Chancellor Philip Hammond is expected to take his foot off the brake and shift up the gears in Wednesday’s Budget with his plan to put the UK at the forefront of motoring technology. 

Despite the doom merchants, Britain – as a leading car producer boasting a highly skilled workforce – is in poll position to reap the rewards from this fast-developing sector that is set to be worth £28billion to our economy, supporting tens of thousands of jobs. 

And while there may initially be understandable fears with the arrival of driverless vehicles on our roads, there is a need to move with the times and recognise the benefits such technology could bring. 

Substantial investment in electric car charge points would also help in the drive to take polluting gas guzzlers off the road and provide cleaner air for future generations.   

They are among a series of measures due to be unveiled by the Chancellor aimed at making the UK a global hi-tech player, with cash to be splashed on next-generation 5G mobile networks, intelligent machines and thousands of new computer science teachers. 

Mr Hammond finally appears to have heeded calls to start offering an economic vision for the country but his biggest test will be delivering it. 

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CHILDHOOD obesity has often been referred to as a public health time bomb, with doctors warning of the problems being stored up for the future.  

And now we have the damning revelation that children as young as 10 are needing joint replacement surgery because of the excessive weight being exerted on their growing limbs. 

The obesity epidemic is now a national disgrace. 

It is not just that those young lives are forever blighted but those children will become adults facing an increased risk of cancer, heart disease and diabetes. 

And this will have serious financial consequences for the health service.  

One expert has even warned that it threatens to bankrupt the NHS. 

This is now a full-blown emergency, which is demanding radical, urgent action. 

A failure to act risks a lost generation for which we will all pay the price. 

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A NEW class of antibiotics harvested from deep-sea sponges – and capable of killing deadly superbugs such as MRSA – serves to underline how remarkable the natural world is.  

The discovery, made using technology from the BBC’s Blue Planet II programme, could not come at a more critical time given the problem of antibiotic-resistant infections. 

However, such a breakthrough also highlights the need to protect the precious resources of our oceans on which our very survival may rest.