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April 24, 2025

PICTURE FROM THE ARCHIVE: An image from the Star archive dated from June 1991 and a campaign to collect left-over foreign currency from returning holidaymakers to raise money for St Chad’s Church in Pattingham. The photograph shows Peter Sell with some of the first donations it had received.

'How do you build houses without skilled artisans to do it?' - Your Letters: April 24

Readers' letters|Just now

Iceland prison plan deserves a chance

Star Comment|2 hours ago

Soaring borrowing shows gloomy times ahead

Star Comment|2 hours ago

Pope Francis smiling and waving

Peter Rhodes on trans coincidences, mumbling Yanks and a curious tale of electing a pope

Peter Rhodes|2 hours ago

April 23, 2025

Dan Bebbington

Money Matters: Compensation scheme for car finance mis-selling scandal to be set out later this year

Your World|21 hours ago

PICTURE FROM THE ARCHIVE: Sally-Ann got a champagne send-off from her colleagues at a caravan showroom, based near the Staffordshire-Shropshire border at Longford Island on the A5. They decorated her car and drenched her in champagne. This Star archive picture was taken in August 1983.

'This is what I used to see of the country and its people' - Your Letters: April 23

Readers' letters|Apr 23

Are trees any friends of ours?

Peter Rhodes on felling trees, hunting recruits and a lesson from Just William

Peter Rhodes|Apr 23

As HMS Prince of Wales departs for the high seas, this country must prepare for choppier waters

Star Comment|Apr 23

'It's time to spread the love for England's patron saint!' Why the West Midlands should all be putting out the flags for St George's Day

Mark Andrews|Apr 23

April 22, 2025

Vicky Turrell

Talking Point with Vicky Turrell: 'Now that you are approaching 80’ was the heading

Your World|Apr 22

PICTURES FROM THE PAST: Alrewas in Staffordshire is best known now for the National Memorial Arboretum, but in May 1974 the site was at the centre of major research into a previous Anglo Saxon community. Archaeologists were pictured patiently sifting the soil to plot the early settlement.

'Can anyone tell me who is paying?' - Your Letters: April 22

Readers' letters|Apr 22

A wildlife snapper has managed to capture stunning images of winter birds in flight - by photographing them through his kitchen window.Andrew Fusek-Peters, 59

Peter Rhodes on birds, bangers and life, but not as we know it

Peter Rhodes|Apr 22

April 21, 2025

Badgers – fearless

Peter Rhodes on generous grandads, bold badgers and the bottom line on batteries

Peter Rhodes|Apr 21

PICTURE FROM THE ARCHIVE: The famous actor David Niven during the making of the movie Candleshoe, parts of which were filmed on the Severn Valley Railway at Hampton Loade. This picture was taken there. This is a print in the Shropshire Star picture archive and it was taken on either Tuesday, October 12, 1976 or Wednesday, October 13, 1976, and was published in the Shropshire Star on Thursday, October 14, 1976, with the caption: 'Actor David Niven, who is filming Candleshoe for Walt Disney Productions, on location on the Severn Valley Railway line at Hampton Loade, near Bridgnorth, seen during rehearsals yesterday.

'We've got to get it right, the alternative is too scary!' - Your Letters: April 21

Readers' letters|Apr 21

Christmas comes early for banking experts

Star Comment|Apr 21

Battery farms show how net-zero comes at a price

Star Comment|Apr 21

How the new battery farm at Hinksford Park will look

How battery farms and solar farms could reshape our countryside

In-depth|Apr 21

April 20, 2025

It's that time of year again...

Dan Morris: An egg-cellent time to be alive

Entertainment|Apr 20

April 19, 2025

PICTURE FROM THE ARCHIVE: March 1991 – An elaborate 3ft high chocolate Easter egg that was to be raffled off in aid of the outpatient' department at Birmingham Children's Hospital. Shown posing with the completed giant egg are chocolate makers Alison Haynes, Derek Harvey and George Hands.

'Trump taps into a desire for national flourishing and pride' - Your Letters: April 19

Readers' letters|Apr 19

Turkish Shawarma, Walsall

Walsall restaurant rated 'one' after hygiene inspection

Sir Keir Starmer

Sir Keir’s Steel Revival: Strategic for industry or just a symbolic gesture?

Toby Neal|Apr 19

Jonathan Reynolds trying a job in a blast furnace

Mark Andrews: British Steel - the next chapter, philistines at Toby Carvery, and the latest brainwave from the human-rights lobby

Mark Andrews|Apr 19

April 18, 2025

PICTURE FROM THE ARCHIVE: A replica of Richard Trevithick's 1802 steam engine, the world's first steam railway locomotive runs on a track near the Ironbridge power station. The full scale loco was built at GKN Sankey in Telford by a team of nine apprentices to Trvithick's original designs with some minor changes to meet current safety requirements.

'I ask readers to cast their minds back...' - Your Letters: April 18

Readers' letters|Apr 18

What would the aliens make of our world?

