Giles Wilkes

NEW. U Mass Poll.

Trump approve/disapprove: 38%/58% (cf. April, 44/53).

How much have you read, seen, or heard about Jeffrey Epstein?
A lot 36%
Some 41%
Not much 19%
Nothing 4%.

Trump administration hiding important information on Epstein? Agree 63%. Disagree 15%.

www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/zgf7d...

Trump Fired America’s Economic Data Collector. History Shows the Perils. Economists say unbiased data is essential for policymaking, and for democracy.

President Trump’s firing of the top data collector has few U.S. precedents. When other world leaders took similar steps, it rarely ended well. Economists say unbiased data is essential for policymaking, and for democracy.

With people making their own content - missions etc - you can stretch play out even more so each playthrough is unique.

I love TV/Movies as well but one thing I'll say in gamings defence is that it's an active hobby - you're always thinking & doing, rather than passively watching but... 2/3

Inflation is rising, and it’s not just the tariffs Plus the simplicity of the Mag 7

"inflation, while it looked like it was just about whipped a year ago, is still with us and unmistakably heading in the wrong direction. Rate cuts would be a bad decision right now"

Inflation is rising, and it’s not just the tariffs - on.ft.com/4minaPM via @robarmstrong.bsky.social

If I may ask, how are those 200 hours distributed? I'm clearly happy to spend 100 hours over a couple of years to watch something great like Mad Men, wondering if this is the same

Is Britain’s net-zero push to blame for its high energy prices? A mighty rise in electricity costs has complicated the drive for clean power

"No big country is as rich as Britain while using so little energy/head. Revving up gdp growth without more power—a challenging prospect until more fresh baseload like extra nuclear or battery storage lands in late 2030s—may be possible, but is uncharted terrain"
www.economist.com/britain/2025...

At Top of the Charts this week we've been joined by guest-editor @gilesyb.bsky.social, who's been reminiscing on better times.

COTW compares forecasts for government borrowing to the eventual outcome, showing us it's been nearly three decades since the fiscal outlook was better than expected.

Donald Trump’s war on renewables A not-quite-total eclipse of the solar

"Analysts broadly agree that the OBBB will raise American energy prices and household bills. Bureaucratic jiggery pokery designed to nobble renewable projects under way, or almost so, will exacerbate that effect, and bring it forward."
www.economist.com/briefing/202...
From The Economist

(the assumptions I've ingested become illogical)

I quite agree.

This is where my problem lies. It would feel like an explicitly unsociable act. Even though the kids are now mostly gone. And I'd worry that the aftertaste would not be satisfying, like it is with a book or great TV or movie

Reading a novel: fine. Watching TV only you like: only if others are out. Playing chess: mostly bad but a five minute blitz is ok. Heading to the office to binge on Civilization 6?: just wrong.

There's no objective justification

I quite agree. My point wasn't to imply any criticism about priorities. Though perhaps implicitly, as a family man I've ingested a certain assumption a. about how much time you have in the time bank to sneak away from others and be alone and b. what it can be used for...

I play a lot of chess very casually and Clash of Clans even more casually, but they're 5-10 minute experiences you can snatch while the kettle boils

... Look at how intricate all this is. How much time are you having to beg from your family and friends to understand this and then play it? Gamers: if you do this, how many hours are you setting aside?

I remember doing this as a kid but that was the 1980s, nothing else to do

The curse of ‘Disco Elysium’, the greatest RPG ever made How the success of a singular video game led to crises for almost all its creators

The curse of ‘Disco Elysium’, the greatest RPG ever made - on.ft.com/4ojvxw4 (free link for first three)

A really interesting, indefinably disturbing long read. I just have one question: who has all the time for these games? I mean...

The Fed should cut rates because the jobs data is weak. But the jobs data is false, this is the greatest economy ever. They should sack the person who made the bad jobs data. But they should still cut the rates. I think I understand.

This doesn't feel good

Clickbait, consultants and cloudy forecasts • Resolution Foundation Afternoon all,  Giles Wilkes here – no, I’m not the new Chief Executive of RF, but have been given the great responsibility of guest editing ToTC while Ruth is away this week.  I have a habit, as I sl...

I was given the considerable honour of guest-editing Top of the Charts for the @resfoundation.bsky.social this week!

Check it out www.resolutionfoundation.org/comment/clic...

No, sorry. We have enough disincentive to grow in our tax system already

Jenkins raising Tax before the 1970 election and Smith promising to raise income tax before the 1992 election.

Agreed. I think he may have just copied Neil's issue and unwisely assumed N had done the work

No he did a big speech in 2009 and watched their poll ratings fall, I'm sure

What's most maddening is if you ask what are the greatest examples of politicians facing up bravely and honestly to big problems, and doing the difficult thing, you struggle. Blair pushing through tuition fees. Osborne admitting austerity would happen *before* the election. What else?

These are political problems, but they are not fundamental real ones. They're distributional, through time and between groups. Chancellors over the decades, facing currency crises (1949, 67, 76 etc) did far worse. It's not the situation that's worse but the political pain threshold that's lower 3/

On the subject of Britain being in a terrible crisis, which JG is right about: it's nonsense.

On the fiscal side, we are a 5p rise in VAT from having sustainable fiscal policies. Throw in some tidying up of bad SME subsidies and a social care precept, and we could have nice public services too 1/

"in O’Brien’s “confluence” of British problems, being outside a gigantic single market in the nation’s own continent doesn’t rate a mention. Round-the-clock misery and self-recrimination combined with coyness about the biggest thing Britain did this century: modern Conservatism to a dishonest tee."

One of my obvious tests of whether people play the ball or the man, whether they can separate their tribal affiliation from their perception of quality, is whether they can acknowledge that on his day Janan Ganesh is the best columnist in the UK.

"There is a case for Australia as a well-governed mid-sized nation but British rightwingers are reluctant to make it, as they would have to accept that a 31 per cent foreign-born population (that is not a misprint) needn’t spell disaster."

Janan's superlative intro made me chortle on.ft.com/4mkIlAD via @financialtimes.com