Birmingham City Council has declared a "major incident", as a bin workers' strike enters its fourth week and an estimated 17,000 tonnes of waste remain uncollected in the city streets.

With reports of giant rats and a worsening stench, what was "once a leading contender" for this country's second city is now "making the news as a basket case", said CapX.

What's the strike about?
Waste collections have been disrupted since January, and an all-out strike started on 11 March when members of the Unite union walked out following the council's decision to scrap the role of waste recycling and collection officer from its fleets.

The debt-ridden council says this role does not exist in other local authorities and, if kept, would risk creating a "huge future equal-pay liability". But Unite said it fears further attacks on jobs, pay and conditions and will not end the dispute until "hugely damaging" cuts to bin collectors' wages are ruled out.

What's going on?
Locals said that rotting food is attracting foxes, cockroaches and rats. Some of the rodents are said to be the size of cats, and people are concerned about the spread of disease. "I'm afraid to open my front door – they're everywhere," one resident told The Guardian.

Joseph McHale, a rat catcher, told Sky News that there's now a "super highway" of rodents in the streets, with millions of them among the mountains of discarded bin bags and waste.

When will the strike end?
Jim McMahon, the local government minister, was dispatched to "confront" council chiefs, said The Telegraph, but there have been no reports of a breakthrough.

Sharon Graham, the boss of Unite, said there was a lot more that the government could do to alleviate the crisis, such as "freeing up funds" to settle the dispute by "cutting the interest rate on Birmingham's debt".

Has this damaged the city's reputation?
The Birmingham Chamber of Commerce said the strike is "undoubtedly harming the image of the city" and "making it less attractive for residents, visitors and businesses".

"It's really affecting our city's reputation," one local told The Guardian. "My friends from abroad ask me, 'Are you living in that "rubbish" city?'"

OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, is no stranger to controversy, especially from creatives who feel threatened by its applications. But ChatGPT's most recent update has caused particular consternation among fans of Studio Ghibli, the beloved animation studio behind movies like "Spirited Away" (pictured above).

An unsettling aesthetic
OpenAI's update to GPT-4o, which was integrated into its image creator in ChatGPT, included "more accurate text rendering" and the "ability to follow more detailed, complex prompts," said CNN. Users also quickly discovered how to use a filter to generate images that emulate the work of Studio Ghibli.

The discovery went viral, with social-media users posting Ghibli-style selfies and memes. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took notice and changed his X profile picture to a Ghiblified version of himself, posting a joke about the filter's sudden popularity surpassing his years of work "trying to help make superintelligence to cure cancer or whatever". 

Some of the images took a decidedly dark turn, including "renderings of violent or dark images, like the World Trade Center towers falling on 9/11 or the murder of George Floyd", said The New York Times. The juxtaposition of such violence "against the innocence of Ghibli's beguiling style gave the images an unsettling quality," said London's The Standard.

Ethical concerns
The filter has been particularly affronting for fans, given that Hayao Miyazaki, the co-founder of Studio Ghibli, was "utterly disgusted" by an AI animation demonstration he was shown in 2016, saying he would "never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all".

The filter also highlights "ethical concerns about artificial intelligence tools trained on copyrighted creative works", said The Associated Press. It is another "clear example of how companies like OpenAI just do not care about the livelihoods of artists," artist Karla Ortiz told AP. The company uses Ghibli's "branding, its name, its work, its reputation" to promote Open AI products. "It's an insult. It's exploitation."

Suffolk: The Old Vicarage, Hoxne
A Grade II hall house with 4.3 acres of gardens and an ancient moat. 6 beds, 3 baths, shower, kitchen/breakfast room, 4 receps, outbuildings, garage. £1.45m; Savills.

Buckinghamshire: Radclive Manor, Radclive
An elegant, predominantly Elizabethan house with a wealth of original features. 8 beds, 4 baths, kitchen, 4 receps, garden, garage. £2.55m; John D. Wood.

Hertfordshire: The Manor House, Little Gaddesden
An exceptional Grade II mansion built in 1575 and forming the main part of the Manor House complex. Constructed from Totternhoe Stone, with period features including stepped gables. 4 beds, family bath, 2 showers, kitchen/breakfast room, 2 receps, 2 studies, garden, parking. £2.25m; Hamptons.

Kent: Harts House, Boughton Monchelsea
This splendid Grade II Tudor hall house is set in a delightful two-acre plot comprising well-maintained formal gardens and a lake. 6 beds, 3 baths, kitchen, 3 receps, garden, outbuildings, garage. £1.25m; Fine & Country.

Britain is lurching towards civil war, and nobody knows how to stop it
Tim Stanley in The Telegraph
I worry that Britain is "heading for open sectarian conflict", writes Tim Stanley. The "conditions for a failed state" might already be here, including a "frayed social contract, falling trust, polarisation" and "multiculturalism" that sees "millions" move to the UK "without expecting integration". We have "no national culture" and "no universalising religion". For "angry whites", who "feel the state has taken a side against them", where is there to go "but to violence"?

How I stay positive when the news is so depressing
Victoria Derbyshire in The i Paper
 "You can't avoid the news in our house", writes Victoria Derbyshire. So, "when everything feels heavy", it's good to "think of a few fairly simple bits of your life that lift you". For me that's "the cuddle I have with my two cocker spaniels when I arrive home after midnight from the BBC", or "a spontaneous kitchen disco with friends". Journalism is important, but "positive stuff is vital as well".

Who's afraid of Gary Stevenson?
James Meadway in The New Statesman
YouTuber and self-styled "inequality economist" Gary Stevenson has a City background, writes James Meadway. It gives him a "Teflon quality that drives his opponents apoplectic". What are they "so afraid of"? His "consistent and constructive advocacy" for a wealth tax. I disagree with him "a fair bit" but he is "sincere and earnest". Let's "build a movement for a wealth tax" and "discuss the rest as we go along".