Tom Forth
@tomforth.co.uk
Same as @thomasforth on X. Gone back to Twitter for now. Quality filter, locations in bios, and polls pls. Leeds, Yorkshire, UK.
Reposted by Tom Forth
Really good discussion this. Sounds like an excellent issue for Andy Burnham to take up on the Lovelace Labs, and Tracy Brabin for the National Data Library to Leeds. Probably much easier for govt to deliver - and quicker - than a tram.
I did a podcast about why the Lovelace Labs should be in Manchester. And other varied ramblings including National Data Library, AI Action Plan, and why Leeds wool matters. youtu.be/WQnWrJlIQRQ?...
The case for Lovelace Labs in Manchester
YouTube video by Hey! Presents
youtu.be
January 31, 2026 at 2:04 PM
Really good discussion this. Sounds like an excellent issue for Andy Burnham to take up on the Lovelace Labs, and Tracy Brabin for the National Data Library to Leeds. Probably much easier for govt to deliver - and quicker - than a tram.
I did a podcast about why the Lovelace Labs should be in Manchester. And other varied ramblings including National Data Library, AI Action Plan, and why Leeds wool matters. youtu.be/WQnWrJlIQRQ?...
The case for Lovelace Labs in Manchester
YouTube video by Hey! Presents
youtu.be
January 30, 2026 at 8:13 PM
I did a podcast about why the Lovelace Labs should be in Manchester. And other varied ramblings including National Data Library, AI Action Plan, and why Leeds wool matters. youtu.be/WQnWrJlIQRQ?...
In the absence of the list being published, is anyone I know on the National Data Library Expert Advisory Group? Or know anyone who is?
January 26, 2026 at 9:48 AM
In the absence of the list being published, is anyone I know on the National Data Library Expert Advisory Group? Or know anyone who is?
"Welcome to Decline" -- still one of my favourite graphs from last year. In the late 1970s, Britain's economic fate very clearly split in two. How much you blame Thatcher will depend on your politics, but her leadership is useful to understand the timing. tomforth.co.uk/welcometodec...
January 2, 2026 at 6:15 PM
"Welcome to Decline" -- still one of my favourite graphs from last year. In the late 1970s, Britain's economic fate very clearly split in two. How much you blame Thatcher will depend on your politics, but her leadership is useful to understand the timing. tomforth.co.uk/welcometodec...
Answers to the nine most common questions I get about the (now delayed) Leeds tram. tomforth.co.uk/tramquestions/
Tram questions.
Answers to the nine most common questions I've had about the Leeds tram proposals.
tomforth.co.uk
December 31, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Answers to the nine most common questions I get about the (now delayed) Leeds tram. tomforth.co.uk/tramquestions/
Reposted by Tom Forth
Though ENICs are a non-starter in current context; I'd go for a local income tax.
Picked it up from this @tomforth.co.uk oped.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Picked it up from this @tomforth.co.uk oped.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Britain’s cities are desperate for better transport. Why is Westminster derailing our plans in Leeds? | Thomas Forth
A long-promised tram network has been pushed back to the late 2030s – unless we build local, northern growth will be snuffed out, says Thomas Forth, co-founder of tech firm The Data City
www.theguardian.com
December 24, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Though ENICs are a non-starter in current context; I'd go for a local income tax.
Picked it up from this @tomforth.co.uk oped.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Picked it up from this @tomforth.co.uk oped.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Tom Forth
Most Yimby, abundance style stuff just brushes away or ignores real world trade-offs. I have to say though, this one on tram financing and management is compelling.
Would involve a big shift in power and resources to the local level- including local taxation.
www.britainremade.co.uk/backontrack
Would involve a big shift in power and resources to the local level- including local taxation.
www.britainremade.co.uk/backontrack
How to Build New Trams in the UK and Get Britain Moving
Cities across Europe are building trams at a rate not seen in nearly a century. Places that had torn up their tram tracks in the 1950s have realised they had made a mistake. Twenty-one French cities h...
www.britainremade.co.uk
December 24, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Most Yimby, abundance style stuff just brushes away or ignores real world trade-offs. I have to say though, this one on tram financing and management is compelling.
Would involve a big shift in power and resources to the local level- including local taxation.
www.britainremade.co.uk/backontrack
Would involve a big shift in power and resources to the local level- including local taxation.
www.britainremade.co.uk/backontrack
When the Manchester Guardian calls, the people of the North heed the call. And if those people are me, we inject Manchester Liberalism, even from across the Pennines, right back in to the paper of Northern record. Get your fill. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Britain’s cities are desperate for better transport. Why is Westminster derailing our plans in Leeds? | Thomas Forth
A long-promised tram network has been pushed back to the late 2030s – unless we build local, northern growth will be snuffed out, says Thomas Forth, co-founder of tech firm The Data City
www.theguardian.com
December 23, 2025 at 4:40 PM
When the Manchester Guardian calls, the people of the North heed the call. And if those people are me, we inject Manchester Liberalism, even from across the Pennines, right back in to the paper of Northern record. Get your fill. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Tom Forth
Welcome To Decline. I constructed a historical dataset of economic growth in "The North" and "The South" of Britain and used it to show that Thatcher DID put The South on a course for convergence with the USA. 👍 And put The North on the opposite path. 👎 tomforth.co.uk/welcometodec...
