Rafe Smyth
@rafe-s.bsky.social
Climate, infrastructure(s), nature, interdisciplinary, radical pragmatism, solutions Based in London, UK. Don't see DMs.
25% turnout for the Greater Manchester Mayoral Election. Nearly 3/4 of voters didn't show up for a contest, whose previous winner has just become prime minister. We shouldn't be blase about this: it raises big questions about the health of our democracy & the public appetite for the mayoral model.
Ash@queerash.bsky.social · 6d agoit's an interesting contradiction of devolving power to local people when it's a pretty consistent finding that they don't really care about exercising that power
I get no one wants to be the boy who cried wolf, but at the end of the story there was a great big wolf. If the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively shut the crisis the IEA and others feared will eventually arrive, probably just as the northern hemisphere winter starts.
Tom Haddon@tomh-analyst.bsky.social · 2w agoLooking East you see strong H1'26 Asian demand for LNG. Looking West you see US Nat Gas to LNG unable to maintain volumes since April. Bit of a pincer movement on the European gas market, providing the foundation for the high prices.
On X, freedom of expression is just like the definition of hate speech: it’s all relative.
"The risk is that Labour have picked a leader who communicates well, but whose instincts are wrong.... a Prime Minister who reaches for gasfields and dockyards every time he needs to frame his vision"
Jonathan Portes@jdportes.bsky.social · 3w agoThis is a genuinely thoughtful critique of Burnham's speech from @jonathansimons.bsky.social jonathansimons.substack.com/p/what-i-did...
New drilling isn't just a catastrophic signal of us stepping back from our climate commitments, it also runs against the geological reality of an almost depleted resource. Our focus should be on cheap, clean fuel for the future - not propping up oil and gas. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Burnham to Back North Sea Oil and Take Control of Thames Water
Within days of taking office incoming prime minister Andy Burnham is preparing to announce new drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea as well as taking public control of Thames Water.
bloomberg.com
As we face unprecedented heatwave, construction sector pleads to "recommit to current infrastructure plans". Reminder: (1) Govt says it won't cut rail but will consult on cutting road schemes. (2) Transport emissions up over last two years, so radical change now urgent. ice.org.uk/news-views-i...
Industry Leaders Urge New UK PM To Stick To Existing Infrastructure Plans
In an open letter signed by 27 built environment and industry bodies, the sector warned that “now is not the time to go back to square one”.
ice.org.uk
As much as 40 percent of longform posts on LinkedIn and X that users actually see are fully AI-generated, according to new research Particularly notable because we know these platforms are flooded with slop, but this studied what the algorithm actually shows people www.404media.co/linkedin-and...
Of course unions look out for their members but it defies belief that they chose *this week* to lobby for more North Sea oil drilling. They should be lobbying for super-generous retraining terms.
Wondering why it was too hot to sleep last night? Today's @thecccuk.bsky.social report shows carbon emissions from UK surface transport grew significantly in 2025, the only sector to do so. As the biggest sector, transport is particularly responsible for #climate breakdown.
Desperate bid to move forward on Heathrow expansion in dying hours of Starmer premiership? ⌛🛬 New "Critical National Growth Infrastructure" phrase rolled out to try to steamroll legitimate questions. How on earth can this climate trashing scheme be justified as improving resilience? 🌡️🔥
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 2mo agoHeathrow third runway likely to affect health of millions nearby, official report warns
There are about 25,000 schools in England, so today's promise of 5,000 miles of new safe routes by 2035 means...do the math. Actually you don't even need to bother. That 5,000 figure and the 10,000 new crossings are just "intentions", not even actual targets in the plan.
Prof. Ian Walker@ianwalker.bsky.social · 2mo agoI shall watch this with interest. There's no way to get 60% of kids actively travelling to school without disrupting current patterns of car-based mobility. This includes making all urban streets safer, not just those right outside schools www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Don't believe the hype! The new cycling and walking plan (CWIS3) is out, and yes the quoted £4.5bn is just a forecast fudge, exactly as feared. New figures show stalled cycling and walking levels in England. Hard to spot anything in this plan to shift that. www.gov.uk/government/p...
Cycling and walking investment strategy report to Parliament 2026
Third report to Parliament on the progress in meeting the objectives of the CWIS.
gov.uk
Rafe Smyth@rafe-s.bsky.social · 2mo agoExclusive: government now allowing "dedicated funding" for active travel to be used for other transport priorities. Shock news exactly one year since @transportaction.bsky.social won historic Court of Appeal victory against cuts to walking & cycling. transportactionnetwork.org.uk/government-u...
