iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 16/09/2026

London Transport closed it down in 1935, but for two years a jogging-speed steam train version of the tube reached to within 5 miles of Piddington.

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 15/09/2026

Trainline seems to think Scottish Independence has already happened. Got this notification a few minutes after crossing the border into England

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 25/07/2026

My take on "Manchesterism" as part of a newly-published post on the Oxford-Cambridge Corridor. www.freewheeling.info/blog/oxford-...

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 25/07/2026

Very frustrating. As someone who has long campaigned for devolution and far better infrastructure in the cities outside London, I support his focus. I wrote this yesterday, and I think it’s important for him to define Manchesterism in these terms. www.freewheeling.info/blog/oxford-...

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 12/07/2026

At Euston. Drenched in sweat, everything late, no announcements, no information. But there’s a reason to be cheerful! Andy Burnham is the first prime minister since Harold Wilson to represent a West Coast mainline constituency. He will actually “get” why we can’t go on like this. Sunak didn’t!

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 22/06/2026

IMHO they are: * Setting direction. * Appointing great people. * Knowing where the money's coming from. * Making decisions in response to escalations. Unfortunately, Keir Starmer is not very good at any of these things. Just for fun, I've also attempted to grade the other PMs of my lifetime.

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 18/06/2026

Who says AI has no soul? Googled “this is our power, our house“ to find out about the poem that Andy Burnham closed his campaign with.

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 16/06/2026

Why does transport integration not happen in the UK? Here's what I told the Transport Select Committee

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 14/05/2026

Why do politicians do things like this? None of Trump, Farage or Boris - all far bigger liars - would have told *this* lie. They’d all have hinted at the truth with a glint of a twinkle in the eye.

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 22/04/2026

What on earth's happened to Google Maps this morning?

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 16/04/2026

The BBC is one of this country’s greatest inventions, one of our biggest sources of soft power and one of many people‘s (mine included) sources of pleasure. Her political opponents caused a bunch of problems that make all of these less true. She personally has the power to fix them. Just do that.

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 15/04/2026

Does the Govt's communication *have* to be so clunky? I'm lucky enough to subscribe to Keir Starmer's Substack. The world economy's torn apart by the war in Iran, he's having to fend off unreasonable demands from Trump, it's going to have all kinds of long-term impacts and... it's on the NHS.

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 02/04/2026

I have seriously exciting news: 🇨🇭Mini Switzerland is funded!! The DfT today announced £6m of funding to deliver a national demonstrator of Swiss-style transport integration in the Hope Valley. Those who follow me will know I've been leading a voluntary team to try to make this happen.

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 23/03/2026

Antisemitism is horrific. A plane crash is dramatic. The Iran war is a catastrophe. But how can the destruction of the ecosystem upon which we all depend only be the SIXTH story?

Today's BBC News front page showing "UN warns Earth's climate being 'pushed beyond its limits' as El Nino looms" as sixth story

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 09/03/2026

Filling in the BBC consultation. Loads of questions. But this is just stated. It's a terrible definition. If accountability means always reflecting the public's attitudes, what happens when the public is misinformed? How can this be compatible with a mission to "inform and educate"?

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 04/03/2026

It’s the new Freewheeling Podcast host Katie-Lee English in the Freewheeling Podcast studio at Interchange

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 25/02/2026

Cramped into the top bunk of a tiny couchette, my then girlfriend (now wife) are trapped by another family's luggage piled between the berths like a fabric Jenga. It's my History of Europe in 75 Train Journeys; a monthly series concluding on 25 March 2032, the EU's 75th birthday. buff.ly/B0GNctr?

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 13/02/2026

I work in transport so do a lot of work with elected Mayors. I also dictate many of my emails. Can anyone explain to me why Apple INSISTS that I mean Mehr not Mayor. I mean, literally every time. What even is a Mehr?

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 10/02/2026

European Sleeper are more ambitious for my sex life than I am... See highlighted at the end of the email.

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 10/02/2026

European Sleeper are more ambitious for my sex life than I am...

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 05/02/2026

The reason the Government can't get onto the front foot is that it doesn't know where it's going. It's not possible to start walking if you don't have a destination. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 27/01/2026

It's 10 years since @nationaltrust.org.uk removed public transport directions from the Handbook. Every year, I hope that (being a conservation charity) they'll change their mind. Sometimes I write to them. And, every year, disappointment. They promote car travel: parking revenues over the planet.

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 25/01/2026

This "conflicting accounts" narrative of the BBC's is a much bigger problem than they seem to think. The huge issue is not false balance - it's that they're NOT reporting the biggest story of today: the fact the US Government is lying about its own forces killing a US citizen.

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 20/01/2026

Why do they do this?! What a week for those of us who are subscribers to his Substack to feel like we are hearing directly from the prime minister! And how many previous PMs would wish they’d had a Substack at times like this. So, let’s get the inside story on this extraordinary drama. Oh.

