Tom Calver
@TomHCalver
Data Editor and columnist, @thetimes
NEW: Is Britain really a high tax country? Our collective tax bill is at its highest share of GDP since the 1940s But actually, the tax and NI paid by the average worker are at their lowest in decades. What’s going on? 1/7
Britain’s cheap groceries used to be the envy of Europe; not anymore. This week’s column is on food inflation thetimes.com/article/5c2ce6…
Notwithstanding the challenges being experienced by the Labour Force Survey it is picking up a striking trend in working age inactivity rates. Those born outside the UK have a considerably lower working age inactivity rate than the UK-born population - with very considerable…
More encouragingly working age inactivity now seeing a sharp reversals on the post-pandemic increases. Numbers down to 9.1m and the rate down to 21% - this aspect of the UK labour market is making progress despite clear demand weakness.
A third of people in Britain now think the Covid pandemic was exaggerated to control people 🤯🤯 And 22% think the moon landings were staged! One of many striking findings from new @Moreincommon_ report on shattered Britain. My write up here: 🔗 thetimes.com/article/bb0ff3…
Fantastic write up of the findings and interviews with some of the segments in this @TomHCalver piece for the Sunday Times, which also includes the quiz and interviews with members of the new seven segments. thetimes.com/uk/politics/ar…
Very good from @TomHCalver,👏👏. "The spiralling cost of services, a real-terms decline in central funding since 2010 and the decision to let councils raise taxes to fund social care from 2016 have all nudged bills upwards." Reform is needed. thetimes.com/comment/column…
We need a #babyboom — why falling #birthrates are bad news for all of us. @thetimes feature by @TomHCalver on the new book #AftertheSpike: #Population, Progress, and the Case for People by economists Dean Speers and @MikeGeruso from @SimonSchuster thetimes.com/culture/books/…
Scientists spent much of the 20th century worrying about overpopulation. Their fears went unfounded: humans became richer as our numbers grew. Now, demographers are starting to worry about the opposite problem Review in @thetimes thetimes.com/article/e86197…
Rising wages, falling waiting lists: an unpopular take, but in a few ways, life in Britain has been (very slowly) improving over the past year. But it doesn’t feel that way — and that’s a problem for Labour thetimes.com/article/33c024…
Exclusive🚨: Ex-Tory minister allowed company that paid him £5k a month to effectively write several of his parliamentary questions, leaked emails have revealed George Freeman, ex-science minister, has referred himself to the Commissioner for Standards thetimes.com/uk/politics/ar…
Just one in seven people who moved into economic activity for long-term sickness in 2021-24 were actually working immediately beforehand Most were either unemployed, looking after family, or in some other form of inactivity
Why it's hard to get that excited about Britain's modest rise in defence spending This week's @thetimes column thetimes.com/article/476e90…
