in which I continue my gentle crusade against demands for the PM to produce his Theory of Growth gileswilkes.substack.com/p/please-sto...
please stop asking prime ministers for their theory of growth
look, I said please
gileswilkes.substack.com
Giles Wilkes
@gilesyb.bsky.social
Former politico, comment writer, spread betting dealer, editor, now think tanker, consultant, former baker of overly dense loaves.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques... Well here's a nasty man met his righteous end.. "Hébert's executioners reportedly amused the crowd by adjusting the guillotine so that its blade stopped inches above his neck and it was only after the fourth time the lever was pulled that he was actually beheaded"
Jacques Hébert - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Nice thorough 'stack by @pedroserodio.com that should lay to rest the idea that *just* shovelling ££s as UK companies is what is needed substack.com/home/post/p-...
Access to capital isn’t why British companies are small
If British firms were a bargain, someone would have noticed by now.
substack.com
The Conservatives are saying that no one will feel any safer without the B1s flying from Fairford. Maybe - but things for local residents sure will feel quieter...
One more sleep to go till Giant Toad Squats day! It will be the five year anniversary! How time flies... How do you plan to celebrate? I think a suitcase of booze, karaoke machine is traditional...
Good article reminds us of quite how violently European democracy was attacked during its period of fast growth www.economist.com/internationa... From The Economist
Democracy is stronger than it looks
Open societies have weathered murderous leftists and fascist radicals before
economist.com
"This tide of money is lifting other businesses only if they find an AI angle — on days when the stock market goes up, nearly half of the stocks go down — ... an unprecedented phenomenon." giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
Why a booming economy is not helping Trump
Anxiety about AI and affordability has turned his populist party into a popular target
giftarticle.ft.com
Another superb very long read Polymarket’s Alpha traders - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... what it leaves you with is the bleak emptiness of a life devoted to this
Polymarket’s Alpha traders
In a private group chat, an elite crew of prediction-market bettors turn elections, wars and disasters into ‘free money on the floor’
giftarticle.ft.com
Americans (shooting one another, going bankrupt from healthcare costs, imprisoning one another, getting fat sitting in their cars, electing deluded grifters to office): "We're really worried about European civilisational erasure" www.economist.com/europe/2026/... From The Economist
Why MAGA hates and loves Europe
Three big reasons explain the New Right’s hostility to Europeans
economist.com
A man builds an IED. He sets it off in a busy public street. Shrapnel flies about hitting cars, homes and a child's bedroom. It's a miracle nobody is injured. And Reform MP Sarah Pochin calls his imprisonment "disproportionate" and "two tier justice."
Narrator: Badenoch is not favourite to win the next general election
Peter Sketch@petersketch.bsky.social · 2d agoIn case anyone was getting optimistic about the next election, Kemi Badenoch is realistically now favourite to win it, purely by wrecking the Tories less successfully than the other parties are wrecking their own prospects.
It takes a lot to make Jacob Rees-Mogg the voice of (relative) sanity (and not by a small margin in this case). But by gawd Tucker Carlson is up to the task. Dude's gonna be crazier than Ye ever was soon, and without the excuse of literal manic psychosis.
The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 3d agoTucker: “I never understood why 🇬🇧 fought World War 2?” 😕 Rees-Mogg: “It was good vs. evil…We did the right thing…” Tucker: “Has 🇬🇧 benefitted?” RM: “We defeated Hitler… We’d all be speaking German…” Tucker: “Who cares?” 🤔
On the other hand, there *is* such a thing as a must-miss podcast
Amble (Northumberland) Council By-Election Result: 🌹 LAB: 38.8% (+0.4) ➡️ RFM: 33.5% (-10.9) 🌳 CON: 21.0% (+3.8) ◼️ RES: 6.7% (New) Labour GAIN from Reform UK. Changes w/ 2025.
When luxury cars turn electric - www.ft.com/content/167d... an entire story about people with the wrong priorities in life. Imagine really wanting it that your car can hit 60mph in three seconds, and then get to 180mph. What kind of psychopath wants to pay £300k for that
When luxury cars turn electric
Ferrari is selling its priciest models to tech millionaires. But it’s a hard playbook to follow
ft.com
Apparently the USA being unreliable might lead to other countries relying less on the USA- www.ft.com/content/3ae1...
Trump’s diesel threats could go very wrong — just look at the soyabean
Yes, Nixon’s export ban did briefly suppress domestic prices but it had a huge long-term cost
ft.com
True. I was surprised Starmer didn't emphasize this more. He should have given a full audit of public sector failures, presenting the Tories as wreckers; repeated that the fire brigade isn't accountable to the arsonist; & stressed that the repair job would take years.
Mildly surprised how many people think "yeah Burnham's speech went down well but did you not notice how he failed to solve the (checks notes) 20 year growth and fiscal problems he inherited" is a devastating and insightful critique.
Takes a peculiar kind of genius to misinterpret two great thinkers in such a short space of words. Not sure why the FT carries this stuff www.ft.com/content/c05f...
The UK needs to do more to support its own AI companies - www.ft.com/content/196d... not a bad article from Lammy IMHO
The UK needs to do more to support its own AI companies
The prime minister needs a plan to avoid a US ban on Chinese models that would divide the world
ft.com
My only prediction for Celebrity Traitors is that James Acaster will be the only actually funny comedian.
What's the most BlueSky take? I'm going with "nothing funny here, bear might be coeliac"
Massimo (mirror)@rainmaker1973-m.bsky.social · 6d agoBear goes into Aspen farmers market, eats pastries and bread. Original post
"Americans spend five times as much time on government form-filling as Danes, Brits or South Koreans. Whereas the much poorer and more numerous citizens of India all have a digital biometric id, Americans are still shuffling paper" www.economist.com/culture/2026... Remarkable.
Uncle Sam thinks your time is worth nothing
How and why governments waste the most precious resource
economist.com
Many surgical interventions are little better than placebo www.economist.com/science-and-... From The Economist I predict a furious letters section
Many surgical interventions are little better than placebo
A succession of clinical trials is upending the field
economist.com