One can also make a case that today is the real end-point of Blairism, the ideology free zone in which everyone could have something because the world economy was so robust. It isn't now, and there's no reason to believe it will be any time soon.
UK govt agrees to give MPs half day debate on setting 7th carbon budget. By contrast previous budget had just 17 mins discussion. CB7 would mean cutting domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 87% from 1990 levels across 2038-42. committees.parliament.uk/work/9361/th... #climate
Government commits to greater debate on latest net zero targets - Committees - UK Parliament
Government response: The Seventh Carbon Budget
committees.parliament.uk
Exclusive: government now allowing "dedicated funding" for active travel to be used for other transport priorities. Shock news exactly one year since @transportaction.bsky.social won historic Court of Appeal victory against cuts to walking & cycling. transportactionnetwork.org.uk/government-u...
Instead of banning private jet flights during the fuel crunch to protect people’s summer holidays, we’re doing this
UK allows diesel and jet fuel imports from Russian crude via sanctions carve-out
Britain will allow imports of diesel and jet fuel refined abroad from Russian crude under a sanctions carve-out, easing restrictions as fuel costs surge and add to pressure on airlines and households...
reuters.com
Why aren't they parked? Presumably because parking would cost Waymo more than driving around small residential streets - so Waymo is just getting taxpayers and residents to subsidise it. Coming to the UK imminently.
Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · 3mo agoDozens of empty Waymos invaded an Atlanta neighborhood and circled a cul-de-sac for hours with no passengers www.wsbtv.com/news/local/a...
The UK government has today announced laws to nationalise railways at the same time as privatising roads in the #KingsSpeech Does it make any sense though?
A frail old man with have face full of botox looking at the ashes of his work. The Ukrainian people broke him and his army. In a way he fittingly represents Russia.
pure, uncut, liquid Sir Keir to write an article about "breaking with the status quo once and for all" on Friday, then announcing new roles for Harriet Harman and Gordon Brown on Saturday
The charts in this thread are crazy. No more excuses and delays, England needs fair votes now!
Electoral Reform Society@electoralreform.bsky.social · 3mo agoAs we see results of the local elections across England continue to come in, it’s clear that First Past the Post is failing voters – with some councils bearing little resemblance to how people actually voted. It doesn’t need to be this way. It’s time to scrap First Past the Post in England.
Big win for the party that wants to increase gas reliance in the middle of a gas crisis, hates the clean technologies that are enjoying booming demand and will dominate the 21st century, and embraces Trumpist climate denial even as catastrophic climate impacts intensify everywhere.
In a rational world the government would be asking people to respond to the current fossil fuel crisis by car sharing, turning lights off, and generally saving fuel and energy. And yet Ministers can’t even propose better efficiency standards for tumble dryers without the right wing press going mad.
Who funds Britain Remade? The think tanks lobbying the government to rip up wildlife protections aren’t ‘grassroots’. They’re funded by American billionaires like Bill Gates and worse… Full story on my Substack. open.substack.com/pub/danicapr...
American Billionaires Behind Efforts to Strip Nature Protections
Who really funds influential think tank Britain Remade?
open.substack.com
Study finds 2/3 of microplastics in urban air is caused by car tires phys.org/news/2026-03...
Microplastics and nanoplastics in urban air originate mainly from tire abrasion, research reveals
Although plastic particles in the air are increasingly coming into focus, knowledge about their distribution and effects is still limited. Chemical analyses from Leipzig now provide details from Germa...
phys.org
The Daily Mail going to Tony Blair for a take on conflict in the Middle East, is it?
Twlldun@twlldun.bsky.social · 5mo agoGoing to say this isn’t the *greatest* of attack lines.
“.. ‘many system vendors will go bankrupt or exit product lines due to a lack of memory. Mobile phone production will be reduced by 200-250 million units, and PC and TV production will be significantly reduced.’ Yikes.” @pcgamer.com #DRAM www.pcgamer.com/hardware/mem...
A Reuters photographer captured this image of a page from Pam Bondi's "burn book," which she used to counter any questions from Democratic lawmakers during an unhinged hearing today. It looks like the DOJ monitored members of Congress’s searches of the unredacted Epstein files. Just wow.
I think all of us need to move off google workplace which will be so annoying and painful. I’ve asked before for folks thoughts on this and there aren’t great alternatives but it seems imperative.
Brendan Paddy@bjpaddy.bsky.social · 6mo agoTech companies turning over personal data to this US administration before they are legally compelled to do so is collaboration techcrunch.com/2026/02/10/g...