Skylines, The Citymetric Podcast

“Can I come on Skylines and talk about the Victorians?” someone asked me the other week, and who am I to refuse an offer like that?So: this week’s guest is Ned Donovan, the foremost primogeniture nerd writing freelance in London today. He wanted to expound his theory that the great urban engineers of the Victorian era, like Joseph Bazalgette, would have distinctly mixed feelings about modern Britain – delighted that their work has endured, but baffled and a little irritated that it has had to. We do cover Bazalgette’s sewers, built in the aftermath of the Great Stink of 1858. But we ended up having a much broader conversation than I expected, taking in slum clearance, the history of social housing, the decline of noblesse oblige, and why it all means the modern Conservative party is stuffed. All subjects to warm the cockles of my heart.Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, we’re getting out of the British Isles and heading east. Milo Edwards is a British comedian who moved to Moscow and, slightly unexpectedly, found himself a Russian TV star (though one who is only, in his words, “Geordie Shore-level famous”). Milo tells me about life as a westerner in the Russian capital: why rich people won’t take the metro, why you might as well smoke in nightclubs, and why you should always watch out for icicles. Also, about the day he moved an oil painting and discovered the way to Russian Narnia. There won’t be a podcast next week I’m afraid as I’m going on holiday. If you have any tips about cool things to do in Valencia, though, please do drop me a line.Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

There’s a new urban think tank on the block. The Centre for Towns aims to research economic and social issues in the smaller communities that get less attention from politicians, journalists, and, well, CityMetric. The Centre has a number of founders, including statistician Ian Warren, Professor Will Jennings of the University of Southampton, and Lisa Nandy, the Labour MP for Wigan. Lisa was kind enough to talk to me for the podcast (despite a slight, and ongoing, disagreement between us about the existence of Greater Manchester). In her office in Portcullis House, across the road from the Palace of Westminster, she told me why she rejects the recent focus of policy on big metropolitan areas; what powers towns like Wigan need to get their economies booming again; and how the failure to grant them helped lead to Brexit. We also, briefly, discuss the vexed issue of exactly what a town is.Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge.  See acast.c

It’s the English local elections post-mortem episode! You lucky, lucky people.Joined by the New Statesman’s newly returned politics wunderkind Patrick Maguire, I delve into the results in and around cities including Liverpool, Birmingham, Sheffield and Plymouth.We talk about the fledgling LibDem revival; whether the Tories really are as stuffed in Britain’s cities as it appears, and whether the Midlands might be an exception to that; and whether Dan Jarvis really could one day be the mayor of all Yorkshire.We also, inevitably, discuss what, if anything, went wrong for Labour in London – and whether any party can win a national majority any time soon.(International listeners worrying we’ve been a bit parochial lately, fear not: we have episodes on Moscow and Italy coming up, I promise.)Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As I write, it’s local elections day here in England. There are elections in large chunks of the country, but to my shame I’ve only really been paying attention to two: the London borough ones (where there’s a lot of tension around how they might go for the various parties), and the Sheffield City Region mayoral one (where there’s no tension whatsoever because we’ve basically known that Labour’s Dan Jarvis was a lock for months now).Anyway. I talk about those, briefly – but because we won’t have any results until some silly time this evening, our main feature this week is something else entirely.Caroline Crampton was for many years in charge of the internet here at the New Statesman, and is one of the hosts of our pop culture podcast Srsly. Last year, she took on a new role as head of podcasts, and moved to Merseyside to write a book about the Thames Estuary.So, all things considered, I thought it was about time I invited her onto Skylines to talk about it. She tells me how her parents’ journey from South Afr

This is one of our occasional guest episodes in which I hand the reins to somebody else/shamelessly re-release someone else's hard work.City Talks is the monthly podcast from the Centre for Cities think tank. Last May its host, the Centre's chief executive Andrew Carter, spoke to ex-Treasury staffer Mike Emmerich about his book Britain's Cities, Britain's Future. Together, the two of them look back over 200 year years of Britain's urban history. They discuss how cities like Manchester grew out of Industrial Revolution, and became some of the most prosperous and entrepreneurial cities there have ever been – yet came to decline so precipitously in the 20th century. Emmerich argues that, if Britain's cities are prosper in the future, we need to get to grips with the both the cultural and institutional reasons for that.It's a fascinating interview, and I'm very grateful to Andrew and his colleagues for allowing me to repurpose it as an episode of Skylines. (Why not subscribe to City Talks, to say thanks?) I'll be

