Tom Calver
@tomcalver.bsky.social
Data Editor, @thetimes.com
I write a weekly data column called Go Figure
🔗 https://www.thetimes.com/profile/tom-calver
📧 thomas.calver@the-times.co.uk
I write a weekly data column called Go Figure
🔗 https://www.thetimes.com/profile/tom-calver
📧 thomas.calver@the-times.co.uk
Pinned
Tom Calver
@tomcalver.bsky.social
· Dec 28
What can 40 years of song lyrics tell us about society?
I analysed the lyrics of 1,600 pop songs going back to 1985.
Our music appears to be getting gloomier, less future-looking and more self-obsessed
1/6
I analysed the lyrics of 1,600 pop songs going back to 1985.
Our music appears to be getting gloomier, less future-looking and more self-obsessed
1/6
Here's the real reason the government keeps freezing the student loan threshold
The part of the loan that's repaid is classed as an asset on Treasury spreadsheets. But when plan 2 student loans started to be repaid, the percentage received back was less than expected...
1/4
The part of the loan that's repaid is classed as an asset on Treasury spreadsheets. But when plan 2 student loans started to be repaid, the percentage received back was less than expected...
1/4
February 15, 2026 at 11:53 AM
Here's the real reason the government keeps freezing the student loan threshold
The part of the loan that's repaid is classed as an asset on Treasury spreadsheets. But when plan 2 student loans started to be repaid, the percentage received back was less than expected...
1/4
The part of the loan that's repaid is classed as an asset on Treasury spreadsheets. But when plan 2 student loans started to be repaid, the percentage received back was less than expected...
1/4
What happens if Britain’s population starts shrinking - which could happen as soon as 2029?
Really enjoyed recording this edition of @thetimes.com's story podcast podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
Really enjoyed recording this edition of @thetimes.com's story podcast podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
February 11, 2026 at 12:10 PM
What happens if Britain’s population starts shrinking - which could happen as soon as 2029?
Really enjoyed recording this edition of @thetimes.com's story podcast podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
Really enjoyed recording this edition of @thetimes.com's story podcast podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
Is the UK’s official child poverty measure about to be revised downwards?
The survey used by the DWP to measure poverty misses an astonishing £43bn of benefits income a year!
1/4
The survey used by the DWP to measure poverty misses an astonishing £43bn of benefits income a year!
1/4
February 8, 2026 at 11:44 AM
Is the UK’s official child poverty measure about to be revised downwards?
The survey used by the DWP to measure poverty misses an astonishing £43bn of benefits income a year!
1/4
The survey used by the DWP to measure poverty misses an astonishing £43bn of benefits income a year!
1/4
Reposted by Tom Calver
Great article by @tomcalver.bsky.social on why income is often a poor indicator of whether someone is in poverty. Income is under-reported in the main survey used for poverty stats. A correction to that could soon shrink our official poverty figures overnight.
www.thetimes.com/article/fb88...
www.thetimes.com/article/fb88...
Is child poverty really as widespread as official figures show?
Labour has staked its credibility on cutting it, so it’s worth straightening out the data
www.thetimes.com
February 8, 2026 at 10:26 AM
Great article by @tomcalver.bsky.social on why income is often a poor indicator of whether someone is in poverty. Income is under-reported in the main survey used for poverty stats. A correction to that could soon shrink our official poverty figures overnight.
www.thetimes.com/article/fb88...
www.thetimes.com/article/fb88...
Reposted by Tom Calver
None of this is an argument for mass sackings or football manager turnover rates. Stability and institutional memory are important. But we accept a system in which officials are much more likely to die than be sacked for weak performance
(£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
By @tomcalver.bsky.social
(£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
By @tomcalver.bsky.social
How difficult is it to get sacked from a civil service job?
Whitehall is widely criticised as underperforming and oversized — yet just 0.76 per cent of civil servants were dismissed or made redundant in 2024-25
www.thetimes.com
January 25, 2026 at 11:56 AM
None of this is an argument for mass sackings or football manager turnover rates. Stability and institutional memory are important. But we accept a system in which officials are much more likely to die than be sacked for weak performance
(£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
By @tomcalver.bsky.social
(£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
By @tomcalver.bsky.social
This week's column: how can Scotland afford tax cuts?
Its tax system may be more progressive the than rest of UK's. But the answer is not because it has cracked the code of Scandinavian-style democracy: it is because England pays the difference
www.thetimes.com/article/ede4...
Its tax system may be more progressive the than rest of UK's. But the answer is not because it has cracked the code of Scandinavian-style democracy: it is because England pays the difference
www.thetimes.com/article/ede4...
January 18, 2026 at 11:09 AM
This week's column: how can Scotland afford tax cuts?
