Insights

Guest Post by Robert Jack. Managing Editor and Publisher of Passenger Transport We will soon hear Chris Grayling’s answer to this question. The Secretary of State for Transport will shortly reveal details of a new competition for local authorities to “get local transport networks moving again”, launched by Chancellor Philip Hammond in last week’s Budget. There…

The recent progress report from the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) makes for interesting reading. The good news is that that greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by an average of 4.5% in the past three years and are now 38% below 1990 levels. However, the less encouraging news is that this reduction in emissions has…

Centralisation has for too long been choking off growth. There is a clear consensus across the political spectrum that power and decision making needs to be devolved, and that local people are best placed to drive local economic growth. Whilst there is broad agreement on the overall direction of travel, what is not yet clear…

Air quality has shot up the agenda. It is estimated that poor air quality may cause 29,000 early deaths a year, and transport has been identified as a major contributor. Government is rightly focused on the issue, as recent announcements on the Clean Air Zones and Clean Bus Technology Fund demonstrate. But why has there…

“We have the means to limit climate change. All we need is the will to change.” Rajendra Pachauri, Chair, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The most recent IPCC report states that climate change has already increased the risk of severe heat-waves and other extreme weather, and warns of worse to come. The report makes clear…

When the flood waters have receded what will be the legacy?  What impact, if any, will the flooding have on the climate change agenda in UK politics? There is now an increasing body of evidence, confirmed by the Met Office, that extreme daily rainfall rates are becoming more intense, in line with what is to…

Last week a “freak” storm wreaked massive damage along the east coast of the UK.  Are erratic and unpredictable weather events increasingly what we should expect?  A few weeks ago Typhoon Haiyan, one of the worst environmental catastrophes ever, struck in the Philippines just as the latest round of UN-sponsored climate change talks were getting…

By Dr Gareth Evans (Newcastle University) and Dr Jo Guiver (University of Central Lancashire) The New Economics Foundation (NEF) published a report in February 2010 advocating a move towards the acceptance of a shorter ‘normal’ working week, from around 40 hours to an average of 21 hours. A shorter working week has been proposed to…

There’s a moment when you crest a hill just outside Pilton village and get a perfect view down over Worthy Farm. I crested that hill just over a week ago on the top deck of a packed double-decker bus and suddenly caught a glimpse of the Glastonbury Festival site. There’s something almost biblical about the…

When will the Government make the right decision on road pricing?

Did anyone notice that there’d been a crucial round of talks to reduce carbon emissions in Qatar in early December? It would have been easy not to. Not long ago, these occasions attracted almost blanket coverage. Now, as the popular focus lies in a desperate search for economic recovery rather than ‘going green’, the discussions and…