Lunch with Leon

The big questions about transport use and where to go from here.

This week, Leon Daniels OBE has lunch with Steve Gooding, formerly Director General at the Department for Transport and now Director of the RAC Foundation, where he is a noted spokesman on roads and transport policy.

This year he becomes President of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) and talks about how it is working to develop professionalism in the sector.

“There’s never been a time when the expertise and professionalism of CILT members has been more in need,” he says, as the country “looks beyond Covid to the government agenda of ‘building back better’ and ‘levelling up’ across the UK.”

They chat about whether freight and logistics will become classed by the government as ‘critical infrastructure’ in the same way as energy and telecoms already are. 

“There’s a tendency to think that infrastructure is static, but it’s not,” Steve tells Leon. “It gives the ability to move around. Rail and road – both classed as national critical infrastructure – are no good if trains and trucks can’t run on them.”

They mull over the return of commuter and passenger demand. Steve asks: “Will we see cities developing or cities returning?” 

He then turns to opportunities for investment – and where it should go – before touching on what he sees as an inevitable recasting of local authority subsidised bus services.

As a trustee of the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund, Steve explains what it is and what it is doing to raise its profile. He chats about the Fund’s work, especially with younger people, in careers and innovation.

He concludes by talking about autonomous vehicles and they enter the debate about whether they should ever be allowed on the UK’s roads. On this subject, Steve has strong views…

Ricardo has a long history of developing diesel drivelines, stemming from its key involvement in the First World War to reduce exhaust emissions (yes, really) that eventually earned founder Harry Ricardo a knighthood.

Today, the British company has a global presence across a range of market sectors – including cars, commercial vehicles, rail, defence, motorsport, energy and environment – with a client list that includes transport operators, manufacturers, energy companies, financial institutions and government agencies.

As a global strategic engineering and environmental consultancy that specialises in the transport, energy and scarce resources sectors, it’s able to look objectively at the progress to new energy for transport as Paul Seller Ricardo Rail MD explains.

Over lunch with Leon Daniels OBE they chat about de-carbonisation not just in Europe, but worldwide and how this can be achieved.

There’s ‘life in the old dog yet’ reckons Paul as they talk about the internal combustion engine (ICE) and he explains why it shouldn’t be written off just yet, as different fuel sources become available.

They chew over the progress to new energy for transport, such as electrification, hydrogen, ammonia and methane, which Paul describes as ‘extremely exciting’. Also, he reckons that it’s ‘not a forgone conclusion’ that hydrogen’s transport role will solely be using fuel cells.

“We have a long way to go to settle on what the transport fuel of the future will be,” he adds as he looks to future of urban transport, what drives it and why it varies around the world. 

He also talks about the impact of Brexit on emissions and transport standards.

Challenging the ‘old way’ to get the most out of yourself and your team.

Over a long lunch, Leon Daniels OBE chats with Gali Bloch Liran who is an executive coach specialising in start-ups, as well as being a lawyer, marketeer, lecturer and global speaker. 

She works with CEOs, founders and entrepreneurs to manage the day-to-day challenges and strengthen the mental resilience required to scale such a venture, using her own super-powers: energy, positivity and inner strong-belief.

We learn how success is achieved by lots of ‘small wins’, the challenges of taking a small start-up into something bigger and how to use your personal skills to overcome the inevitable problems.

The art of communication with staff is chewed over, alongside tips about how to get your messages across, as this this energic, fun and inspiring coach delves into what many people consider a ‘dark art’, yet is surprisingly easy to master.

You can contact Gali at www.galiblochliran.com

All the enjoyable bits, plus some garnish…

 Our regular podcast about all things transport-related has a different twist this week with a Christmas and New Year special. If you’ve not listened before, then give this one a try!

Over the past 24 episodes, Leon Daniels has chatted with an amazing range of people and he’s filleted just a small handful of the very best, and funniest, bits.

He also reports live from the recent GITEX technology exhibition in Dubai, UAE, which proves that it’s possible to run large events in a totally safe manner.

From the ‘the ancient art of exchanging business cards in real life’ to exciting technical developments, it’s a whistle-stop tour at the cutting-edge.

And, as the podcast closes, we hear the first-ever performance by The Binswood Players, who’ve dropped into a board meeting, somewhere in Britain, where they ask ‘What Has ITT Hub Ever Done For Us?’

Leon Daniels’ lunchtime guest is Elizabeth de Jong from Logistics UK. Their starter sees them mull over working-from-home and its benefits, before they move onto the main course where they chat about the changes in logistics and deliveries this year.

They debate why the government should regard freight and logistics as part of the country’s critical infrastructure and how to get more talent into the industry. Elizabeth maps out what to do and why it’s backed by a strong business case.

Alternatives to diesel HGVs, how to make a pathway for their phase out and the pressure to speed-up transport decarbonisation is chewed over.

During dessert they delve into Brexit and - with only days to go before ‘B-Day’ - discuss how ready logistics is.