Its tax system may be more progressive the than rest of UK's. But the answer is not because it has cracked the code of Scandinavian-style democracy: it is because England pays the difference
www.thetimes.com/article/ede4...
Its tax system may be more progressive the than rest of UK's. But the answer is not because it has cracked the code of Scandinavian-style democracy: it is because England pays the difference
www.thetimes.com/article/ede4...
This week's column is about how we spend our most valuable asset of all: time
Life has become less obviously strenuous. For women, unpaid work is being replaced with paid work. Men enage in more leisure than ever. Both sexes sleep more.
Why, then, does life feel rushed?
1/3
Life has become less obviously strenuous. For women, unpaid work is being replaced with paid work. Men enage in more leisure than ever. Both sexes sleep more.
Why, then, does life feel rushed?
1/3
January 4, 2026 at 11:43 AM
This week's column is about how we spend our most valuable asset of all: time
Life has become less obviously strenuous. For women, unpaid work is being replaced with paid work. Men enage in more leisure than ever. Both sexes sleep more.
Why, then, does life feel rushed?
1/3
Life has become less obviously strenuous. For women, unpaid work is being replaced with paid work. Men enage in more leisure than ever. Both sexes sleep more.
Why, then, does life feel rushed?
1/3
What can 40 years of song lyrics tell us about society?
I analysed the lyrics of 1,600 pop songs going back to 1985.
Our music appears to be getting gloomier, less future-looking and more self-obsessed
1/6
I analysed the lyrics of 1,600 pop songs going back to 1985.
Our music appears to be getting gloomier, less future-looking and more self-obsessed
1/6
December 28, 2025 at 11:55 AM
What can 40 years of song lyrics tell us about society?
I analysed the lyrics of 1,600 pop songs going back to 1985.
Our music appears to be getting gloomier, less future-looking and more self-obsessed
1/6
I analysed the lyrics of 1,600 pop songs going back to 1985.
Our music appears to be getting gloomier, less future-looking and more self-obsessed
1/6
Reposted by Tom Calver
Net migration was negative as recently as the 1970s. The difference was that Britain had a surplus of young people. We have never before been an ageing country that is also shrinking.
(£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
Interesting by @tomcalver.bsky.social Britain on trend to shrink + consequences
(£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
Interesting by @tomcalver.bsky.social Britain on trend to shrink + consequences
Could Britain’s population actually start shrinking soon?
By 2029 the ONS expects more deaths than births
www.thetimes.com
December 21, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Net migration was negative as recently as the 1970s. The difference was that Britain had a surplus of young people. We have never before been an ageing country that is also shrinking.
(£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
Interesting by @tomcalver.bsky.social Britain on trend to shrink + consequences
(£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
Interesting by @tomcalver.bsky.social Britain on trend to shrink + consequences
Britain’s population could start shrinking sooner than we think
Successive changes to immigration rules are seeing visa applications plummet. Meanwhile, revisions to data - plus an expected student exodus next year - should send the official emigration figures higher
1/4
Successive changes to immigration rules are seeing visa applications plummet. Meanwhile, revisions to data - plus an expected student exodus next year - should send the official emigration figures higher
1/4
December 21, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Britain’s population could start shrinking sooner than we think
Successive changes to immigration rules are seeing visa applications plummet. Meanwhile, revisions to data - plus an expected student exodus next year - should send the official emigration figures higher
1/4
Successive changes to immigration rules are seeing visa applications plummet. Meanwhile, revisions to data - plus an expected student exodus next year - should send the official emigration figures higher
1/4
Britain’s hospitals average 90% bed occupancy throughout the year, and 95% in winter.
This is not normal!
1/3
This is not normal!
1/3
December 14, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Britain’s hospitals average 90% bed occupancy throughout the year, and 95% in winter.
This is not normal!
1/3
This is not normal!
1/3
I am helping man the phone lines for @thetimes.com Christmas appeal!
We are raising money for three amazing charities this year, covering restorative justice, loneliness and bicycles!
Give us a call on 020 7782 5555 if you can spare anything and fancy a chat
We are raising money for three amazing charities this year, covering restorative justice, loneliness and bicycles!
Give us a call on 020 7782 5555 if you can spare anything and fancy a chat
December 11, 2025 at 2:24 PM
I am helping man the phone lines for @thetimes.com Christmas appeal!
We are raising money for three amazing charities this year, covering restorative justice, loneliness and bicycles!
Give us a call on 020 7782 5555 if you can spare anything and fancy a chat
We are raising money for three amazing charities this year, covering restorative justice, loneliness and bicycles!
