The facade is cracking

Pavement color differentiation matters in urban design. Grey asphalt for everything is sterilizing and looks like car infrastructure. Segmented, color specific pavements define conflict zones and say who belongs where.

"The request was rendered inadmissible on the grounds that the RBFA ​is not a party to the proceedings and, as such, has no standing to ⁠appeal the decision." Because Donald Tump is somehow a party to the Balogun proceedings, but the Belgian federation isn't? www.reuters.com/sports/socce...

Things are starting to look very dark for Farage. He's stuck in a ferocious scandal where he cannot get his story straight and his excuses raise more questions than they answer inews.co.uk/opinion/nige...

This useful explainer from the Guardian leaves a key implication unsaid: the longer fossil fuel-powered NIMBY campaigns can stall renewable build-out, the more they can claim "renewables don't lower bills."

A story that encapsulates so much about British attitudes to its history of Empire. BBC News - Thousands of forgotten Punjabi WW1 soldiers recognised for first time www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Reminder that the Reform Party is claiming that this convicted fraudster's undeclared pre election donations to Farage have no political element

What happens when Crimea can't function at all?

This was a problem in some areas, but the bigger ones were red lines that relied on a cyclical upswing that didn't happen, and sticking two fingers up to Labour voters on immigration, Gaza, Trump, Europe and trans rights. Ie, McSweeney and Starmer's political strategy. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Side note: Chilavert is a twice failed presidential candidate in Paraguay and a friend of Argentinian President Javier Milei.

Have been at a number of events with various think tankers and senior civil servants and everyone knows this is happening but seems caught like a deer in headlights. Meanwhile Bridget Phillipson and Jacqui Smith blithely whistle on. Can’t hold.

If Farage stays until a 2029 General Election, which tbh I very much doubt, there will be Sunday newspaper story after Sunday newspaper story. I suspect he’ll take the money and run.

"Members of the group Patriot Front ride the metro as a commuter looks on, during the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 4, 2026. REUTERS/Cheney Orr"

We need to stop dedicating a disproportionate amount of public space on city streets to cars. I rarely see drivers driving on many streets, but the tax payer subsidized “free” car parking & dangerous car driving greatly hampers traffic flow & safety. Most people drive on the highway anyway.

This kind of whining - from France - is so very Brexit. Until we take responsibility for the inevitable consequences of our own stupid choices, we will stay stuck in a sulky dead-end calling other people names. Boris Johnson rejected these data sharing arrangements. You get what you pay for. (Times)

They did not only target an MEP, they spied on the investigation into spyware abuse itself. That shows the whole absurdity of the situation. More @wired.com:

Kylian Mbappé #WorldCup

The number of people crossing by small boat this year compared to last year. The fall is very real and not seasonal. Little difference in numbers during the winter but since numbers increased in spring, half as many people are coming as this time last year. This is mainly because of European trends.

This is a big problem. If the last information people receive is always “numbers went up” because “numbers went down” is never reported we shouldn’t be surprised that perceptions about immigration end up so skewed. Media should take some responsibility here - this is a salient and polarising issue.

Starmer's government is still on X, the platform that promotes hate and racism.

Small boat crossings 11,638 January to June 2026, down 37% on 2025 (BBC Verify)

Key policy implication for the UK: we should expect significant positive impacts from the 2021-2023 surge to feed through over the next few years - consistent with my research with @migobs.bsky.social on earnings progression for recent migrants migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/co...

Summary of the Home Office Impact Assessment for Asylum Bill is hilarious (if it weren't so depressing). HO analysts say "basically no evidence to suggest *any* of these policies will work *even on their own terms*" (but will probably cost money). assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a43e1...

Humans should not be forced off pavements by delivery robots, but that's exactly what's happening. The people who pay the price are those with the least room to give it up.

It’s now quite hard to sustain that ex-mining, pro-Brexit, Labour-to-Reform swing seats (via levelling up) have been overlooked or forgotten by Westminster. They’ve been the axis of politics 15 years. Why it hasn’t worked is the question

wow this is gorgeous www.sla.dk/cases/sankt-...

Jezus: UK's Reform Party has gotten two-thirds of its funding from fossil fuel interests.

On this topic and immigration, the current Labour government has been steering in the rear view mirror. When immigration plummets and hits OBR estimates and they have to bail out Russell Group universities it might finally dawn on them.

This is great. He's getting absolutely hammered on this and every answer he invents is worse than the one which preceded it

Crocheted canopy for shade in public space, created by 40 local women of Cartaya, Spain #WomensArt

Cars ruin cities

Ok, so quick observations of the Iran deal. Background: I used to write international agreements and de-crapify science MOUs for a living. A) This appears to be a full-fledged treaty. There is language that EXPLICITLY STATES that the parties are going to be bound under a UNSC resolution.

🧵 New working paper out today: "Measuring the Regional Economic Cost of Brexit: Evidence as of 2026" with @jacobedenhofer.bsky.social @trfetzer.com & Shizhuo Wang Here's what the data say about who paid the price in these 10 years from the referendum 1/…

Your regular reminder that cities aren’t loud. Cars are loud.

The closer you look, the shadier he becomes.

Disagree with lots of this, including the central argument, but it's very thoughtful. The best single idea in it is this: "Any platform that uses an algorithm more complex than ‘people you follow in chronological order’ to be treated as a publisher, and held to account for content."

Being able to walk through cities uninterrupted for a km or more away from cars is something of a rarity in modern cities. Everyone is poorer for that. I took a walk along the Hooghly waterfront today & it occurred to me how nice it was to be able to do that & how long before it might happen again.

Absolutely crucial piece of research on misinformation in local news on Facebook, X and Nextdoor by @smfthinktank.bsky.social Full report is here (www.smf.co.uk/publications...) but these are some key findings:

It's literally and figuratively a breath of fresh air to be in urban spaces designed for people and without cars.

How America emerges as a military power from this Iran war markurban.substack.com/p/the-giant-...

open.substack.com/pub/janrosen... “Many of the key ingredients in the draft are universally applicable: tax electricity less than fossil fuels, reform network regulation and tariffs to incentivise smarter use of the grid, and encourage the use of electricity when it is cheap and abundant”

Yes it is a huge story and what is surprising is how little coverage Russia’s useful dupes receive in the UK - including those involved in political troublemaking and street violence.

Well, this from the BBC story seems very poor from the police (@hopenothate.org.uk are truly exceptional). There is far too much complacency around about online disinformation and threats from malevolent global actors.

If this is to be Starmer’s ‘legacy’ - undermining the UK’s transition to electric vehicles - it’s one that @andyburnham.bsky.social must un-do if he becomes PM. With the Strait of Hormuz still closed, with the UK hitting record temperatures, why on earth would we go slow on net zero?!

Tomorrow’s Independent front page:

Hard to believe that urban traffic engineering is a paid profession in the US.

California (CAISO) since January 2024.

WWF has THREE POINT FOUR MILLION followers on X. Their most recent post got 30 interactions. Someone explain to me why major env orgs are still contributing volunteer content to Elon Musk's racist project? It's not for 'the engagement' anymore. So what is it?