YIMBY Pod – formerly The Abundance Agenda

We talk about Andy Burnham’s big plans to devolve power across the country – and focus on the most important issues, like integrated transport ticketing and whether or not the boundary lines are consistent. And we speak to Jamie Airnes, CEO of Cornish Lithium, about his ambitious plan to make Cornwall central to the battery supply chain.
This week James wrote about why people are arguing about Net Zero badly – and what the real debate over the policy is about.
Martin’s piece on ‘picky bits’ and national decline is here, and his YouTube channel 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 discuss why both of our respective households have pulled the trigger on getting solar panels installed – and we detail our experiences during the installation process. And we speak to Ben Garratt from Logistics UK about why getting goods from A to B is critical to a growing economy.
This week James totally failed to publish anything, but will have something landing early next week. In the meantime, his links newsletter has more on his solar journey.
Martin’s piece on ‘picky bits’ and national decline is here, and his YouTube channel 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 and Martin review Andy Burnham’s first policy and personnel moves – and ask whether Britain is really ready for a Northern Prime Minister. Then we speak to Michael Dnes about his big plan to solve one of Britain’s biggest transport bottlenecks… with dynamite.
You can find out more about the proposed Trans-Pennine Connect tunnel here, and on Michael’s fantastic Substack here.
The Centre for Cities report on fiscal devolution in England that Martin mentions is here.
This week James wrote about why he’s worried that Andy Burnham isn’t serious, and offered some broader takes on Burnham’s cabinet here.
Martin’s piece on ‘picky bits’ and national decline is here, and his YouTube channel 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

Should the British government create an open source AI lab? We speak to Guy Ward-Jackson and Elizabeth Seger from the Tony Blair Institute. Is Britain’s regulatory system out of control? Re:state’s Joe Hill tells us what to do about it.
The TBI paper on open source AI is here, and Re:state’s paper on the ‘law of rule’ is here.
This week James wrote about how Britain is fixing it’s airspace problem, and also why he’s worried that Andy Burnham isn’t serious.
Martin’s piece on ‘picky bits’ and national decline is here, and his YouTube channel 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 pitches Martin on an idea he has had to solve the problem of congestion caused by robotaxis. And we speak to Sky News Technology Correspondent Rowland Manthorpe, who has been reporting on the data centre water usage controversy – and has been figuring out what the situation is here in the UK.
Rowland’s Substack piece on AI water usage is here, and he made a fantastic video about it here. The film he mentioned on ‘A machine to watch the world’ is here.
James picking a fight with half of the internet over robotaxis is here.
Martin’s piece on ‘picky bits’ and national decline is here, and his YouTube channel 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