Give us a call on 020 7782 5555 if you can spare anything and fancy a chat
Reposted by Tom Calver
Great to see @tomcalver.bsky.social using this IFS chart in his (excellent) piece about the UK's economic and fiscal travails. The combination of low growth and high debt interest really does make for some unpleasant fiscal arithmetic. It's a tough time to be Chancellor.
November 9, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Great to see @tomcalver.bsky.social using this IFS chart in his (excellent) piece about the UK's economic and fiscal travails. The combination of low growth and high debt interest really does make for some unpleasant fiscal arithmetic. It's a tough time to be Chancellor.
After Liz Truss's mini-budget, just 15 per cent of people felt the Tories were the best party at handling the economy
Today, the equivalent figure for Labour is 12 per cent
www.thetimes.com/article/470f...
Today, the equivalent figure for Labour is 12 per cent
www.thetimes.com/article/470f...
November 9, 2025 at 3:34 PM
After Liz Truss's mini-budget, just 15 per cent of people felt the Tories were the best party at handling the economy
Today, the equivalent figure for Labour is 12 per cent
www.thetimes.com/article/470f...
Today, the equivalent figure for Labour is 12 per cent
www.thetimes.com/article/470f...
Reposted by Tom Calver
Her decisions may have had a small impact on borrowing costs & inflation. Other factors, like BoE policies & decades of poor growth have done more combined damage. Perhaps Reeves’s greatest failure has been to not see all of this coming
(£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
By @tomcalver.bsky.social
(£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
By @tomcalver.bsky.social
How much of our economic mess is Rachel Reeves’s fault?
The chancellor was at pains last week to blame everyone else for the tax rises she is likely to announce in the budget
www.thetimes.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Her decisions may have had a small impact on borrowing costs & inflation. Other factors, like BoE policies & decades of poor growth have done more combined damage. Perhaps Reeves’s greatest failure has been to not see all of this coming
(£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
By @tomcalver.bsky.social
(£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
By @tomcalver.bsky.social
Reposted by Tom Calver
Superb work from @tomcalver.bsky.social and @jburnmurdoch.ft.com showing how the UK's upper-middle classes have born the brunt of our 20yr long productivity stagnation, whereas lower earners have been insulated from this via ongoing minimum wage hikes, compressing earnings across the spectrum.
November 2, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Superb work from @tomcalver.bsky.social and @jburnmurdoch.ft.com showing how the UK's upper-middle classes have born the brunt of our 20yr long productivity stagnation, whereas lower earners have been insulated from this via ongoing minimum wage hikes, compressing earnings across the spectrum.
Reposted by Tom Calver
Fair-minded discussion by @tomcalver.bsky.social on the Brexit impact. I'm more worried about the trade data though - goods exports volumes declining since 2019 is a big problem, and finance and transport services have significantly lagged other advanced economies.
www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
Would UK be better off without Brexit?
Ministers may be tempted to use it as an excuse for tax rises, but there’s far more to it than that
www.thetimes.com
October 26, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Fair-minded discussion by @tomcalver.bsky.social on the Brexit impact. I'm more worried about the trade data though - goods exports volumes declining since 2019 is a big problem, and finance and transport services have significantly lagged other advanced economies.
www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
Reposted by Tom Calver
Fascinating as always by @tomcalver.bsky.social on the impact of Brexit. Would UK be better off without Brexit?
www.thetimes.com/article/860b... 1/2
www.thetimes.com/article/860b... 1/2
Would UK be better off without Brexit?
Ministers may be tempted to use it as an excuse for tax rises, but there’s far more to it than that
www.thetimes.com
October 27, 2025 at 7:07 AM
Fascinating as always by @tomcalver.bsky.social on the impact of Brexit. Would UK be better off without Brexit?
www.thetimes.com/article/860b... 1/2
www.thetimes.com/article/860b... 1/2
Strip out London, and Britain’s GDP per capita is just 3% larger than Poland’s 🤯
🇵🇱 My @thetimes column: Poland’s economic miracle
12 out of 17 Polish regions are now richer than West Wales. It has faster internet, cheaper electricity and more high speed rail than Britain
When it comes to regional development it’s the UK, not Poland, that needs to catch up
1/3
12 out of 17 Polish regions are now richer than West Wales. It has faster internet, cheaper electricity and more high speed rail than Britain
When it comes to regional development it’s the UK, not Poland, that needs to catch up
1/3
October 12, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Strip out London, and Britain’s GDP per capita is just 3% larger than Poland’s 🤯
🇵🇱 My @thetimes column: Poland’s economic miracle
12 out of 17 Polish regions are now richer than West Wales. It has faster internet, cheaper electricity and more high speed rail than Britain
When it comes to regional development it’s the UK, not Poland, that needs to catch up
1/3
12 out of 17 Polish regions are now richer than West Wales. It has faster internet, cheaper electricity and more high speed rail than Britain
When it comes to regional development it’s the UK, not Poland, that needs to catch up
1/3
October 12, 2025 at 11:59 AM
🇵🇱 My @thetimes column: Poland’s economic miracle
12 out of 17 Polish regions are now richer than West Wales. It has faster internet, cheaper electricity and more high speed rail than Britain
When it comes to regional development it’s the UK, not Poland, that needs to catch up
1/3
12 out of 17 Polish regions are now richer than West Wales. It has faster internet, cheaper electricity and more high speed rail than Britain
When it comes to regional development it’s the UK, not Poland, that needs to catch up
1/3
Reposted by Tom Calver
Great chart from @tomcalver.bsky.social showing how a third of Britain’s economic output in the mid-1990s comprised fossil fuel extraction, electricity generation and mining. And financial services then stepped in before the financial crisis
www.thetimes.com/article/a394...
