Daniel Firth

Although looking at the logo now, it almost looks like we were bidding for the 2206 games - unlikely there will be much snow left by then, but on the plus side, Slussen might be finished!

Logo of the Stockholm Åre 2026 Candidate City Olympic Winter Games, in traditional, colourful kurbits or rose-painting style

A map showing some of the infrastructure planned in Stockholm for the 2026 games. Several projects still under construction would likely have been accelerated including the metro lines to Barkaby and Arenastaden, and perhaps the major project at Slussen

With the Winter Olympics opening in Milan I am reminded that one of the last things I worked on before leaving the City of Stockholm was our unsuccessful 2026 bid.

I wonder how many ongoing infrastructure projects would have been accelerated if we’d won?

(Also, our logo was clearly superior!)

🚨🚨" Some leaders have chosen to hunt them down and deport them through operations that are both unlawful and cruel. My government has chosen a different way: a fast and simple path to regularize their immigration status." Spanish PM Pedro #Sanchez on why #migrants are essential for Western society:

Self-driving taxis are coming to London – should we be worried? | Jack Stilgoe Waymo’s cars were first rolled out in San Francisco, but the English capital’s old roads, pelican crossings and jaywalkers may pose issues for AI, says science and technology professor Jack Stilgoe

“Jaywalking is permitted in London. In 1966, the police tried to crack down on it, but gave up after three months.”

People walk and cycle on roads by right, people drive under licence.

Jaywalking is not a thing in English law and Waymo must not change that.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Interesting contrast in coverage: a misleading, vested-interest report suggesting heat pumps raise UK bills made headlines.

Our peer-reviewed UK research showing high real-world efficiency across hundreds of homes was largely ignored by the media.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

YouTube video by David Bowie David Bowie - I'm Afraid of Americans (Official Video) [4K]

Je suis David

youtu.be/LT3cERVRoQo?...

Big moment for Europe: in December, fully electric cars outsold petrol-only cars in the EU for the first time.

This shows that clear, consistent policy works. Which is exactly why backtracking now would be a mistake. Rolling back targets or creating uncertainty would slow investment and innovation.

It’s entirely on-topic; it’s a bostadsrätt, which just further demonstrates the dysfunction in both London and Stockholm housing markets :(

*cheques were what we used to pay large sums of money in the ancient, pre on-line banking times - which in the UK meant until quite recently

A cheque book stub for 900 pounds payed to ”Rent”, dated 2 November 2005

Having a clearout and found my old chequebook*

GBP900 was my monthly rent in 2005 for a one room flat in South Ealing, a 45 minute tube ride from work

It’s more than I now pay for a three room apartment a ten minute metro ride from central Stockholm 🤯

a man says i am invincible while standing in front of a computer ALT: a man says i am invincible while standing in front of a computer

I just installed a new home printer and had it work first time.

(Yes I am aware that having printer and Goldeneye references expose me as a total GenX-er)

“We’ve invented a magic computer. It uses all of the earth’s resources, we’ve spent trillions on it and it’s the sole growth area of the US economy.”

“What does it do?”

“We were hoping you could tell us.”

Jag har velat åka till Brasília sen jag var typ 12 år. Var inte besviken.

Nästa Chandigarh eller Canberra.

a medieval fresco of a rabbit vomiting milk into a bucket

Rabbit, Sweden, 15th century

Jag har inte heller fått fredspriset så som min kompis sa på nyår:

Det här är året som jag börjar gaffla i kommentarsfält

...engineers are problem solvers - you just need to give them the right problem to solve. That meant working with them to define the right essay question based on political direction. (That and that fewer cars means more work for signal engineers, not less -> they were worried about their jobs)

Thanks so much for this, I really enjoyed it and hope there'll be more!

Lots of recognition for me in your discussion upfront about the importance of getting traffic signal engineers on board - I spent a lot of time on this in my work in Stockholm and London. The short version:...

It’s been a grey miserable weekend in Stockholm, matching the dire situation in the world beyond.

But right now, the park outside my living room window is filled with young furries in colourful fur suits, and it is bringing me some unexpected joy and hope ❤️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Read more about how in our report Past the peak: www.c40knowledgehub.org/s/article/Pa...

Congratulations Salvador - not just one of the sixty C40 cities that have passed their peak emissions, but one of the eleven that have reduced their post-peak emissions by more than 30%

🚨 Snow plow tram klaxon 🚨

In any sane world we would call this a Tramboni. (It's possible this joke only works in hockey-playing countries en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_res...)

This may well come as a shock to many Stockholmers but the scale and coverage of our transit system compares well to some of the world’s most dense. It’s less of a surprise to those of us who have worked hard to make it happen!

(Could it be cheaper and more reliable? Absolutely!)

Metro rail kilometers per million inhabitants, top 20 urban areas globally. Just includes urban areas with at least 1 million residents.

What urban areas in the world have the longest existing/under construction metro networks per capita?

In a quick analysis using Transit Explorer & EU GHS-UCDB 2024 data, the top urban areas are:
1—Chengdu
2—Hangzhou
3—Ningbo
4—Xuzhou
5—Stockholm
6—Zhengzhou
7—Singapore
8—Xi'an
9—Hamburg
10—Changsha

I am also reminded by these graphs that the Norwegian word for a non-electric car is "fossil car". Perhaps we should all adopt that term, now that the short form acronym for Internal Combustion Engine is so strongly associated with something far more sinister.

It is noticeably quieter and there is no diesel smell that otherwise tends to hang around in the cold air.

Someone said they thought the snow stayed whiter because of the EVs. I am skeptical, I would imagine that's more to do with tyre wear - but less traffic in the centre almost certainly helps

A graph showing the growth of car traffic and population as an index in the City Oslo 2007 to 2023. Car traffic shown as a yellow line has remained stable apart from a small dip in 2020-21 caused by restrictions introduced to slow the spread of Covid-19. Population, shown as a blue line has increased by around 30 percent between 2017 and 2023.

The same graph as previously, now showing public transit ridership alongside car traffic and population growth. Transit use is up around 50 percent since 2007. The graph shows a big drop in transit use during 2020-21 due to restrictions introduced to slow the spread of Covid-19.

A graph showing the power source for new cars sold in the City of Oslo from 2010 to 2025. A blue line showing electric cars ("Elbil") starts at zero in 2010 and steadily increases to 95% in 2025. A pale yellow line line showing internal combustion engine vehicles ("Fossilbil") starts at 100% in 2010 and falls to 5% in 2025.

A picture of a blue tram driving down a snowy street in central Oslo

As a Stockholmer this is not easy to admit but visiting Oslo feels - at least from a transport perspective - a bit like visiting the future:
- car traffic is barely increasing despite population growth
- transit, walking & cycling is handling all of the growth
- 95% of new cars are electric

Great graphic from the folks at @cleanenergycanada.org that shows Canada falling dangerously behind in the global race on EVs.

Just saying: 2026 would be a great year for the feds to get serious about climate change again.

@cape-acme.bsky.social

When a cycling city has a walkability problem, there’s probably too much curb parking for cars.

A roadsign with alternating blue and black text on each line, reading: You’re four times It’s hard to more likely to have concentrate on two things when you’re on at the same time a mobile phone

Agreed - I’m also a fan of this one

Probably one of the best road safety adverts from TfL.

If you've never seen it before - I can guarantee you will watch it twice.