🚨Exciting policy news 🚨 The Chancellor has announced that the government will consult on devolving 'Transport and Works Act Order' decisions to mayors. This would give them the power to get on with building transport networks, speeding up delivery like other countries. 1/2

It is a "boost for Burnham", but it's much more a boost for the principle that if you stick to a regional growth strategy for 30+ years you can see productivity and living standard improvements at the end of it. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Like I said…

Like I said…

Let’s see what the former minister who is reportedly advising Burnham on policy has to say about building homes… 😐😐😐😐

Oh I see so they’ve suspended the application of new sanctions measures to jet fuel etc. Hence the argument that they haven’t lifted any sanctions. Risible sophistry.

It's funny how the bar for humanoid robots keeps getting raised. Oh, we've got robots that can move fluidly and human-like, but can't pull off a complicated dance? Must be crap then.

I've always been pretty sympathetic to the current government, despite everything, but between subsidising Putin and floating rent controls and supermarket price controls, it really feels like it has lost its mind.

Looking forward to buying tonnes of extra fuel now the fuel duty rise has been cut. There's definitely going to be enough supply, right?

Reverse the decision and sack who made it.

The Russian oil decision is a travesty that cannot be allowed to survive the day.

What an absolutely woeful shitshow this is.

ICYMI #4: As the government has proposed dumb, slopulist ("voluntary") price controls, I've re-posted this for free, on why supermarkets AREN'T price gouging.

ICYMI #3: I wrote this a few weeks ago, but the HS2 news this week didn't mention the trains which is – it is fair to say – extremely ominous!

ICYMI #2: Get informed on what will likely be the biggest storyline when driverless taxis hit London's streets, with this great piece from @tymposts.bsky.social !

ICYMI, this week's pod!

Has Liam Byrne had his Weetabix? (Newly FREE TO READ!) takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/has-liam-b...

God bless @jamesomalley.co.uk for being a voice on the centre-left who consistently acknowledges that economics is a real thing that exists (and coming up with potential solutions rather than just accusing businesses of greed) open.substack.com/pub/jamesomalley/p/has-liam-byrne-had-his-weetabix-452

Has Liam Byrne had his Weetabix? (Newly FREE TO READ!) takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/has-liam-b...

(Stage whisper to lobby correspondents). If you'd listened to the transport nerds, or at least listened to YIMBY Pod, you'd have known that HS2 probably won't start until 2039 months ago, without needing the Transport Secretary to tell you.

Re-up as it is topical: HS2's next disaster might be the trains takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/hs2s-next-...

A thousand Chinese Robotaxis could lock down London - a FREE TO READ guest post from @tymposts.bsky.social ! takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/a-thousand...

This week's pod is good!

This is an important read – the next big Huawei/TikTok-style policy problem is surely going to be Chinese robotaxis.

Thrilled to take our publication right back to the 1830s with a big move into print for @localauthority.news.

This is a weird analogy as it isn't clear to me why Artemis "should" cost more than HS2 in a sort of cosmic, moral sense. A few single use rockets for a dozen or so people vs a strategic railway covering hundreds of miles that needs to last a century?

Hello from Japan, where I have just watched a bus turn into a train!!

A thousand Chinese Robotaxis could lock down London - a FREE TO READ guest post from @tymposts.bsky.social ! takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/a-thousand...

Hello from Japan, where I have just watched a bus turn into a train!!

New YIMBY Pod! - Why does the BBC seem to hate the Universal theme park?! - And why Thames Water SHOULDN’T be nationalised, with @danmead.bsky.social ! www.abundancepod.com/p/the-bbcs-a...

New YIMBY Pod! - Why does the BBC seem to hate the Universal theme park?! - And why Thames Water SHOULDN’T be nationalised, with @danmead.bsky.social ! www.abundancepod.com/p/the-bbcs-a...

Hello from Japan, where I have had an exciting day.

Me, after the 1832 Reform Act:

Imagine how relieved the President of the EBU and the director general of the BBC are right now.

Only just caught up with this, it’s really good. Wondering now how many of the local councillors here could write so well. Not many, I suspect.

This seems like a great way to make the Commonwealth Games completely irrelevant.

Hello from Japan where I have just urgently checked on Google Maps where these places are.

Good morning from Japan where a NIMBY shrine is opposing an extension of the Shinkansen *even though it will be built in a tunnel*.

ICYMI, @dlandoncole.bsky.social wrote a great guest post for me on how the big companies that control our lives are inadvertently fuelling populism.

It’s so fucking stupid that opposing data centres is fast becoming a lefty shibboleth.

Can't help but feel there is an enormous delta between Andy Burnham and _the idea of Andy Burnham_.

It’s so fucking stupid that opposing data centres is fast becoming a lefty shibboleth.

“He’s very conflict-averse. Andy wants to be loved and avoids making difficult decisions.” I don’t want to be a downer but isn’t this what Jess Philips, Wes Streeting and everyone else have been complaining about with Keir Starmer?

I guess Gordon Brown isn't going to have much of a chance to review Global Finance and Cooperation after all.

This post contains my argument for why, as thing stand, Wes is probably the best option available. takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/mapping-la...

This is a fantastic read and I can say so as it wasn’t written by me!

Great piece here about how institutional inertia in large private and public bodies is leading to mistrust and fuelling the rise of populism

Really great piece - there's a serious problem with the imbalance of power between ordinary people and big organisations, and the contempt of the latter incubates the anger of the former. Government could help by properly funding CABs so they could support legitimate grievances.

Is Openreach inadvertently helping Reform? <— Fantatic new guest post from @dlandoncole.bsky.social ! takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/is-openrea...

Good morning from Japan where I have made a wish at a shrine.