"I think a lot of this... is pretty phony."
Speaking about Andy Burnham's first interview since he launched his bid for No 10, Times columnist Matthew Syed says people will only find out whether Mr Burnham is a good leader when he says things that are "unpopular".
#Newsnight
As a nation we are skint, and many are suffering, because
(In order of magnitude):
1. We spent a generations wealth trying to track an airborne respiratory virus.
2. We decided to engage in unilateral economic disarmament by way of Net Zero, with the rest of the world looking on laughing whilst eating our lunch.
3. Leftwing “progressiveness” infected my party who allowed our institutions to be led by our left wing opponents, gave succour to Quangos and grew the state, all to be nice and not offend their dinner party friends.
4. Adherence to short term “popular” politics rather than harder, driven, long term needs of the country. Rather than tell the average voter they are like 6 year olds who haven’t learned delayed gratification we continue to give them biscuits when they scream. So in short a lack of leadership.
5. Incentivising idleness and punishing success.
The least consequential thing that’s happened in recent decades is Brexit, a marginal impact when compared to any of the above.
it is genuinely psychotic that we dug up literal primordial dirt, scrubbed it down to an impossible 99.9999999999% molecular perfection that violates the very laws of physics, handed it over to techno-wizard necromancers to stretch into flawless geometric god-cylinders, blasted it with invisible uv death-rays to carve ten quadrillion microscopic cyber-sigils into its flesh, trapped actual lightning inside of it, and somehow birthed an omniscent eldritch deity capable of simulating the universe and thinking faster than a billion human civilizations combined.
and our grand, supreme purpose for this enslaved lightning-god?
sending "per my last email, please see attached" to a guy named gary.
"There isn't gonna be a northern renaissance... However many reports are written and however many speeches are made by Andy Burnham"
Simon Cooke (@SimonMagus) - former leader of the Bradford Conservatives - @ #BattleFest North
...But will a Northern No 10 do the trick?
@JonNeale So what happened after the war. Bham’s unemployment rate ran at 2% have a look at what consecutive Labour governments did to the economy in London. Read a bit more 👍
Indeed, an IPPR North report from a decade ago (since which little has changed) that sought to show how little govt investment the North gets actually showed that the Midlands received the least.
Nepotism puts things in the NW, real change would put things here. @RichParkerLab
Absolutely and Birmingham is still suffering from the effects of the Wilson Government's deliberate attempts to stop the city’s economy growing with the Control of Office and Industrial Development Act 1965
This whole Andy Burnham feels a lot like a cult.
A whole bunch of people so desperate to believe in all his wild promises that they are prepared to disregard reality.
PM's operate in the real world.
@ColeFusionHQ You need to read up on why is works. There’s a reason there’s hundreds of old massive houses in places like Birmingham, Sheffield and Leeds.