Precaution is a useful thing, but designing policy based on maybes is a dangerous road
It is is so familiar, the script almost writes itself. Health professionals start to call for more restrictive measures at the slightest whiff of bad news. The government initially dismisses the concerns. Gradually, ministers – many of them almost wholly innumerate – are beaten into submission by projections of what might happen. If we were […]
Schools across the country have forgotten how to teach kids to aspire to be better
Omicron, the new Covid variant, has had an unexpected victim: the long-awaited White Paper on levelling up. Boris Johnson’s plans to put his 2019 election pledge into reality will not be published until New Year, to give the government more time to focus on containing Covid. The document, set to span industry, skills and transport, […]
Unchallenged inflation will make strike action the norm in a new labour market
Last Friday, London once again muddled through the inconvenience of yet another Tube strike. Another one is planned for the middle of December. They are just as much a feature of the metropolitan scene as Big Ben. Until more of the trains are automated, Tube staff will retain the capacity to cause disruption. But this […]
Think petrol panic buying was bad? Wait til you see what’s (not) in store this Christmas
It is that time of year again: ice skating, cold, clear blue skies, fairy lights decorating Oxford Street, and fears about having enough Christmas toys on the shelves. There are two key themes to this year’s scare stories. First, supply problems could lead to a deluge of children missing out on the most popular toys. […]
New winter Covid restrictions would make it official policy to pray for a better day
A trip to the Scottish Highlands is always refreshing. Despite the shortening days, the hills were in perfect late autumn condition. It clears your mind and helps you reflect on what’s not working. This time around, it was more interesting than usual: it illuminated the stark contradictions and hypocrisy of the current Covid regulations, administered […]
Britons squeamish to spend their savings are jeopardising our economic recovery
The economic recovery is under threat. British consumers are saving and not spending. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates that during lockdown, households accumulated a massive £180bn of so-called “excess savings”. Earlier in the year, most economic forecasts assumed that these would be run down. Lockdown had constrained people’s normal behaviour and with the […]
Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company granted planning permission
Following a planning appeal and public inquiry, the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company (WOFC) have been granted permission to keep oyster farming trestles on the foreshore of Whitstable Bay. WOFC are a family-owned company, and one of the oldest companies in the UK with roots tracing back to 1793. In recent years, the company have moved […]
Kidderminster and Bromsgrove success in Levelling Up Fund applications
Volterra are delighted to see the announcement of funding for Kidderminster and Bromsgrove as part of the governments levelling up agenda. We thoroughly enjoyed working with Wyre Forest District Council and Bromsgrove District Council to help support their efforts to gain funding to re-develop their town centres. Wyre Forest District Council have secured £17.9m worth […]
The impasse on climate change is as clogged up as our petrol-packed roads
Boris Johnson is usually a superb communicator. But after the last few days of the G20 and Cop26, he is not currently on his best of form. First of all, we have the farce of world leaders first gathering in Rome and then flying to Glasgow. For a summit on climate change and curbing emissions. […]
In the end, the Swedes really did have the last laugh with a relaxed Covid approach
They never give up. The finger waggers who know what is good for the rest of us; the epidemiologists trying to intimidate us with their seemingly terrifying but actually rather trivial models of applied mathematics. The vested interests in the NHS creating excuses for the inefficiencies inherent in the system. If we already have restrictive […]
