinate attempts to support MPs sponsored by trade unions and it had no single leader, and in the absence of one, the Independent Labour Party nominee Ramsay MacDonald was elected as Secretary. He had the task of keeping the various strands of opinions in the LRC united. The October 1900 Khaki election came too soon for the new party to campaign effectively, only 15 candidatures were sponsored, but two were successful, Keir Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil and Richard Bell in Derby. Support for the LRC was boosted by the 1901 Taff Vale Case, the judgement effectively made strikes illegal since employers could recoup the cost of lost business from the unions. In their first meeting after the election the groups Members of Parliament decided to adopt the name The Labour Party formally, the Fabian Society provided much of the intellectual stimulus for the party. One of the first acts of the new Liberal Government was to reverse the Taff Vale judgement, the Peoples History Museum in Manchester holds the minutes of the first Labour Party meeting in 1906 and has them on display in the Main Galleries. Also within the museum is the Labour History Archive and Study Centre, the governing Liberals were unwilling to repeal this judicial decision with primary legislation
6.
Liberal Democrats (UK)
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The Liberal Democrats are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom. The party was formed in 1988 as a merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party, at the 2015 general election, the party was reduced to eight MPs. Nick Clegg resigned as leader and Tim Farron won the subsequent leadership election, the party currently has nine MPs, following the Richmond Park by-election. The Alliance was led by David Steel and Roy Jenkins, Jenkins was replaced by David Owen, the two parties had their own policies and emphases, but produced a joint manifesto for the 1983 and 1987 general elections. Following disappointing results in the 1987 election, Steel proposed to merge the two parties, although opposed by Owen, it was supported by a majority of members of both parties, and they formally merged in March 1988, with Steel and Robert Maclennan as joint interim leaders. The new party was initially named Social and Liberal Democrats with the short form The Democrats being used from September 1988. The name was changed to Liberal Democrats in October 1989. The new party logo, the Bird of Liberty, was adopted in 1989, the party is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and Liberal International. The then-serving Liberal MP Paddy Ashdown was elected leader in July 1988, at the 1989 European Elections, the party received only 6% of the vote, putting them in fourth place after the Green Party. They failed to gain a single Member of the European Parliament at this election, over the next three years, the party recovered under Ashdowns leadership. They performed better at the 1990 local elections and in by-elections—including at Eastbourne in 1990, Ribble Valley in 1991, the Lib Dems did not reach the share of national votes in the 1990s that the Alliance had achieved in the 1980s. At their first election in 1992, they won 17. 8% of the vote, in the 1994 European Elections, the party gained its first two Members of European Parliament. The election was, however, something of a point for the Liberal Democrats. Ashdown retired as leader in 1999 and the party elected Charles Kennedy as his replacement, the party improved on their 1997 results at the 2001 general election, increasing their number of seats to 52 and their share of the vote to 18. 3%. The party won seats from Labour in by-elections in Brent East in 2003 and Leicester South in 2004, under Kennedys leadership the majority of Pro-Euro Conservatives, a group of former members of the Conservatives, joined the Liberal Democrats on 10 December 2001. At the 2005 general election, the Lib Dems gained their highest share of the vote since the SDP–Liberal Alliance and won 62 seats. Many had anticipated that this election would be the Lib Dems breakthrough at Westminster, party activists hoped to better the 25% support of the 1983 election, or to reach 100 MPs. Much of the apparent lack of success resulted from the first-past-the-post electoral system, controversy became associated with the campaign when it became known that Michael Brown had donated £2.4 million to the Liberal Democrats
7.
Green Party of England and Wales
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The Green Party of England and Wales is a green, left-wing political party in England and Wales. Headquartered in London, since 2 September 2016 its Co-Leaders are Caroline Lucas, the Green Party has one Member of Parliament in the House of Commons, one representative in the House of Lords, and three Members of the European Parliament. It has various councillors in UK local government and two members of the London Assembly and it also takes a progressive approach to social policies such as civil liberties, animal rights, LGBT rights and drug policy reform. The party also believes strongly in nonviolence, basic income, a living wage, the party comprises various regional divisions, including the semi-autonomous Wales Green Party. Internationally, the party is affiliated to the Global Greens and the European Green Party, experiencing centralising reforms spearheaded by the Green 2000 group in the early 1990s, the party sought to emphasise growth in local governance, doing so throughout the 1990s. In 2010, the party gained its first MP in Caroline Lucas, the Green Party of England and Wales has its origins in the PEOPLE Party, which was founded in Coventry in 1973. PEOPLE was renamed The Ecology Party in 1975, and in 1985 changed again to the Green Party, the Green Party of England and Wales is registered with the Electoral Commission as simply the Green Party. In the 1989 European Parliament elections, the Green Party of England and Wales polled 15% of the vote with 2.3 million votes, the best ever performance of a Green party in a nationwide election. This success has been attributed to both the increased respectability of environmentalism and the effects of the development boom in southern England in the late 1980s. Many party members opposed the reforms, believing that they would undermine the internal party democracy, although Green 2000 proposals were defeated at the partys 1990 conference, they were overwhelmingly carried at their 1991 conference, resulting in an internal restructuring of the party. The party fielded more candidates than it had ever done before in the 1992 general election but was deemed to have performed poorly. In 1993, the party adopted its Basis for Renewal program in an attempt to bring together conflicting factions and thus save the party from bankruptcy, the party sought to escape their reputation as an environmentalist single-issue party by placing greater emphasis on social policies. In 1993, future party leader and MP Caroline Lucas gained a seat on Oxfordshire County Council, the Greens sought to build alliances with other parties in the hope of gaining representation at the parliamentary level. In Wales, the Greens endorsed Plaid Cymru candidate Cynog Dafis in the 1992 general election, in April 1995 the Green National Executive ruled that the party should withdraw from this alliance due to ideological differences. As the Labour Party shifted to the centre under the leadership of Tony Blair and his New Labour project. At the 2001 general election they polled 0. 63% of the vote, at the 2004 European Parliamentary elections the party returned 2 MEPS the same as in 1999, overall, the Party polled 1,033,093 votes. In the 2005 general election the party gained over 1% of the vote for the first time and this growth has been attributed to the increasing public visibility of the party as well as a general growth in support for smaller parties in the UK. In September 2008, the party elected its first leader, Caroline Lucas
8.
