Farage's questionable HS2 claim (Odds and Ends #72)

Plus two of the maddest YouTube vloggers I've ever seen, and much more!

The HS2 Burton Green tunnel is a thing that mostly exists.

POD! On The Abundance Agenda podcast this week, I get mad about some frustrating amendments to the Planning Bill (also see below!), and Martin ponders what happens if a council declares a ‘climate emergency’ and… then doesn’t do anything about it.

Plus we speak to Tom Copley, Deputy Mayor of London for Housing and Residential Development about how a new fund could help London build more homes, why Sadiq Khan changed his mind on the green belt, and whether London can meet its targets. (Plus some nerdy train chat, of course.)

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Hello! It’s time for Odds and Ends, your semi-regular round-up of the most interesting links I’ve seen recently – plus some shorter takes.

This time, I’m featuring:

• Why Nigel Farage’s HS2 comments were completely absurd

• The very human cost of Britain’s inability to build

• A thoughtful critique of ‘Abundance’

• A powerful call to arms from pro-growth MPs

• The best Jon Stewart bit I’ve seen in a long time

• A brilliant profile of controversial right-wing professor Matt Goodwin

• And two of the most extraordinary YouTube channels I’ve ever seen

One last plug before we hit the wall. Last week, Isambard AI, a new supercomputer was officially opened in Bristol by Peter Kyle. It’s now running at full capacity – and as luck would have it, a while back I wrote a pretty detailed piece for The House magazine explaining what it’s for and how it works. So I thought you might like to read it here.

Now let’s get on with the links!