Welcome to Decline.
The North has been declining since Thatcher. The South since Blair. It's good to be back together again I suppose.
tomforth.co.uk
December 21, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Welcome To Decline. I constructed a historical dataset of economic growth in "The North" and "The South" of Britain and used it to show that Thatcher DID put The South on a course for convergence with the USA. 👍 And put The North on the opposite path. 👎 tomforth.co.uk/welcometodec...
Welcome To Decline. I constructed a historical dataset of economic growth in "The North" and "The South" of Britain and used it to show that Thatcher DID put The South on a course for convergence with the USA. 👍 And put The North on the opposite path. 👎 tomforth.co.uk/welcometodec...
Welcome to Decline.
The North has been declining since Thatcher. The South since Blair. It's good to be back together again I suppose.
tomforth.co.uk
December 21, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Welcome To Decline. I constructed a historical dataset of economic growth in "The North" and "The South" of Britain and used it to show that Thatcher DID put The South on a course for convergence with the USA. 👍 And put The North on the opposite path. 👎 tomforth.co.uk/welcometodec...
Good morning good people. I'm on BBC Radio Leeds shortly to talk about whether the Leeds Tram has been cancelled. The kind of question that local radio doesn't typically dedicate a morning to unless the answer is pretty close to Yes. Which it is.
December 18, 2025 at 6:15 AM
Good morning good people. I'm on BBC Radio Leeds shortly to talk about whether the Leeds Tram has been cancelled. The kind of question that local radio doesn't typically dedicate a morning to unless the answer is pretty close to Yes. Which it is.
Reposted by Tom Forth
In fact the concentration of R&D in universities is a relatively recent development, beginning in the 1980s and accelerating in the Blair governments
December 17, 2025 at 4:10 PM
In fact the concentration of R&D in universities is a relatively recent development, beginning in the 1980s and accelerating in the Blair governments
Reposted by Tom Forth
this is not behavior becoming of a FIFA Peace Prize recipient.
December 15, 2025 at 8:18 PM
this is not behavior becoming of a FIFA Peace Prize recipient.
I went to a dinner with the AI Minister and I read a paper on Lovelace Institue --- a proposal from Tony Blair's Institute on how we could fund breakthrough science better. And I wrote that all up into one incoherent mess for you to enjoy. tomforth.co.uk/nationalpurp...
National purpose on AI.
Lovelace Institutes, why I like the idea, and how I think they could work.
tomforth.co.uk
December 12, 2025 at 1:48 AM
I went to a dinner with the AI Minister and I read a paper on Lovelace Institue --- a proposal from Tony Blair's Institute on how we could fund breakthrough science better. And I wrote that all up into one incoherent mess for you to enjoy. tomforth.co.uk/nationalpurp...
Self-driving cars and why I think they might fix England's unusually weak second city economies. tomforth.co.uk/selfdrivingc...
Self-driving cars in England’s big cities.
Self-driving cars might make England's big cities rich again. Maybe.
tomforth.co.uk
November 30, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Self-driving cars and why I think they might fix England's unusually weak second city economies. tomforth.co.uk/selfdrivingc...
Reposted by Tom Forth
One of my favourite podcast chats to date so far, with @tomforth.co.uk on the north-south divide.
Turns out reason for the North’s poor productivity isn’t a centralised political culture causing low transport, investment, it’s because they’re drunks...
www.freewheeling.info/the-freewhee...
Turns out reason for the North’s poor productivity isn’t a centralised political culture causing low transport, investment, it’s because they’re drunks...
www.freewheeling.info/the-freewhee...
www.freewheeling.info
November 13, 2025 at 8:44 PM
One of my favourite podcast chats to date so far, with @tomforth.co.uk on the north-south divide.
Turns out reason for the North’s poor productivity isn’t a centralised political culture causing low transport, investment, it’s because they’re drunks...
www.freewheeling.info/the-freewhee...
Turns out reason for the North’s poor productivity isn’t a centralised political culture causing low transport, investment, it’s because they’re drunks...
www.freewheeling.info/the-freewhee...
I did a podcast episode seemingly. About the North South divide and its interaction with transport. With @freewheeling.info. So what better way for me to listen to it for the first time than on a slow train back to Leeds from Rotherham. Which is what I'll do right now.
