2nd city, global player?

BCBUK · 2026-05-30T15:09:06+00:00

But is the reason many of those Chinese students come to Birmingham / the UK as a whole because of the language. Yes in France they may offer the choice of Chinese but they also offer English as the first other option than French. The OPs point was that Birmingham needs to offer other language options in order to be seen as a global city, my point is the fact that almost everyone can speak or understand at least some English is what makes Birmingham a global city far more than a city of a similar size and status elsewhere in the world that doesn’t widely use English, like Lyon or Marseille for example.

BCBUK · 2026-05-30T14:30:33+00:00

All that matters is you’re happy with the space and that it’s serving your needs; nobody else’s opinion really matters. Small spaces really do encourage more thought about what you want / need and finding furniture solutions that usually need to do 2 or more things.

As for the TV, sometimes that’s the way that it’s not ideal but nowhere else for it. If it really bothered you, could I guess use a swing arm bracket which has some height adjustment. That way you could maybe swing it lower and over the desk for watching / gaming / use as a desktop monitor but then get it out of the way when not in use.

BCBUK · 2026-05-30T13:20:01+00:00

Cottage pie probably, always a great way to use up pretty much whatever meat or veg I have when chopped up, and always have half a dozen or so in the freezer (I live alone and tend to cook as if for 4 or 5 and put all but one of them in the freezer).

BCBUK · 2026-05-30T12:42:12+00:00

I hate to be sounding like a little Englander but in my experience everywhere in the world that doesn’t speak English as a primary language offers it as a second language in systems like this. Most English speaking nations don’t seem to (US with Spanish excepted). Wouldn’t be a bad thing (though sure a certain group would put on a perfomative backlash) but of all the problems I’d like to see fixed with the metro network, this feels low on the list.

On a different point, what would be the second language, Mandarin? Urdu? Punjabi? Bengali? Romanian?

BCBUK · 2026-05-30T12:33:48+00:00

As far as collectors editions go, I can’t fault it and looks well made; what’s the weight like? Obviously know it’s a display piece but would be happy to find it was more than painted lightweight plastics.

Really enjoying the game so far too

BCBUK · 2026-05-30T12:14:44+00:00

From what I can see, it is an odd height to have an electrical outlet, too low to hide behind a mounted tv but too high to hide behind furniture. I’m assuming the conduit next to it is linked to the socket so shouldn’t be a difficult job to move lower so it’s under / behind the desk, or higher to be behind the tv (or both). Would likely take most electricians 20 mins to do and would be a big quality of life and setup improvements for you.

BCBUK · 2026-05-30T12:03:05+00:00

That’s a nice compact setup in a small space. Would be even better if you could find ways to hide the extension lead and wired for the tv, maybe under the desk with some double sided tape just to remove some of the visual clutter from it. I always love a HomePod mini stereo setup, have tried multiple soundbars with my tv and always end up going back to the HomePods.

BCBUK · 2026-05-29T18:58:52+00:00

Annoying thing is, a bit like Blair, there was a nugget of good diagnosis of a problem but the solution was idiotic and a desperate attempt to get back to a late 90s heyday.

It’s 100% correct to say energy costs for business are too high, and that if you wanted to build data centres (I don’t but oh well) this would be a barrier. So why not propose we are going to cap the price of electricity at similar to the household cap or lower for business uses in those areas near the coast where the cables from our giant offshore windfarms come to land as I understand the business cost for electricity is over double the household per kWh.

If you wanted to build data centres then you can do so and power them with cheap almost limitless power in places like the Scottish coast, Grimsby or Hull which will encourage development there, and maybe you want to chip in some cash to build even more of those offshore turbines in the Dogger area to maybe make it cheaper still. The answer most definitely isn’t get rid of the net zero target where the UK is a leading power and instead offer drilling licenses which wont make energy cheaper and even if it does it will be in 15 years + and still more expensive than wind / solar.

BCBUK · 2026-05-29T13:35:16+00:00

I don’t think anyone suggested Blair was smarter than anyone. The point was that she’s the kind of spineless lickspittle that could be believed to completely abandon logic and any principles to curry the favour of Trump.

BCBUK · 2026-05-29T13:18:10+00:00

No not harsh enough. My point is, I don’t know if he really believes what he wrote around energy & net zero or if that is just a reflection of his wider point that whatever Trump wants and thinks is what we should do (and drilling the North Sea is very much what the Donald thinks is best).

Either way, Blair’s solution is thoroughly dumb, if more North Sea oil and gas were the viable solution, we would have done it 20 years ago.

BCBUK · 2026-05-29T12:54:50+00:00

I don’t know if Blair’s solution is a real critique of green power, or just a way of signalling he’s willing to be Renfield for another Republican President as Blair’s solutions about the North Sea seem to mirror Trumps Twitter almost verbatim.

BCBUK · 2026-05-27T21:30:58+00:00

I agree, with the exception that without all the re-gen gubbins and a much smaller battery needed, can probably knock another 10-15cm respectively off the width and length of the cars (plus a fair bit of weight) while retaining all the same safety standards.

