Speaking to ARD last Sunday, Merz, who is expected to be officially named chancellor on May 6, said that he could deliver Taurus missiles to Ukraine. The weapon has a range of 500km. His predecessor Olaf Scholz has repeatedly refused Kiev’s requests for the rockets, citing fears of an escalation of the conflict.

Commenting on Merz’s remark during a press briefing on Thursday, Zakharova warned that “since live firing these cruise missiles is impossible without the direct assistance of Bundeswehr servicemen, a strike on any Russian facilities, [or] critical transport infrastructure... will be regarded as direct German participation in military operations.”

Russia’s ambassador to Germany, Sergey Nechaev, similarly stated that while unable to alter the battlefield dynamics, the delivery of Taurus missiles to Ukraine could lead to an escalation of the fighting and compel Moscow to retaliate. Throughout the Ukraine conflict, Moscow has repeatedly condemned Western military aid to Kiev, insisting that it only serves to prolong the bloodshed.

Trump’s abrupt escalation of import tariffs goes well beyond violating the principles of comparative advantage, but we can start there. “Comparative advantage” is not all it’s cracked up to be. Repeated in business schools as if it were gospel since the 1980s, it goes something like this: “Wool is cheaper in Scotland, and wine is cheaper in France, so France should sell their wine to Scotland, and Scotland should sell their wool to France.” Everybody wins. Period. That’s the extent of it. That is the essence of free trade theory.

In the real world, though, policies that rely on “comparative advantage” doctrine as their moral justification have gotten pretty ugly. While overall economic growth may be maximized when every nation exports products that it produces most cost-effectively, the local impacts are not always benign. Nations that produce coffee at competitive global prices, for example, end up with valuable cropland converted from food production to coffee plantations.

These coffee plantations are typically owned by multinational corporations that repatriate profits to low-tax nations elsewhere while buying off a small local elite that streamlines the regulatory environment. Meanwhile, the nation becomes dependent on imports for everything except coffee, and even the coffee ends up priced out of reach for the average citizen. Replace “coffee” with any specialty product, and all too often, the “gains of trade” translate on the ground into nations with seething, destitute populations dependent on accumulating debt and foreign aid.

These examples aren’t restricted to foreign nations, nor are they restricted to commodities. While American multinationals moved manufacturing overseas, in the process destroying millions of jobs and thousands of communities in America, it wasn’t just cheap wool, cheap wine, and dirt-cheap flat-screen TVs that were pouring into the country in exchange. We offshored our production of steel, our chip manufacturers, our pharmaceutical industry, and much more. And even that devastation was tolerated for decades because its effects were mostly felt in what we now call rust belt states.

The majority of human beings have an inherent sense of good and evil; we often refer to this condition as conscience or moral compass. The intuitive inner voice that guides us and warns us when we stray into “the dark side” is a product of archetypal knowledge – what psychologist Carl Jung described as a set of inborn complexes or symbols that tap into our deepest emotions and sense of identity. All our social interactions are in some way affected by these archetypes.

To summarize, leftists are TOTAL relativists. The rules do not apply to them. The law does not apply to them. Morality does not apply to them. Conscience is non-existent for them (or it exists but they have trained their minds to ignore it). Biological reality does not apply to them. They think they are special and that boundaries should only exist for the people they don’t like. This is pure evil. There’s no other rational way to look at it.

Bisphenol is a class of chemicals used in a wide range of consumer products, such as food packaging, fabrics, toys and cookware. Regulators have largely focused on bisphenol A (BPA), which is banned in Europe for food uses because it is so toxic. Many companies have phased out BPA’s use and food companies often advertise when their packaging is BPA free.

But recent research has found BPS, the alternative largely used in place of BPA, to be just as toxic. It’s linked to hormone disruption, cognitive damage, decreased sperm count, breast cancer and other health issues. Previous research has found it can be absorbed by the skin, and CEH’s new study shows how high the risk is just for brief exposures while holding a receipt. The findings are particularly concerning for cashiers and people working in retail who may handle many receipts throughout the day.

“Everyone is asking for more trade with Europe — and it’s not just about economic ties. It is also about establishing common rules and it is about ­predictability,” she said. “Europe is known for its predictability and reliability, which is once again starting to be seen as something very valuable.”

She compared the American president’s ­inner circle of “bros” such as Elon Musk to Russian oligarchs. “We don’t have bros or oligarchs making the rules,” she said. “We don’t invade our neighbours, and we don’t punish them”, a reference to Trump’s “make America great again” tariffs and Putin’s naked imperialism against Ukraine.

Xi Jinping, China’s president, last week spoke warmly of ties with Brussels, urging the bloc to join Beijing to “jointly safeguard the trend of economic globalisation and the international trade environment, and jointly oppose unilateral acts of bullying”. Trump’s trade war has given China the chance to shake off its image as the rogue giant of global trade and investment, and appear as a pillar of stability in contrast to a volatile and unpredictable US.

Alicia Garcia-Herrero, senior fellow at the think tank Bruegel, says China’s “charm offensive” seeks to foster closer links with Europe, and much of the rest of Asia, to form a “united front … to isolate the US”.

Perhaps the strongest example of this strategy is the Chinese ban on deliveries of Boeing airliners, announced on Tuesday. It not only will hurt a US national champion still reeling from a safety crisis, but also threatens to hand arch-rival Airbus a virtual monopoly over civil aircraft exports to China. The market is expected to account for 20 percent of global demand over the next two decades. The loss of China would deliver a body-blow to Boeing as it seeks to claw its way back from years of turmoil triggered by two fatal crashes involving the 737 Max.

