If there’s one idea every editor should nick and copy next year, it’s this one from the Birmingham Post…

Late last year, the Birmingham Post came up with what I think is one of the cleverest features to be invented by a local news brand in a long time. ‘Hidden Spaces’ was a photographic project which showed people hidden corners of Birmingham, arranging access to places which were off-limits to the public. It was

FOI Friday: Hospital parking, strange police phone calls, cheating students and criminals applying to work in schools

Toilet seats and compensation < < < Birmingham Mail A WORKER sued Birmingham City Council and won £1,750 after a toilet seat collapsed causing him injuries, it has emerged. The man was one of 274 successful claims in the last five years leaving taxpayers with a bill of almost £5 million. Trips, exposure to deadly asbestos

FOI Friday: Bad living conditions, school repair backlogs, teen drug dealers and the return of schoolyard compo

  Revealing the findings of ‘neighbourhood renewal assessments’ – Stoke Sentinel Here’s one which could run and run across the country. The Stoke Sentinel reports on the findings of a council ‘neighbourhood renewal assessment’ – the likes of which are carried out by councils all over the place. A NEW report has painted a sobering

FOI Friday: Council workers earning less than a living wage, mental health wards and publicly-funded competitions

From revealing the impact of hospital ward closures to the number of people working for councils below a living wage – here are 10 FOI ideas from around the country

FOI Friday: Private detectives, bus lanes, stray dogs and mental health abscondees

Spending on private detectives A different take on how councils snoop on people – how much one council spent on hiring private detectives. Answer: £100,000 at Carmarthenshire Council, reports the Swansea Evening Post. Bus lane fines Fed up of FOI requests about speeding tickets or parking fines? How about asking how many bus lane infringements

Phone hacking: The next developments revealed?

Here’s my prediction for the weekend: There will be a lot of stuff written about phone hacking. Who said I’ve not my finger on the pulse? In all seriousness, if there’s one piece you take the time to read this weekend, it should be Birmingham Post political editor Jonathan Walker’s interview with West Bromwich MP

NHS secrecy breakthrough: You shall go to Foundation Trust board meetings

I should have picked up on this sooner, but I’ve been rather distracted over the last week by the birth of my baby daughter. Anyway, about three weeks ago I blogged on the potential threats to information access caused by the NHS reforms. The threats are three-fold: 1. The abolition of Primary Care Trusts –

FOI Friday: Councils charging for phone calls, ministerial visits, school away days and abuse by carers

This week’s FOI Friday includes three at the bottom which I think could end up running and running all summer long… 1. Details behind hoax calls (Coventry Times) Why would you use FOI to get details about fire brigade hoax calls when the fire brigade is normally so happy to help on this issue? Well,

FOI Friday: Custard spills, charity finances, twocking – and an important breakthrough

Regional Development Agency assets An important precedent has hopefully been set this week by the Birmingham Post when it comes to FOI. Regional Development Agencies were a relatively late addition to FOI coverage, and since their demise was announced, some have been reluctant to reveal how much they are selling their assets for. The Birmingham

Data: Knowing your means from your medians, and why you should tell the reader

The Birmingham Post recently delved into the Annual Survey of Earnings, reporting on how average salaries were changing. Not surprisingly, many people had seen their salaries fall. It’s a fascinating data set to explore, slicing and dicing the data into regions, professions, gender, local authorities, constituencies and percentiles within earnings – to name but a