Michael Hill used to be a civil servant but now leads policy for the campaign group Britain Remade.

In today’s episode, we talk through the extraordinary degree of political centralisation in the UK and why this is a direct contributor to making it so hard to build new tram lines in the UK.

He gives the current Government a mid-term review and tells me the policy asks from any future new Prime Minister.

Data City Founder Tom Forth has been told some extraordinary reasons why the North underperforms the South.

Including that it’s down to Northerners being stupid. Or drunk.

He’s even read academic papers outlining these theories.

In a fascinating episode of the podcast, we get into a discussion on the real reasons.

They go back a thousand years but transport and our hyper-centralised way of making decisions are right at the heart of it.

I really hope you enjoy listening to this conversation as much as I enjoyed having it.