Theories of power, cattle grids and a blep (Odds and Ends #85)

My round-up of the most interesting links I've seen recently.

Hello! I’m back from my month off and I have links to share! This is Odds and Ends, my semi-regular round up of the most interesting articles, videos and other stuff I’ve seen elsewhere.

This week, I’m featuring:

• My big day speaking at the London Assembly (!)

• A bureaucratic tweak that could transform how Whitehall works

• Why Cambridge could soon be the place to be

• Why Britain needs a new “Theory of Power”

• How to channel your creativity effectively

• Another example of Britain’s mad planning rules

• Why it’s so difficult to fix the NHS

• What sports broadcasting is going to look like in the not-too-distant future

• And an adorable picture of my cat doing a blep

If that last one doesn’t make you jump over the paywall, I don’t know what will.

But one last thing before we start, a few shorter notes:

Sincere Post #1: I just wanted to say how lovely it was to see my New Years post on How I rebooted my social life go a little viral. A bunch of people read it, and posted comments or messaged to say that it has inspired them to organise their own things. Fantastic!

Plug #1: Make sure you pick up the new book Energy is Life: Why Environmentalism went Nuclear, by Zion Lights. It’s a tour de force that makes the case abundance thinking, and how we really can build the world we want!

Plug #2: My friend Blakeley is organising what sounds like a totally fascinating event on parasites and vaccine science at the Royal Institution in London on February 25th. The speaker, Dr María Adelaida Gómez, is a world-leading expert, so this is going to be well worth checking out!

Now let’s – finally – get on with the links!

My big day at the London Assembly