YIMBY Pod – formerly The Abundance Agenda

James tells Martin the story of Open Safely, an incredible tool that scientists can now use to research country-wide NHS GP data. And we speak to energy policy guru Adam Bell, partner at Stonehaven, ex-head of the government’s energy strategy, and writer of the excellent Unbalancing Mechanism Substack about the wild complexity of pricing energy as we transition to Net Zero.James’s newsletter is here. This week he wrote about proportional representation.James wrote about Open Safely here.Martin’s newsletter is here, and his Old Bridge Way video is here.Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

On YIMBY Pod this week, James and Martin have good news for once: Cornwall might be about to become Britain’s lithium-and-geothermal powerhouse, and London is (finally) getting a pedestrianised Oxford Street — after years of institutional gridlock.Plus: a celebrity guest! James speaks to Prof. Chris Lintott (Oxford astrophysicist and The Sky at Night presenter) about looming UK science funding cuts that could gut astronomy — and why “curiosity-driven research” is anything but a luxury.Chris’s piece on the threat to astronomy funding is here.Chris’s book Our Accidental Universe is here, and details on his upcoming talk in London is here.James’s newsletter is here. His piece on why we should abolish Natural England is here.Martin’s newsletter is here, and his Old Bridge Way video is here.Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

Arch-Remainer James discovers why re-aligning with Europe could spell doom for Britain’s critical fixes to how we build nuclear power plants. Martin updates us on the drama at Dobbins Lane in Wendover, and how HS2 and the council have landed on an insane solution to a stupid problem. And we speak to Phil Tinline about his fascinating new paper, Power Failure: A new theory of Power.James’s newsletter is here. His piece on vibe-coding is here.Martin’s newsletter is here, and his big pothole video is here.Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

How just one planning objection scuppered a neighbourhood battery storage project in Banbury – and what this says about how much money councils are wasting on vexatious complaints. Why Europe needs its own independent space launch capability if we want an abundant future. And we speak to Zion Lights, author of the new book Energy is Life, about how we’re already living abundant lives – and how we can persuade degrowthers of the error of their ways.James’s newsletter is here. His piece on whether Reform can ever be YIMBY is here.Martin’s newsletter is here, and his big pothole video is here.Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

A new study casts doubt on whether AI really will be a big productivity boost, so Martin and James have their AI argument again. A small tweak in how the government determines value for money could have big implications for new infrastructure like railways.And we speak to Alexander Iosad and Eleni Arzoglou from the Tony Blair Institute about their fascinating new paper, Public Service Reform in the Age of AI.Our previous AI episode is here, and our previous discussion about the cancelled plans to move Cambridge Sewage Works is here.James’s newsletter is here. His piece on AI growth zones is here.Martin’s newsletter is here.Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

Martin bursts open the maddening story of how the new Universal theme park is worrying Anglian Water… and how nobody seems to have anticipated this? James talks about his big day grandstanding at the London Assembly’s Planning and Regeneration Committee – and explains how he was almost thwarted by a spider. And we speak to Eamonn Ives from The Entrepreneurs Network about his new research into the contribution of foreign-born founders to the British economy – and how we can make our immigration regime actually support growth.Martin’s latest video, on the Badger Road, is here.James’s newsletter is here.Martin’s newsletter is here.Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

Martin digs into the NIMBY drama at Bristol Zoo… and then enters the lion’s den himself, and attends a meeting of his Parish Council. James goes full neoliberal shill talking about Darren Jones’ proposals for fixing the Civil Service. And we speak to policy guru Tim Leunig, Chief Economist at NESTA, to learn how he thinks about policymaking, and why we should build a massive electricity cable from Texas to the UK.Martin’s latest video, on the Badger Road, is here.Darren Jones’s speech is here.An explanation of the Postcode Address File issue is here.James’s newsletter is here.Martin’s newsletter is here.Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

James argues the digital ID U-turn doesn’t deserve the hysterical coverage that Westminster lobby journalists have been giving it. Martin concludes the incredible story of a 17th century engineering project – and how it is weirdly similar to HS2 today. And we speak to transport guru Michael Dnes to break down the news that Northern Powerhouse Rail is back – and that there’s going to be a strangely familiar new railway line built between Birmingham and Manchester.Our original Britcard interview is here.The Stepchange podcast on the history of coal, which James mentions, is here.James’s newsletter is here.Martin’s newsletter is here.Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

We explain why The Abundance Agenda has a new name! James digs into a crazy story about how about how one village was almost cut off from civilisation for an entire year by… badgers. And the reason why is more infuriating than you think. And Martin tells the story of the biggest infrastructure project you’ve never heard of.* Plus we speak to Michael Hill from Britain Remade, about how to reconcile the need for Net Zero with the reality that China manufactures almost all of our renewable energy technology.Michael has written five pieces on China and energy – the first one is here. (Then check out parts two, three, four and five!)James’s post on how he rebooted his social life is here.Martin’s newsletter is here.Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

On The Abundance Agenda this week, a special look back at four of our favourite segments from the show in 2025.James’s newsletter is here. (He wrote last week about why it’s time to reboot Back to The Future…)You can find Martin’s newsletter here, and his YouTube channel here.Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!The Abundance Agenda is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

