Martin Robbins

Clophill Lakes Boardwalk Appeal Join the Greensand Trust in rebuilding Clophill Lakes' boardwalk destroyed by arson. Help restore access and preserve this cherished wildlife haven.

In any case: I don't ask for anything for my writing or paywall my Substack, but if you've ever enjoyed something I've written then I'd hugely appreciate a donation to the Greensand Trust's appeal to try to get this nature reserve rebuilt. www.greensandtrust.org/Appeal/cloph...

Repairing the damage will cost £100,000. That's money that would have been spent installing new bird hides but will now pay for the actions of giggling psychopaths instead. This is also exactly the kind of thing that people mean when they say crime feels rampant, blatant and unchecked.

I say *was*, because this is what it looks like today, less than four months after opening. This was not casual or accidental - bins and signs were moved, wood was piled up, fuel used. The entire 70m stretch of boardwalk was set ablaze in a deliberate, blatant act of vandalism.

Built on the site of former gravel pits, Clophill Lakes is a fantastic example of reclaiming old industrial sites to create incredible public spaces and wildlife habitats. One of its key facilities was a 70m / 230ft boardwalk between the lakes, with a branch overlooking the water.

Clophill Lakes A new nature reserve Clophill Lakes is now OPEN daily from 9am to 5pm (cafe open 10am-3pm).

This spring, a new nature reserve opened around the corner from us: Clophill Lakes. A sanctuary for otters, wildfowl and wetland creatures, it's a stunning location enjoyed by families from across the region. www.greensandtrust.org/clophill-lak...

Stop gaslighting people about crime Yes, crime statistics show long-term decline, but the numbers don't tell the whole story.

John's piece echoes (and improves on) a similar piece I wrote back in June: "If a couple of teenagers get off their faces on drugs and set fire to the local playground, there’s a good chance that won’t be counted." martinrobbins.substack.com/p/stop-gasli...

The great crime paradox Disorder is rising in public consciousness. Is it rising in reality?

A rare, somewhat personal thread/appeal.

Recently, @jburnmurdoch.ft.com wrote in the FT about the crime paradox - a sense that while violent crime is falling, 'disorder' is rising, "compounded by the sense that criminals are operating with impunity." www.ft.com/content/7488...

How to make a road disappear Podcast Episode · The Abundance Agenda · 04/08/2025 · 1h 1m

As the risk of self-promotion we had Alistair Strathern MP on the pod this week, and a major part of his job is trying to get other parts of local government to function, to a level that’s genuinely quite astonishing and doesn’t seem sustainable.

This is a very good point, and also means questions about how we form (and fund!) local government and other bits of the state.

The whole road needs surfacing, and if they bought it they’d a) be buying liability and b) would be unable to have the council adopt it until they brought it up to scratch, but also c) highways are the role of the council, not the parish.

Shefford Town council is a parish level council, so volunteer-led, to answer your first question. They don't have the ability to adopt the road - they could buy it, but then they'd be on the hook for repairs which would probably bankrupt them. CBC can adopt the road any time they like, but refuse.

The main story on this week's pod is mad – in which @mjrobbins.com discovers a mad legal loophole that means no one technically owns a major road in a town near his home.

Go have a listen!

A boy at school in the early 90s once tried to call me 'Mart'. It took teams of specialists working around the clock to remove the wedgie, and I've heard he still can't use hard chairs.

How to make a road disappear Plus are e-scooters about to be legalised at last? And we speak to Labour MP Alistair Strathern.

New episode of THE ABUNDANCE AGENDA!

🚗 How to make a road... disappear!
🛴 How the govt persuaded the Daily Mail that e-scooters should be legalised!
🌹 And Labour MP @alistrathern.bsky.social on the fraying social contract between politicians and voters.

www.abundancepod.com/p/how-to-mak...

Learning to Think. When Tracy King was twelve she was exorcised. Unfortunately, the demons that beset Tracy could not be so easily displaced. While her life was filled with creativity, curiosity, and love, it was also c...

If you’re following the Salt Path debacle and want a memoir that is not only true, but actively goes back to debunk a key event of the author’s childhood, may I recommend the critically-acclaimed me (also in audiobook and e-book) www.penguin.co.uk/books/442390...

(J/k)

(One like = one person I can think of)

Jim makes a good point - the idea that Ofcom is going to effectively police online hate is risible. The regulator has obviously realised that and decided to focus on BBC/C4

I hope this is an accident - these things happen - and Ian corrects it swiftly.

My Granddad was an avid Daily Mail reader. In the late '00s they had a phase of running stories about crazed foxes breaking into houses and attacking people. So he spent his final summers baking hot, afraid to open the patio doors in case the foxes got in.

Really on radicalisation from @samfr.bsky.social. One big factor Sam touches on that we notice a lot is the decline in “come off it” moments and rise in “you’re so right” moments. In real life has more the former, online more of the latter. bsky.app/profile/samf...

This is very good, and astutely describes a number of people I can think of.

The maths sort of collapses into the Shrödinger’s Shaggers notion that women are simultaneously a) sluts who are b) withholding sex. So then they have to invent some sort of gigachad cohort to unskew the numbers. But as the figures suggest, the gigachads are just… the majority of normal guys.

Amazing stuff “just be rich and live in London”!

Good moment I think to ask Britain’s Trump whisperers what they think of firing the head of the BLS when you get a month of bad jobs numbers. Montie, Harry, Nige, Dan? Any thoughts?

Oh…

It’s *astonishing* that in 2025 a BBC spokesperson is saying “Headlines are not meant to be read in isolation.”

Energy in Britain has gotten scarce—and thus expensive.

Prices are high in absolute terms, and further above the European average than any point in at least 40 years (barring the 22/23 shock).

What's behind this, and is it crimping growth? I took a look for @economist.com. (🧵)

I could write a PhD thesis on how badly designed British kitchens are for one bin, let alone multiple bins.

Also - it was a Daily Mail campaign! It aged well!