Money well spent on ensuring there's an ongoing cause that unites policy wonks from all tribes.

Anyone done a cumulative cost of how much the UK has spent on the work done for Leeds not to have a Tram in the years between 1980 and 2025. My back of an envelope call is about £1Bn ……. And that doesn’t include the opportunity costs and lost economic benefits

The cat's festive chew sticks have given him festive wind...

had some quality street as a pre breakfast, now considering what to have for the actual meal

Just seen a Yorkshire Water ad where they're asking people not to flush toothbrushes down the toilet.

Today - in mid-Scotland - the sun came up at 08:52:22, will set at 15:35:34 and daylight lasts for 6:43:10 #daylightbot

Watching BBC Breakfast and one of the presenters has tried to instigate divisive conversations with a mountain rescue volunteer and David Gower. Fair play to both for playing with a straight bat.

When the Manchester Guardian calls, the people of the North heed the call. And if those people are me, we inject Manchester Liberalism, even from across the Pennines, right back in to the paper of Northern record. Get your fill. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

leedscitylinks.commonplace.is/en-GB/propos... Leeds city centre additional #cycle route improvements 2026: green Existing cycle lanes: blue Ambitions: pink Beige box is pedestrian zone. Some see inconvenience; others see various longer-term gains. Map of wider area: www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/v...

Welcome To Decline. I constructed a historical dataset of economic growth in "The North" and "The South" of Britain and used it to show that Thatcher DID put The South on a course for convergence with the USA. 👍 And put The North on the opposite path. 👎 tomforth.co.uk/welcometodec...

This year, next year .. www.ft.com/content/d62f...

The worst thing about hosting Xmas: having to clean the house

There's just been a half second power cut and every alarm in the valley is now ringing out ...

not so fast! Never underestimate the depth of cynicism you are required to bring to the table www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/politic...

I’m a high-minded intellectual mum Northern cities can’t thrive when London keeps throttling them www.thetimes.com/article/7bbd...

🚊The announcement that the first lines in a new West Yorkshire mass transit network may not appear until the late 2030s, several years later than originally planned, has caused great consternation. 👉Read our article about the decades long quest for mass transit in Leeds:🔗zurl.co/d725c

He saw the light.

Just move to one a week to slow the news cycle down, the status quo is helping no one

To sustain this, we need investment – so the tram delay is disappointing. The issue is that the planning process will take place after the business case process – pushing delivery from the mid to the late 2030s. Speeding it up again is essential. I have 3 ideas to do so. 3/8

Really good piece

If your cost-benefit model tells you it isn't worth investing in a tram or light rail system for an urban area with a population of well over 1m, like Leeds-Bradford, your model is wrong and should be thrown in the bin.

Re: Leeds tram… It’s worth remembering that there are only a handful of cities in England that already have decent sized knowledge service sectors, where mass transit is very likely to make a difference. Leeds is one of those cities.

Who asked for an independent review? www.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/news/new-par...

This week we announced the most significant reform to national planning policy in decades. A wholly restructured NPPF that maintains and builds on the initial revisions we made last year and incorporates new clear and rules-based national policies for plan and decision-making.

An excellent response from @tomforth.co.uk to the TBI proposal for new R&D institutions outside universities. I agree that it would be better if the UK had more diversity in R&D institutions; Tom brilliantly identifies some blind-spots in the TBI analysis. To pick out a few key points...

NEW: Labour just announced the biggest change in planning policy in 80 years. My breakdown of the key measures and whether they will succeed. www.samdumitriu.com/p/labour-are...

Clifford’s Tower, York, by painting L.S. Lowry, 1887-1976 (York Art Gallery).

How has this been published on Auntie? I can't imagine what the victims are feeling having read this www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

this all seems really good

A bus driver just reopened the doors to let me on. It's a Christmas miracle kids 😍

I’m not going to tell anyone how to do Bluesky, but I would like to encourage the following: - Repost stuff you find interesting/entertaining - help others to find the good people to follow - repost small creatives who you like who are trying to plug their work