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Red flags: The non-existent company behind Brum's Union Jacks

The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 1d

Monday Briefing, out now incl:
🚗Small JLR suppliers on brink of collapse
🛍️Selfridges suffering
👋Corbyn's Your Party launches in Brum - + Labour cllrs jump ship
+ more

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 4d

“Well, that’s nothing to do with what y–you either want to talk about flags or that, I mean this is mental," he told us when we asked him about it.

Read the full story on The Dispatch.
www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/red-flags-th...

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 4d

Bridge lives in Bromsgrove and runs a small group no-win-no-fee injury claims management companies.

In 2018, Spanish police alleged he was one of eight Brits who ran bogus food poisoning claims to scam a string of hotels in Magaluf.

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Reposted by The Dispatch

Maria @thismaria.bsky.social · 4d

Wish I could say it comes as a massive surprise that there's an overlap between the flag people and suspected fraudsters, but this is great work by the @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social.

'It's 100% legitimate' www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/red-flags-th...

'It's 100% legitimate'

Red flags: The non-existent company behind Brum's Union Jacks

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 4d

When we asked him about this, he said "it's in process."

“Under the name Raise the Colours?”

“No.”

“What name is it under?”

“Why do you want to find it? This is nothing to do with what we’re doing going forwards.”

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 4d

Trouble is, there is no trace of the business on Companies House.
www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/red-flags-th...

'It's 100% legitimate'

Why is Birmingham struggling to develop a massive inner city brownfield site?

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 4d

Ryan Bridge has become a familiar face in Stirchley lately. He's one of two "company directors" of raisetheflags.org, where he collects donations from £10-£500 for flags.

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 7d

The plans which became the £1.9bn Smithfield development were first dreamed up in 2007. So why is the site empty?🪨
www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/the-smithfie...

The Smithfield saga

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 7d

You asked, The Dispatch explained:

What's going on with the big crater in the centre of town? 🤔

Does this councillor know where his on-the-run criminal brother is?

The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 7d

Here's our original story:
www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/does-this-co...

Plus, Birmingham loses out on new towns

Drugs fugitive wed on the run in Pakistan with councillor brother among guests

The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 7d

And Birmingham Live
www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midland...

Farhan Khan was married two years ago after fleeing the UK - and his city councillor brother Saqib Khan and his parents were there

www.birminghammail.co.uk

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 7d

Glad to see our Monday scoop get picked up by the Daily Mail
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

Labour councillor denies knowing his drug dealer brother was fugitive

Birmingham City councillor Saqib Khan was pictured in the village of Dadyal in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on the day of his brother Fahan Khan's wedding.

www.dailymail.co.uk

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The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 11d

The bullying accusations are in the story.

The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 11d

Today's story:
www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/the-last-han...

The last hanged man

Oswald Augustus Grey was executed for killing a shopkeeper. Did he do it?

The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 11d

In 1960, 18-year-old Oswald Augustus Grey set out from his home in Bog Walk, Jamaica for Birmingham.

Two years later, he would become the last man ever to be hanged in Bham, for killing a shopkeeper. Did he do it?

The headteacher’s missing receipts: how did a Selly Oak school get into £400,000 of debt?

The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 13d

The council has investigated — but they’re more concerned by a group of governors who tried to blow the whistle on the whole saga. 🔍

Read (£) it here:
www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/the-headteac...

Parents at Raddlebarn Primary tried to raise the alarm. The council investigated them for bullying

The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 13d

Today's story involves a financial advisor with a track record for "significant failings" in financial management, and a headteacher who appears to have charged such things as pet expenses and a DJ to the school. 🦮

The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 13d

Raddlebarn Primary in Selly Oak has money troubles. Big ones. It's gone from being in a £34,000 deficit in 2018 to more than £400,000 today. 💰

We’re hiring: Staff writer, The Dispatch, Birmingham

The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 15d

And don't forget: The Dispatch is hiring a new reporter! You have until 5 October to apply.
millmediaco.uk/2025/09/04/w...

Come and work with a team that’s changing journalism Role details Location: Birmingham (we need someone who lives full-time in the West Midlands, or is willing to relocate) Salary: Dependent …

millmediaco.uk

The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 15d

www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/local-your-p...

Local ‘Your Party’ MPs at centre of fall out

Plus, Boxpark backs out of Digbeth

The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 15d

our Monday Briefing is out now, incl:
🥊'Your Party' fall out
🧑‍💻Tory campaigner locked out of FB
💰£30k rewards for info on Oldbury sex attack

Reposted by The Dispatch

Nick Foster @weknow0.bsky.social · 18d

@birminghamdispatch.bsky.social getting a mention here as an "innovative new outlet" 😊

The Glasgow Bell @glasgowbell.bsky.social · 18d

We’re very happy to be name-checked alongside lots of pioneering new local news outlets by @georgemonbiot.bsky.social

Competing vigils for sex attack victim expose divides among Smethwick’s Sikhs

The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 19d

In today's story, we investigate what caused the split.
www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/competing-vi...

‘We are actively trying to stop them’

The Dispatch @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social · 19d

During the past week, residents in Smethwick have rallied around a young Sikh woman who was the victim of a racially aggravated rape.

But support came in the form of two very different gatherings, with one side urging people to 'boycott' the other.