I sometimes worry I've got into a bit of a rut with this podcast, chatting away about housing and public transport with people who largely agree with me. So this week, to mix things up a bit, I decided to have a fight.Henry Hill is the assistant editor at Conservative Home (booooooooooo). There, he writes a lot about politisc of the devolved nations of Scotland and Wales – despite his belief that the late '90s devolution settlement that created the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly was a historic mistake (hissssssssssssssssssssss).So: what is Henry's argument? Doesn't a nation have the right to self-government? Hasn't the centralised British state been a disaster for much of the United Kingdom? And what about the parallels with Brexit? All these and more questions will be, if not answered, then at the very least discussed.Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Don’t get too excited, but this week we’re talking about street furniture.Earlier this year, CityMetric regular Ed Jefferson wrote us a lengthy history of the bollard, taking in the Napoleonic Wars, Welsh devolution and the collapse of construction giant Carillion. This elevated him to the status of one of the world’s leading bollardologists, and he has since given a talk on the subject. So he joins us to summarise his findings.Before that, the New Statesman’s India Bourke points me towards some interesting facts on nature’s bollards, better known as trees – a subject currently proving to be a surprisingly contentious topic in Sheffield. All that, and the readers tell us about their favourite bits of street furniture, too.Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year here in the UK: we’re just four weeks away from this year’s local elections! Celebrate good times, come on.Councils holding elections on Thursday 3 May include the great cities of Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Leeds; another 29 metropolitan boroughs in the orbit of one of those cities; as well as assorted county, district or unitary councils around the country.As if that wasn’t enough excitement there will also be five elections for borough mayors, and a new metro mayor for Sheffield and South Yorkshire. The most exciting battles though, is likely to be in the 32 boroughs of Greater London, where the governing party might plausibly lose control of such reliably Tory councils as Wandsworth.As the short campaign kicks off, I thought it seemed like a good moment to drag New Statesman correspondent Stephen Bush back into the podcast dungeon to talk about what to watch out for over the next few weeks. What would constitute a good night for each of the maj

Thirty episodes ago, I put out what I presented as the first of a two-part crossover. In it, I interviewed Jeff Wood, presenter of the Talking Headways podcast and owner of the San Francisco-based transport consultancy the Overhead Wire, about public transport in the US.The plan was always to switch sides in part two, so that Jeff would this time interview me. We recorded that a few months ago - but because of some sound quality issues (you’ll see) I’ve only just got around to editing it.Anyway: here it is. This time, Jeff bombards me with questions about urban government, devolution, housing, transport policy, and, inevitably, Brexit. As I said, some of the quality is, er, not great, for which I can only blame myself. But I hope, if you can make out my words, you enjoy at least some of them.Happy Easter, everyone.Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My dad died, in January. Which sucks. Since then, I've found finding myself cataloguing the various things I got from him, from my love of Only Fools & Horses and the work of Douglas Adams, to being slightly too fond of a drink. It's strange, in its way, the things we get from our parents that we take for granted – so much so that we stop thinking about where they came from at all. Anyway – one of the things I did get from Dad, I think, is my interest in infrastructure and how places physically work. He was a water engineer, rather than a train nerd, but nonetheless, I think it was his own infrastructure geekiness that led my father to add the Buzzfeed (previously) and Guardian (soon) journalist Jim Waterson on Facebook, just so that he could occasionally argue with him about major works projects somewhere. I've got a column about my dad in this week's issue of New Statesman. So I thought this was a good time to invite Jim back to the podcast, to talk, briefly, about my Dad, and at rather greater length a

This week, we're talking urban economics – or why people who support the Bristol Pound might as well be voting for Donald Trump.I'm joined, via a mildly crackly Skype connection, by Paul Swinney, mackem and head of policy at the Centre for Cities. He explains why local currencies like the Brixton Pound, which have been popping up of late, are basically just protectionism – and why the Preston Model of local procurement is no better.From that we move on to what cities actually need to do to boost their economies – and why so much of it comes down to skills.Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, we’re talking about a subject we obsess about on CityMetric, but one which has, remarkably, escaped the podcast treatment until now: how we name the districts of our cities.If you’ve got off the London Underground at Holborn recently you may have noticed the helpful people in bowler hats and orange scarfs, or the banners which inform you that you are, unexpectedly in “Midtown”. This label – covering Bloomsbury, Holborn and St. Giles – has only recently attached itself to the city’s landscape, courtesy of Bee London, which runs the Midtown Business Improvement District.It’s not altogether clear that the Midtown label is finding favours with Londoners. But I went to see Tass Mavrogordato, the chief executive of Bee London, to ask what the business improvement district is trying to do, and why it needed a whole new name to do it.Also this week, I persuaded my colleague India Bourke to return to the podcast, to chat about how city districts get their names, and discuss some of the best and worst names

This week's podcast is a first: a live show, recorded, warts and all, at the New Local Government Network's (NLGN) conference on Thursday 22 February.That event took place in the events space at London's Guildhall - essentially, the town hall for the ancient City of London, which is pretty appropriate when discussing the future of local government. Slightly more confusingly, it was recorded in the West Crypt, which is, as the name implies, a crypt.Anyway. During the course of the discussion we covered the challenges facing local government; the radical steps this is forcing them to take to survive; and the prospects for devolution. My quite excellent panel for the event included Piali Das Gupta, head of policy at the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (Solace); Chris Naylor, chief executive of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham; Kathryn Rees, assistant director of Transformation at Wigan council; and Jessica Studdert, deputy director of our kind hosts, NLGN.Doing a live podcast was, despite s

