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Conspiracy or Cockup? Reports without date of publication
Conspiracy or Cockup? Why do so many reports get published with no clear indication of their date of publication? Is it incompetence on the part of the report authors or a deliberate attempt to make their work appear timelessly contemporary? It’s not big and it’s not clever. Stop doing it and put the publication date Read more
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The first follower is what transforms a lone nut into a leader
“The first follower is what transforms a lone nut into a leader”. So says Derek Sivers in this excellent 3-minute TED Talk about starting a movement: https://youtu.be/hO8MwBZl-Vc?si=V5kx8OH_mtOEpl8G. It seemed very apt to use for the Decide and Provide session at the Annual TRICS User Meeting at The Magic Circle in London today. I stood up Read more
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Inclusive transport? You’re ‘avin’ a larf mate
Guess why I got to relieve my bladder at Waterloo straight away rather than queueing like I was at Thorpe Park? Inclusive transport? You’re having a larf mate. #transportplanning#edi#inclusivedesign#invisiblewomen Read more
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Hybrid conferences are more inclusive
Hybrid conferences are more inclusive – get with the programme as our professional institutions did for the Wales National Transport Conference earlier this month. As the CIHT speaker, I presented on ‘From halcyon days to a brave new world’ in relation to the changing landscape for road investment in the context of a climate and Read more
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The motivations and meaning behind climate action
If you are truly prepared to open your mind and read the following account with care, attention and reflection, I believe it will pull at your heart strings and wrench at your soul. You will come to understand why ‘love and gratitude’ and ‘love and rage’ sit at the heart of Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion. We Read more
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Decarbonising towards a more equitable future
Fancy that – transport planning day coinciding with a slew of long-term decisions for a brighter future (well, the UK Government’s cabinet was ‘refreshed’ anyway). I had the privilege of speaking at the Transport Planning Society‘s event in London, addressing the exam question “Fair shares – how equitable is the current transport system and would Read more
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False precision drives me nuts!
False precision drives me nuts and it may have a lot to answer for in the transport sector and the forecast-led paradigm that just wont seem to go away. It was cathartic to be given the chance by Dom Browne, Editor of Highways Magazine, to write the viewpoint article below for this month’s edition. You Read more
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The Pentagram of Influence – again
Two posts in one day – not sure the Al Gore Rhythm will like that. Here is the Pentagram of Influence, following its warm reception yesterday at the Wales National Transport Conference in Cardiff. I originally posted about it back in July (https://lnkd.in/e9mDriqy). I hope it can be of use to people as framework for Read more
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Road investment in Wales – from halcyon days to a brave new world
Will the herculean efforts of Lee Waters MS and colleagues in Wales help with the sisyphean task of effecting substantial positive change in the transport sector? It was a great honour to be the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) speaker at today’s Wales National Transport Conference in Cardiff – jointly organised by the Read more
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Hell awaits
In today’s episode of What The Hell Is Going On we hear from UK ministers and the UN Secretary General. Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General (20 September): Humanity has “opened gates to hell” by letting climate crisis worsen Mark Harper, UK Secretary of State for Transport (2 October): “There’s nothing wrong with driving”, “We can Read more
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Free Your Mind – The Matrix meets Levelling Up
The Matrix meets levelling up in Manchester as Danny Boyle’s ‘Free Your Mind’ is the show to mark the opening of Aviva Studios – the £242m new home of Factory International. It’s the biggest capital investment in live arts since the Sydney Opera House. Frankly Rishi Sunak and Elon Musk in London can keep their Read more
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Suffer our dominion
Midnight and another #MetalFriday arrives. The amazing Cradle of Filth offer up ‘Suffer Our Dominion’. It’s not Ed Sheeran. But Ed and Cradle’s Dani Filth have been collaborating. Looking forward to hearing some heavy Ed. Meantime, give ‘Suffer Our Dominion’ a go when you need a boost to keep on fighting for more climate action. 🤘💚🤘🔥🤘💚🤘 The Read more
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As many of us stagger into Christmas, dazed by the surreal existences we now lead where we simultaneously get on with the day job while facing the extential threat of climate change, peaceful protesters are being imprisoned. When I began my career in transport over 30 years ago I could not have imagined the digitalised…
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On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me…. six triple access futures, and a mental model in a pear tree. Daniela Paddeu and I are pleased to share our new paper (free to access) which sets out how systems thinking can be used to make sense of the Triple Access System we…
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COP28 or COPOUT28? On the day the thrashed-out result emerged, I have been proudly attending the graduation ceremony of my son Robin Lyons. Alongside running Ergon Theatre (one of the UK’s leading climate theatre companies) and his own carbon literacy training company ‘Climate Leadership Training’ (https://www.climateleadershiptraining.co.uk/), Robin has studied full-time for his Masters in Environmental Governance at the…
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Just Stop Oil. How much plainer could it be? We are up shit creek. Oil lobbyists, right through into the heart of COP28 and with their tendrils into governments and the media, are fighting like cornered rats. They are banking on the fact that most people seem either ambivalent, in denial as the first stage…
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Climate action, Equality, diversity and inclusion, and Professionalism. And Megadeth🤘 The Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) Annual Luncheon is a gathering to behold. 1700+ people together in one sitting to reflect upon the year gone by and the imperatives ahead that require our attention. Our President Karen McShane was stateswomanlike in her speeches with heartfelt and eloquent…
What the hell is going on? 