Blogs from the Blackstuff

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Professor John Clancy and Professor David Bailey

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Blogs from the Blackstuff

Blogs from the Blackstuff

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Professor David Bailey and Professor John Clancy

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Cymru, United Kingdom and Birmingham, United Kingdom

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email@blogsfromthebackstuff.com

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22nd January 2026
Stairway to scandal:
How £1.1 billion of taxpayers' money was handed over by West Midlands Pension Fund in management expenses

Bradford v. Wolverhampton
Bradford wins by £1.5 billion
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13th January 2026
When you’ve filled in the hole - stop digging:
West Midlands Pension Fund finds £1.1 billion down the back of the sofa

Pump up the surplus!
Does Birmingham have a £3.5B pension fund surplus?

2nd January 2026
West Midlands Pension Fund insider spills the beans:
an £11 billion surplus.

Open warfare at the West Midlands Pension Fund.
It's 200% funded!

31st December 2025
Carry on Birmingham!
Its £14 million deficit reduction repayments...for a deficit which doesn't exist!

And it's still paying, even though The Chief Commissioner knows it doesn't exist.

24th December 2025
Pension Fund Nightmare Before Christmas
£1.9 Billion wake-up call for Birmingham.

Chief Commisioner McArdle must act. Now.

18th September 2025
PostcodeChecker
Every West Midlands' neighbourhood
How much have their schools, FE Colleges, Unis, Councils,police and fire services lost in services
to feed the Regional Pension Fund's £4.3Billion Surplus?
Average neighbourhood owed £12million

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10th September 2025
Back to school scandal:
Classroom chaos as
£1Billion lost from School spending,
£200million lost from FE College spending, and
£250million lost from Universities spending

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Official: a £684 million Pension Fund surplus in Birmingham City Council Accounts 2025
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Birmingham City Council IS owed at least £1.3Billion by its pension fund.

Chief Commissioner has lost all authority

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Feb 27th 2025

The Birmingham Children's Cost (Part Two)

Time for The Birmingham Children's Trust to assert operational independence

Feb 24th 2025

The Birmingham Children's Cost (Part One)

Caller's and Cotton's cruellest cuts – be a voice for the children instead, Labour

Jan 24th 2025

Letter to the Deputy Prime Minister

Our letter to the Angela Rayner calling for specific intervention in Birmingham to halt 100s of £millions of unnecessary further overpayments to its pension fund, and stop £200 million worth of cuts

Jan 8th 2025

Happy New Year from Birmingham City Council - to all our pension fund investment managers!

Birmingham City Council agrees to increase the expenses of its Pension Fund investment managers to £35.5 million a year, or £3 million a month, whilst agreeing massive cuts to services.

Dec 29 2024

Chief Commissioner Caller in the gutter

Unable and unwilling to understand the basics of council pension funds, its Gove-imposed Chief commissioner resorts to insults, and enforces cuts whilst ignoring hundreds of £millions due back from the pension fund.

Dec 17th 2024

Here's one they made earlier: how pension funds return surpluses to their councils

Stop dithering, Birmingham. Come clean, Max Caller.

Dec 10th 2024

How long will it take Max Caller, the Chief Commissioner of Birmingham City Council, to confirm that the pension fund surplus reported last March in the City Council accounts was £417million?
The calculations have been done and the facts are before him, but Gove's chief commissioner refuses to publish the figure. We know what it is, he knows what it is - why won't he tell the people of Birmingham what it is?

Dec 3rd 2024

The £1.2 Billion iceberg that sank Birmingham City Council – who knew?

If you think you knew why Birmingham City Council went bust, think again.

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