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.

The problem is that many young mothers want to return to work to boost the household income and living standards and to fulfil themselves.

As Paul Krugman pointed out productivity isn’t everything. But in the long run it’s almost everything.

The UK state pension is unfunded, a pay-as-you-go system funded out of general taxation and the National Insurance payroll tax. Today’s payers-in fund today’s drawers-out.

Sure and it’s lovely if someone walks in with a freebie cheque for you. But cheques very rarely stay freebie - there will be an insistence upon imposing some costs in return, obviously enough: