The early spring sunshine is a welcome sight for the hardy strikers on the Lifford Lane picket line. It has been a long, wet winter in Birmingham. Yet through the constant downpours and sub-zero temperatures, the city’s bin workers have kept up their strike. Next week marks the first anniversary of the mass walkout that crippled Birmingham’s bin collections. It led to mountains of waste piling up in the city’s streets and fears of a public health crisis. Giant cat-sized rats feasting on the