Painted grass is last straw

BIRMINGHAM'S painted green grass has cost a top city politician his job, it emerged yesterday.

Coun Gurdev Manku was sacked only days after the transport department he controls sprayed the grass in Sheldon so it would look greener to world leaders arriving for the G8 Summit. He denied responsibility, but a Labour Group source said: "His department has been responsible for one embarrassment after another and I am afraid this was simply the last straw."