This judgment was published not long after the national humiliation the government suffered over the Huawei fiasco, when only the vociferous objections of the previous Trump administration prevented a company with historic links to China’s ruling Communist Party taking control of the UK’s entire 5G network. Despite the furore over Huawei, Whitehall still allowed Jingye Group, China’s leading steelmaker, to proceed with its bid for British Steel, naively believing that the UK business would enjoy a much-needed revival under its new Chinese owners.

Yet, as recent events have demonstrated, the decision to allow one of the UK’s core industrial assets to come under Chinese ownership was not only deeply misguided, it came close to denying the country the ability to maintain its own indigenous steelmaking production line, with all the implications that could have for our national security. Steel, after all, is a key component in the manufacture of vital military equipment, such as nuclear submarines, warplanes, tanks and heavy artillery – to name but a few. Ending the UK’s ability to produce its own steel would leave us at the mercy of other powers – not all of them friendly – to secure our defence needs.

As with Huawei, it is now clear that the Government has had a lucky escape with its dramatic rescue package to nationalise the Scunthorpe steel works – assuming it is still possible to secure the necessary raw materials to keep the plant’s blast furnaces operational. That it took an emergency sitting of Parliament at the weekend – an event usually reserved for a national emergency, such as Argentina’s 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands – to maintain British steel production certainly underlines the seriousness of the crisis we faced.

But if the Government is to learn anything from the Scunthorpe debacle, it is that we can no longer trust China’s Communist Party rulers as reliable partners at any level, whether it concerns steel production or the questionable pursuit of net zero.

The old establishment is imploding, and it's a joy to behold. In the week since the tariff announcement, we've seen countless end-of-days headlines about a "global trade war"; prophecies of ruin from ivory-tower economists; and Wall Street traders dumping stocks, only to buy them back and then dump them again. Even some spineless Republicans in Congress — who should be carrying President Trump's flag — are trembling instead of cheering his fight for America's soul. It's a pitiful display from people who've sold our country down the river for years. They don't get it, and they never will.

I've seen the rot firsthand. In 1993, I worked for Fortune 500 companies, pushing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the belief it would bring prosperity to America. In the years after, I watched factories die, towns crumble, and jobs vanish — proof that I was wrong about NAFTA, and that its loudest supporters cared more about their profits than about middle-class Americans. By May 2015, I was an early advocate for President Trump's campaign. He saw the establishment's con for what it was, and promised to fight for the forgotten.

Since World War II, our trade policy has been a slow bleed-out. We played doormat, letting allies and foes alike loot our markets to keep Cold War pawns in line. That made sense once. Now? It's just insanity, a gift to foreign fat cats while our heartland rots.

The truth cuts deep: global "free trade" is a heist. We slashed tariffs to scraps while our "partners" sneered and cheated. Canada imposes a 250 percent tariff on our dairy products if our farmers export more than a certain amount. China drowns our markets in cheap junk to bury our industries. Others hide their scams with quotas, red tape, or fat subsidies — tariffs by another name. For decades, we let them rob American workers blind while our leaders clapped like fools and called it progress.

President Trump gets it. His tariffs are a rallying cry for forgotten Americans — steelworkers, machinists, parents watching "Made in China" choke their kids' futures. That cry says: "no more!" These tariffs are not reckless — they're righteous. They're not a retreat — they're a charge to reclaim the industrial capacity that made America a titan; a gauntlet thrown at every nation that's played us for suckers.

That a serving US government could so casually inflict such a blow to one of the country’s most successful companies almost beggars belief. It is not so much the immediate damage to profits where the pain will be most acutely felt – though this will be bad enough, eating into the company’s ability to invest in future development. Rather, it is in the certainty that the ban will galvanise Chinese tech into fast-track development of competing products. Necessity is the mother of invention, and that’s what China will now do. Trump’s actions pretty much ensure that China will eventually emerge as a potent, low-cost competitor to Nvidia’s currently commanding lead.

Mr Merz, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), is due to take the top job, being backed by its sister party CSU and the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). But cracks have begun to show between the CDU and the SPD faction, which is led by co-leaders Lars Klingbeil and Saskia Esken. In a recent TV interview, Mr Merz reiterated a pledge to send more long-range Taurus cruise missiles to support Ukraine in the war against Russia. But when asked about the comments, acting defence minister Boris Pistorius, a senior SPD figure, said: "I was never in favour of that."

Mr Pistorius is widely expected to keep his role as defence minister, so if he maintained his position it could put him seemingly directly at odds with his future boss, Mr Merz. Jusos leader Philipp Türmer called the immigration agreement between the coalition a "ticking time bomb", and SPD party chair, Lars Klingbeil, said if the membership fails to vote to proceed with a coalition government, there will be "no second round" of voting. He added: “If this fails, there will be new elections or a minority government.”

“His humble action was a token of His love that knew no bounds or boundaries and is central to Christian belief. The love He showed when He walked the Earth reflected the Jewish ethic of caring for the stranger and those in need, a deep human instinct echoed in Islam and other religious traditions, and in the hearts of all who seek the good of others.”

The King has made “interfaith dialogue” one of his key causes, regularly sharing his admiration for elements of other faiths and urging greater communication across religion. He has issued several Easter messages before, including during his last few years as Prince of Wales, but has not made such an explicit reference to celebrating other faiths before.