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Michael Dnes

@roadscholar.bsky.social
1.9K followers 167 following 487 posts

Head of transport policy at Stonehaven consulting. Ex-civil servant who used to play with roads, trains, e-scooters, parking apps and a lot of government plumbing. May have made your driving test harder, and threw some cones in your way at least once

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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
The snails are on the move - in a good way michaeldnes1.substack.com/p/the-twist-...
michaeldnes1.substack.com
The twist in the snail
The snails are on the move - in a good way
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
This week the government announced that it wanted to ensure development next to train stations gets an automatic yes. There’s one area near London where that won’t be happening. And it’s home to a motorway that will soon be – by law – beautiful.
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
Most content currently going up at Substack, as the new public square of the internet. Cross-posting here when time allows - which isn't always. Subscribe to michaeldnes1.substack.com to catch everything
michaeldnes1.substack.com
Michael Dnes | Substack
Click to read Michael Dnes, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
Earlier this week, there was a big twitter debate started by @elidourado.com – are trains part of Abundance or not? And that prompts a much bigger question: why is abundance so loud about trains, and so quiet about everything else?
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
Very sorry to have to do this - usually I post threads in more than one place. Today, however, my partner is telling me to get in the car or find a divorce lawyer. So with apologies - here's a Substack link instead michaeldnes1.substack.com/p/what-reall...
michaeldnes1.substack.com
What really ate Ebbsfleet?
And do spiders have jetpacks?
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
A few weeks ago I said I thought government was going to announce that HS2 would go to Manchester. Which hasn’t happened. Or has it…?
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 19/07/2025
On Thursday night, we heard that government was making big concessions on its planning bill, putting lots more controls on its nature recovery plans. I find this disappointing. And to explain why, I have to tell a story I’ve been holding off from sharing.
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
Has government just quietly told us that it’s building HS2? I’d better explain.
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
In case you liked the sound of my recent planning paper, but didn't fancy the reading, have a look at: capx.co/how-britain-...
capx.co
How Britain stopped building
In 1957, the inquiry for the Trawsfynydd nuclear power station took three days
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
When the first controlled pedestrian crossing was proposed in post-war London, one of the committee members asked to approve it called it fundamentally un-English.
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
It seems Britain can’t build. Not houses or hospitals or roads or trains or pylons or reactors or reservoirs or runways or data centres or film studios or factories. But how on earth did we get here?
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Dear London – did you just rewrite the rules of congestion charging? By accident? And find a massive clean air hack? Which you’re now about to switch off?
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racheljanetwolf.bsky.social @racheljanetwolf.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
wrote about what will happen next, and my fear we are overcomplicating the cause www.politico.eu/article/shoc...
politico.eu
Shocked by the Farage surge? You haven’t been paying attention
Brits voted for Conservatives, they voted for Labour — and the change they wanted didn’t happen.
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
Yes Stephen - but the reason for that was because RIS2 already _did_ prioritise maintenance over enhancement. Capital renewals nearly x2 and few new schemes. I would note that nobody cheered this outcome.
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Søren Have @sorenhave.dk · 04/05/2025
Meanwhile, in Denmark it was in 2021 agreed to build 270 km (=167,77 mi) more motorways (plus a lot of expansions of existing ones). This will add 20% to the existing 1,300km (= 808 mi), already about a third of UK’s network, even if Denmark’s population is less than a tenth of UK’s 🤯
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James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 02/05/2025
Before we freak out I feel that an underrated factor is that Reform now has to competently run local government, which they may find challenging.
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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Reform winning an absolute majority of the vote in many of these wards, so this isn't fragmentation in action, its a new party rising to dominance having not been on the ballot before.
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
The polls are closed. Would you like to know why Labour may be about to lose one of its safest seats? It’s a story about a bridge, that starts in Merseyside and ends … in your street.
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
As always, I think of writing something on London's roads, and find Chris has already done it quicker and more thoroughly.
