Shadowing Practice: Deal To End ‘Bruising’ Birmingham Bin Strikes On The Table | Ollie Cole - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Yes, we were.

We can now go to Birmingham.

News breaking in the last half an hour.

Birmingham's...

I don't think anyone would have noticed, Joan.

Birmingham's bin strike has ended after more than a year of standoff between the Labour Council and the Unite Union.

Now, the Labour Party will be hoping for a boost

and predictions of heavy Labour losses in next week's local elections are pretty much everywhere.

There are reports that if council losses go above a certain threshold, it could trigger a leadership challenge to Keir Starmer.

Let's talk now to Olly Cole.

Difficult to find, but now we've got him.

Newsroom reporter for The Times is in Birmingham for us.

Olly, hello.

Hello, I was deep in the news.

Right, OK.

Well, we've all used that excuse, darling, but let's talk about it now.

Just tell us about the bin strike and what this actually means in terms of the political landscape for Birmingham.

Yes, so essentially for the last 14 months, Unite, Labour's biggest union backer,

has had its members out on strike over bin collections here, over a specific pay rate that they were giving to those refuse collectors

that the council decided it needed to get rid of.

So now the council leader has just been here on the steps of County Hall in Birmingham

and we are understanding from the Union Unite as well

that there is essentially a deal on the table

that both parties now think that they can sign up to after a decent bit of conflict and conversation at ACAS,

the union negotiator.

So essentially what's big here is that over the next few days, you can expect Labour to be making a lot of hay on this.

They will be trying to say, look, you know, there have been a pretty, pretty tough bunch of things levelled at us over the last few months,

particularly from the unions unite.

But we are turning a corner.

We are trying to get things back on track.

And their message here is that you either stick with us with a plan that's sort of turning around, trying to turn things around into a better direction here,

or allow essentially what they see as a coalition of chaos to come in,

because the disruptors here in Birmingham aren't just one party gunning for it like other places across the country.

You've got Reform wanting to pick up some seats.

You've got the Green Party wanting to pick up some seats.

The Conservatives might even pick up a few seats that they didn't have before.

And you've got a slate of independents working with George Galloway's Workers' Party as well, all looking to come together.

The current polling shows that nobody would claim an overall majority here at the council, and that would mean that after 14 years of Labour being in charge,

having a majority of 65, they could fall down to as little as 14 seats here.

So essentially their message after these bin strike announcement has happened, they will be turning around and saying, look, we are getting things done,

it has been tough, we're trying to sort this out

and stick with us and you can essentially get more of the same in terms of that troubleshooting.

Whereas the other parties are saying, look, you've had 14 months to sort this out, it might be pretty convenient

that you've only done it 10 days before the election now

Ollie tell us exactly where you are at the moment

because the background noise is quite something yes well we are

in County Hall where actually the council leader has just been out giving a statement in fact

so we are here in Birmingham we're surrounded by people who are just sort of taking their lunch break

or visiting the city

and we've been chatting to a few people as they walk

past here it's a pretty busy stretch of the city centre

and sort of high of activity in the last few minutes where the council leader has just been Now, a lot of people will be coming up and asking what the hell is going on.

And, you know, I've talked to them about the fact that, you know, the council leader is there to announce a possible end to those bin strikes.

They seem pretty surprised.

A few of them sort of laughed off the idea, thinking that, you know, well, we've been here before, I'll believe it when it happens.

But they'll be hoping, in terms of the politics of this, that that message actually lands.

Sure.

But, I mean, let's be realistic about this, Olly.

It's been such a long -running dispute.

Can a Labour council really claim that this is a huge victory?

I mean, many people would say, well, you're a Labour council, you were dealing with unions, how could it possibly have gone on for so long?

Well, quite, and it must be noted

that actually the council leader didn't take any questions after giving a statement on the steps of County Hall, including one of them which simply asked how much is this deal going to cost the council?

That was a question that went unanswered.

I mean, in just trying to sort out this dispute, the council has spent about £33 million.

Unite actually cut the amount that it was giving to Labour by about 40 % through its affiliate membership fees.

So this has been a pretty bruising battle between the biggest backer, the union backer of Labour and...

you know, Europe's largest Labour council and it has been one that, you know, as we've talked about over the last 14 months, hasn't just been.

Usually we think of bins and bin collections as a very local issue in terms of these local elections, but it's shown up a much wider problem to voters here, which is, you know, are we governed effectively?

Are we led by people who can actually solve disputes in a timely manner and get us on the front foot?

So, you know, they'll be looking, Labour will be looking for a big win out of this today, but the other parties, like you say, We'll be turning around and saying, well, look, we've had 14 months.

It's pretty convenient it's solved now.

And, you know, there's nothing to say that past the election, we could end up here again.

Sure.

And so what else would have come up on the doorstep if the bins hadn't been such a dominating thing in Birmingham?

So the issue is still that the Greens in particular

and the Independents who are running sort of in conjunction with

George Galloway's party have been hitting the doorsteps with is still that issue of Gaza.

We saw it come up in the Gortna -Denton by -election recently for the Greens.

And, you know, they believe essentially that it's a pretty good issue to keep hammering home on Labour's front door.

You know, Keir Starmer's full support for Israel,

despite the fact that they've not necessarily wanted to wade in on the Israeli attacks on Palestine.

So that's a pretty big issue that's happening here.

There's also a big, you know, issue of change that reform are trying to push home on the doorsteps

that they are essentially trying to make this a referendum on Keir Starmer, a referendum on politics at Westminster.

