YIMBY Pod – formerly The Abundance Agenda

James O'Malley and Martin Robbins
  • 5.0 (2)
  • POLITICS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

A podcast about growth and progress. www.abundancepod.com

  1. NIMBYs vs Bristol Zoo

    5D AGO

    NIMBYs vs Bristol Zoo

    Martin digs into the NIMBY drama at Bristol Zoo… and then enters the lion’s den himself, and attends a meeting of his Parish Council. James goes full neoliberal shill talking about Darren Jones’ proposals for fixing the Civil Service. And we speak to policy guru Tim Leunig, Chief Economist at NESTA, to learn how he thinks about policymaking, and why we should build a massive electricity cable from Texas to the UK. Martin’s latest video, on the Badger Road, is here. Darren Jones’s speech is here. An explanation of the Postcode Address File issue is here. James’s newsletter is here. Martin’s newsletter is here. Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts! YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts! You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

    1h 4m

  2. JAN 19

    Somehow, HS2 to Manchester returned

    James argues the digital ID U-turn doesn’t deserve the hysterical coverage that Westminster lobby journalists have been giving it. Martin concludes the incredible story of a 17th century engineering project – and how it is weirdly similar to HS2 today. And we speak to transport guru Michael Dnes to break down the news that Northern Powerhouse Rail is back – and that there’s going to be a strangely familiar new railway line built between Birmingham and Manchester. Our original Britcard interview is here. The Stepchange podcast on the history of coal, which James mentions, is here. James’s newsletter is here. Martin’s newsletter is here. Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts! YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts! You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

    1h 4m
  3. Bodge-up and Badger

    JAN 12

    Bodge-up and Badger

    We explain why The Abundance Agenda has a new name! James digs into a crazy story about how about how one village was almost cut off from civilisation for an entire year by… badgers. And the reason why is more infuriating than you think. And Martin tells the story of the biggest infrastructure project you’ve never heard of. * Plus we speak to Michael Hill from Britain Remade, about how to reconcile the need for Net Zero with the reality that China manufactures almost all of our renewable energy technology. Michael has written five pieces on China and energy – the first one is here. (Then check out parts two, three, four and five!) James’s post on how he rebooted his social life is here. Martin’s newsletter is here. Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts! YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts! You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

    1h 4m
  4. The best of 2025

    12/29/2025

    The best of 2025

    On The Abundance Agenda this week, a special look back at four of our favourite segments from the show in 2025. James’s newsletter is here. (He wrote last week about why it’s time to reboot Back to The Future…) You can find Martin’s newsletter here, and his YouTube channel here. Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts! The Abundance Agenda is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts! You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

    53 min

  5. 12/22/2025

    The Abundance Christmas Quiz!

    This week, we’re hosting a Christmas Quiz – all about transport, infrastructure, urbanism… and all the stuff we usually talk about, basically. The quiz master is Only Connect question-writer Stephen Jorgenson-Murray. On James’s team we have the excellent YouTuber CityEd! (We particularly love his video about Manchester.) And Martin is joined by comedian, author, and QI Elf Andrew Hunter Murray! His most recent book is A Beginner’s Guide To Breaking And Entering. James’s newsletter is here. (He wrote about how Labour should reach out to gamers this week…) You can find Martin’s newsletter here, and his YouTube channel here. Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts! The Abundance Agenda is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts! You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

    1h 7m
  6. Network connectivity problems

    12/15/2025

    Network connectivity problems

    James explains why the National Grid’s queuing system is maddeningly broken – and how the government is trying to fix it. Martin takes us back to World War II to tell the story of an extraordinary railway bridge in Weston-super-Mare. And we speak London Assembly Member James Small-Edwards to dig into his new report, Gridlocked, which explains why data centres and new homes are forced to fight for a constrained electricity supply in London. James’s newsletter is here, and his post about tech that annoys him is here. You can find Martin’s newsletter here, and his YouTube channel here. Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts! The Abundance Agenda is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts! You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

    50 min
  7. Crossrail 2 ...and a big pile of rubbish

    12/08/2025

    Crossrail 2 ...and a big pile of rubbish

    The London Assembly has called for the Mayor to restart HS2 planning, so we dig into Crossrail 2 – and how construction has already (sort of) started. Martin has been down in the dumps, literally, and has been figuring out why Oxfordshire has an enormous pile of rubbish dumped just off the A34. We have a very quick chat with Chris Curtis MP, who has been down to Ebbsfleet to see where the ‘jumping spiders’ have thwarted building a major new town centre. And we speak to Laura Ryan from the Tony Blair Institute about her important new paper, proposing new national laboratories designed to create new ‘disruptive’ technologies. James’s piece on how he uses AI (and why the haters are wrong) is here. You can find Martin’s newsletter here, and his YouTube channel here. Our episode where we have a big fight about AI is here. Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts! The Abundance Agenda is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts! You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

    1h 6m
  8. Nuclear winter? More like Nuclear Christmas!

    12/01/2025

    Nuclear winter? More like Nuclear Christmas!

    We dig into the findings from the Independent Nuclear Taskforce led by John Fingleton, on why Britain is so bad at building nuclear energy, and what we can do to fix it. And we speak to Shadow Secretary of State For Energy Security and Net Zero, Claire Coutinho, about why she has taken the abundance pill, why she advocates making energy cheap – and why she wants to repeal the Climate Change Act. You can find Martin’s newsletter here, and his YouTube channel here. James’s piece on why everyone is getting the new Twitter geolocation feature wrong is here, and what he liked – and loathed – about the Budget here. Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts! The Abundance Agenda is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts! You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

    55 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

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A podcast about growth and progress. www.abundancepod.com

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