Unlocking the Blockages

Andy Burnham to lead UK growth from No 10 North in major power shift

Andy Burnham has outlined plans for the new No 10 North to assume control over economic growth from the Treasury, framing the shift as a move to divest power from Whitehall.

According to the Prime minister, the Treasury will maintain its focus on overseeing public finances, whereas the regional 10 Downing Street office in Manchester will lead economic expansion.

Speaking in an interview with The Times, he stated that chancellor John Healey completely backs the decision, characterising it as part of a "huge transfer of power".

“And particularly having No 10 leading on that growth mission means you’ve got maximum power to unlock the blockages where they exist in the wider Whitehall system.”

There is a whiff of something unpleasant when Burnham speaks of "maximum power to unlock the blockages." Maybe it's the whiff of responsibility being flushed away. 

Manchester says it's our responsibility.

No it isn't it's No.10.

Not us mate, that's Treasury. 

Growth will of course be the the Labour version of growth, government "investment" which turns out to be spending on projects best forgotten before the photo ops, not after. The unpleasant whiff this time is our money being flushed away, but we're familiar with that one.

Divide and rule - there's a whiff of that too.

Burnham says he is not embarrassed

Burnham says he is not embarrassed about exchange with Trump aide impersonator

Andy Burnham has said he is not embarrassed by the exchange of messages he had with someone pretending to be Donald Trump’s chief of staff.

The prime minister was in contact with an unknown person who pretended to be top White House aide Susie Wiles, but he grew suspicious after several messages and reported the incident.

Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, he insisted he had handled the incident properly.

No doubt most people will be inclined to believe him. Burnham may have given away some slightly confidential information about bus fares, but nothing too damaging.

If he passed on his personal views about Louise Haigh's Emergency Alerts debacle, then that could be embarrassing, but Louise is embarrassing anyway so again the damage will be limited.

Another Professor

From four years ago.

 

Weather Change Shock

Heavy rain brings flood threat as 'shock' temperature drop set to hit

Flooding could hit parts of the country this week as heavy rain is forecast to hit drought-stricken land, but temperatures could take a “shock” drop later in the week.

According to the Met Office, certain areas will see the “first meaningful rain for a long time” following weeks of heatwaves and dry weather, which has left many parts of the country facing water shortages and have seen several restrictions introduced.

Here in our little patch of Derbyshire, we are shockingly unshocked by this welcome change in the weather. We've noticed that British weather can be changeable so we're coping. 

A short walk followed by a stroll to Sainsbury's then coffee and chocolate may help too. 

Fear of reprisal

Scottish Labour must be able to disagree with UK party without fear of reprisal

The two candidates running to become the next leader of Scottish Labour have been urged to demand answers on whether Anas Sarwar's split with Keir Starmer damaged the party's Holyrood election campaign.

Just For Scotland has written to Joe Fagan and Michael Marra to seek clarity from the UK party following reports it tried to scupper Sarwar's campaign to become first minister after he called for Starmer to quit in February.


As reprisal is a fundamental political tactic and always has been, this request is delightfully ironic. Good grief, without reprisal directed at political enemies simply for being political enemies, the Labour Party as we know it would disappear into the mephitic mists of history. 

Governments also promote fear of reprisal as a general behavioural manipulation tool within the voting population. Censorship too, this unlovely feature of life has its reprisal aspect. Anything from vocal political dissent on sensitive issues to ridicule or parody may be caught in the reprisal net. 

"Politically correct" has come to mean safe from official reprisal.

That’s how it always is

Vigil to be held for Jason Arday as fundraiser reaches £130,000

Prof Arday resigned from his post as professor of sociology of education at the University of Cambridge last week after allegations of plagiarism were made against him. He was found dead at a home in Battersea on Friday.

A vigil for the professor, organised by the group Stand Up To Racism, will be held on the steps of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, central London, at 6pm on Monday.


That’s how it always is with these Schilleresque noble hearts; till the last moment every goose is a swan with them, till the last moment, they hope for the best and will see nothing wrong, and although they have an inkling of the other side of the picture, yet they won’t face the truth till they are forced to; the very thought of it makes them shiver; they thrust the truth away with both hands, until the man they deck out in false colours puts a fool’s cap on them with his own hands.

Fyodor Dostoevsky - Crime and Punishment (1866)

The cost of living and reasons to be sceptical

Shimeon Lee has a topical TPA piece on defects in the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s “cost of living tracker.”


A closer look at "JRF's cost of living tracker"

Active users of X may have seen a viral clip last week of LBC host Nick Ferrari pushing back on the claim that 7 million households supposedly cannot afford a 50p toothbrush. The figure comes from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s “cost of living tracker” which claims that 7.4 million low income families are going without essentials in 2026.

This has been uncritically repeated by outlets like the BBC who featured a 77 year old woman claiming she cannot even afford to turn on her oven - more dramatic than anything actually measured in the JRF survey. The same woman has appeared in many similar articles before, making outlandish claims like only having seven hot meals a year. Stories and reports like these are used to build the case for ever more government spending, with the JRF calling for the universal credit standard allowance to rise by as much as 68 per cent, for example.

Yet there is reason to be sceptical. In the BBC article, the same woman who cannot afford to use her oven reported spending £50 a week on petrol - enough to drive 300 miles. Exactly why a pensioner is driving the equivalent of London to Newcastle every week is unclear, especially considering she couldn’t afford a car in 2024.


No surprises but the whole piece is well worth reading.


Ultimately, the problem with measuring hardship in this way is that going without some things does not necessarily mean lacking the money for it. People make different choices about how to allocate their resources. In the same 2023 JRF survey, 15 per cent of those who were “going without essentials” also said they did not intend to reduce socialising due to cost, with 15 per cent also economically inactive. More welfare should not be the default answer, and when extraordinary claims and common sense contradict, common sense should prevail.