West Midlands Combined Authority
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It was established by statutory instrument under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. It is an authority with powers over transport, economic development. The authority formally came into being on 17 June 2016, transport for West Midlands is the executive body of the WMCA that oversees transportation within the metropolitan county. The organisation carries over the previous responsibilities of Centro and the WMITA, there are also plans to work with central government over the future of the underused M6 Toll. The WMCA has the ability to create a spatial development strategy, similar to the London Plan. While local planning will remain in the hands of the seven boroughs, a mental health commission was formed in order to create a reformed mental healthcare system in the county. The WMCA will not, however, have control over a devolved NHS budget as is the case in Greater Manchester, from 2017, the West Midlands, along with several other city regions, will elect a metro mayor with similar powers to the Mayor of London. The date of the first mayoral election will be 4 May 2017, a directly-elected mayor for the combined authority area was described as inevitable, as such a role has been stated as a conditional requirement for a more powerful devolution deal. Powers sought for a metro mayor and the WMCA were first revealed in a leaked bid document first reported by Simon Gilbert. Those powers included the ability of the mayor to levy extra business rates from companies in the region
9.
Council House, Birmingham
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Birmingham City Council House in Birmingham, England, is the home of Birmingham City Council, and thus the seat of local government for the city. The first-floors exterior balcony is used by visiting dignitaries and victorious sports teams and it is located in Victoria Square in the city centre and is a Grade II* listed building. The Council House has its own postcode, B1 1BB, the side of the building, which faces Chamberlain Square, is the entrance and façade of the Museum and Art Gallery which is partly housed within the same building. The open space which is now Victoria Square was once occupied by Christ Church, the land on which the Council House and adjacent Museum and Art Gallery are located was purchased in 1853. This land consisted of Ann Street which was home to such as the Cabinet of Curiosities. The building had a tower topped with a flagpole. The top was castellated and the walls were whitewashed and adorned in advertisements, the last tenants of the building were the Suffield family, ancestors of J. R. R. Tolkien. The land was earmarked for development, however constant financial difficulties put all development on hold until 1871 when the council agreed to build offices on the site. A design competition was established and the council received 29 entries, however a decision was delayed by further financial difficulties. The council was split over the Gothic entry by Martin & Chamberlain. Thomasons design was chosen however amendments to the art gallery entrance, the clock and tower are known locally as, Big Brum. Construction commenced on the building in 1874 when the first stone was laid by the then mayor Joseph Chamberlain, the building was completed in 1879 and cost £163,000. A debate was held to decide upon the name of the building with the options being The Municipal Hall, the Council House was extended almost immediately, 1881–85. The architect was again Yeoville Thomason and this was a combined Art Gallery and the home of the corporations Gas Department whose budget subsidised the building as legislation limited the expenditure of ratepayers taxes on the arts. Above the main entrance, which faces Victoria Square, is a mosaic by Salviati Burke, above that, the pediment shows Britannia receiving the manufacturers of Birmingham. The carved decoration on the entablature includes green men, on 9 August 1902, The Council House, along with the Town Hall, was illuminated in celebration of the coronation of King Edward VII. The Council House was extended a second time 1911-1919 by the building of a new block to the north and connected to it by an intricately designed archway. The archway or bridge resembles slightly The Bridge of Sighs in Venice. This contains much of the Museum and Art Gallery and, on its ground floor, many memorials are housed within the Council House
10.
Government of Birmingham
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This article is about the Government of Birmingham, England. Most of Birmingham was historically a part of Warwickshire, though the city also includes villages. Until the 1760s, Birmingham was administered by manorial and parish officials, most of whom served on a part-time, by the 1760s the population growth of Birmingham made this system completely inadequate, and salaried officials were needed. In 1768, a body of Commissioners of the Streets was established who had powers to levy a rate for such as cleaning. They were later given powers to provide policing and build public buildings, the Reform Act of 1832 gave Birmingham its first representation in Parliament initially with only two MPs but this has been gradually expanded. Birmingham gained the status of a borough in 1838 and gained its first elected town council which took over the functions of the Street Commissioners. In 1889, it became a county borough and a city and this remained unchanged until 1974 when Birmingham became a metropolitan district of the newly created West Midlands county under the West Midlands County Council. The county council was abolished in 1986 and Birmingham effectively reverted to being a unitary authority although sharing some services with other authorities in the county, a Birmingham coat of arms was awarded to the corporation in 1889 and updated for the city council in 1977. In the past, the council has been responsible for water, electricity and gas supply, further education colleges, public transport and local police, all are now in the hands of other public- or private- sector bodies. Birminghams boundaries were expanded at times during the 19th and 20th centuries. Birmingham was incorporated as a borough in 1838. The borough initially included the parishes of Birmingham and Edgbaston and part of the parish of Aston, in 1889, the municipal borough of Birmingham was reconstituted as a county borough. It was expanded in 1891 under the City of Birmingham Extension Order by adding Harborne from Staffordshire and Balsall Heath from Worcestershire, as well as Saltley, quinton in Worcestershire was added in 1909. Perry Barr in Staffordshire was added in 1928, in 1931, parts of the parishes of Minworth, Castle Bromwich, Sheldon and a tiny part of Solihull were added, including the area of Castle Vale, then known as Berwood. The council headquarters are based at the Council House in the city centre, Birmingham City Council is responsible for running nearly all local services, with the exception of those run by joint boards as detailed below. The provision of services has in recent years been devolved to several Districts. From 5 April 2004, responsibility and budgets for a number of services were devolved to 11 district committees, from 1 June 2006 the districts were reduced from 11 to 10 in order to correspond with the revised Westminster constituency boundaries, and renamed council constituencies. In November 2014, it was announced Birmingham was to create a combined authority with the four neighbouring boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, coventry and Solihull later joined, making the entire West Midlands county involved
11.
