As Johnson squirms, his party must remember the roots of Conservatives values
Boris Johnson’s government now has a penchant for embracing policies which, to many, have a distinctively non-conservative feel. High taxes, a big state. What’s next? An old idea which is currently being given new legs is that of a universal basic income (UBI). The basic concept is that all citizens of a country receive from […]
Many lessons can be learned from drink driving and smoking laws to tackle obesity
Obesity has been a hot topic over the past week. The government announced it would delay its plan to implement restrictions on junk food marketing and volume-based price promotions. These had been presented as key elements in the strategy to reduce obesity. With a timing which was either impeccable or pure good luck, the Cancer […]
Volterra to present at Transport Practitioners Meeting
Volterra is delighted to announce that consultants Andy McNaught and Adam Sands have had their paper “Valuing Travel Time Savings in the Context of Achieving Net Zero” accepted to the Transport Practitioners Meeting (TPM). They will present at TPM on Thursday 30th June. Tickets are available here. This article acts a general introduction to the […]
As we resume our life back to normal, the costs of lockdowns become painfully clear
The enormous costs of a policy of strict lockdowns – identified and predicted by many economists in the summer of 2020 – are now becoming obvious. As our memory of them starts to fade away, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is still tracking vital Covid-19 data. The WHO provides estimates of the excess deaths due […]
Sprinkling local football clubs with money won’t make them sustainable endeavours
The domestic football season has come to a dramatic close, with two sides from the North West jostling for the title and four London teams competing frantically for the coveted spots in Europe. Since its inception, clubs from these two areas have dominated the Premiership, especially over the past twenty years. Perhaps it is something […]
We’re Hiring! We have a vacancy for an Economic Consultant
Volterra Partners is an economic consultancy specialising in the economic, health, social and equality impact of development projects and transport infrastructure. We provide creative, industry leading analysis to our clients. Our primary business is estimating the economic impacts of development and infrastructure schemes. Having worked on many of London’s most iconic developments, we are proud […]
We need to stop comforting ourselves with the myth of the all-powerful central bank
Inflation continues to be a major problem for policy makers. The annual rate of price increases hit 7 per cent last month and could be in double figures later this year. This projection is far from being a fantasy. On some measures, annual inflation in America is already over 10 per cent. Rather bizarrely, the […]
It’s time to salvage rational thought when we look at immigration plans for refugees
Priti Patel’s proposals to send illegal immigrants to Rwanda has sent the usual suspects into a veritable lather. Not since the peak days of the pandemic, have we seen such a number of people indulge in virtue-signalling. Even the Archbishop of Canterbury has joined in, cornering the headlines on Easter Sunday. He seems to have […]
Scandals within the NHS have finally made us question the angelic halo of our doctors
Much of the narrative around the health service over the past few years has depicted nurses as angels and doctors as living saints. Soap operas are helpful purveyors of this narrative. Perhaps the most famous is George Clooney as the charismatic Dr Ross in the long running American medical drama ER. Dr Ross, despite the […]
As Rishi wades through the cost of living crisis, static growth is waiting in the wings
The short-term pressures on Rishi Sunak have continued to grow in tandem with the cost of energy and everyday essentials. Conservative MPs are increasingly panicked about being saddled with a label of being “high tax Tories”. But underlying all of this is a much more worrying phenomenon. Since the financial crisis of the late 2000s, […]
