So, no more Mr Nice Guy. Not that Donald Trump is exactly being Mr Nasty to the UK. We avoided the kind of swingeing tariffs he imposed on so many other countries this week, didn’t we? Ten per cent. Could have been worse, eh? But like so many of The Donald’s swaggering, bombastic, and mostly unpopular (outside of the US) policies and statements, you have to – however grudgingly – concede that the man, well, has a point.

Take the new tariff on UK cars exported to America. We may bleat about it, but hang on. Don’t we slap our own tariff on US cars sold here? We sure do. We tax American cars at, er... 10pc. We have done since we were part of the EU. It’s a relic from the old days that we never quite got around to reviewing. And until this week, the US tariff on our cars sent there was... 2.5pc. Three-quarters lower than the hit they’ve been taking.

It’s only one of many such one-sided arrangements. Chicken? America’s been charging just under $90 – around £70 – on every 1,000kg we sell there. But we tax theirs at almost double that; £135.

The more you examine the balance sheet, the more you can understand Trump’s rhetoric (“we’ve been ripped off by the rest of the world for years”, etc). Whether retaliatory US tariffs will help or harm their economy – most economists predict they’ll be self-defeating – is almost beside the point. As I wrote here last week, there is a palpable sense on the streets of America among ordinary US taxpayers that they’ve been played for suckers for way too long, whether it’s with one-sided tariff arrangements or paying for the West’s defence.

Trump is playing to the gallery of resentment. It’s what he does. It’s what a lot of politicians do. And we can’t say he didn’t warn us, can we? This trade war’s been coming down the tracks since he launched his presidential campaign last year. More opprobrium this week for Washington’s finger-waving at the UK for its current problems with free speech. How dare Trump (or rather his aggressive sidekick, veep Vance) lecture us on free speech. Us! We practically invented the principle... we’ve fought wars to defend it!

Um... here again, however embarrassing it may be for us, Trump has a point. Woke forces have put free speech under assault in this country as never before. Radio producer Maxie Allen and partner Rosaline Levene would certainly concur.

Six police officers took part in a “drugs-raid-style” operation at their home, arresting the distraught pair in front of their even more distraught daughter and chucking them in the cells for eight hours. Their crime? Well, there wasn’t one: they’d done nothing illegal. Just criticised their daughter’s primary school in a community WhatsApp group. It was all free speech and fair comment. But this so-called “hate crime” got them thrown in the slammer.

It’s easy to denigrate and demonise Trump: he is a horrible man. But just as a stopped clock is right twice a day, so a ghastly person like him can sometimes be right. We must learn when to admit it.

• I was a shade on the young side to be a fan of Dr Kildare, aka. actor Richard Chamberlain, who died this week at the age of 90.

But the star of the US TV series, which ran from 1961 to 1966, was a huge hit with my mother and her friends.

A churchlike silence would descend on living rooms across the country when Dr Kildare was “on”.

Nothing was allowed to disturb the mass worship of the man once described as “looking like he had been sculpted by a loving god out of butter, honey and grace”.

RIP, Richard.

• Since when did the UK become a tinder-dry fire hazard on a par with the Hollywood hills? This week, apparently. Were you as amazed as I was to read that a wildfire warning is in place across the country because of the recent sunny spell? Wildfires? After a miserable winter and just a few days of spring sunshine?

Yes, March was unusually dry. But so dry that Londoners were urged to eschew a barbecue this weekend? The Met Office said barbies in open spaces or on balconies are a no-no. “With strong winds and ongoing dry, warm weather this brings a continued likelihood for wildfire conditions,” intones a Met Office spokesperson. “We can’t be specific on locations.”

London last had wildfires during 2022’s summer heatwave. Key phrase is “summer heatwave” We’ve not even got to Easter.