I would agree with Jason Kingsley that the UK government has been slow to wake up to the economic importance of the video games industry. However I don't think it's a generational issue.
Politicians have access to data and the figures make it quite clear that the sector is a big earner for UK PLC.
However the industry is remarkably poor at making its case.
Firstly it doesn't help that we have more than one industry association and that those associations don't work very closely together. If we can't speak with, if not a single voice then at least a fairly coherent one, then no politician of any age will listen.
Secondly asking for tax breaks at the moment when the public deficit is spiralling and when even the opposition is talking about austerity is a non starter.
Remember in the eyes of the editor of the Daily Mail we make games where kids can download patches so they can have digital sex and if we're not doing that then we're breeding the next generation of Columbine killers. We've done a very bad job about breaking that extremely negative stereotype. And if the Daily Mail is going to scream blue murder about tax breaks for 'video game scumbags' then what politician is going to put their neck on the line for us in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s.
We need a plan and frankly we don't have one.
What would work better is rather than asking for tax breaks is to demand government action to scupper tax breaks in other territories - to give Canada et al so much grief through the WTO that they have to drop their scheme. Giving tax breaks to games developers may not fly, but demanding a level playing field for British industry just might. The government fell down on that job at the last count - time to kick them again.
But it's also crazy that such a key industry hasn't got its act together in terms of reaching out to Middle Britain - by saying 'hey mum and dad this is where little Jasper and Rosie are going to get 35K a year jobs when they leave Uni so they can pay back their student loans - get behind us...
Time to grow up and stop fantasising that politicians only don't like us because they don't play video games.

"Remember in the eyes of the editor of the Daily Mail we make games where kids can download patches so they can have digital sex"

Actually, we do make those. That kids can get their hands on them is another issue entirely, but games are still purile, violent and quite frankly dumb. How can we expect people who aren't part of our cultural process to take us seriously when we almost never take ourselves seriously?

As soon as we start behaving more seriously about our medium, acting like its important, studying it in a critical and academic fashion, etc., then other people will follow suit.

I'd just like to point out to Johnathan in the full interview Jason and Chris quite clearly states:
"Then again, there are more important things out there like health and international relations and recovering the economy, of course."

I also agree with both of you about advancing the academic side of the game industry. Games courses need greater promotion - I'm a games programming student but I only discovered such a course even existed when I was filling in my UCAS form and looked over the letter G! They also need greater encouragement and guidance from the industry. Fortunately for me, I go to one of the better Unis for the course.

Alan that's nicely put - I agree. You may not remember Adam Singer's remark at Edinburgh Interactive in 2005 when he said 'Games are 2 levels short of a medium'. In other words if our skills were deployed in information and education and the types of entertainment content were more varied, we would be the medium of the future - just like broadcasting was once upon a time