November 13, 2025 at 4:26 PM
I did a podcast episode seemingly. About the North South divide and its interaction with transport. With @freewheeling.info. So what better way for me to listen to it for the first time than on a slow train back to Leeds from Rotherham. Which is what I'll do right now.
London is a great city. It didn't invent the steam locomotive or start the industrial revolution. That's fine. Its fans shouldn't claim it did. I wrote about that. tomforth.co.uk/greatestcity...
The Greatest City on Earth.
London is a great city, it doesn't need to claim it invented the steam locomotive or started the industrial revolution.
tomforth.co.uk
November 6, 2025 at 3:31 AM
London is a great city. It didn't invent the steam locomotive or start the industrial revolution. That's fine. Its fans shouldn't claim it did. I wrote about that. tomforth.co.uk/greatestcity...
Reposted by Tom Forth
What to see how I turned thousands of live buses into charts like this? And what it all means for mayors wanting to integrate their public transport systems?
Come to see me talk about all this and more to our event at 1pm: www.centreforcities.org/event/report...
Come to see me talk about all this and more to our event at 1pm: www.centreforcities.org/event/report...
November 4, 2025 at 11:42 AM
What to see how I turned thousands of live buses into charts like this? And what it all means for mayors wanting to integrate their public transport systems?
Come to see me talk about all this and more to our event at 1pm: www.centreforcities.org/event/report...
Come to see me talk about all this and more to our event at 1pm: www.centreforcities.org/event/report...
"Evil or Irrelevant: pick one." > I wrote up why I'd usually prefer to have an 'evil' company succeeding in Leeds than a good one succeeding in London. (But really it's about Stoke-on-Trent). tomforth.co.uk/evilorirrele...
Evil or irrelevant: pick one.
Why I’d probably rather have an evil tech company in Leeds than a good one in London.
tomforth.co.uk
October 30, 2025 at 8:18 PM
"Evil or Irrelevant: pick one." > I wrote up why I'd usually prefer to have an 'evil' company succeeding in Leeds than a good one succeeding in London. (But really it's about Stoke-on-Trent). tomforth.co.uk/evilorirrele...
Reposted by Tom Forth
Also includes a graph, for I am known for such things, on how Almere, the Netherlands' most successful new city has overtaken Lelystad, the Netherlands' most mocked new city in population since they were built on land reclaimed from the sea.
October 24, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Also includes a graph, for I am known for such things, on how Almere, the Netherlands' most successful new city has overtaken Lelystad, the Netherlands' most mocked new city in population since they were built on land reclaimed from the sea.
Reposted by Tom Forth
Includes a map I drew (actually traced) by hand (well in Inkscape) and styled myself (actually got Luke to help me). But it's a good map. I tried to get ChatGPT to draw it for me, but it was rubbish. So I did it with humans.
October 24, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Includes a map I drew (actually traced) by hand (well in Inkscape) and styled myself (actually got Luke to help me). But it's a good map. I tried to get ChatGPT to draw it for me, but it was rubbish. So I did it with humans.
Reposted by Tom Forth
I've written about the worst city in the Netherlands. It's just 3000 words. A quick read. What Lelystad teaches us about new cities, why you probably shouldn't build them, what to do if you must,... and why you might need to. ps. Lelystad is actually good. tomforth.co.uk/newcities/
The worst city in the Netherlands.
Lessons on New Cities from Almere and Lelystad.
tomforth.co.uk
October 24, 2025 at 12:30 AM
I've written about the worst city in the Netherlands. It's just 3000 words. A quick read. What Lelystad teaches us about new cities, why you probably shouldn't build them, what to do if you must,... and why you might need to. ps. Lelystad is actually good. tomforth.co.uk/newcities/
I've written about the worst city in the Netherlands. It's just 3000 words. A quick read. What Lelystad teaches us about new cities, why you probably shouldn't build them, what to do if you must,... and why you might need to. ps. Lelystad is actually good. tomforth.co.uk/newcities/
The worst city in the Netherlands.
Lessons on New Cities from Almere and Lelystad.
tomforth.co.uk
October 24, 2025 at 12:30 AM
I've written about the worst city in the Netherlands. It's just 3000 words. A quick read. What Lelystad teaches us about new cities, why you probably shouldn't build them, what to do if you must,... and why you might need to. ps. Lelystad is actually good. tomforth.co.uk/newcities/
Reposted by Tom Forth
You will learn more about the ongoing furore over asylum seekers in hotels from this incredible piece by @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social than from a hundred front page headlines.
The crumbling seaside palaces at the centre of Britain’s asylum crisis
How one hotelier built an empire from beloved community assets — and a government struggling to cope with a surge in migration
www.ft.com
September 13, 2025 at 11:44 AM
You will learn more about the ongoing furore over asylum seekers in hotels from this incredible piece by @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social than from a hundred front page headlines.