So, obviously, Donald Trump's tariffs are bad. Any economist will tell you that, and will show you an S shaped curve to prove it. Rachel Reeves did think that tariffs would impede 'frictionless trade' with the rest of the world. Actually, she still thinks that. But she has realised that tariffs are a tax, and could raise billions of pounds for the government. Even better, imposing tariffs doesn't break any manifesto commitments, as they aren't a tax on employees.
Obviously tariffs will impact everyone indirectly, but that's also true of businesses taxes and everyone pretends they won't put up prices. When businesses do put up prices to reflect tariff costs, she can just call them out for being greedy bastards. So, expect the March budget to be full of new tariffs on everything from fast fashion to cheap cars, cheap wine, whatever. Either that, or she'll grab your pension. Or both!
Updated: Feb 4, 2025
A new controversy has arisen over which country in the world is closest to the Moon, if you don't count jumping very high in the air as actually 'being' anywhere on the planet Earth, or which was the closest country before man started flying, ballooning or going up in man-carrying rockets, with the actual closest point (at certain times of year because it's within the Tropics and the Earth's axis wobbles around during the course of each year) being the summit of Mt Huascarán, in Peru, at 6,768 metres above sea level.
Although this is not has high above sea level as Mt Everest (8,849m) that does not make Mt Everest the closest point to the Moon because Mt Everest does not lie within the Tropics. Mt Everest, despite its height above sea level, is not even the furthest point from the centre of the Earth, because 'sea level' varies around the planet.
'Sea level' at the equator is about 21km (13 miles) further from the centre of the Earth than 'sea level' at the poles because (despite what they tell you) the Earth is not actually 'round' - well, not exactly round; it's squashed a bit at the poles and a bit podgy round the middle. And the concept of 'sea level' is a bit of an artificial concept anyway. The Official Geoid is a purely theoretical mathematical construct, symmetrical but far from truly spherical, and even the sea itself isn't actually at 'sea level' in many places because of currents, variation in atmospheric pressure and local gravitational anomalies.
However Peru has always been discreet about making any territorial claims on the Moon, especially following Donald Trump's apparent ambition to invade Panama in order to re-possess the Panama Canal. Peru fears that the President might plan to invade them, too, in order to consolidate the US claim to ownership of the Moon, since the US Moon landings don't count because (as we all know - FACT) they never actually happened.