The third email this week, and the one most in need of a less unfortunate headline, is Roger's response to the Crimestoppers award offered for help in finding the attacker(s) of Emma Winnall, the 94 year old woman from Moseley who was attacked the other week.

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Roger welcomes £5000 Crimestoppers reward for Emma Winnall attack

Roger has welcomed the £5,000 reward offered by the crime fighting charity Crimestoppers for information regarding the attack on the 94 year old, Emma Winnall who lives in Pensby Close, Moseley.

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The second email to come from Roger this week and he's back to writing in the first person.

Anyway, showing grace in victory, Roger had the following to say about the mayoral referendum

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Mayoral Referendum.

I was one of the co-Chairs of the All Party ‘No campaign’ which was campaigning against the Referendum on whether Birmingham should have an ‘elected Mayor’. The Referendum was imposed by the Coalition Government on the people of Birmingham. I welcome the fact that the people of Birmingham voted overwhelmingly (58% to 42%) against the proposal for an elected Mayor.

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Well, maybe not so occasional as Roger's been a bit busy on the email front this week. I've had 3 emails from him about various things. The first is below and gives his opinions on what he refers to as the Rochdale Sex Grooming Trial.

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Rochdale Sex Grooming Trial

In a letter to the Home Secretary, Theresa May, Birmingham Hall Green MP, Roger Godsiff has sort assurances that any of the convicted who were not born in the UK will deported on completing their sentences.

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So this is a slightly personal post about my experience of being burgled last month.  However, I'm guessing that it's indicative of what happens when this kind of thing happens around Balsall Heath.

Without going into too much detail, my house was burgled just before midnight on a weekday night whilst myself, my husband and my baby were fast asleep.  It seems as though it was just opportunistic - they came in through a nearby alleyway and came through back gardens to get to our house.  They stole a number of electrical gadgets and a laptop, plus a set of car keys.  We weren't aware of it until they had left, and fortunately nothing sentimental or irreplaceable was stolen.

What followed was a really rapid response from the Police, complete with sniffer dog and followed by forensics.  The officers who took our statement were calm, reassuring and thorough.  Since then a local DC has visited us to inform us of progress with the case and made us aware of a spate of burglaries in the Cannon Hill area.

We've had a really heartwarming response from people offering practical and moral support.  We're trying hard not letting it get in the way of our enjoyment of our home and neighbourhood, although it can shake your confidence in the area.  Our neighbours on our road have been fantastic - the plus side of living in a genuine neighbourhood as opposed to a faceless suburban street.

Tonight I saw the amazing Tabla player Pritam Singh perform in the intimate setting of the Director's House at the Old Print Works.  It feels less like a concert hall and more like somebody's living room (which essentially, it is) and it makes the perfect setting for these "Muzikstan" events.  They're not just concerts, but rather a conversation with talented artists, who both perform their work and tell their stories, which are inevitably as fascinating as the music itself.

These events are free, but any donations go directly to the artists and towards the renovation of the building.  To hear about upcoming events, join the Muzikstan Facebook group.

The Old Mo on Tindal Street will be having its next Beer Festival from Thursday 14th June to Sunday 16th June.

More details to follow ...

The Ort Café Book Group is meeting on Sunday 27th May at 3:30pm.

This month the group is discussing The Road by Cormac McCarthy. If you're quick there are some free copies of this book (from World Book Night) available at Ort. There's also a book swap.

Ort Café,
500-506 Moseley Road,
Balsall Heath,
B12 9AH

For those of you that use Facebook, there's an event page and group. Details of every meeting will be added to this site for those that don't.

Roger's back. This time he's stopped writing about himself in the third person, which is a relief. His message this time is all about abolition of the House of Lords, which he is in favour of. As you'll see from below, he spends quite a lot of time comparing the UK system with the German one.

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Abolition for the House of Lords

I am not in favour of the House of Lords and would vote for its abolition. I believe in a ‘one chamber’ Parliament with power residing in the House of Commons which is, as you know, fully elected. There is, however, one scenario where I do believe that there is an argument for a second chamber.

In the Federal Republic of Germany there is a two chamber system. The Bundestag is the Lower House which is elected by a mixed system of ‘first past the post’ and ‘proportional representation’ and the Upper House, the Bundesrat, consists of members who are nominated by the different Lander in proportion to the size of the population in that particular state.

Britain does not have a fully-fledged federal system of Government but there are Parliaments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland who have varying powers and if there were to be an English Parliament as well then I believe that there is a case for each of those four regional Parliaments to appoint representatives in an Upper House in order to, as is the case in Germany, protect the interests of those devolved Parliaments.The Bundesrat in Germany has a clearly defined set of powers but the Lower House, Bundestag, is still the predominant chamber.

As I have said were Britain to move towards a federal system with each of the four countries of the United Kingdom having their own Parliament then I can see an argument for having a similar system involving a second chamber but under the current system we have I can see no justification for having a second chamber.

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Now, my understanding was that the point of having a second chamber, of any description, was to act as a check on the first one. I'm not sure why Roger doesn't address that point. 

Oh, and he doesn't say if he likes the idea of a federal system for the UK either.

Thanks to Mike Cummins for scanning in the election leaflet he had from Mohammed Azim who is standing for the Labour Party in next week's elections.

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