Birmingham's Big Architecture

Maybe one way to explain what David Cameron might mean by the "big society" is to walk around the city of Birmingham.

Click here for all of David Frum’s blogposts from the 2010 Conservative Party conference.

Maybe one way to explain what David Cameron might mean by the "big society" is to walk around the city of Birmingham, and notice the difference between the buildings Birmingham built when it was taxing itself to pay for them - and the buildings it built when it began to look to the central government to fund everything.

Below, Birmingham town hall.

Next the school of fine art at Birmingham University

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img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-48128" title="school-of-art2" src="http://www.frumforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/school-of-art2.jpeg" alt="" width="345" height="146" /><

Birmingham's "Gas Hall" and municipal art gallery

img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-48129" title="birmingham-gas-hall" src="http://www.frumforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/birmingham-gas-hall.jpeg" alt="" width="240" height="180" /><

Birmingham's monument to its war dead

And finally: the Birmingham Central Library soon to be demolished and replaced - it is hoped - with something less heinous. (That's a monument in front to Birmingham's greatest mayor, Joseph Chamberlain - raised by voluntary contribution.)