Downing Street South must have a cluttered desk. There is the delayed need to pay for a better defence settlement. There is the Milburn Report on how to get people back to work, delayed until after a budget it was meant to influence. There is the escalating benefits bill as more young people get a sick note for life . There is the brain drain as more talented and hard working people and businesses flee UK taxes.There is the collapse of high energy using businesses, throttled by the UK’s super dear energy.There is the progressive closure of all our petrol and diesel car factories thanks to the early ban in 2030. There is the threat to the Falklands and the disastrous and expensive attempted give away of the Chagos. There is the delay in getting our own oil and gas out forcing us to rely on dear and less reliable imports.There are many more problem files in the in box.
So what does Mr Burnham do as he sits at his desk in Downing Street North? He plans £2 bus fares, reviving an old Conservative policy. He dreams up new fines for people playing loud music on buses and trains. He imagines a nationalised rail and steel industry will work fine, and dreams of an industrial strategy which remains unconnected to government reality.
Where has he got to with his first pledge, to offer every rough sleeper in every postcode somewhere to live? How can he pass more powers to Mayors whilst giving away hard won rights to self government in his proposed Re set with the EU? Why can’t regional Mayors say No to illegal migrant accommodation?Why can’t they use any extra grant to cut taxes? Why can’t they turn down plans for developments they do not like?
Talking about buses, noisy trains and devolution from Manchester to look away from the growing inbox in Downing Street south is not a good way to do the job.
October 22, 2026
Yes, but for whatever reason, Burnham still seems to be reasonably popular.
October 22, 2026
You forgot Keiths breakfast clubs. The one half decent decision was to approve Jackdaw. I say half because no word on Rosebank. Now we have the great and the good telling us what a bad decision this is.
I bet we’re still using gas in 50 years nut denial is rife in Westminster.
Burnham was probably ok as a provincial Mayor but is absolutely useless as PM. Roll on the bond vigilantes, let’s be rid of him and his sidekick.
October 22, 2026
The whole direction of this Labour government is wrong, but some minor pledges make sense and they poll very well.
October 22, 2026
He doesn’t realise that lots of us don’t use buses or trains in our daily activities. We live outside of the large urban centres where bus routes are few and the gaps between buses are great. As for trains, they are something we look at whilst we wait at railway crossings.
The vast disconnect between politicians and large segments of society is at the root of the malaise in our political system. From Marie Antoinette’s brioche, to Macron’s Celine Dion, to Burnham’s buses. A new order is needed.
October 22, 2026
Fiddling while Rome burns sums up this government’s activities perfectly. If they had any intention of putting the Nation first rather than the party they belong to they would have signed off licence authority to both the delayed oil and gas fields in the North Sea rather than just the one. They might have even asked Jim Ratcliffe to Downing St. North or South for a conversation of what is needed to reopen Grangemouth refinery, so that could then receive the Oil expected from the yet to be licenced Oil field or Rosebank. Jackdaw will inject gas into the national gas pipelines and save a fortune on imports of liquified gas this winter. the decision is two years late and has already cost tax payers and the Chancellor £billions in lost revenue to the exchequer.
In less than a week’s time Healey may be reflecting on thoise missing £millions as he juggles the cost of ever increasing borrowing costs….
October 22, 2026
Perhaps it is time to be less polite and charitable to the Communist Party. This is not incompetence. It is hate filled destruction of Britain as we know it. Nothing less. Who are they trying to impress? The globalists, including their friends in unelected globalist organisations like the UN and ECHR and the unorganised globalists of Islam and not least their Fabian Society colleagues.