This week, we’re hosting a Christmas Quiz – all about transport, infrastructure, urbanism… and all the stuff we usually talk about, basically.The quiz master is Only Connect question-writer Stephen Jorgenson-Murray.On James’s team we have the excellent YouTuber CityEd! (We particularly love his video about Manchester.)And Martin is joined by comedian, author, and QI Elf Andrew Hunter Murray! His most recent book is A Beginner’s Guide To Breaking And Entering.James’s newsletter is here. (He wrote about how Labour should reach out to gamers this week…)You can find Martin’s newsletter here, and his YouTube channel here.Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!The Abundance Agenda is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

James explains why the National Grid’s queuing system is maddeningly broken – and how the government is trying to fix it. Martin takes us back to World War II to tell the story of an extraordinary railway bridge in Weston-super-Mare. And we speak London Assembly Member James Small-Edwards to dig into his new report, Gridlocked, which explains why data centres and new homes are forced to fight for a constrained electricity supply in London.James’s newsletter is here, and his post about tech that annoys him is here.You can find Martin’s newsletter here, and his YouTube channel here.Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!The Abundance Agenda is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

The London Assembly has called for the Mayor to restart HS2 planning, so we dig into Crossrail 2 – and how construction has already (sort of) started. Martin has been down in the dumps, literally, and has been figuring out why Oxfordshire has an enormous pile of rubbish dumped just off the A34. We have a very quick chat with Chris Curtis MP, who has been down to Ebbsfleet to see where the ‘jumping spiders’ have thwarted building a major new town centre. And we speak to Laura Ryan from the Tony Blair Institute about her important new paper, proposing new national laboratories designed to create new ‘disruptive’ technologies.James’s piece on how he uses AI (and why the haters are wrong) is here.You can find Martin’s newsletter here, and his YouTube channel here.Our episode where we have a big fight about AI is here.Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!The Abundance Agenda is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

We dig into the findings from the Independent Nuclear Taskforce led by John Fingleton, on why Britain is so bad at building nuclear energy, and what we can do to fix it. And we speak to Shadow Secretary of State For Energy Security and Net Zero, Claire Coutinho, about why she has taken the abundance pill, why she advocates making energy cheap – and why she wants to repeal the Climate Change Act.You can find Martin’s newsletter here, and his YouTube channel here.James’s piece on why everyone is getting the new Twitter geolocation feature wrong is here, and what he liked – and loathed – about the Budget here.Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!The Abundance Agenda is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

Martin digs into fascinating new public opinion research from CaSE about attitudes towards research and development. James looks at newly announced planning changes to make it easier to build near train stations – and why the government wants to stop theatres from vetoing development. And we speak to Fabian Chessell from the DATA Alliance about why the government needs to get better at sharing data… with itself.Martin’s fantastic video on the HS2 ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ is here, and his newsletter is here.James’s piece on why he’s worried about who follows Starmer is here.Tym’s piece on self-driving cars is here.Morgan Wild on municipal bond markets is here.Relevant previous episodes:* Our interview with CaSE’s Alicia Greated – which also features a section on the Cambridge Sewage Works we mentioned.* Why Fabian made a deep-cut reference to Old Bridge Way.Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!The Abundance Agenda is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

James explains why Manchester should bid for the Olympics as an insurance policy for Northern Powerhouse Rail. And we speak to architect Ivan Jordan about why the way we protect historic buildings is broken – and why the listed system needs replacing.James’s newsletter is here.Martin’s newsletter is here.Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!The Abundance Agenda is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

Martin makes the surprisingly persuasive case for building a tunnel to the Isle of Wight. And we speak to Ed Jennings, founder and editor of Kent Current about the maddening story of how NIMBY concerns killed a significant battery storage facility, and just how much worse Reform is making things in Kent, now that the party is in charge of Kent County Council. The answer might surprise you!You can find James’s newsletter here, and Martin’s newsletter here.Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!The Abundance Agenda is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

Martin tells us the jaw-dropping story of a bridge built for HS2 which is even more egregious than the infamous bat tunnel. This is seriously not to be missed. James explains how a clever new database could make driving much less annoying. And we speak to Lord Ben Gascoigne, Chairman of the Built Environment Select Committee in the House of Lords, about the findings from the first module of the inquiry into New Towns.You can find Martin’s newsletter, which includes his post on the Bridge to Nowhere – and many pictures – here.James’s newsletter and post on digital traffic orders is here.Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!The Abundance Agenda is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

We make the case for new build houses, explaining why they’re so much better than people think, and why you can save frankly an astonishing amount of money on energy bills. Then, relatedly, we speak to Barratt Redrow CEO David Thomas about how volume house-builders navigate Britain’s notorious planning laws, and his pitch for how building on existing carparks could unlock over 700,000 new homes.You can find James’s newsletter, and piece on digital traffic orders here.Martin’s newsletter is here, and he’ll be posting his piece on boomers this week.Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!The Abundance Agenda is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

Martin describes how NIMBY activists in Cambridgeshire have destroyed a popular ‘cow experience’ – and what it says about our relationship with the countryside. James looks at the potential for chaos following the introduction of the European Entry/Exit System, and explains why the way we handle cross-channel freight traffic is broken – and how to fix it. Plus we speak to Tym Syrytczyk from Paradigm Junction about whether Britain is ready for the imminent self-driving car revolutionJames’s piece explaining why a wealth tax isn’t credible is here.James also wrote-up his take on cross-channel freight here (free to read!).Martin’s piece on national service for boomers will be here.Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!The Abundance Agenda is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com