WE all have our panic points, that moment when it becomes clear a perilous situation is not a drill. For me, it’s the billionaires. When they appear bothered about Trump’s tariffs, that’s the time to smash the glass.

Elon Musk, hitherto a true believer in all things Trump, was looking peaky around the gills at the weekend when he called for “a zero-tariff situation” between the US and Europe, while Bill Ackman, hedge fund manager supreme and a longtime Trump cheerleader, warned the President was risking “a self-induced economic nuclear winter”.

Closer to home, Keir Starmer - not a billionaire but a person supposedly of some importance - is wearing a sandwich board that declares “The world as we knew it has gone”.

To all the new doubters we extend a welcome, but what in the name of Tintin did you expect from a man who doesn’t have a dog?

Away from plunging stock markets, economists have been studying the value of having a pet. It has long been known that pets are good for us physically; they get us out walking if nothing else. Now researchers at the University of Kent say they are just as important to our mental well-being as a wife or husband. For the first time they have put a price on that benefit - £70,000 a year. That’s how much your income would have to rise to prompt a similar mood boost.

The study’s lead author said she understood why some people........

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