Jonathan Meades on Birmingham

Steve Emerson, the soi-disant terrorism expert who told Fox News that Birmingham is a "Muslim-only city" where non-Muslims "don't go", has apologised for his "terrible error".

That is to his credit, but Emerson will be a busy man if he is going to apologise for all his terrible errors.

Andy McSmith (in the last item in this diary column) explains:

I see that in 1995, he declared that the Oklahoma bombing was the work of Arab terrorists. Actually, the culprit was a white supremacist. In 1998, he announced that Pakistan was planning a nuclear strike against India. Hasn't happened yet. In April 2013, he claimed to have inside knowledge that the bombing of the Boston Marathon had been carried out by a Saudi, who was about to be deported. Actually, the bombers were Chechen.

As Political Scrapbook has revealed, it is worse than that. Emerson has given expert evidence on terrorism to half a dozen Senate and Congressional committees,

So for a more nuanced view of Birmingham - a city of which I am very fond - let's turn to Jonathan Meades.

The video above is the first of three parts of his "Heart by-pass: Jonathan Meades motors through Birmingham" from 1998. Note the use of Traffic's Paper Sun in part 2 and part 3.

And for further reading, Chris Eckerlsey has a short essay on the city by Meades.