2026: The Journey So Far

This time Adam, Ned and Laura meet to discuss local elections and Ned's recent trip to India. Close to home, the trio discusses the phenomenon of the local being national. From Andy Street and Andy Burnham's successes as regional mayors, to a Court of Appeal ruling that removing LTNs by the Tower Hamlets mayor would be illegal, local politics shapes national politics.

And with the political landscape more fractured than ever, active travel is on the political agenda again. The fractures caused by budget cuts can show up as U-turns on cycling and walking policy and sudden losses of confidence in local authorities in the face of public challenge. Can local authorities in the UK learn from politicians steps and missteps, and can campaigners help steel them for the road ahead?

Ned's adventures in India: https://shows.acast.com/never-strays-far/episodes/never-strays-raj-a-cycling-passage-to-india

Laura's Substack post on the Newham mayoral elections: https://substack.com/home/post/p-185413267

And the news last month that Tower Hamlets mayor, Lutfur Rahman's bid to remove Low Traffic Neighbourhoods would be unlawful https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce3kkven14no

That clip of Zohran Mamdani fixing a bike lane on the Williamsburg Bridge: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7F8ZVOfjS2o

One Telegraph columnist's recent take on 15-minutes cities as a 'Stalinist plot': https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/f337a3f300adace0

And finally, if you want to ask Ned, Adam and Laura questions for a forthcoming episode, find us on social media or email us on [email protected].

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