Sadly I fear the latter, although will be delighted to be proved wrong. Things would be quite different at BHX if it was owned and managed by a private company instead of county councils - not all would be positive of course but I think it would be punching at as opposed to below its weight.
If I'm not mistaken, the majority of shares in BHX are private not public. The councils make up on 49%. Might be wrong on that. Manchester however contrived to keep a majority of their airport in the hands of the local authorities, albeit at arms length. Hasn't done them much harm. At the end of the say the CEO's job is to return value to the shareholders, and BHX has been pretty successful at that in recent years.
Personally I would be inclined to believe any Times of India story over any of the vile bile spouted out by the Express!!
I agree absolutely, but I was thinking more of their silly weather stories, and twisted stuff on health, Maddie and Dianna that get plastered over the front page!