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Centre for British Progress @britishprogress.org · 03/04/2025
💫 We’re launching the Centre for British Progress Our founding essay: Rediscovering British Progress is a case for growth that drives shared progress, rooted in Britain's values and industrial heritage. It all starts with a postcard from 1870 👇 britishprogress.org/articles/red...
Cover of the essay Rediscovering British Progress available at https://britishprogress.org/articles/rediscovering-british-progress
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sianushka.bsky.social @sianushka.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
I went undercover to Reform UK's biggest ever rally and I found angry white men raging against migrants, trans people and potholes. But I also found a lot of empty seats and a shrugging at Labour's reform policies www.opendemocracy.net/en/undercove... Me, for @opendemocracy.net
opendemocracy.net
10,000 angry white men and me: my night with Reform UK
Undercover at Reform UK’s biggest ever rally, I saw white men bond over fury at migrants, trans people and politicians
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
A new quirk in the history of British infrastructure has presented itself. Say hello to the ghost motorway. And like most ghosts, it has a message for us. 🧵
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
Game changer for electric vehicles? Europe and the US are being completely out-competed and out-innovated right now, but fortunately will be able to benefit from the increased speed of technology spread. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
BYD Jumps to Record After Unveiling Five-Minute EV Battery
BYD Co. shares jumped to a record after the Chinese automaker unveiled a line-up of electric vehicles that it says can charge almost as fast as it takes to refuel a regular car.
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Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 18/03/2025
Today’s post: “Checking the coast was clear, I removed my trousers fifty yards short of the station car park.”
open.substack.com
Britain's car parking is a complete disaster
Somehow we've turned key national infrastructure into the wild west.
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
Do you fancy coming to work with me and the rest of the policy team at Stonehaven? If so, your chance is now - stonehaven.teamtailor.com/jobs/5667020...   We do transport, energy and a whole lot more
stonehaven.teamtailor.com
Policy Analyst - Stonehaven
THE POLICY ANALYST ROLE Stonehaven tackles some of the biggest and thorniest intellectual issues in the public sphere. We are looking for a talented and driven policy analyst with an interest in cu...
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
In honour of international women’s day – was the motor car co-invented by a woman? And have we been robbing her of credit for 140 years? The story begins with a heist…
An enigmatic woman, behind inventor Carl Benz
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James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 05/03/2025
The new GOV.UK login system is the first step in a radical transformation of the British state (FREE TO READ!) takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/login-to-a...
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk
The new GOV.UK login system is the first step in a radical transformation of the British state
A British "DOGE" (of sorts) is rearchitecting the government
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
For those who've been enjoying the spider saga, the excellent Martin Stanley (the man who wrote the guidebook on how to be a good civil servant) has been down on a site visit.
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James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 27/02/2025
I see Greenpeace is opposing… (checks notes)… solar energy. www.rechargenews.com/energy-trans...
rechargenews.com
‘Green colonialism’ attack on $30bn Morocco-UK power link plan
Xlinks project envisages building 4,000km undersea cable to pump renewable energy from Sahara Desert to the UK, with TotalEnergies, GE Vernova and Octopus Energy among backers
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The House magazine @thehousemag.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
The spiders that ate Ebbsfleet ✍️ @roadscholar.bsky.social
buff.ly
The spiders that ate Ebbsfleet
As we – once again – await the unveiling of a host of proposed new towns, Michael Dnes tells the extraordinary cautionary tale of how an industrial...
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
If democracy relies on an informed public, then information disorder isn’t just a crisis - it’s an accelerant. We aren’t watching a controlled authoritarian takeover. We’re watching chaos unfold, driven by leaders who believe their own disinformation.
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Do you want to make UK transport better? There’s one thing you can do about it. But you’ve got to do it before tomorrow evening.
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
My Dad grew up with MK being built around him. In 40 years he has never shut up about the old town he lived in, but not once has he complained about the stuff that was built over.