Birmingham
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Birmingham is a major city and metropolitan borough of West Midlands, England lying on the River Rea, a small river that runs through Birmingham. It is the largest and most populous British city outside London, the city is in the West Midlands Built-up Area, the third most populous urban area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2,440,986 at the 2011 census. Birminghams metropolitan area is the second most populous in the UK with a population of 3.8 million and this also makes Birmingham the 8th most populous metropolitan area in Europe. By 1791 it was being hailed as the first manufacturing town in the world, perhaps the most important invention in British history, the industrial steam engine, was invented in Birmingham. From the summer of 1940 to the spring of 1943, Birmingham was bombed heavily by the German Luftwaffe in what is known as the Birmingham Blitz. The damage done to the infrastructure, in addition to a deliberate policy of demolition and new building by planners, led to extensive demolition. Today Birminghams economy is dominated by the service sector and its metropolitan economy is the second largest in the United Kingdom with a GDP of $121. 1bn, and its six universities make it the largest centre of higher education in the country outside London. Birmingham is the fourth-most visited city in the UK by foreign visitors, Birminghams sporting heritage can be felt worldwide, with the concept of the Football League and lawn tennis both originating from the city. Its most successful football club Aston Villa has won seven league titles, people from Birmingham are called Brummies, a term derived from the citys nickname of Brum. This originates from the citys name, Brummagem, which may in turn have been derived from one of the citys earlier names. There is a distinctive Brummie accent and dialect, Birminghams early history is that of a remote and marginal area. The main centres of population, power and wealth in the pre-industrial English Midlands lay in the fertile and accessible river valleys of the Trent, the Severn and the Avon. The area of modern Birmingham lay in between, on the upland Birmingham Plateau and within the wooded and sparsely populated Forest of Arden. Birmingham as a settlement dates from the Anglo-Saxon era, within a century of the charter Birmingham had grown into a prosperous urban centre of merchants and craftsmen. By 1327 it was the third-largest town in Warwickshire, a position it would retain for the next 200 years, by 1700 Birminghams population had increased fifteenfold and the town was the fifth-largest in England and Wales. The importance of the manufacture of goods to Birminghams economy was recognised as early as 1538. Equally significant was the emerging role as a centre for the iron merchants who organised finance, supplied raw materials. The 18th century saw this tradition of free-thinking and collaboration blossom into the phenomenon now known as the Midlands Enlightenment
12.
Local government in England
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The pattern of local government in England is complex, with the distribution of functions varying according to the local arrangements. England has, since 1994 been subdivided into nine regions, below the region level and excluding London, England has two different patterns of local government in use. These councils are elected in separate elections, some areas have only one level of local government. Most of Greater London is governed by London borough councils, the City of London and the Isles of Scilly are sui generis authorities, pre-dating recent reforms of local government. There are 57 single tier authorities,55 unitary authorities The City of London Corporation The Council of the Isles of Scilly There are 34 upper tier authorities, the Inner Temple and Middle Temple are also local authorities for some purposes. Below the district level, a district may be divided into civil parishes. Typical activities undertaken by a parish council include allotments, parks, public clocks and they also have a consultative role in planning. Local councils tend not to exist in metropolitan areas but there is nothing to stop their establishment, for example, Birmingham has a parish, New Frankley. Parishes have not existed in Greater London since 1965, but from 2007 they could legally be created, in addition, among the rural parishes, two share a joint parish council and two have no council but are governed by an annual parish meeting. The current arrangement of local government in England is the result of a range of measures which have their origins in the municipal reform of the 19th century. During the 20th century, the structure of government was reformed and rationalised, with local government areas becoming fewer and larger. The way local authorities are funded has also been subject to periodic, Councils have historically had no split between executive and legislature. Functions are vested in the council itself, and then exercised usually by committees or subcommittees of the council, the post of leader was recognised, and leaders typically chair several important committees, but had no special authority. The chair of the council itself is a position with no real power. This pattern was based on that established for municipal boroughs by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, There was a small exception to this whereby smaller district councils can adopt a modified committee system. In 2012, principle councils began returning to Committee systems, under the Localism Act 2011, There are now 16 directly elected mayors, in districts where a referendum was in favour of them. Several of the mayors originally elected were independents, since May 2002, only a handful of referendums have been held, and they have mostly been negative, with only a few exceptions. The decision to have elected mayors in Hartlepool and Stoke-on-Trent were subsequently reversed when further referendums were held
13.
Charter of Incorporation
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A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. The word entered the English language from the Old French charte and it has come to be synonymous with the document that lays out the granting of rights or privileges. The term is used for a case to an institutional charter. A charter school, for example, is one that has different rules, regulations, charter is sometimes used as a synonym for tool or lease, as in the charter of a bus or boat or plane by an organization, intended for a similar group destination. A charter member of an organization is a member, that is. Anglo-Saxon Charters are documents from the medieval period in Britain which typically make a grant of land or record a privilege. They are usually written on parchment, in Latin but often with sections in the vernacular, describing the bounds of estates, the British Empire used three main types of colonies as it sought to expand its territory to distant parts of the earth. These three types were royal colonies, proprietary colonies, and corporate colonies, a charter colony by definition is a colony…chartered to an individual, trading company, etc. by the British crown. Although charter colonies were not the most prevalent of the three types of colonies in the British Empire, they were by no means insignificant, a congressional charter is a law passed by the United States Congress that states the mission, authority and activities of a group. Congress issued federal charters from 1791 until 1992 under Title 36 of the United States Code, a municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. Municipal incorporation occurs when such municipalities become self-governing entities under the laws of the state or province in which they are located, often, this event is marked by the award or declaration of a municipal charter. Charters for chivalric orders and other orders, such as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, in project management, a project charter or project definition is a statement of the scope, objectives and participants in a project. It provides a preliminary delineation of roles and responsibilities, outlines the objectives, identifies the main stakeholders. It serves as a reference of authority for the future of the project, in medieval Europe, royal charters were used to create cities. The date that such a charter was granted is considered to be when a city was founded, at one time a royal charter was the only way in which an incorporated body could be formed, but other means are generally now used instead
14.
