DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Resilient economy is a light in the gloom 

No one is under any illusion that the nation faces painful financial challenges.

Terrifying fuel bills pummelling households are set to get worse. Grocery prices are spiralling. And while wages are rising, red-hot inflation means they’ve fallen a record amount in real terms.

But whatever socialist Sir Keir Starmer says, the State can’t and shouldn’t be responsible for protecting families from every emergency with free money, even if extra subsidies are justified for the elderly and vulnerable this winter.

Yet for all the catastrophising by Labour and the BBC, it’s not all doom and gloom.

Unemployment is near rock bottom, which bolsters the public finances. Over-65s are flocking back to work as employers offer attractive pay to fill vacancies.

Despite the battering from Covid, Ukraine and supply chain chaos, the UK economy is proving astonishingly resilient.

Whoever is the next PM must build on this – to help hard-pressed families and silence the naysayers.

Navy’s vital presence

With a record 20,000 migrants making the perilous Channel crossing so far this year, Britain’s border-control regime is being exposed as embarrassingly inadequate.

Even so, this would be the worst possible moment for the Royal Navy to end its role tackling small boats.

While top brass may consider it a thankless task, the Mail is pleased both Tory leadership candidates have pledged to continue the military presence.

Yes, some say it’s a dubious use of resources at a time of international crisis and effectively provides a luxury water taxi whisking migrants to Dover.

Yet the Navy can prevent illegal dinghies reaching UK shores undetected. Removing this capability risks emboldening people-smuggling gangs to jeopardise more lives.

The public want illegal immigration curbed. Ministers must deploy any method they can in order to achieve this aim.

Curb the rogue riders

The Mail welcomes the rise in the popularity of cycling, which benefits the environment and helps people be healthy.

But it is impossible to escape the fact that pedestrians have been at the mercy of dangerous cyclists, who ignore red lights or ride at reckless speeds, often on pavements.

So we applaud the Transport Secretary’s review on how to hold accountable those mindless few who flout the law. His proposals to require cyclists to have registration plates and insurance, and new fines for speeding, seem sensible subjects for discussion.

Of course, no one wants a nanny state. And given the lamentable state of the DVLA, such measures may prove costly and time-consuming. But if they make rogue cyclists ride more responsibly, they will be an important milestone in road safety.

After all, whether on foot, on two wheels, or on four, we must share the same space.

A matter of honour

It is a code of honour among soldiers that no man is left behind on the battlefield.

If only our pusillanimous ministers adhered to such a noble ideal.

It is shaming that a year after the Taliban swept back to power 6,000 brave Afghans who risked their lives assisting the UK – many of them interpreters – are still there. 

The Mail’s Betrayal of the Brave campaign has argued passionately that all these men and their families deserve sanctuary.

Yet because of government procrastination over who should qualify for asylum, they face murder at the hands of vengeful extremists.

What message does such pettifogging bureaucracy send to these heroes? That they were good enough to fight alongside us, but not good enough to live among us.