This is a tale of three major roads, combined cost about £7 billion. In the late 2010s it seemed likely that they would all be built. Yet by 2024 all three of them, the M4 bypass at Newport in Wales, the A303 tunnel under Stonehenge, and the Oxford to Cambridge ‘Expressway’, had been cancelled. The… Continue reading
Browsing Category Environment
David Attenborough – Talking to a Great Broadcaster.
Sir David Attenborough is, by common consent, the world’s master wildlife documentary presenter, the last of the great TV communicators whose career began with the birth of the medium in which he works. He has made many epic and wide ranging TV programmes, telling the story of how creatures proceed along the perilous tightrope of… Continue reading →
Could Labour’s rail plans bypass controversial Stonehenge road scheme?
The Labour party’s policy document, Getting Britain Moving – Labour’s plan to fix Britain’s railways, says much about improving the experience of today’s passengers – ‘unified and simplified governance structure that places passengers at the heart of the goal, objectives and incentives for the railway’; and its easy route to renationalisation – ‘to bring train… Continue reading →
How the air outside our homes will be the source of action on climate
I recently attended the launch of a new air source heat pump, by Swedish company Aira. Heat pumps, widely, adopted, would make a significant contribution to reducing carbon emissions from UK homes. Look around any residential area, and what are the images that come to mind to define progress in reducing carbon emissions? Expensive electric… Continue reading →
Four reasons not to tunnel under the Stonehenge world heritage site
I’ve followed the campaign to overturn the decision to drive a tunnel and dual carriageway through the World Heritage Site at Stonehenge for the past few years. This year and last I’ve taken a more active role, handing out leaflets outside the British Museum, and helping with Stonehenge Alliance’s online media campaign. Unlike more direct… Continue reading →
Global warming – a 1989 view. Do we get it yet?
In June 1989 I wrote an article published in the Radio Times, entitled “Warming to the Problem”. It was based on an interview with the producers of a BBC2 documentary, one of the earliest (it was possibly even the first) on what was then referred to as the greenhouse effect. The introduction read: Our planet faces… Continue reading →