🐾 Dave – The Rambling Donkey

Few economic tools sound as macho as a tariff. Slap a tax on foreign goods, make America strong, punish the bad guys, and everyone wins – or so the story goes. But as former President Donald Trump gears up for another possible term in office, it's worth asking: does he actually understand how tariffs work? The Trump Tariff Doctrine Trump has repeatedly framed tariffs as a kind of easy money-maker for the U.S. In a 2018 tweet, he wrote: “Tariffs are the greatest! Either a country which has treated the United States unfairly negotiates a fair deal, or it gets hit with tariffs. It’s as simple as that – and everybody’s talking! Remember, we are the ‘piggy bank’ that’s being robbed." In May 2024, speaking at a campaign rally, he stated: “We made billions and billions of dollars off China. I put a tariff on their goods, and they paid us like never before.” On the surface, that sounds like a win. In reality, it misunderstands the basic function of a tariff: it's a tax on imports ...

  Review:  Little Women  at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry Adapted by Anne-Marie Casey | 22nd March 2025 I saw Little Women at the Belgrade Theatre yesterday, and I’ve been carrying it with me ever since. This stage adaptation, lovingly crafted by Anne-Marie Casey, remains faithful to the heart of Louisa May Alcott’s novel — rich in sisterhood, sacrifice, and quiet strength — yet it sings with its own theatrical rhythm. The set design was one of the production’s quiet triumphs. A series of birch trunks framed the stage throughout, lending a striking sense of place and an authentic feel of Civil War-era America. From the moment we entered the theatre, the atmosphere was set: old American songbook-style music played gently, immediately drawing us into the world of the March family. The lighting design cleverly shifted with the seasons, helping the audience track the passage of time with subtle, poetic clarity. The period setting was further enriched by the haunting and...

 

 This week, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) found itself in hot water over a harmless bit of wordplay. In response to a tweet from Pope Francis marking Ash Wednesday, the ECB’s social media team posted, “Even @Pontifex loves The Ashes.” A simple, lighthearted joke. But in the world of modern online etiquette, even the most innocent posts can cause a stir. The ECB swiftly deleted the tweet and issued an apology, calling it an “ill-judged post” and saying they were sorry for any offence caused. Was This Really Offensive? Let’s be honest—this was not an offensive post by any stretch of the imagination. There was no mockery, no disrespect, just a fun bit of word association. Ash Wednesday and The Ashes —it’s an obvious linguistic connection, and one that any cricket fan with a sense of humour could appreciate. If anything, the Pope’s words about Ash Wednesday could just as easily be describing cricket’s greatest rivalry: “The Ashes remind us of who we are, which does us...