HS2 has become a case study in how not to build infrastructure. But what if we’d taken a different path entirely?

In this post, I imagine how the Swiss would have done it: starting with the timetable, not the project. It’s a counterfactual, but it’s not a fantasy.

We treat AI like it’s new. But this isn’t the first time aggressive capitalists have pushed a new technology into an uncertain world: it happened with trains 200 years ago, and 100 years ago it happened with cars.

Those experiences taught us the danger of unregulated technology before. Now we need to choose again.

Everyone in the rail industry is waiting for a big reveal of the new structure of Great British Railways. But based on my experience (and a few hard-learned lessons), I argue that we’re starting in the wrong place.

Fix the incentives first - the structure can follow.

Turnpikes and fuel tax mean that we’ve always charged for use of roads. We mustn’t stop now.