Birmingham bin strike now a tourist attraction

The Birmingham bin strike is well into its eighth month, but it's not all bad news.

Several enterprising companies are offering 'bin strike experiences' and guided tours of the main locations.

Colin leads the 'Apocalypse Now' tour, which is popular with residents and visitors alike. 'It's not too serious,' he says. 'No-one wants to be lectured about typhoid and dysentery.

'We ask our guests to put on Hazmat suits for the tour, and we give them Geiger counters and a mallet for hitting rats with. So they are ready for anything. On the De Luxe tour, we throw in oxygen tanks and someone to translate the Brummie accent. We aim to give them the authentic experience of living in a city affected by a long and unsolvable bin strike.

'People can't get enough of it. It's always very reassuring to see people who are worse off than you are. One lady from Solihull has done the tour eleven times.

'I do worry about the strike and the piles of rubbish, though. If the council or the government were to settle the strike, then I'm out of a job.'

Image credit: perchance.org

Cage fighting comes to Royal Albert Hall

Following the success of the Grand Sumo Tournament at the Royal Hall – apart from overnight repairs to the floor and the re-bolting of seven toilets to the wall – the historic venue has announced some further surprises in its autumn season.

The first week of November sees International Cage Fighting, culminating in an aerial bout between Lord Melvyn Bragg and David Olusoga, just to prove that the venue is not completely ignoring its core Radio Four audience.

Later in the month there will be Axe Throwing, a compelling spectacle unless you’re sitting in the first three rows. Then there is the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on skateboards, sponsored by Red Bull, and followed by the XL Bully Dog Show…on Ice!

Lastly, the Christmas season will be ushered in by our Japanese friends again with Sumo Enchanted Evening, an evening of show favourites accompanied by the live crushing of a double bass just by lying down on it.

Story by rogt

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