This describes the most annoying people you know (Odds and Ends #81)

Plus speeding up building in London, and what if Keir Starmer doesn't need a plan?

Photo by Samuel Hagger on Unsplash

POD! On The Abundance Agenda podcast this week I’m talking about how to make life less miserable for lorry drivers crossing the channel, and Martin explains ‘cow experience’. Plus could London soon become the world’s robotaxi capital? Listen on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or Substack.

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CAR TROUBLE? Don’t forget to check out my long-read about how a new government database is going to fix almost everything that’s annoying about driving.

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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 week, I’m featuring:

• New efforts to get London building

• A great essay on an incredibly annoying form of ‘political’ speech

• Maddening NIMBY nonsense over a major battery farm

• Some crazy hidden VFX in a recent film

• A new tool that could save British Transport Police hours of work per case

• And an ingenious tax avoidance scheme that uses snails

So let’s get started!