I would like some faster tyres but will probably first wear this set out.
I have found by pulling the brake cable housing towards the back giving it more freedom, I am able to get the back wheel past the brake pads without having to deflate it.
I changed my tires out straight away and have kept the Birdy tires for emergency spares; one at home and one at work.
The rear brakes are a bit of a PITA both because of clearance with the original pads and because its not practical to change to Koolstop pads as the clearance gets worse. I plan to eventually change the brakes to parallel action brakes (Magura, Avid, XT or LX) which should fix the problem.
David