Thoughts, insights and rants about futures, climate change, system change, transport, wicked problems, EDI, and heavy metal

By Professor Glenn Lyons

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  • Warning – the 15-minute country is coming

    Warning – the 15-minute country is coming

    Watch the video for this post here. 📢 Exclusive – thanks to an undercover investigation by the anti-woke and anti-antifa press alliance, we can reveal the alarming news that plans are in place for the 15-MINUTE COUNTRY. While we thought we had fought off the threat of local communities having access to what they needed Read more

  • Rebel with a cause

    Rebel with a cause

    It’s hashtag#metalfriday and I get to be me on the front cover of Transportation Professional 💚💙🤘. I want to explain why this is the year the CIHT President is ditching the suit and shirt for a heavy metal t-shirt and leather jacket. It’s no secret that I love heavy metal. It’s part of who I Read more

  • Lightening speed

    Lightening speed

    With lightening speed, the new Labour Government is embracing climate action, equality-diversity-inclusion, and professionalism. The polls for the general election were only just opened a week ago. Has anyone else found the last week breathtaking? Here’s just a taste of week 1 of the new Government: CLIMATE ACTION – “New UK government lifts ‘absurd’ onshore Read more

  • Future mobility meets the Nolan Principles

    Future mobility meets the Nolan Principles

    Today I had the pleasure of being one of the speakers at the launch of the latest report in London Transport Museum’s Interchange Programme – a report called ‘Making transport fit for the future‘. I didn’t have a hand in this report but if I say it focuses upon ‘Decide and Provide’ then you’ll not Read more

  • Creating a public realm for all

    Creating a public realm for all

    Nearly 1 in 4 people in the UK have a disability. Being disabled stems from having impairments or differences, compounded by the barriers created by design of the public realm and how society is organised. We can certainly do something about the latter as the launch today of CIHT’s new report highlights. It’s an attention-grabbing Read more

  • The Mott MacDonald journey continues at UWE

    The Mott MacDonald journey continues at UWE

    📢 BREAKING NEWS I’m delighted to announce that my role as the Mott MacDonald Professor of Future Mobility that started in 2018 has been extended by a further three years. My love of transport stretches back into the last century, but it was a flurry of excitement in the transport sector in the mid 2010s Read more

  • A glimpse into disability and a chance lift the veil of ignorance

    A glimpse into disability and a chance lift the veil of ignorance

    Will you be bustling about our transport system this week? Will you feel disabled by the design of that system? Perhaps you are fortunate to not have a sight impairment or don’t need to use a wheelchair. But suppose that wasn’t the case? “1 in 5 people has a disability … 9 out of every Read more

  • The Emerald Isle

    The Emerald Isle

    Day 1 – what a start. We’ve got this Ireland. We’ve got this Northern Ireland. We’ve got this. 20 June was the first full day of my presidency for the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT). It couldn’t have been better. The ferry from Hollyhead to Dublin. Faultless. Glenn Hingerty – luckily two Glenns Read more

  • Make Earth Great Again!

    Make Earth Great Again!

    For my CIHT presidential year I am focusing on the importance for all of us of authentically being sustainable, professional and inclusive. We need to walk the walk on climate action, on equality diversity and inclusion, and on professionalism. As part of my journey I have got a green cap to accompany me that has Read more

  • CIHT Presidential Inauguration address – my journeys

    CIHT Presidential Inauguration address – my journeys

    I’d like to start with some thank yous. To Karen McShane – a woman I’ve come to greatly admire in this past year – you’re an inspiration and have brought so much to your term as President – dedication, compassion and conviction. Thank you Karen. To my Institution – for being prepared to put its Read more

  • Don’t Koch this up Glenn

    Don’t Koch this up Glenn

    Don’t Koch this up Glenn. When I first saw this quote about voting I was immediately put off when I saw it was by ‘Koch’. Then I realised it was by an accomplished politician rather than the fossil fuel friendly brothers. Here’s the quote: “If you agree with me on 9 out of 12 issues, Read more

  • Judge Dredd and the Penalty Fare Notice

    Judge Dredd and the Penalty Fare Notice

    Here’s my Penalty Fare Notice story, hot off the press. And since it is #metalfriday I thought I’d bring Anthrax into it 🤘. I had my £83.80 open return for Grateley-London. My usual taxi to get from Grateley to home couldn’t manage the pick up on time but could collect me at the next station Read more


  • Public service announcement – a polite reminder to all concerned about ‘The Seven Principles of Public Life’. I appreciate that they were published nearly 30 years ago but it appears they are still meant to be in effect. I wonder whether in hindsight these should have been called ‘The Seven Practices of Public Life’ as…


  • I know you’ve been concerned about a range of worrying heavy metal proposals and today I want to confirm that they’ll never happen. The proposal that all Radio One listeners should be forced to listen to heavy metal. I’ve scrapped it. The proposal that you should be forced to listen to seven different types of…


  • I didn’t sleep well last night. Bad news day yesterday and a chance to talk about it on BBC Radio Bristol this morning. Media interviews tend to be short lived and you don’t quite know the angle that the interviewer will take. I was on the John Darvall show an hour ago. The motivation for…


  • Scenario planning is now entering the mainstream of transport planning – great! But hang on, now people are discovering that scenarios are not so easy-peasy when you try and develop and use them. You say ‘scenario’, but I say ‘scenario’. Oh dear, confusion is starting to creep in. What a mess! Last week at the…


  • Our family has created a sensational new black metal band called ‘Death Plunger’. Our debut single is ‘The Final Minute’. In this exclusive announcement we are able to share the artwork for the single and the song’s lyrics. Unfortunately the band is currently an imaginary one though we are all committed to its success. I’m…