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 01/10/2025

Paris is getting on and delivering autonomous buses. On the latest podcast, I talk with James Dick of RATP (Paris's transport agency) about the work they're doing. Autonomous public transport has so much more potential for social good than robotaxis! www.freewheeling.info/the-freewhee...

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 29/09/2025

Coffee looks cheerful this morning

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 19/09/2025

Journalists on here, please explain to me the rule that says countries can never “turn to the IMF”, they must *always* “turn, cap in hand, to the IMF”. Is it something you learn on your grad schemes?

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 18/09/2025

I recently referred to Elon Musk as a neo-nazi in a LinkedIn post. You can argue that this is untrue but I don't think it's unreasonable. I was genuinely staggered when it was taken down by LinkedIn for being Hate Speech. It appears that calling out Elon's hate speech is, itself, hate speech.

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 16/09/2025

Passed Buckingham Palace today, and I’ve never been more of a monarchist. Flag is at half mast for the Duchess of Kent. The fact that is for the woman who used to give out the trophies at Wimbledon is a reminder that monarchy being ludicrous and out of touch is precisely the point.

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 11/09/2025

I’ve just arrived at Euston platform 16, which means a view of the Rishi Sunak Big Empty Space This is where they are busy winding down from building a new high speed station, prior to the next task of setting up the building of a new high speed station. I believe this was done to save money

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 07/09/2025

Seriously, @microsoft.com, seriously? The world’s richest man needs protecting from a transport consultant? LinkedIn have taken down my post calling on people to quit X for BlueSky.

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 05/09/2025

Low traffic neighbourhoods aren’t about traffic

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 05/09/2025

I have a new follower on Substack. But I momentarily misread the name as "Carry on Substack". Which took by brain into imagining Sid James, Hattie Jacques and Barbara Windsor in the attention economy... Carry on YouTube, Carry on TikTok, Carry on OnlyFans - the mind boggles at the opportunities.

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 05/09/2025

The former HQ of London Transport. When built, it was the tallest building in London

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 05/08/2025

Please, someone reassure me that we are not building the most expensive trains for the most expensive railway this country has ever seen… And building them with seats that face straight into a blank wall.

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 01/08/2025

Trying to imagine telling my late dad, who was 35 at the time of the Cuban missile crisis, that America manoeuvering ships to prepare for nuclear war with Russia would be the third item on the news after car finance. Also that it has taken that slot from the scheduling of MasterChef

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 01/08/2025

Please, BBC, I beg you, stop it! Some people disagreeing a scheduling decision for a cookery show on BBC 2 is *not* the third most-important thing happening in the world, after Gaza but before Ukraine. You don't have to hate yourself. You're one of this country's greatest inventions. Backbone!

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 30/07/2025

Isn't this just the most modern experience of all time? I can't get to the paper I want because the machine is stuck verifying I'm human. The only solution is to "send feedback". But I don't want to send feedback - I want the paper.

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 10/07/2025

Not all side projects are distractions. At Sn-ap, our CTO Martin once built an in-app game that fellow passengers could play together on the coach. No one asked him to but he loved the idea... It was never played but that doesn't make it... freewheelingbitesize.substack.com/p/innovation...

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 02/07/2025

Can’t I just clarify this line from the FT about American government debt? I’m not wrong, am I? This is saying that people will continue to lend to the US government because loads of other people are also doing so. Unless I am missing something, this is literally the definition of a bubble.

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 02/07/2025

Morgan McSweeney may or may not have “won them the election”, but this quote from the BBC makes that point that many including @samfr.bsky.social and @stephenkb.bsky.social have repeatedly made: Downing Street thinks the “job” is winning elections. The reason for the rebellion was a bad policy.

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 01/07/2025

Today’s Freewheeling Bitesize looks at why the Avanti rail franchise got into trouble open.substack.com/pub/freewhee...

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 25/06/2025

Wake-up call for London as The Economist publishes its liveable city scores for 2025. London is now one of the lowest in Western Europe and on a declining trend. The good news is that there are superb projects like Strand Aldwych, Tottenham Court Road and Bank Junction - we just need more.

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 24/06/2025

Day 2 of Freewheeling Bitesize and I'm oh-so-close to 100 subscribers. Might you be the person who takes me into triple digits? I'd like to promise you a champagne reception, but all I can offer is a daily email on decision-making and making organisations better. freewheelingbitesize.substack.com

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 23/06/2025

My first-ever Freewheeling Bitesize post is out today! I'll be publishing one daily from now until I run out of ideas. Each one is an actionable idea about getting things done faster. You'll make me happy if you subscribe. You can always change your mind. freewheelingbitesize.substack.com

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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 12/06/2025

From @samfr.bsky.social’s substack. If they do SEN reform to try to improve the system for SEN kids, they will probably save money too. If they do SEN reform to try to save money, they will probably fail. I fear the latter.

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