Everyone knows the only certainties in life are death and taxes. And most people have also learned that politics, religion, and money are best avoided in polite conversation. But over a very nice meal at the Ritz-Carlton in Germany, during the Berlin Film Festival, that rule went completely unacknowledged.

Between starters and dessert, I pulled out an iPad to present a spreadsheet, my defence to why the average single UK citizen cannot (and should not) be expected to pay higher taxes, despite the suggestion that doing so could help solve the current economic crisis.

I have a complicated relationship with money shaped by a childhood of financial instability. It wasn’t until my mid-20s that I realised I had any control over my finances. That dinner table debate wasn’t just about taxes to me. It was about lived experience, economic mobility, and how personal history shapes our politics. My spreadsheet was a window into a reality that many people live but few policymakers understand.