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Pavement parking – again!
Has this article been deliberately written to press my buttons? Pavement parking again! A survey in Bristol found two thirds of respondents in favour of a ban on pavement parking (yikes – it could be a vote winner – maybe we need The Plan for Walkers?). We’re told: “most local councils in the West region Read more
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Anti-aviation? Only kidding – UK Government response to Climate Change Committe
“We are anti aviation” says UK Government as of yesterday. Actually it says “We are anti-aviation emissions”. It is looking at 70% passenger demand growth by 2050 on 2018 levels and claiming aviation will be net zero by 2050. What the 2022 Jet Zero Strategy calls ‘net zero aviation’ amounts in fact to an aim Read more
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Anti-aviation? UK Government response to Climate Change Committee
“We are anti aviation” says UK Government as of yesterday. Actually it says “We are anti-aviation emissions”. It is looking at 70% passenger demand growth by 2050 on 2018 levels and claiming aviation will be net zero by 2050. What the 2022 Jet Zero Strategy calls ‘net zero aviation’ amounts in fact to an aim Read more
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Climate activist’s LinkedIn account ‘restricted permanently’
BREAKING AGAIN: Zoe has just been unsuspended. Thank you so much to the many many people who immediately stepped up on this issue in support of Zoe and contacted LinkedIn. Who knows what was going on behind the scenes. In any case let us hope this platform remains a place where professionals feel able to express views and Read more
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The Art of Seeing – Greener Vision
Today marks the publication of ‘The Art of Seeing’ by Claire Haigh. Don’t underestimate the challenge and fundamental importance of that title. If you’ve skimmed over it already I’d not be surprised because it’s part of our collective problem. We seem to have lost the art of truly seeing and in the process find ourselves in Read more
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Greta versus Fossil Fuel – a poem from Chat-GPT
On the day Greta has been charged with a public order offence having protested outside the three-day Energy Intelligence Forum (formerly called the Oil and Money conference) I asked Chat-GPT to write a poem… Greta vs. Fossil Fuel In a world where profits reigned supreme,The fossil fuel giants lived their dream,Drilling, burning, with no remorse,For Read more
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If you have the wrong ingredients… the curse of the Manel
Imagine cooking an important meal. What matters most – the ingredients or the recipe? Sure, a skilled cook can sometimes work wonders with poor quality ingredients or even come up with a new recipe on the spot if the wrong ingredients are to hand or some are missing. But better surely to have the best Read more
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UK Government releases video to explain the need for The Plan for Drivers
Breaking News – The UK Government has released a promotional video to help explain why its Plan for Drivers was urgently needed. Please watch it and educate yourselves. This old lady flagrantly sought to inconvenience hardworking drivers squeezing along the meagre amount of capacity they had between them. Even though they were all chanting to Read more
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Periodic reminder that Metal says it like it is
Your periodic reminder that Metal says it like it is. Thank you Prong. New York metalheads originating from the 80s and this year’s serving – ‘Breaking Point’: “It’s got to stop. It’s got to endPeople have had enoughThe flat out lies, all untrueWhat is said you cannot trustThey demand that you agreeWith ideas you can’t Read more
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The future of highways – a perspective from Mott MacDonald
Do you know I was a setting out engineer on a by-pass construction in the 1990s? I also worked in a consultancy designing by-pass schemes in Wales then. Both as a student civil engineer. I haven’t strongly associated myself with highways in the many years in between. However, more recently I’ve had the honour of Read more
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Climate action, including blockading of the A12 in the Netherlands
More climate action comes from more people taking climate action. I’ve not been brave enough to expose myself to risk of arrest. I think I may be more use to the cause by taking action through being a constructively challenging professional alongside changing my personal behaviours. What action are you taking or would you like Read more
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The Plan for Drivers makes me want to stand and scream at the world
If you haven’t heard about The Plan for Drivers then you must have been asleep this week under a pavement-parked super-sized vehicle. To end this farcical few days in transport planning in the UK (England), I have had the privilege of being asked by The Planner RTPI to write an opinion piece on this vote-chasing fodder that Read more
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“The PM has decided that we need a national transport policy” says the PM’s special advisor, Sir Mark Spencer. “Yes, well, why not?” answers the Minister, Jim Fracker – sorry, Jim Hacker. It’s pointed out to him by Sir Spencer that “We need a policy”. “We did have a policy before” replies Hacker. “Did we?”…
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Anthropomorphism. One of the biggest words in my vocabulary – one I added right near the beginning of my personal journey deeper and deeper into the world of future mobility. I was delighted when Adam Hill, the Editor of ITS International Magazine asked me this summer whether I would share my thoughts on future mobility in a written…
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In the blink of an eye, 20 years have flown by. In 2002 I had just become Chair of the Transport Planning Society. I was encouraged to apply for a newly advertised professorship at the University of the West of England. UWE was looking to establish itself as a centre of excellence in transport. At the…
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Perhaps it was a slow news day on Saturday. The Times ran an article called ‘Big plans will finally ease parking squeeze’. Apparently “Ministers have supported a plan to increase the size of parking bays to keep up with the growing size of cars”. This is what facepalming on social media was made for, isn’t…
What the hell is going on? 