Once upon a time, Philadelphia was the state capital of Pennsylvania. It was also briefly the capital of the early United States, the country’s financial capital, and its largest city.Today, it’s none of those things – even the state capital long since moved to Harrisburg, which I bet you’ve never even heard of. This no doubt has an impact on the psyche of a city that was once the most important in the US, but now struggles to make the top five.To talk about Philly, past, present and future, I’m joined by Nathaniel Popkin. He, along with Joseph E. B. Elliott and Peter Woodall, is the author of the beautifully illustrated book, “Philadelphia: Finding the Hidden City” – and had all sorts of fascinating insights into one of the United States’ more historic but lesser known cities.Incidentally, this week, I’m recording the first ever live Skylines at the New Local Government Network conference in London’s Guildhall. If all goes to plan – If – you should be able to hear that next week. Wish us luck.Skylines is the

A couple of unexpectedly big bits of news have emanated from England’s local councils recently. An estate regeneration scheme in the London Borough of Haringey has become the latest front in Labour’s forever war; while Tory-run Northamptonshire council has literally run out of money.So, it’s time to get into the weeds and talk about what’s gone wrong. To do that I’m joined once again by the journalist and local government analyst Emma Burnell. We talk about the budgetary problems facing England’s councils; why the sector has lost so much of the expertise it once had; and why Northamptonshire almost certainly won’t be the last council to fall over.We also talk about the row in Haringey – and why it isn’t really about what everyone keeps saying it’s about.Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman's cities site, CityMetric. It's hosted by Jonn Elledge.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It’s cold in London this week – but not even nearly as cold as it is in Korea, where the coldest Winter Olympics of all time are about to kick off; or Moscow, which just had record snowfall. Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, Cape Town is about to run out of water.So, it’s time to talk about the climate again. New Statesman environment writer India Bourke joins me to talk about this year’s bout of extreme weather, explain what’s causing it, and talk me through what cities are doing to mitigate the situation.Then, in a desperate attempt to lighten the mood, I quiz her on a few temperature records, in the UK and beyond.One other announcement: on 22 February, I’ll be joined by a great panel to record the first ever live Skylines, at the New Local Government Network conference in London’s Guildhall. It’s a ticketed event, but if you’re going to be there, why not swing by and say hi?Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman's cities site, CityMetric. It's hosted by Jonn Elledge.  See acast.c

It's another crossover episode. With a cast led by Daniel Craig and Christopher Eccleston, Our Friends in the North is one of the all-time great BBC dramas: a 31 year story of social housing policy, Labour infighting, police corruption and municipal decline.It's thus about as CityMetric-y a drama as you could ever hope to imagine – plus it's bloody good, not least because it begins with James Bond and Dr Who trying to start a rock n roll band in ‘60s Newcastle. I'd been toying with doing an episode on the subject when the writer Emma Burnell asked me to talk about it on The Zeitgeist Tapes, the podcast she'd just launched with Steve Fielding, a professor of politics at the University of Nottingham. So – this is that episode, originally released last autumn.This is also, incidentally, Skylines' 2nd birthday. We can almost walk. Thanks for listening to my nonsense.Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman's cities site, CityMetric. It's hosted by Jonn Elledge.  

This week we’re going overseas again to talk about one of the big themes of the 21st century: the development, or otherwise, of Africa.Daniel Knowles is the Economist’s sub-Saharan Africa correspondent. He’s based in Nairobi, Kenya, but has a beat covering nearly 50 countries.Dan outlines to me his theory that one of the big challenges is that Africa is “urbanising without globalising“. People are moving to cities like Lagos and Kinshasa, but aren’t not seeing the boost in living standards that earlier waves of urbanisation in Asia or the West created. The big question is why.Incidentally, if you listen carefully, you can hear the exact moment when I realised I was interviewing another white English bloke about Africa, and started to get very embarrassed about it. You can also hear Dan’s cat.Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman's cities site, CityMetric. It's hosted by Jonn Elledge.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We apologise for the late arrival of this edition of Skylines. It's unlikely to be the last time, I'm afraid: some stuff happening in the non-work bit of my life has disrupted my schedule somewhat, but I still hope to get the next episode out by the end of next week.Anyway, enough about that: this week my guest is journalist and author Matthew Engel. In 2009, he published Eleven Minutes Late: A Train Journey to the Soul of Britain – his history of the British railway system which, running pretty late myself, I didn't read until last year.Matthew gives me a quick tour of railway history, from the Victorians to Dr Beeching. He also explains why privatisation was a total disaster – but why he fears nationalisation won't help.Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman's cities site, CityMetric. It's hosted by Jonn Elledge.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.