And things over the last week back at Westminster have punctured through that and mean that reform are essentially saying,

well, look at Westminster, look at what's happening in Birmingham.

Both there

and here you've got to set a label for politicians who aren't able to carry on with the work

that you want carried out.

New polling from YouGoff says a third of the public I

think Andy Burnham would do better than Sir Keir Starmer at the moment, 15 % backing Angela Rayner.

As you say, a local election is always a referendum on a national feeling.

How much do you think

that Birmingham considers the leadership of the Labour Party to be the thing that it would be voting on as well?

So I think it's interesting.

It's definitely, you know, the top issue here is those bin strikes.

But it's actually what a lot of people point to, is that even though that is a local issue, it points to a wider problem with politics more generally.

They feel, as the litter is piled up on the streets across the city and in areas across Birmingham,

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that they see it as a lens through which to see party politics across the UK and in Westminster more generally.

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That the two -party system has failed, things have fractured, and they're now more willing to jump between parties, the Lib Dems, the Greens reform,

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to try and essentially send a message to Westminster that the old system isn't working.

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And, you know, what's happened in the last week in Westminster, as some MPs have put it to me, and some locals here, is that, you know, actually, in terms of the mechanics of it, in terms of the minutiae of it,

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it's not necessarily about who said what about Peter Mandelson or whether the Foreign Office did this, that and the other, but it is once again MPs at Westminster talking about MPs at Westminster.

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It is a party at Westminster having to deal with an issue that has consumed itself.

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And in the meantime, why isn't it not getting anything else done?

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And that's the sort of vacuum that that issue has filled.

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People genuinely think that, look, now, whether it's in Westminster, whether it's here in Birmingham, politics isn't serving them.

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And that's the sort of change message that the other parties are bringing out.

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And so there is an issue of Labour leadership.

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There is an issue of Keir Starmer.

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He's got a pretty tough week ahead of him this week.

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His MPs are pretty demoralised by it all.

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And they're all now, you know, in the next week or so, having to come out across the doorsteps and face questions about that.

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Olly, thank you very much indeed.

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That's Olly Cole, newsroom reporter for The Times, joining us from a busy Birmingham.

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What a big day for Birmingham with the bin strike being over.

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That's incredible.

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It is.

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I'm thinking about the optics, though, which will take a while to disappear, won't they?

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And there just will be a polling station

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that is behind a great big mountain of rubbish yet to be collected

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and it is a golden opportunity for photojournalism to paint a picture that we would spend a thousand words describing.

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Yeah, and you wonder how long the smell will linger.

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Probably quite a while.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 125 sentences and 1794 words to shadow. The speech runs for 9:23. The speaker talks fast, about 191 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/ (adverb) — In essence: by nature.
unite /juˈnaɪt/ (verb) — To bring together as one.
doorstep /ˈdɔː(ɹ)stɛp/ (noun) — An outside step leading up to the door of a building, usually a home.
poll /poʊl/ (noun) — A survey of people, usually statistically analyzed to gauge wider public opinion.
dispute /dɪˈspjuːt/ (noun) — An argument or disagreement; a failure to agree.
referendum /ˌɹɛfəˈɹɛndəm/ (noun) — A direct popular vote on a proposed law or constitutional amendment.
necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/ (adverb) — Inevitably; of necessity.
solve /sɒlv/ (verb) — To find an answer or solution to a problem or question; to work out.
reporter /ɹɪˈpoɹ.tɚ/ (noun) — Someone or something that reports.
bin /ˈbɪn/ (noun) — A box, frame, crib, or enclosed place, used as a storage container.
collections /kəˈlɛkʃənz/ (noun) — A state being beyond merely past due.
convenient /kənˈviː.niənt/ (adjective) — Serving to reduce a difficulty, or accessible with minimum difficulty; expedient.
membership (noun) — The state of being a member of a group or organization.
label /ˈleɪ.bəl/ (noun) — A small ticket or sign giving information about something to which it is attached or intended to be attached.
boost /buːst/ (verb) — To lift or push from behind (one who is endeavoring to climb); to push up.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

pick up (verb) — To lift; to grasp and raise.
turn around (verb) — To physically rotate (usually around a vertical axis) for a half turn (180 degrees), a whole turn (360 degrees), or an indefinite amount.
deal with (verb) — To handle verbally or in some form of artistic expression; to address or discuss as a subject.
look at (verb) — To observe or watch.
stick with (verb) — To remain close to.
talk about (verb) — Used to draw attention to the speaker's characterization of someone or something.
break in (verb) — To enter a place by force or illicit means.
bring out (verb) — To elicit, evoke, or emphasize (a particular quality).

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 35 contractions and reduced forms, such as we've, you've, isn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, collections /kəˈlɛkʃənz/, coalition /koʊ.əˈlɪʃ.ən/, politician /ˌpɑ.ləˈtɪʃ.ən/, threshold /ˈθɹɛʃ(h)oʊld/
Long words — get the stress right: essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, referendum /ˌɹɛfəˈɹɛndəm/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, coalition /koʊ.əˈlɪʃ.ən/, politician /ˌpɑ.ləˈtɪʃ.ən/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like essentially, unite, doorstep.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	we've been chatting · have been hitting
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	has ended · has had · has just been
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	people who are · here, which is · people who can
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	must be noted · is piled · be collected

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: Deal To End ‘Bruising’ Birmingham Bin Strikes On The Table | Ollie Cole - Learn English Speaking with Video

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