Birmingham Town Hall
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Birmingham Town Hall is a Grade I listed concert hall and venue for popular assemblies opened in 1834 and situated in Victoria Square, Birmingham, England. The design was based on the proportions of the Temple of Castor, perfect and aloof on a tall, rusticated podium, it marked an entirely new concept in English architecture. The hall underwent a renovation between 2002 and 2008. Two sites were considered by the Birmingham Street Commissioners for the construction of a hall in the city, Bennetts Hill. Joseph Hansom, of Hansom cab fame, and Edward Welch were chosen as the architects, Hill of London was hired to build the 6,000 pipe organ for £6,000. Construction began on 27 April 1832 with a completion date of 1833. However, Hansom went bankrupt during construction, having tendered too low, the contractors were also losing money. Three guarantors donated money for the building, W. P. Lloyd, John Welch, with the injection of this money, the building was successfully opened for the delayed Music Festival on 7 October 1834, despite the building still being unfinished. During construction, on 26 January 1833, two workers were killed when a 70-foot crane constructed to install the roof trusses broke and the pulley block failed, John Heap died instantly and Win. Badger died a few days later from his injuries and they were buried in St Philips churchyard and a memorial, consisting of a pillar base made by one of the workmen for the Town Hall, was dedicated to them. Architect Charles Edge was commissioned in 1835 to repair weaknesses to the design of the building and he was also commissioned for the extension of the building in 1837 and again in 1850. Charles Dickens gave public readings here to raise money for the Birmingham and Midland Institute, sir Arthur Sullivans Overture di Ballo was also premièred here in August 1870, as part of the Triennial Musical Festival which commissioned new works for every season. The hall was the venue for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 1918 until 1991 when they moved to Symphony Hall. In November 1880, the Hall was filled to capacity for a Birmingham public protest meeting in support of Revd, richard Enraght, Vicar of Holy Trinity, Bordesley, who was imprisoned in Warwick Prison under the Disraeli Governments Public Worship Regulation Act. Popular music has featured, and in the 1960s and 1970s, headline acts such as Buddy Holly, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath. On 9 August 1902, the hall, along with the council house, was illuminated in celebration of the coronation of King Edward VII. It was illuminated again on 22 June 1911 for the coronation of King George V, in 1901, it was the scene of rioting on the occasion of a visit by David Lloyd George. It featured prominently in the 1967 Peter Watkins film Privilege and doubled for the Royal Albert Hall in 1996s Brassed Off, the pediment also had images of Britannia, supported by mermaids, which were sculpted by William Bloye
15.
Balsall Heath
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Balsall Heath is a working class, inner-city area of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. It has a cultural mix of people and is the location of the Balti Triangle. Balsall Heath was agricultural land between Moseley village and the city of Birmingham until the 1850s when expansion along Moseley Road joined the two. The area was part of the Worcestershire parish of Kings Norton. During negotiations in the year it had been promised a public baths. In 1895, the library was opened on Moseley Road and, in 1907, in 1900, the citys College of Art was also opened on Moseley Road. By this time the lake at the end of Ladypool Road had been filled in to create a park. Balsall Heath initially had an affluent population, which can still be seen in the dilapidated grandeur of some of the larger houses. A railway station on Brighton Road led to expansion. A Muslim community was started in June 1940 when two Yemenis purchased a cottage on Mary Street. With the mosque being located in the area, more Muslim immigrants began to move into private lodgings in Balsall Heath, today, Balsall Heath has one of the largest Muslim communities in Birmingham. It is also home to communities from across the Commonwealth. By the 1980s, many of Balsall Heaths houses were in a dilapidated condition, the local council considered demolishing these properties but chose to refurbish them as part of an urban renewal scheme. Most of these Victorian terraces still exist and, along more modern social housing. The areas traditional brick pavements were replaced at this time by the more modern, Balsall Heaths low rents also attracted a bohemian student population. Its proximity to the University of Birmingham, the city centre, there was little conflict between the students and locals despite their vastly differing lifestyles. However, a knife-incident in 1991 led to an article in Redbrick warning students not to live in the area, in July 2005, Balsall Heath was hit by a tornado, which devastated many buildings around Church Road and Ladypool Road. Birmingham City Council offered loans to those who would otherwise be unable to repair their properties, Street prostitution first appeared in Balsall Heath during the 1950s
16.
Harborne
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Harborne is an area of south-west Birmingham, England three miles southwest from Birmingham city centre. It is a Birmingham City Council ward in the formal district, as a parish, it covered an area of 3,300 acres,100 acres of which was of woodland and plantations. Harborne is a thriving and prosperous Victorian suburb with a stock of housing dating from pre-1900 found mainly around the High Street. The oldest part of what is known locally as Harborne Village is centred on St Peters Church, Old Church Road, there is also some evidence of a Roman fort around the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham and Metchley Park, near Harborne. The earliest written mention of Harborne is an entry in the Domesday Book of 1086, as a non-Quaker area of the city, Harborne became well-supplied with public houses compared to nearby areas such as Edgbaston and Bournville. There is a famous Harborne Run pub crawl consisting of from 10 to 15 pubs, the spelling of Harborne has appeared with several variations through the centuries, and the derivation of the place name has often been disputed. One of the more probable suggestions is boundary brook, although high brow, St Mary’s Church was the first Roman Catholic congregation formed by the Passionists who worshiped in a disused Methodist Chapel on Harborne High Street from 1870. Building work started on the current church, in Vivian Road, on 8 September 1875 and it opened on 6 February 1877. The Augustinians arrived at St Mary’s in 1973 to a growing population and work on a new church, attached to the side of the old church. The St Marys Parish Centre was opened in 1990 and is next door to the church, Harborne became part of the county borough of Birmingham and thus transferred from Staffordshire to Warwickshire in 1891 by the Local Govt. It then became part of the West Midlands in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, Harborne railway station, at the end of the short Harborne Branch Line off the LMS Birmingham-Wolverhampton line at Ladywood, opened on 10 August 1874. It closed to passengers on 26 November 1934 and to traffic in November 1963. It is now the Harborne Walkway, a nature walk and cycling route from Harborne to Ladywood. The 2001 census revealed that 21,070 lived in Harborne, the minority ethnic population made up 22. 0% of the ward’s population, compared with 29. 6% for Birmingham. 61. 3% of households were occupied and 17. 6% were rented from either the local authority. The remaining 21. 1% of households rented privately or lived rent free, the census found that 66. 0% of the population aged 16 to 74 were working or seeking work, this compared with 60. 4% for Birmingham. Many residents of the area are academics from the nearby University of Birmingham, there are four secondary schools in Harborne, Baskerville School, Harborne Academy, Lordswood Boys School and Lordswood Girls School. There are five schools, Birmingham Blue Coat School, Harborne Primary School, Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Primary School, St Marys Catholic Primary School
17.