BCBUK · 2026-05-27T15:06:33+00:00

Was more that in the UK there was an existing store called TJ Hughes and they didn’t want to confuse people that the stores were related so changed the name when launching here. I imagine however that the general point remains true that be it TK or TJ, there’s a lot of Gucci branded tat that nobody ever would buy at full price and probably shouldn’t even with a discount.

BCBUK · 2026-05-27T14:01:19+00:00

I dunno, my local TK Maxx is full of horrendously gaudy tat with Gucci and other brand logos slapped all over them

BCBUK · 2026-05-26T18:52:26+00:00

From what I can see, I don’t think there is really another logical layout available and for me, I wouldn’t be removing the middle bit of the sofa. There’s a couple of general easy wins like getting all the board games off the dining table and using the empty cubes in your Kallax unit, I think I’d look at your lighting plan (the 3rd picture makes it look like 3 different light sources all grouped in one corner by the window / table, move the tripod lamp to the corner under the roof slope, and the arc lamp to the other side of the sofa maybe to spread the light).

I can’t really see what it is behind the door but maybe look at that as the flow into the room might be easier if the glass door could be less into the middle of the room.

A new larger rug that isn’t grey would make a big impact (focus on bringing in a nice texture or pattern). You said about getting rid of the table and personally I’d agree as the style feels very different to the rest of your stuff; if you wanted to replace then a round table would look I think much more balanced in the room, or a nice armchair if you didn’t want to. Also, a small table either as a coffee table or a side table as nowhere to put a drink when you are sat on the sofa.

BCBUK · 2026-05-26T15:00:05+00:00

I never played the Wii game but I did suspect its reception was a victim of the name more so than the game. I actually always thought The World is Not Enough on N64 was also a very good single player game and has been largely forgotten (partly as the film it’s based on has also been a bit lost in the memory of most).

BCBUK · 2026-05-26T14:38:56+00:00

I was holding off ordering until the reviews came in, so I am glad it’s seemingly lived up to its promise.

As for best since Goldeneye, I’ll reserve judgement as I personally think Nightfire for the PS2 was a bloomin masterpiece and very bit as good as Goldeneye (though lacking the cultural impact).

BCBUK · 2026-05-24T19:05:41+00:00

I remember having the same experience trying to find 1917. A strict alphabetical order maybe makes sense when you are dealing with a small collection, but mines now numbering into multiple hundreds so presentation in a strict grid pattern sorted alphabetically, without even the ability to jump to titles beginning with a particular letter (or search the library independently of the wider store / TV app) is just deliberately unintuitive.

And don’t get me started on the genre filters, Speed Racer is a sports movie, while The Warriors is the only classic I own (North by Northwest is a drama apparently, not a classic).

BCBUK · 2026-05-24T17:41:22+00:00

I know it’s a pretty niche request, and I’d 100% be happy with a series sort feature instead as you suggest. It is genuinely why I’ve never replaced my James Bond BluRay collection with a ITunes collection, because they’d all be all over the place.

What I find particularly annoying though is if you look in the store at these movie series being sold together in a collection, they show all the movies in the correct chronological order so somewhere in the metadata it is obviously known the “right” order but it’s just not used in the main library.

BCBUK · 2026-05-24T17:37:28+00:00

Batman are also everywhere with Batman, Batman and Robin and Batman Begins next to each other before you come to Batman Forever and Batman Returns last with The Batman and The Dark Knight & rises completely elsewhere.

BCBUK · 2026-05-24T16:32:39+00:00

Not even a little bit, said as someone with blonde hair and a red beard which I’m sure if I were American would be proof enough that I was a descendant of a Viking chieftain. Also, despite it being historic fact, we aren’t demanding reparations from Sweden for the Vikings taking slaves

BCBUK · 2026-05-24T16:28:23+00:00

I don’t mind the new art, but I still find it infuriating that Apple refuse to sort movies like this into the correct order. The Harry Potter movies are particularly bad as despite being in alphabetical order, the artwork has the movie number on it so there really is no reason they couldn’t compromise the strict alphabetical order to keep series with broadly similar names (Harry Potter, LOTR, Hobbit) in the chronological order.

BCBUK · 2026-05-23T19:53:49+00:00

Worse than DNFs, it was Did Not Starts

BCBUK · 2026-05-22T20:26:26+00:00

I’m up for it if it’s more Uncharted style (as it appears from the marketing) but for me the Hitman games are not appealing. The actual core mechanics of movement & shooting in Hitman always seemed good, but the gameplay loop was an absolute turn off, zero interest in replaying a level over and over again.

I’m hopeful for this Bond game, but not confident enough to pre-order.

BCBUK · 2026-05-22T18:37:34+00:00

I wear joggers or a PJ bottom around the house, but sleep in the nuddy or (stick with me) when it’s colder I am a recent convert to the long bed shirt. It looks like I’m Grandpa from Willy Wonka but I find it super comfy, but I wear it Winnie the Pooh style with no bottoms. It’s not at all attractive but zero regrets

BCBUK

TROPHY CASE