An economist by background, Elizabeth has a strong track record of leading successful policy teams. She has over 20 years of experience at a senior level in the transport sector which includes consultancy, business analysis, programme management, policy development and policy delivery.  

She joined Logistics UK in July 2017 from Rail Delivery Group where she was Director of Policy, and prior to that worked at the Department for Transport.  

At Logistics UK she is responsible for UK, Regional, EU and International Policy, Public Affairs, Research & Information and the Member Advice Centre. 

Tools in the toolbox – how many do we need?

Graeme Cooper is Project Director / Transport Decarbonisation at National Grid and, fresh from his appearance on Top Gear, he chats with Leon Daniels about how, in the last week, all the decarbonisation jigsaw bits are finally coming together.
Graeme talks with an easy engaging energy and passion, presenting serious thought leadership in an easy-to-digest form and explains his mantra “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”
He unpicks the government’s recent announcements and its 10-point decarbonisation plan. Crucially, he tackles the oft-asked ‘big question’: Do we have enough grid capacity for clean transport?
What if the entire country went to electric cars tomorrow – would the lights go out? 
Graeme sets out the how the government’s £950m to future-proof the grid will be spent and where he sits in the hydrogen v electric debate.
He explains why, in heading towards 2050 net zero, “transport is the easiest to fix” and how almost limitless capacity for electric bus garages and is available right now.

Stripping off on the roads? The Naked Highway. If you’ve not come across the expression, then the Naked Highway is not what you might think...
Chatting over lunch with Leon Daniels OBE is James Haluch Managing Director – Highways and Waste Collections, at Amey and they get to grips with what our roads should look like in the future – and the Naked Highway is part of this.
They start by talking about what the Highways Sector Council, launched in 2019, is currently doing. 
Together, they unpick some of the big issues that are being tackled and how working with the government meant that the highways sector was able to take rapid advantage of COVID-19 to do works that otherwise weren’t possible in normal times.
James and Leon chat with a passion about changing safety culture; when you know you’ve ‘cracked it’ (with anecdotes) and how good safety saves money.
This neatly takes the conversation around to one of the biggest issues of recent times – the closure of London’s Hammersmith Flyover due to structural defects – and how it enabled “progress to be made in very unusual ways” for the careers and knowledge of young engineers.
James chats about some of the pioneering work he’s involved in to encourage young people into engineering and how a scheme projected to ‘graduate’ 15,000 people ended up with 125,000 awards issued.
Swapping more anecdotes, they talk about dining in Belmarsh Prison and why the CEO of Thames Water was woken by a phone call at 0600 on a Sunday.

With a long and illustrious career in business and transport, Steve Norris is best-known as Minister for Transport in London (1992-7) “the toughest job I ever did.”No-nonsense and straight-talking, he ran for Mayor of London in 2000 and 2004, but lost on both occasions to Ken Livingstone who, he tells Leon Daniels, was “the best Mayor by a country mile.”
There are terrific anecdotes about London Buses, leading into the real reasons we don’t have conductors anymore and the incentives required to offer a good service.Turning to the recent Transport for London (TfL) financial rescue package from the government, he skilfully dissects the politics and personalities involved.We also find out what he really thinks of Boris Johnson (who he says is a ‘sofa’) and what Steve Norris would do if he was Prime Minister…

As we navigate through uncharted territory, Leon Daniels catches up with Guillaume Fleuti - MD and Head, Infrastructure, Transport and Manufacturing and Europe at Lloyds Bank – to chat about everything from the move to zero emission stimulus, “good for business and good for the UK,” to the key role that banks are bringing to the economy at the moment.

They mull over whether the ‘bundling together’ of finance for charging infrastructure, energy and vehicles, will be a model for the future.

Guillaume talks through why banks prefer to fund certain areas of business than others, and how engagement with government bodies has changed in the last two years.

The conversation moves to government support for big infrastructure projects, such as road and rail, and how that might look in the future.

They also swap notes on how transport use might change and different people’s perceptions of a ‘long commute’.

And, Leon asks the hot question: ‘What are the consequences of a no-deal Brexit…

She’s the busiest person on the transport network, giving information to 6.5m people every day; but it’s her voice, rather than her face that is best known.

The ‘voice’ of London Buses, Emma Hignett, chats with Leon Daniels over lunch about her work as a voice-over and how the Lancastrian’s voice is upmarket but utterly approachable.

She talks about how she changed career from being a ballet dancer and the ‘rigorous’ selection process that Transport for London used in its quest for delivering a consistently high standard of visual and aural passenger information.

And, Leon discovers what her ‘real’ voice is and how she deals with hearing her own voice as she travels around London. 

They chat about everything from accents to the research and science of passenger announcements, to the day she spent talking to public face-to-face and the most memorable personal recordings she made for people.

They also chat about what the future holds for young people who are considering the world of work, alongside the art of communications and conclude with a very sound piece of indispensable advice.