Star Comment|Apr 18

Anarchy in the classroom

Star Comment|Apr 18

Blue Origin – normalising space tourism

Peter Rhodes on space travel, a Greenland deal and a drain unblocker's joke

Peter Rhodes|Apr 18

April 17, 2025

PICTURE FROM THE ARCHIVE: John Foden, 18, of Great Barr, Birmingham, feeding Mississippi crocodiles at Dudley Zoo, Worcestershire, where he is in charge of the reptile house.

'Society flourishes when this foundation is upheld' - Your Letters: April 17

Readers' letters|Apr 17

Shrewsbury Flower Show cannot be allowed to fall by the wayside

Star Comment|Apr 17

Trans row could have been avoided with a bit of common sense

Star Comment|Apr 17

Peter Rhodes on Red Arrows, curious words and and the curse of subtitlers – again

Peter Rhodes|Apr 17

April 16, 2025

Dan Bebbington

Money Matters: How much tax you'll pay this year and why you should check your tax code

Your World|Apr 16

PICTURE FROM THE ARCHIVE: Second World War veterans Steve Cairns, 83, (left), the Welfare Adviser for the National Federation of Far East Prisoners of War, and Bill Nicholls, 82, lift a sleeper from the Burma railway aboard HMS Northumberland in Plymouth. * 30 metres of track built by prisoners of war have been dismantled and brought to Britain to form a tribute at the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas in Staffordshire.

'We need true independence and a just and sustainable future' - Your Letters: April 16

Readers' letters|Apr 16

Hoping for a cone-free Easter

Star Comment|Apr 16

Iron fist in velvet glove needed in US trade talks

Star Comment|Apr 16

Prince Harry. Photo: Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP

Peter Rhodes on elites, enemies and a tempting trick with a computer

Peter Rhodes|Apr 16

April 15, 2025

Vicky Turrell

Talking Point with Vicky Turrell: 'I wonder if I will have that winning streak...'

Your World|Apr 15

PICTURE FROM THE ARCHIVE: Rose grower David Austin Jr, from Albrighton in Wolverhampton, holds long lasting fragrant, hybrid roses, which have taken him Â£3 million and 14 years to develop. He is exhibiting the roses at the Chelsea Flower Show in London, which opens tomorrow.

'Have they ever read the Highway Code?' - Your Letters: April 15

Readers' letters|Apr 15

Rescue package is just a short-term solution for steel industry

Star Comment|Apr 15

Peter Rhodes on raisins, car tax and a beautiful illusion in the countryside

Cool heads needed to end bin strike

Star Comment|Apr 15

April 14, 2025

PICTURE FROM THE ARCHIVE: The new Midlands Express Way motorway under construction. The privately-built-and-run 485 million road will open in January 2004. Environmental pressure group Friends of the Earth said the M6 Toll had wrecked the local landscape. * .. Using toll booths to charge motorists instead of the latest electronic payment technology had rendered the road out of date, said Chris Crean, FoE's West Midlands campaigner.

'Walls have ears, what if they have eyes as well?' - Your Letters: April 14

Readers' letters|Apr 14

Pringles – dangerously irresistible?

Peter Rhodes on fancy dress, equal-opportunity prisons and a snack spat on an airliner

Peter Rhodes|Apr 14

'I haven't regretted it for one second,' says new chief of troubled fire service after 100 days in post

Features|Apr 14

April 12, 2025

Hope Amidst the Waste: Swan Pair Nest by Pleck Canal Despite recent Pollution Crisis

New life amidst the waste on Black Country’s canals

Your World|Apr 12

PICTURE FROM THE ARCHIVE: Squadron Leader Mohinder Singh Pujji, an Indian national who flew Hurricanes for the RAF during World War II, stands by a Hurricane at the launch of the "Diversity in the Royal Air Force" exhibition at the Royal Air Force Museum, Cosford, Shifnal in Shropshire.

'The sad thing is that both government and suppliers do not care' - Your Letters: April 12

Readers' letters|Apr 12

Mark Andrews: Rover regrets, Harry's travels, and mis-spelled brand names

Sir Keir Starmer visit to West Midlands

Make the UK Great Again: A modest proposal for tariffs, teenagers, and the 'War on Americanisms'

April 11, 2025

PICTURE FROM THE ARCHIVE: England's Rugby World Cup winner Mike Tindall carries the Webb Ellis Trophy from a Harrier jet at RAF Cosford at the launch of the Sweet Chariot tour, at RAF Cosford, Wolverhampton. The four-month-long tour will see the trophy visit 290 venues across the country.

'Are they really serious or is this a wind up?' Your Letters: April 11

Readers' letters|Apr 11

A pygmy hippo eating greens at London Zoo

Peter Rhodes on wolves, hippos and a curious case of two-tier talking

April 10, 2025

Picture from the Archive: Sebastian Coe beating his own indoor 800 metres best by over a second at RAF Cosford. He finished in one minute, 44.91 seconds.

'Christianity emphasises love, mercy, and self-sacrifice' - Your Letters: April 10

Readers' letters|Apr 10