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BBC News
08-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Cyber attacks 'more sophisticated' says former West Midlands Mayor
Cyber attacks 'more sophisticated' says ex-Mayor "Even 10 years ago when I was responsible for John Lewis, we were spending even then a number of millions on our defences," he said. Sir Andy, a former boss of John Lewis, said the company was "very lucky" to have "never actually had a successful cyber attack". Hackers have targeted Marks & Spencer, Co-op and Harrods in the past two weeks, with the government's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) issuing guidance to organisations to reduce their chances of getting hacked. Former West Midlands Mayor Andy Street has warned that cyber attacks have become "more sophisticated" following a spate of incidents at national retailers. The NCSC has warned that criminals launching cyber attacks at British retailers are impersonating IT help desks to break into organisations. Sir Andy, who was managing director at John Lewis from 2007 to 2016, said cyber attacks were something everyone needed to be aware of and big businesses were having to spend a lot of money to defend themselves. "As the boss, we had to put money aside to try to make sure our defences were good," he said. "Certainly even 10 years ago it was a real threat and of course the threat has become much more sophisticated now." Sir Andy was elected as the first mayor of the West Midlands in May 2017 and served two terms for the Conservatives before he lost to Labour's Richard Parker in May 2024. Speaking to BBC Radio WM, Sir Andy said businesses had to make a judgement "about the risk against the reward" when it came to cyber security. "If you look at what it's cost M&S in lost revenue, lost profit, lost reputation, there is definitely a business case for spending considerable sums of money on it," he added. "This is probably a way of life, certainly for the foreseeable future."
BBC News
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Birmingham poet says city is 'still amazing' despite bin strike
People should not lose sight of what they love about Birmingham during the ongoing bin strike, says the city's former poet Bailey, who was Birmingham's poet laureate from 2020 to 2024, said the city "doesn't look beautiful" at the moment, but it was "still amazing".His comments came during the seventh week of the union Unite's all-out bin workers' strike, which led to thousands of tonnes of uncollected waste piling up on the city's streets."We sometimes have an ability to focus on one negative and lose sight of everything else," Mr Bailey told BBC Radio WM. "Of course, the city doesn't look beautiful with the bin strikes at the moment, but it's still Birmingham, it's still amazing, and we can't lose sight of that."Mr Bailey is known for writing the poem Dear Brum – structured in the form of a love letter to the city – a number of years updated the poem in 2022 ahead of the Commonwealth Games in a bid to inspire civic pride in Birmingham. The poet said he has never been embarrassed to be from Birmingham, although he admitted there were times he thought the city was "rubbish, even when it didn't have rubbish in it".He said the things people loved everywhere else sounded nicer in the city "because it's got a Brummie accent"."I never shy away from the fact it's not perfect, but I love it, and I always talk about both of those things," he former West Midlands mayor Sir Andy Street echoed Mr Bailey's call for residents to be more positive about the city."Our reputation has taken one hell of a hammering in the last few weeks but the underlying points are still there and we have to get out there and sell the story very positively," he added. Sir Andy pointed to recent sporting successes in the West Midlands like hosting the 2025 Kabaddi World Cup and described Birmingham's art scene as the best outside of London."We all need to understand that Birmingham and the West Midlands is a hell of a lot more than the city council and its difficulties," he said this week that a deal could be "in touching distance" and agreed it would attend mediation talks with conciliation service Acas to resolve the dispute with the City Council confirmed there had been an agreement to hold further discussions at the end of next week "under the auspices of Acas".The all-out industrial action started on 11 March, with more than 300 workers walking out in a dispute over pay, centred on a decision to remove the Waste Recycling and Collection Officer role. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
