-
Is Mastodon the David to topple the Goliath of Musk-owned Twitter?
Is Mastodon the David to topple the Goliath of Musk-owned Twitter? I know not everyone on LinkedIn is on Twitter but I guess you may have heard Musk paid $44bn to buy Twitter with the deal going through on October 27th. He’s the man in charge now. What could go wrong? Well it’s not clear Read more
-
Rosie has her say for Black History Month
It’s Black History Month. Imagine having the chance to talk to the Prime Minister about ethnicity and racism. Some of you will recall we have had rare opportunities in the past to interview Rosie Lyons (aged 11) when she is ‘Prime Minister for a Day’. I have to say, this is quite remarkable. It came Read more
-
Jet Zero – what to make of it – is it jam tomorrow?
Jet Zero is the UK Government’s 2022 strategy “delivering net zero aviation by 2050”. Jet Zero is ‘a high ambition scenario’ which would ‘only’ leave 19.3 MtCO2e/year still being emitted (domestic + international) in 2050. Pre-COVID annual emissions were 38.2 MtCO2e/year. “That doesn’t seem so impressive and doesn’t sound like zero” you may be thinking. Read more
-
Crowdsurfing, diversity and inclusion – ‘weirdo, mosher, freak’
You know I love metal, right? And you know how excited people get when they see themselves on TV? Well I’m excited to say that I’m the pink shirt crowd surfer in this official Bloodstock festival photo from August this year. That’s all! 🤘. In fact NO, that’s not all. One of the main stages Read more
-
Dear Transport Secretary…good luck with the bed of nails
“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?” Read more
-
There will be no driverless cars on a dead planet
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 Read more
-
20 years at UWE – in the blink of an eye
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 Read more
-
Outdated parking bay sizes are holding back progress
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 Read more
-
Are you an egalitarian, hierarchist, individualist or fatalist?
Are you an egalitarian, hierarchist, individualist or fatalist? And which of these worldviews do we need to save humanity from itself in the face of a climate emergency? Earlier this year, I had the privilege of being the external examiner for Frank Chuang‘s PhD at UCL. His thesis is titled “Exploring the Role of Worldviews in Read more
-
Don’t be a bystander – bring constructive challenge to your role
Be an upstander not a bystander. This is a powerful phrase I was introduced to last year. The challenges we face in society today are enormous – multiple wicked problems. So how can each of us do anything that makes a difference? It is easy to be daunted by that question, but I think there Read more
-
The Matrix is coming…in fact it’s already here
I thought in the future we might be living in the Matrix. Now I realise many have been all along. In 1999 one of the most amazing films ever (in my book) was released, ‘The Matrix’. It was written by the Wachowskis, two sisters who are trans women. That alone is probably enough to get Read more
-
Does it feel like we’re in a crisis? Putting road transport in the climate crisis context
[Long Read] On Wednesday 20 July 2022 I travelled to an event to discuss roads and future investment in them. I was one of the invited speakers. Luckily I was late preparing my slides and only finished the day before. The news coverage for the preceding 48 hours more or less di`d the job of Read more
-
My family left our rented villa in southern Spain at 7am this Saturday morning. A few hours later and they are already home. They flew. I will arrive home two whole days after them IF things go to schedule. Today it’s Malaga-Madrid-Barcelona, youth hostel overnight. Tomorrow is Barcelona-Paris, hotel overnight. Monday is Paris-London-local station. Some…
-
This drivel is probably best left in ‘Olds’ rather than ‘News’ but it seems to have raised its head on this platform. Why not join 3.5 million other people who each month apparently on average consume a massive one minute of what GB News serves up? I mean what could be a better use of…
-
The Parliamentary Transport Committee’s report on strategic road investment published today recognises that the Government is gambling with our future when it comes to decarbonisation. Having led the Road Investment Scrutiny Panel (RISP) with Professor Steve Gooding which reported earlier this year (with Professors Jillian Anable, Nicola Christie, Zoe Davies, Stephen Glaister, Phil Goodwin, & Karen Lucas, supported by Andrew Crudgington)…
-
There is something beautiful and powerful about being part of a team with shared purpose, emotional intelligence, creativity and a wealth of experience. These are some of the wonderful humans I work with in Mott MacDonald making magic when it comes to vision-led planning and robust decision making in the face of uncertainty. Our collective skills help…
What the hell is going on? 