While the UK’s Department of Health campaigns against people becoming fat and urges them to slim down, there is a strong case for slimming down the Department itself.

Last week we pointed out that to solve the Birmingham binmen strike it is necessary to pay teaching assistants more.

One of those little proofs that if you put the word “political” in front of another - as with “social” in front, or “studies” after - then you have wholly destroyed the meaning of the word being so modified.

Apparently being able to leave Luton is a bad idea. So says Caroline Lucas: Almost 90% of flights from Luton are taken for leisure - in other words British tourists taking their money out of the country to spend abroad. Expanding Luton is not good for UK growth…

Tariffs are a counter-productive policy, both misconceived and damaging to those who impose them. The new tariffs imposed by President Trump will make US goods more expensive for US consumers.

There’s an old City adage that specific mistakes only come along once in a generation. Folk see the mistake, learn from it, then don’t repeat it.

Many years ago I published a paper entitled ‘The Paratransit Light Vehicle.’ It examined ride-sharing schemes in several world cities. These included the Philippine jeepneys, the Argentine colectivos, the Turkey dolmus, the Israeli sheruts and others.

President Donald Trump has decided to impose tariffs upon almost all the world, excluding Russia, Belarus, and North Korea. These tariffs start at 10% for ‘lucky’ countries like the UK and Brazil and escalate to a staggering 49% for Cambodia.

We do think this is a sign of something having gone wrong. But then there are few who do think society is wholly and justly on exactly the right path at present.

The UK government could encourage more firms to fund student fees in exchange for post-graduation employment commitments through a mix of financial incentives, regulatory support, and awareness campaigns.

The Trump administration calls this ‘Liberation Day’—a triumph for US workers and a levelling of the global trade playing field—with sweeping new tariffs on imports from the UK and EU.

So the mathematician asks the economist whether there’s actually anything at all in all of the social sciences that is not obvious nor trivial.