Aston Manor
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Aston Manor was a local government district in what is now northern Birmingham, from the 19th century to 1911, when it was added to Birmingham. The Aston Manor Local Board of Health was formed in 1869 and it became an urban sanitary district in 1875, and then under the Local Government Act 1894 became an urban district with a directly elected council. Aston Manor covered the area known as Aston, including Aston Park. It was immediately to the north of the county borough of Birmingham, Aston Manor was granted a charter of incorporation to become a municipal borough in 1903. The census of 1911 recorded a population of around 75,000 in the borough, enough for it to become a county borough in its own right and it instead was added to the county borough of Birmingham that year. Victor Johnson, was a track cycling racer who, in 1908 and he became World Amateur Sprint Champion in Germany and the British National Quarter-mile Champion
18.
King's Norton and Northfield Urban District
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Kings Norton and Northfield Urban District was a local government administrative district in north Worcestershire, England, from 1898 until 1911. It was later reconstituted as a district on 1 October 1898, by the Local Government Board Order. 38,127, and was renamed the Kings Norton. However, from May 1898 onwards, the Baths & Parks Sub-Committee ceased to exist, the Committee was formed on 1 June 1903, and consisted of 40 members, of whom 28 were District Councillors. The Committee had distinct sub-committees for the areas of the District, Kings Norton & Stirchley, Moseley & Kings Heath, Wythall & Beoley, Northfield. According to the 1911 census the District had a population of 81,153, large enough to become a county borough
19.
Solihull
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Solihull is a town in the West Midlands of England with a population of 206,700 in the 2011 Census. Historically in Warwickshire, it is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and it is the largest town in, and administrative centre of, the larger Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, which itself has a population of 209,890. Solihull is one of the most affluent areas outside of London, in November 2013, the uSwitch Quality of Life Index named Solihull the best place to live in the United Kingdom. Residents of Solihull and those born in the town are referred to as Silhillians, the motto of Solihull is Urbs in Rure. Solihulls name is thought to have derived from the position of its parish church, St Alphege. The church was built on a hill of red marl. The town is noted for its architecture, which includes surviving examples of timber framed Tudor style houses. The historic Solihull School dates from 1560 and it is located at the head of High Street and is a Grade I listed building. It was founded in about 1220 by Hugh de Oddingsell, a chantry chapel was also founded there by Sir William de Oddingsell in 1277 and the upper chapel in St Alphege was built for a chantry. Unlike nearby Birmingham, the Industrial Revolution largely passed Solihull by, world War II also nearly passed Solihull by. In 1901, the population of the town was just 7,500, until the early 1960s, the main high street remained much as it would have been in the late 19th century with several streets of Victorian terraced houses linking High Street with Warwick Road. On the right along High Street from St Alpheges Church porch is one of the towns oldest landmarks, the George and it is now called the Ramada Jarvis Hotel. Arden Golf Club, Solihull, was founded in 1891, the course was still appearing on maps into the 1930s. Due to its growth, Solihull was promoted from a district to a municipal borough. In 1964, Solihull became a county borough and on occasion the Queen bestowed the honour. In 1974, the Solihull county borough was merged with the district surrounding Meriden to form the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull. This also includes the known as Shirley, Knowle, Dorridge, Balsall Common, Castle Bromwich. The member of parliament for the Solihull constituency is Conservative Julian Knight, each ward is represented by three councillors at Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, making a total of 51 councillors
20.
Castle Bromwich
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Castle Bromwich is a suburb situated within the northern part of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the English county of the West Midlands. It constitutes a parish which had a population of 11,857 according to the 2001 census. It was a parish within the Meriden Rural District of Warwickshire until the Local Government Act 1972 came into force in 1974. In 1861, the population was 613 and this rose to just over 1,000 in the 1920s, when half of the original parish was ceded to the City of Birmingham for the construction of overspill estates. This caused a drop to 678, Post Second World War estate building in Castle Bromwich increased the population to 4,356 in 1951,9,205 in 1961 and 15,941 in 1971. The parish was split into two, resulting in the lower 2001 figures. Castle Bromwich was originally a Warwickshire village, there has been a settlement here since before Stone Age times. There is evidence that the area was first settled some 5,000 years ago, romans, Saxons and Normans have also settled on this raised piece of land close to a natural ford across the river Tame. The Chester Road which runs through the village follows the line of a road called the Welsh Road. Bromwich is not named in the Domesday Book in 1086 yet was located within the ancient hundred of Coleshill, Bromwich comes from the old words brom for the yellow flowering broom which grows here and wich an ancient name for a dwelling or settlement. The Pimple commanded the important crossing place of the River Tame and it still remains today, somewhat reduced, sandwiched between the M6 and the Collector Road. There was an archaeological dig of the area prior to the development of the Pimple site. The Pimple was the highest point of a fortification that encompassed most of Castle Bromwich. The land between the Pimple and Kyters Lane was particularly well defended by several ridge and furrow workings, indeed, Kyters Lane, other ditches were excavated between Kyters Lane and the Pimple but nothing of consequence was found. Modern houses now occupy the site and overlook the graveyard, the ridge and furrows have been completely obliterated. There is a view over Castle Vale and the Tame valley from the top of the hill. During the 18th century Castle Bromwich was an important place at the junction of two turnpike roads, Chester Road, an old Roman way which ran from London to Chester, joined the Birmingham to Coleshill road near Castle Bromwich Hall. There was a gate at the junction of Chester Road, School Lane and Old Croft Lane
21.
