• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• James and Martin talk about a new campaign to ban delivery robots – and why it may prefigure a future political realignment.

• And then we speak to Labour MP Dr Jeevun Sandher about his recent posts on good growth in every postcode, and how Britain’s growth problem isn’t what we think it is.

James’s undercover reporting from his tour of the Amazon warehouse 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.

• James and Martin talk about some exciting new energy storage schemes to help us during the next heatwave.

• And we speak to Michael Hill from Britain Remade about Manchester’s theory of growth, and what the much-discussed ‘Manchesterism’ could actually be.

James’s piece reflecting on the Londependence movement is here, and his argument for a Gamer’s Charter is here.

Martin’s piece on ‘picky bits’ and national decline is here, and his YouTube channel is here.

Picture credit: Peter McDermott (CC BY-SA 2.0)

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.

• We explore why the government has given Cherwell Council a big slap on the wrist.

• James tries to sell Martin on the idea that AI can fix the planning system.

• …And then we speak to Paul Maltby from Faculty AI about how, well, he is using AI to fix the planning system.

Paul Maltby’s blog post on Augmented Planning Decisions (APD) is here.

James’s deep dive into Extract and APD is here.

Martin’s newsletter 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.

• James and Martin discuss Zack Polanski’s claim that food is too expensive – and why politicians should face up to difficult trade-offs. And James makes himself popular by defending the poor, beleaguer mega-corporations that own supermarkets.

• And then we speak to the excellent Thomas Ableman about how Switzerland would have built HS2 – and why it wouldn’t have been a disaster.

James’s post about Liam Byrne, which was discussed in the episode is here.

James’s newsletter is here, and his post about the Elon Musk debate is here.

Martin’s newsletter 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.

• James tries to persuade Martin that he’s solved the mystery of the National Data Library.

• And we speak to Andrew Hunter Murray about his big day out at the EV charging select committee!

Andrew’s new book, Bad Deeds is out this week! Make sure you buy it!

James’s newsletter is here, and his post about the National Data Library is here.

Martin’s newsletter 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.

• The government is proposing new measures to stop NIMBYs vexatiously taking energy projects to judicial review!

• And James tries to persuade Martin that space-based data centres aren’t a completely ridiculous idea.

The Ben Thompson article making the case for space data centres is here.

James’s newsletter is here, and his post about Japan (including the train-bus!) is here.

Martin’s newsletter 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.

• For the first time on the pod, James makes the case for liberating the Postcode Address File.

• And we speak to Lord Mark Pack about how Secondary Legislation is a hidden problem that is slowing down the business of government.

Mark’s excellent Lord’s Eye View newsletter is here, and The Week In Polls is here.

James’s newsletter is here, and he’ll have a guest post up by the time you’re reading this.

Martin’s newsletter 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.

• Martin reveals the extraordinary grip one Bedfordshire councillor has on BBC coverage of the new Universal theme park.

• And James speaks to Dan Mead from Labour Together about why nationalising Thames Water might not be the best use of the cash, when can build trams instead.

Dan’s post about Thames Water is here.

James’s newsletter is here, and he’ll have a guest post up by the time you’re reading this.

Martin’s newsletter 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.

• James and Martin dig into some astonishing YouGov polling that reveals a huge gender gap in support for nuclear energy… and desperately try not to get cancelled while talking about it.

• And we speak to Tym Syrytczyk from the Institute for Driverless Transport to check in on Britain’s autonomous vehicle progress.

James’s newsletter is here, and by the time you’re reading this, he’ll hopefully have something published!

Martin’s newsletter is here, and his latest video will be 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.

• James talks about Technology Secretary Liz Kendall’s speech last week, which essentially sets out Britain’s AI strategy – and he explains why the strategy is determined by some rather limited choices.

• And then we speak to Hannah Keenan, from the Institute for Government, who takes James to task over an incredibly bad take on the pod from a few weeks ago.

The episode we mentioned where we had a debate about AI is here – it still stands up today!

James’s newsletter is here, and he’ll have something new up about Palantir by the time you’re reading this.

Martin’s newsletter 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.

• Why Green Party complaints about “industrial scale” solar farms are fundamentally unserious.

• Martin visits the actual Bat Tunnel – and returns with a crazy plot twist.

• And we speak to Dan Davies about his pitch for a less combative planning system, Build the Rail! Save The Snails!

(Image credit: ANeely2020 on Wikicommons.)

Dan Davies’s book, The Unaccountability Machine can be found here.

James’s newsletter is here, and his latest post is a deep dive into the arguments against solar farms – and he explains why none of them hold up.

Martin’s newsletter is here, and his latest video, visiting the Bat Tunnel, 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.

• Why it’s patriotic duty to switch on our air conditioners this summer.

• The NIMBY battle against a cancer hospital (!!!)

• And we speak to Maxwell Marlow from TYI Strategy about why phone signal in Britain is so crap – and how we can fix it.

James’s newsletter is here, and his latest is about his most left-wing opinion.

Martin’s newsletter is here, and his latest video, visiting the actual Bat Tunnel, 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.

• James and Martin get unusually mad about the latest developments in the West Yorkshire team saga. We just want a tram!

• Then James speaks to Andrew Greenway, a partner at Public Digital about his fantastic essay on fixing the Civil Service, titled ‘In Permanence Crisis’.

Noah Vickers’ reporting on the West Yorkshire tram is here.

James’s newsletter is here, his latest is not as billed on the show, but actually all about Artemis II, and why he’s still inspired despite, well, you know…

Martin’s newsletter is here, and his latest video, visiting the actual Bat Tunnel, 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.

• James talks about Tory plans for a ‘National Pothole Patrol’, and explains how AI can be used to detect potholes.

• Martin tells the story of a big NIMBY campaign to save… a car park.

• And we speak to Asif Ghafoor, CEO of BE.EV, about the bureaucratic and political challenges of rolling out electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

James’s newsletter is here, his latest on the AI/copyright debate is here.

You might also like his written piece on how AI can be used to spot potholes is here.

Martin’s newsletter is here, and his latest 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.

• James gets annoyed his new build was saddled with old technology.

• Martin tells the story of the surprisingly futuristic British wine industry

• And we speak to Thomas Ableman about his proposal for Mini-Switzerland, a plan that could make rural trains and buses… actually good?!

James’s newsletter is here, his latest picking a fight with Dorian Lynskey is here.

Martin’s newsletter is here, and his latest 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.