09/04/2025 05:50
The Guardian
In today’s newsletter: Four weeks into the dispute, with the council declaring a major incident, the streets are overflowing with rubbish and ratsGood morning. Whatever else is going on the world, there is very little that makes people as angry as the bins not being collected. This isn’t to say that it’s a trivial concern. As well as the natural disgust that comes with facing piles of stinking rubbish every time you go out, bin collection is a natural proxy for our sense of living in a functioning society; a basic feature of a developed economy. When it goes wrong, it feels as if something more profound is broken, too.To an infamous list that includes Paris in 2023 and Madrid in 2013, you can now add Birmingham in 2025 – the second such crisis in the city in eight years. Talks yesterday were said to be “productive”, but again failed to resolve the situation; as the strike drags on, residents are asking why they face such inadequate local services when the rates they pay keep going up.Economy | Rates on imports to the United States from dozens of economies rose further on Wednesday, with tariffs imposed on Chinese products since Donald Trump returned to the White House reaching a staggering 104%. The new tariffs include rates of 20% on the European Union, 26% on India and 49% on Cambodia.British Steel | Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are actively considering nationalising British Steel in an escalation of plans first revealed in the Guardian last year. The prime minister said all options were on the table to secure the future of the Scunthorpe plant after talks about a financial support package to move to less polluting technology faltered.Ukraine | A high-profile former Ukrainian commander has called for the head of the country’s military to step aside, accusing him of putting Ukrainian soldiers’ lives at risk. In an interview, Bohdan Krotevych, who recently resigned as chief of staff of the Azov brigade, said that Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi “must go” and Ukraine’s military leadership must be shaken up.Crime | The UK government is developing a “murder prediction” programme to identify those most likely to become killers. Researchers are alleged to be using algorithms to analyse the information of thousands of people, including victims of crime, to identify those at greatest risk of committing serious violent offences.Theme parks | A former brickworks in Bedford will be the site of a new multibillion-pound theme park from the entertainment behemoth Universal, it has been announced. The government says the project will bring a £50bn boost to Britain’s economy and create 20,000 jobs in construction, with a further 8,000 operational roles once it is up and running in 2031. Continue reading...
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