Minworth
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Minworth is a village in Sutton Coldfield on the outskirts of Birmingham, England. It is located near Walmley, Wishaw, Warwickshire, Curdworth, Erdington, Water Orton, Thimble End, a large Asda Supercentre is situated on the Minworth border with Walmley. This opened on 3 May 1977 as a Carrefour hypermarket, before being taken over by the Dee Corporation that owned Gateway Foodmarkets and the larger Gateway Superstores in 1987. Since late 1989 it has been an Asda hypermarket, which after Asda was taken over by Walmart in 1999 was branded as an Asda Wal*Mart Supercentre in 2001, the original store still remains there today. However, the interior of the store was remodelled and more or less rebuilt. The exterior was refreshed and from 2008, the store signage was changed to Asda Supercentre. The site also has a Wickes, there is a Homebase on the adjacent site and a Screwfix opposite. Minworth has two pubs, The Hare and Hounds and The Boat, which lies on the Birmingham, Minworth Social Club is on Water Orton Lane. Navpreets Convenience is a local shop on Kingsbury Road and opposite this is Mansells offering MOTs and repair services for motorcycles, bicycles. Motorcycle training is provided by Spirit Rider on the Kingsbury Road and further motorcycle repair services are provided by Flying on Wings Motorcycle Repair, also nearby are, Chili Spice Indian takeaway and Hullternative environmental services. On Forge Lane and Maybrook Road there are industrial units including, Selecta, steelworks, Cooke & Son, Speedy, Safestyle UK, at Midpoint Park there are premises for, The Works, Cadbury, Hozelock and a paper company. There is also an American Auto Center offering specialist services for US vehicles, the site includes a digester plant to generate biogas, fuelling the plant. Minworths name probably came from Mynnas Estate, Minworth and Curdworth both originated in the 6th or 7th centuries, being established by Angle settlers, and are historically associated with the Arden family. Peddimore Hall is a farmstead and can be associated with the Ardens from 1298 until 1659. The present farmhouse can be dated to the 16th century, Minworth was originally a hamlet in the parish of Curdworth in the hundred of Hemlingford. Minworth then became a parish in the Castle Bromwich Rural District of Warwickshire from 1894 to 1912. In 1931 the parish was abolished, with the parts being split between Sutton Coldfield and Birmingham, and an area of unpopulated land going to Castle Bromwich parish. Plans to revitalise Minworth in the past have met with a cool reception, a council plan aimed to construct new housing, shops and encourage new industry into the area
22.
Sheldon, West Midlands
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Sheldon is an area of east Birmingham, England. Historically part of Warwickshire, it is close to the border with the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, Sheldon is also one of the 40 electoral wards in Birmingham, and one of the four wards that make up the council constituency of Yardley. It covers an area of 6.03 km², areas covered by the ward are Lyndon Green, Wells Green, Sheldon and part of Garretts Green. Sheldon was mentioned in the Domesday Book as Machitone, meaning Maccas farm, a Mackadown Farm existed in the area until the World War I, however, it is only remembered through Mackadown Lane, a residential road. According to the 2001 UK Census there were 20,129 people living in 9,140 households in Sheldon with a density of 3,481 people per km² compared with 3,649 people per km² for Birmingham. Sheldon has a low percentage of minorities in its population with only 5. 9% being of an ethnic minority compared with 29. 6% for Birmingham in general. The population had increased to 21,817 at the 2011 Census, housing in the area primarily dates back to the 1930s. The area benefits from Sheldon Country Park which is adjacent to Birmingham International Airport and is served by shops and businesses situated along the busy A45. This road acts as one of the citys primary gateways from Coventry, there are two secondary schools serving the area, Cockshut Hill Technology College and King Edward VI Sheldon Heath Academy. There are five schools, one of which is Roman Catholic. Sheldon Library also serves the area, as of 2005, the three councillors representing Sheldon Ward on Birmingham City Council are Sue Anderson, Paul Tilsley and Mike Ward, all of the Liberal Democrat Party. The ward has adopted a Ward Support Officer, rev. Thomas Bray, founder of the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge, was Rector of Sheldon. Howard Brown, branch manager for the Halifax bank, won a competition to appear in their advertisements, was born. Kevin Warwick, professor of cybernetics lived there in the 1970s, in the latter part of this time he studied at Aston University. Andre Marriner, a Premier League football referee
23.
Bromsgrove District
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Bromsgrove is a local government district in Worcestershire, England. Its council is based in the town of Bromsgrove and it borders the built up area of Birmingham to the north. Other places in the district include Alvechurch, Aston Fields, Belbroughton, Catshill, Clent, Hagley, Rubery, Stoke Prior, the current district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Bromsgrove urban district and Bromsgrove Rural District. The following table illustrates the change in the population between 1801 and 2011. Bromsgrove railway station is the station for the centre of the district. Road travel, especially to Birmingham, is important in the district. Barnt Green railway station and Alvechurch railway station are on the line to Redditch, Hagley railway station and Wythall railway station are also on lines leading into Birmingham, which pass through the edges of the district
24.
Martineau family
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The Martineau Family is a political dynasty associated mainly with Birmingham, England. Several of its members have been Lord Mayor of Englands second city, the family were prominent Unitarians, to the extent that a room in Londons Essex Hall, the headquarters building of the British Unitarians, was named after them. Several of the Martineaus are buried in Key Hill Cemetery, either in the grave or separately. The Martineaus came from a Huguenot immigrant background, and were noted in the medical, intellectual, the founder, Gaston Martineau, was a surgeon in Dieppe, and moved to Norwich after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes of 1685. They were initially Calvinist dissenters, who brought their children up as bilingual in French, gastons grandson David Martineau II was the third generation of surgeons, and had five sons who made up the male line of Martineaus. By the fourth generation the family was divided into Anglicans and Unitarians, the eldest of the five sons was Philip Meadows Martineau. A surgeon, Martineau was one of the most distinguished lithotomists of his day, from the ruins of Carrow Abbey, Martineau also constructed on his estate a small gothic priory with windows of ancient stained glass. By 1879, this estate had been sold, the second son, David Martineau, was a dyer who went into the sugar business. The third, Peter Finch Martineau, was a dyer in Norwich, the fourth son, John Martineau of Stamford Hill, had 14 children, including John Martineau the engineer. The fifth son, Thomas, is mentioned below, Thomas Martineau, a manufacturer of textiles, was the fifth son of David Martineau II. He spent his life in Norwich, where he was a deacon of its Unitarian church, Thomas died on 21 June 1826 and is buried at Rosary Cemetery, the first non-denominational burial ground in the United Kingdom. Thomas and Elizabeth Martineaus eldest child was a daughter, Elizabeth, who married Dr Thomas Greenhow, a doctor in Newcastle. The Greenhows daughter Frances married into the Lupton family of Leeds, Frances was an educationalist and worked to expand educational opportunities for girls. Their eldest son was Thomas, a surgeon who founded an eye infirmary, now part of the Norfolk. Thomas and Elizabeth Martineaus son Robert became a magistrate, town councillor and he hired John Barnsley to build a mansion in Edgbaston, with a large wing for his mother, who lived there till her death in 1848, and another for his own family. Barnsley had already built most of Birminghams grand Victorian and Edwardian public buildings and their best known child was their sixth, Harriet, the political author and a pioneer sociologist. She sometimes stayed with her mother and her brother Robert. The three of them, and other members of the family, are buried together in the Martineau vault at the Key Hill Cemetery and their seventh child, James, was a religious philosopher and a professor at Manchester New College
25.
