Worrisome - MMD#567
Good day my good friend.
To those of you new to it, welcome to the red meat zone. This is the time in policy making where a government, that it looking likely to be deposed, plays policy decisions as ‘red meat’ to their base. Such as stopping funding LTNs and asking for them to be reviewed. Meanwhile important decisions being delayed results in schemes being late, or lacking a vision. The next 18 months will be depressing.
If you have any suggestions for interesting news items or bits of research to include in this newsletter, you can email me.
Mobility Camp is taking place on 26th September 2023 in Birmingham. It would be great to see you there. Get your tickets now.
James
I’m worried
Allow me to indulge myself a bit here. In the last few weeks, the “great and glorious” British media has been on the warpath. The Daily Cat Litter Tray Liner (or the Daily Mail) has been on a week-long campaign calling for the 2030 ban on the sale of new internal combustion engine vehicles to be dropped. More worringly, the Daily Telegraph is running an extensive campaign against Dr Anna Goodman for daring to publish a study that went against those arguing against LTNs. I won’t do the honours of linking to either here - you know how to use Google if you want to see this.
You can trust British newspapers to be on the wrong side of a transport issue in most cases. I’m not even shocked that the Telegraph and the Daily Mail are arguing against changes in a way that benefits net zero. But targetting individual professionals for harrassment (because that is what will happen) is a low that most transport professionals are not ready for. And I am not sure how to tackle it. When national newspapers decide that you are fair game because you disagree with them, how do you deal with that pressure?
Being a councillor, I am somewhat used to people disagreeing with me, and letting me know about it. To the point of hate. It is brutal, and uncompromising, and unrelenting. And I know compare to others (especially women) I have it good. As much as there are standards for elected officials, there needs to be some kind of agreement or understanding of standards in public life, and consequences for breaching them. For sending a hate mob after Dr Anna Goodman, the Daily Telegraph will probably get a slap on the wrist. It needs to be so much more.
Under the Sea, Under the Sea
Darling its better down where it’s wetter, especially if you own a low value house and are about to see a new tunnel constructed. That’s according to a new study of the Ryfast tunnel system in Norway, which has estimated that in terms of land value. This studied land value changes prior to the opening of the system, and found that as the opening date got closer then the asking prices went up significantly. Especially for land that was previously low value.
You won’t be shocked to hear that this validates the findings of other research that states that due to accessibility improvements, land near tunnels increases in value. I find this somewhat amusing. While there are questions over the degree of economic benefit realised through transport infrastructure improvements (there is at least some), the same goes for land. Maybe this is because land is an asset that is speculated upon? Who knows?
Random things
These links are meant to make you think about the things that affect our world in transport, and not just think about transport itself. I hope that you enjoy them.
Urban NIMBYism and Climate Apartheid (Pedestrian Observations)
What Drives Undocumented Immigration Policy, Economic, and Social Factors in the US and Mexico (Economics that Really Matters)
On the Origin of the Post-it Note: Intelligently Designed? (Skeptical Inquirer)
How do wage changes factor into the cost of living crisis across the country? (Centre for Cities)
Just a map of Manhattan dropped onto one of London (City Monitor)
Something interesting
Life on a container ship…isn’t that much fun. As this video shows.
If you do nothing else today, then do this
I would highly recommend giving A Small Farm Future a read, if you want to some weekend reading material. Its a great book exploring our relationship with farming and with land. There is also an associated blog that is worth keeping up with as well.