www.thetimes.com/article/a394...
October 5, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Great chart from @tomcalver.bsky.social showing how a third of Britain’s economic output in the mid-1990s comprised fossil fuel extraction, electricity generation and mining. And financial services then stepped in before the financial crisis
www.thetimes.com/article/a394...
www.thetimes.com/article/a394...
NEW: Since the start of the Ukraine invasion, 17 out of 27 EU nations have spent more on Russian oil and gas than they’ve sent to Ukraine in aid!
Despite an oil embargo, Europe is still sending £1bn a month on Russian energy.
This week’s column:
www.thetimes.com/article/dd9d...
Despite an oil embargo, Europe is still sending £1bn a month on Russian energy.
This week’s column:
www.thetimes.com/article/dd9d...
September 28, 2025 at 10:47 AM
NEW: Since the start of the Ukraine invasion, 17 out of 27 EU nations have spent more on Russian oil and gas than they’ve sent to Ukraine in aid!
Despite an oil embargo, Europe is still sending £1bn a month on Russian energy.
This week’s column:
www.thetimes.com/article/dd9d...
Despite an oil embargo, Europe is still sending £1bn a month on Russian energy.
This week’s column:
www.thetimes.com/article/dd9d...
Which country works the hardest?
🇺🇸 = long hours, minimal holidays
🇬🇧 = long hours, modest holidays
🇩🇪 = modest hours, lots of holidays
This week’s @thetimes.com column 🔗 www.thetimes.com/article/5463...
🇺🇸 = long hours, minimal holidays
🇬🇧 = long hours, modest holidays
🇩🇪 = modest hours, lots of holidays
This week’s @thetimes.com column 🔗 www.thetimes.com/article/5463...
August 24, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Which country works the hardest?
🇺🇸 = long hours, minimal holidays
🇬🇧 = long hours, modest holidays
🇩🇪 = modest hours, lots of holidays
This week’s @thetimes.com column 🔗 www.thetimes.com/article/5463...
🇺🇸 = long hours, minimal holidays
🇬🇧 = long hours, modest holidays
🇩🇪 = modest hours, lots of holidays
This week’s @thetimes.com column 🔗 www.thetimes.com/article/5463...
Reposted by Tom Calver
"The real mystery is why, during a period of mass migration, the number of foreign prisoners hasn't risen by more."
Good piece by @tomcalver.bsky.social (IMO bottom line is that migration/nationality status has little correlation, +be or -ve, with criminality).
www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
Good piece by @tomcalver.bsky.social (IMO bottom line is that migration/nationality status has little correlation, +be or -ve, with criminality).
www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
Does anyone know whether migrants really commit more crimes?
News reports suggest asylum seekers are more likely to break the law than people born in the UK — so what does the data show?
www.thetimes.com
August 17, 2025 at 10:57 AM
"The real mystery is why, during a period of mass migration, the number of foreign prisoners hasn't risen by more."
Good piece by @tomcalver.bsky.social (IMO bottom line is that migration/nationality status has little correlation, +be or -ve, with criminality).
www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
Good piece by @tomcalver.bsky.social (IMO bottom line is that migration/nationality status has little correlation, +be or -ve, with criminality).
www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
NEW: Are migrants more likely to commit crimes than non-migrants?
Here’s what the data does and doesn’t show.
1/8 @thetimes.com
www.thetimes.com/article/72b6...
Here’s what the data does and doesn’t show.
1/8 @thetimes.com
www.thetimes.com/article/72b6...
August 17, 2025 at 9:39 AM
NEW: Are migrants more likely to commit crimes than non-migrants?
Here’s what the data does and doesn’t show.
1/8 @thetimes.com
www.thetimes.com/article/72b6...
Here’s what the data does and doesn’t show.
1/8 @thetimes.com
www.thetimes.com/article/72b6...