Lin Homer
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Dame Linda Lin Margaret Homer DCB is a retired British civil servant who served as chief executive of HM Revenue and Customs between 2012 and 2016. Homer was born in Sheringham, Norfolk, and educated in Beccles, Suffolk at Sir John Leman High School and she attended University College London, where she obtained an LLB degree. Homer qualified as a lawyer in 1980 whilst at Reading Borough Council, in 1982, she joined Hertfordshire County Council where she stayed for 15 years, rising to director of corporate services. She then left to join Suffolk County Council as chief executive in 1998, after four years at Suffolk, Homer went on to be the chief executive of Birmingham City Council in 2002 and joined the civil service in 2005. Homer defended her role to the Election Commission, saying she had been in strategic, not operational control, Homer resigned from her post shortly afterwards, joining the civil service as the Director-General heading the Immigration and Nationality Directorate of the Home Office, in August 2005. The Home Office was re-organised in 2008, with the formation of the Border and Immigration Agency, later renamed the UK Border Agency, of which Homer became the first chief executive. In 2013, Homers tenure at UKBA was criticised for its catastrophic leadership failure by the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, Committee chairman Keith Vaz said her performance was more like the scene of a Whitehall farce than a government agency operating in the 21st century. In 2010 it was announced that Homer would replace Robert Devereux as Permanent Secretary of the Department for Transport, while serving in this role, the Department dealt with the controversial franchise letting process for West Coast Mainline rail network. Homer was among officials accused by Sir Richard Branson, head of Virgin Trains, of ignoring concerns about the letting process, in December 2011 it was announced that Homer would succeed Lesley Strathie as Chief Executive of HM Revenue and Customs. Homers appointment to head of HMRC prompted criticism centred on her record in previous positions, however, her appointment was supported by David Gauke, the Exchequer Secretary to the UK Treasury, who said, She is a highly effective chief executive and the right person to lead HMRC. As of 2015, Homer was paid a salary of between £185,000 and £189,999 by the department, making her one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time. On 11 January 2016, Homer announced she would retire from her post as executive of HMRC in April of that year. Reviewing her performance following another summons by the Public Accounts Committee, just before retirement and she was succeeded by Jon Thompson. Homer was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 2008 Birthday Honours, Linda Margaret Homer Linda Margaret Homer CB Dame Linda Margaret Homer DCB
26.
Albert Bore
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Sir Albert Bore is a British nuclear physicist, academic and Labour Party politician. Bore has a doctorate in nuclear physics from the University of Birmingham. He has served as a member of Birmingham City Council for Ladywood ward since 1980 and he led the Labour Party group between 1999 and 2015, serving as Leader of the Council from 1999 to 2004 and from 2012 to 2015. On 22 October 2015, Bore resigned as Leader effective 1 December, Bore moved to Birmingham in 1969 to study for a doctorate in nuclear reactor physics at the University of Birmingham. He was a lecturer in physics at Aston University from 1974 to 1999. In addition to his PhD, he holds a doctorate from the University of Aston. In 1980, Bore was elected to Birmingham City Council from the Ladywood ward and he has been re-elected ever since and is the longest-serving member of the Council. Bore has been a proponent of devolution and localism agendas in local governance since entering politics in 1974. He has published and lectured widely across Europe and internationally on the subject of city-building, urban renewal, devolution and he was the Chair of the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. He is an elected Member of the European Unions Committee of the Regions and he is a Director of the Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership. He stood for Birmingham Selly Oak in the 1987 general election, as Chair of Economic Development and Leader of Birmingham City Council, he was responsible for shaping the major social and economic regeneration of Birmingham during the 1980s and 1990s. This included the negotiation and delivery of one of the first public private partnerships in the UK with the then Conservative government, in 1986 Bore formed the Eurocities network between the cities of Birmingham, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Milan, Lyon and Rotterdam. From 1999-2004 he was a member of the West Midlands Regional Development Agency. In 1995 he was acquitted of assault after she accused him of throwing coffee in her face, in 2002, Bore met Victoria Quinn in Brussels as he attended the Committee of the Regions. They began dating shortly after, married in 2014, Albert also has a daughter, Kirsti Bore, from his first marriage. Quinn is also a Councillor, for the Sparkbrook ward, to which she was elected in a November 2011 by-election to succeed Salma Yaqoob, Bore was knighted in the 2002 New Year honours for services to local government
27.
Electoral fraud
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Electoral fraud, election manipulation, or vote rigging is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about a result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates. What constitutes electoral fraud under law varies from country to country, many kinds of election fraud are outlawed in electoral legislation, but others are in violation of general laws, such as those banning assault, harassment or libel. Show elections, in only one candidate can win, are sometimes classified as electoral fraud. In national elections, successful electoral fraud can have the effect of a coup détat or corruption of democracy, in a narrow election, a small amount of fraud may be enough to change the result. Even if the outcome is not affected, revelation of fraud can have an effect, if not punished. A list of threats to voting systems, or electoral fraud methods considered as sabotage, is kept by the National Institute of Standards, Electoral fraud can occur in advance of voting if the composition of the electorate is altered. The legality of this type of manipulation varies across jurisdictions, deliberate manipulation of election outcomes is widely considered a violation of the principles of democracy. In many cases it is possible for authorities to control the composition of an electorate in order to produce a foregone result. One way of doing this is to move a number of voters into the electorate prior to an election. Many countries prevent this with rules stipulating that a voter must have lived in a district for a minimum period in order to be eligible to vote there. However, such laws can also be used for demographic manipulation as they tend to disenfranchise those with no fixed address, such as the homeless, travelers, Roma, students, another strategy is to permanently move people into an electoral district, usually through public housing. One notable example of this occurred in the City of Westminster in England under Shirley Porter, immigration law may also be used to manipulate electoral demography. A method of manipulating primary contests and other elections of party leaders is related to this, people who support one party may temporarily join another party in order to elect a weak candidate for that partys leadership. The goal ultimately is defeat of the candidate in the general election by the leader of the party that the voter truly supports. The composition of an electorate may also be altered by disenfranchising some classes of people, from the turn of the century into the late 1960s, most African Americans in the southern states of the former Confederacy were disenfranchised by such measures. Compared to most European nations, many states in the US have much more severe laws that prevent convicted felons who have served their sentences from ever voting again, groups may also be disenfranchised by rules which make it impractical or impossible for them to cast a vote. Communities may also be effectively disenfranchised if polling places are situated in areas perceived by voters as unsafe, in some cases voters may be invalidly disenfranchised, which is true electoral fraud
28.
