Sarah Vine wants to bin it off. Though given the decline in public services nationwide, that’s getting harder and harder to do. As the Birmingham bin strike rolls on, the council declares itself bankrupt and rats invade the city’s streets, we ask what the hell is going on with our public services and is this just part of a wider societal malaise? Also, could someone please take this rubbish away?

They were once the so-called lungs of the earth, but as a centuries-old oak tree with “more ecological value than the Sycamore Gap tree” is hacked down by owners of a nearby Toby Carvery, Peter Hitchens asks why we’re chopping down our majestic, sometimes ancient trees and why is it so damn easy to destroy something so beautiful and filled with life?

Also, how do say crikey, exactly?

On our reading list this week:

· The Fifth Estate: Britain's Unions in the Seventies – Robert Taylor

· The Magic Faraway Tree – Enid Blyton

· Tiger Tim’s Annual 1937

To get in touch, email: alas@mailonline.co.uk, you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on Whatsapp – on 07796 657512, start your message with the word ‘alas’.

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Presenters: Sarah Vine & Peter Hitchens

Producer: Philip Wilding

Editor: Chelsey Moore

Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini

Executive Producer: Jamie East

A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular

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Birmingham’s Bulging Bins and the end of the Toby Carvery Tree