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Here in the UK we privatised air traffic control in 2001. It wasn't the end of the world, and we didn't need to manufacture a crisis to make it happen. The air traffic controllers even got a 5% ownership stake and a shiny new building out of it. There's plenty else to worry about instead.
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Adam Bell @adambell.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
It's been a long time since Private Eye's satire has made me audibly wince, but this is so to the point if it were a knife people would demand it be banned.
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Adam is the sunny optimist. He sees us as being able to hit the mid2000s in civil service IT sophistication. In my patch, we were looking forward to the innovations of the late 80s.
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Paul Maltby @maltbyps.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
Job ad of the year just dropped: its only BLACK ROD housesofparliament.tal.net/vx/mobile-0/...
housesofparliament.tal.net
Black Rod - Houses of Parliament
Title: Black Rod. Employer: House of Lords. Salary: £87,000 - £114,000. Closes: 02/03/2025, 23:55
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Duncan Robinson @duncanrobinson.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
Wrote about how Leeds is an unwilling lab rat for a particular strand of Treasury thought www.economist.com/britain/2025...
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Martin Stanley @ukcivilservant.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
HT @roadscholar.bsky.social :- "This means that in England, now, we can't build in towns because of people. We can't build in the countryside because of trees. And we can't build on industrial wasteland because of the spiders." ukcivilservant.substack.com/p/jumping-sp...
ukcivilservant.substack.com
Jumping Spiders & The Town that Disappeared
Growth v. The Environment
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Torsten Bell @torstenbell.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
You know what we need to build, build, build? The grid, pylons, wind farms, solar farms and the rest that are essential to decarbonising our economy. If you’re serious about tackling climate change you have to be serious about building (not something the Green Party seem to have noticed)
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James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 01/02/2025
This is infuriating. If the government want an easy win for growth and to support pubs, they should change the licensing laws to make noise complaints much harder. www.the-londoner.co.uk/noise-compla...
the-londoner.co.uk
Noise complaints are killing London’s pubs
We mapped the dozens of pubs forced to shut early or that faced closure last year due to everything from “faint giggles” to “constant honking” from cars.
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
I’m tired of hearing about bats. Do you want to hear a story about jumping spiders and the town that disappeared? I think I might be breaking this story – do come be the first to read it.
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michael-s-marshall.bsky.social @michael-s-marshall.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
"People find this hard to believe, but there is a massive housing surplus in this country. We have a higher ratio of bedrooms to population than ever before." Seen a few articles recently using stats like this to justify opposition to new supply. Thread on why this is wrong and a distraction...
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James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 25/01/2025
If you enjoy this *astonishing* thread you can listen to me talk to Michael about the future of transport takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/the-future...
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk
LISTEN: The future of transport – with Michael Dnes
Where we're going, we need roads (and trains) (and maybe drones)
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
@samcoatessky.bsky.social was expressing his astonishment yesterday on Sky News that the PM had singled out one judicial review applicant to blame for the legal challenges bedevilling infrastructure projects. Let’s fix that 😈 Here’s a story that starts with a man shut in his cellar.
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
@samcoatessky.bsky.social was expressing his astonishment yesterday on Sky News that the PM had singled out one judicial review applicant to blame for the legal challenges bedevilling infrastructure projects. Let’s fix that 😈 Here’s a story that starts with a man shut in his cellar.
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
Would you like to know what unites all of these things that government is leaking? Quickfire 🧵, with unnerving implications
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Michael Dnes @roadscholar.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
I did this for 300 regulations in a red tape challenge, and I would file this under cruel and unnecessary punishment
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Andrew Sissons @acjsissons.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
New personal post: what would happen if we moved the whole of Manhattan to a safer place? Join me on a thought experiment about two things. First, can you just move places in the face of climate change? Second, why are some cities so successful and so sticky? acjsissons.medium.com/what-would-h...
acjsissons.medium.com
What would happen if you moved Manhattan to a safer place?
Manhattan is on the front line of climate change. What would happen if, rather than trying to protect the city, we moved it somewhere else?
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