Absentee ballot
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An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable or unwilling to attend the official polling station to which the voter is normally allocated. Numerous methods have been devised to facilitate this, the reasons for allocating voters to specific polling stations are generally logistical. In the electoral terminology of some countries, such as Australia, Early voting, proxy voting or postal voting are separate concepts in these countries. To cast a vote, the user appoints someone as their proxy. The proxy must be trusted by the voter, as in a secret there is no way of verifying that they voted for the correct candidate. In an attempt to solve this, it is not uncommon for people to nominate an official of their party as their proxy. Corporations and organizations routinely use Internet voting to elect officers and Board members, Internet voting systems have been used privately in many modern nations and publicly in the United States, France, the UK, Switzerland and Estonia. Several cantons have run pilot programs to allow citizens to vote via the Internet since 2001, approval of the pilot experience has led to the expansion of the program to include an additional canton and Swiss living abroad. Voters obtain their passwords to access the ballot through the postal service, most voters in Estonia can cast their vote in local and parliamentary elections, if they want to, via the Internet, as most of those on the electoral roll have access to an e-voting system. All a voter needs is a computer, a card reader, their ID card and its PIN. Estonian e-votes can only be cast during the days of advance voting, on Election Day itself people have to go to polling stations and fill in a paper ballot. Ballots are sent via email to the Johnson Spaceflight Center. In Australia the term absentee ballot refers specifically to the procedure used when a voter attends a place which is not in the electoral district in which they are registered to vote. Postal voting and early voting are separate procedures also available to voters who would not be in their electoral districts on a voting day. In all German elections, postal votes are available on demand, the requirement for an excuse has been removed in 2008 for elections on the federal level. As of now, India does not have a ballot system for all citizens. Section 20 of the RPA-1950 disqualifies a non-resident Indian from getting his/her name registered in the electoral rolls, consequently, it also prevents an NRI from casting his/her vote in elections to the Parliament and to the State Legislatures. In August 2010, Representation of the People Bill-2010 which allows voting rights to NRIs was passed in both Lok Sabha with subsequent gazette notifications on Nov 24,2010
29.
People's Justice Party (UK)
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The Peoples Justice Party was a minor political party in the United Kingdom from 1998 to 2006. It was formed in 1998 and grew out of Justice for Kashmir and it operated mainly in the Birmingham area, where it won a few council seats from the Labour Party, drawing its support mainly from the sizable Kashmiri population in the city. The party platform was based on an appeal for votes on two fronts, local and international, indeed, it was that very issue that prompted their formation—before being named Justice for Kashmir, the group was entitled, the Free Riaz and Quayyam Campaign. The PJP was also active in the activity at the time of the American led campaign against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The PJP was led on Birmingham City Council by Shaukat Ali Khan, Ali Khan was formerly a member of the Labour Party, as were many other PJP members. It claimed to be a secular organisation, the party was dissolved in March 2006, with many of its members, including both councillors, joining the Liberal Democrats. The founder member was Mr Allah Dita Khan and Mr Skintaj, Council Lib Dems joined by PJP pair News announcing the disbanding of the Peoples Justice Party and its joining the Liberal Democrats 13 March 2006
30.
United Kingdom local elections, 2006
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Local government elections took place in England on Thursday 4 May 2006. Polling stations were open between 7,00 and 22,00, all London borough council seats were up for election, as well as a third of the seats on each of the metropolitan borough councils, and a third of some unitary authorities and shire districts. Several councils elected half of their seats, these were Adur, Cheltenham, Fareham, Gosport, Hastings, Nuneaton and Bedworth, local elections follow a four-year cycle, and the 2006 election was the follow-on from the 2002 elections. Mayoral contests were held in the London boroughs of Hackney, Lewisham and Newham, crewe and Nantwich held a referendum on the issue of whether or not to have a directly elected mayor. This was the first set of elections since David Cameron was elected leader of the Conservative Party, the Conservatives strengthened their position as the largest party in local government, making headway against Labour. Note, Figures for number of councils and councillors is only in regard to those councils up for election in 2006, turnout was 36%, compared to 40% in 2004 and 33% in 2002. The Conservatives would suffer a decrease in the vote share of 4% leaving them with 33%. The Liberal Democrats would increase their share by 2% to 29%. This prediction may be seen to be almost entirely inaccurate, in an analysis for the Sunday Times, psephologists Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, of the University of Plymouth, produced an estimate of the national share of the vote. Labours Catherine Grundy did so, and was declared the rightful winner, in Crawley, after three recounts, one result showed 500 votes for the Labour candidate and 500 for the Conservative. As per electoral law, the candidates subsequently drew lots, the Conservative candidate Adam G. Brown won, giving his party a majority and switching the council from Labour to Conservative control for the first time since 1971. Another count was tied in St Albans, this time between Conservative and Lib Dem candidates on 1131 votes each, the candidates drew lots with the Lib Dems winning, giving them a majority on the local council. In Chester the Conservatives were in place in one ward, with around only 20% of the votes, however they managed to win the seat with a majority of around 20%. Their vote increased by over 110%, and was believed to be one of the largest increases in vote share in the country, the Liberal Democrats campaign launch was held on 3 April 2006 and was led by Sir Menzies Campbell MP. Respect launched their election manifesto on 10 April 2006 calling the elections a referendum on New Labour. The Greens launched their campaign on 11 April 2006, having announced that 1,300 candidates will be standing across the country. The BNP launched their election manifesto on 14 April 2006, the Conservatives launched their campaign on 18 April. David Cameron, Eric Pickles, Caroline Spelman and Peter Ainsworth fronted a press conference focused on environmental issues
