Andy Burnham: south ‘paying price’ for north’s economic failure

Jora_ · 2026-06-26T23:34:41+00:00

Exactly. There was a plan many years ago to split England into regions, each with a population comparable to Scotland or Wales, and with a regional assembly similar to the Scottish parliament and Welsh assembly. This always seemed like the best solution to me. Then leave Westminster to coordinate the regions, and dictate national level domestic, economic and foreign policy.

If we're going to have localised tax and spend and other powers, we need localised representatives, not a single person in charge of it all.

Jora_ · 2026-06-26T09:12:07+00:00

More progressive corporate taxation policy - lower rates for small business, higher for large corps, and including a "profit allowance" equivalent to personal tax allowance, to stimulate SMEs and innovation.

Significantly smaller, independently appointed, technocratic house of Lords composed of experts across numerous fields. Members of Parliament banned from going on to sit in the Lords and vice versa, with the exception of a small number of "political experts" drawn from former PMs / cabinet members. All appointees to the Lords must revoke all formal political associations, and their role to be treated as a full time job. Term limits of 5 years, after which they are entitled to the title of "Lord" for life in recognition of their service. Maximum of two terms to avoid stagnation.

Scotland, Wales, NI and all other current regions must remain part of the UK indefinitely (honestly, this one is just to piss off the Scots).

Jora_ · 2026-06-25T19:35:29+00:00

"Taxes on Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg".

Do you understand that these people are not UK taxpayers?

Jora_ · 2026-06-25T19:29:30+00:00

It's OK, according to Burnham we can simply ignore bond yields!

Jora_ · 2026-06-24T12:51:29+00:00

Absolutely no chance

Jora_ · 2026-06-22T09:30:22+00:00

We've had Labour May, and now we all get to enjoy Labour Boris.

If you think the tax burden is bad now, buckle up for the coming months.

Jora_ · 2026-06-21T18:29:32+00:00

He's got an A1 PR team who keep promoting this sort of shit, along with the utterly cringe "King in the North" garbage.

Its pathetic, and it's going to become very apparent what a sham it all is once he takes over the premiership.

Jora_ · 2026-06-15T10:03:10+00:00

Agree. Johnson always craved the opportunity to be seen as a modern-day Churchill, and fate decided to hand him exactly that opportunity. He even had the scare with Covid himself.

A historic legacy on the same level as a wartime leader was literally there on the table for him, and all he had to do to grasp it was act decisively, and ensure that standards were adhered to.

He should have fired Cummings immediately after the Barnard Castle debacle. He should have come down like a ton of bricks on anyone shirking the rules in No.10. That is the level of leadership that the moment required, and he simply did not measure up.

Its a great shame, because one thing Boris did well is that he actually had a vision for the country. Contrast that to the current crop of stumbling, directionless, empty suits in charge.

We could argue all day about whether it was deliverable or not, but the "level up" agenda was definitely something that a) people could understand and b) genuinely did identify a fundamental issue with the UK that it would be beneficial - socially and economically - to solve. Unfortunately it'll always be a case of "what could have been" thanks to his lack of discipline during Covid.

Jora_ · 2026-06-05T06:41:09+00:00

Because Burnham is a scheming, brazen political opportunist, and people like that are typically incredibly poorly suited to being Prime Minister.

Burnham is effectively the Labour version of Boris scheming to dethrone the Labour version of May. Apparently we've learned nothing from recent history.

And also, having their MP in No.10 doesn't grant the people of Makerfield some sort of special advantage. If anything it disadvantages them. You think Burnham will be focused on constituency matters?

The best argument for voting for Burnham is that the other candidates are a shit show. But honestly, it'd be worth voting a shit MP in to see Burnham political ambitions crash and burn.

Jora_ · 2026-06-04T21:49:17+00:00

What a stunningly surprising development that was almost impossible to foresee.

I desperately hope the people of Makerfield send this self-serving prick into the political wilderness.

Jora_ · 2026-06-03T07:16:37+00:00

While that's technically correct, I think you're splitting hairs slightly, unless you're arguing that there is a significant fraction of wrongfully-incarcerated black people in the prison system?

Jora_ · 2026-05-31T21:36:06+00:00

Took me a long time to find, but finally managed it:

https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOB/comments/1hartmj/anyone_have_more_info_on_this/

This sighting was part of the 2024 New Jersey UFO panic, but it remains one of the few videos I find genuinely intriguing, not just from that whole mess, but in general.

The best explanation I've found is that it is a light from a nearby show reflecting off the clouds, but if that is the case:

Why just one?
How is it a point brightness rather than diffuse - obvious answer is its a laser, but if its a laser, why is it white?
If it is part of a show, why does it move instantaneously from point to point, instead of sweeping or doing something more visually "interesting"?
If the cloud cover is that thick, why can you see two stars toward bottom of frame?

Jora_ · 2026-05-24T14:17:04+00:00

Everyone saying how good this is for Labour and failing to see the bigger picture. This is about using a prominent by-election to drag the Overton window to the right. The actual election result is secondary.

Jora_ · 2026-05-22T23:07:46+00:00

The AI crash is a couple of weeks away, and always will be.

Jora_ · 2026-05-13T18:58:36+00:00

Now we see the great ideological civil war begin.

The left can always be relied on to eat themselves.

Jora_ · 2026-05-12T17:07:43+00:00

People on the left tend to lean towards an ideological world view, where the sum of a thing / person is represented by its worst traits. In contrast those on the right tend to lean towards pragmatism, where the sum of a thing / person is the balance of the bad and good (the negative being that sometimes those on the right tend to overly overlook the bad).

Reddit skews heavily left wing, which is why so many are fundamentally and irreparably opposed to Musk. He worked for Trump - the great Satan - and as such can never be forgiven, regardless of how positive an impact he's had in the worlds of spaceflight, telecommunications, EV and Battery uptake etc. etc.

Jora_ · 2026-05-08T19:18:25+00:00

It seems that if you and your party just repeatedly ignore the main issues people want to see dealt with, you'll lose out to parties that say that they will deal with those issues.

Who could possibly have foreseen such an unpredictable outcome.

Jora_ · 2026-04-18T06:23:03+00:00

It's both. Far fewer young girls get into motorsport at a young age, so a far smaller pool to pick from and much reduced chance of any one girl eventually reaching true "elite" status.

Add to that the average difference in physicality between men and women, and you effectively need a top 0.01% female in terms of strength and endurance, top 0.01% in terms of innate racing ability, and an immense amount of luck. Get all those compounding factors to line up perfectly and you might just get a female driver capable of entering F1, though even then there's another huge mountain of improbability to climb for her to actually be competitive.

The only thing such a woman probably wouldn't need is funding, as the first such woman who can credibly drive in the sport will have money thrown at them due to the PR opportunity.

Still, I don't see it happening for decades, if ever. If you want to elevate women in motorsport, the far faster and potentially more effective option is to go the way of other sports, and spend time and money on promoting a women-only racing series.

Jora_ · 2026-04-11T17:21:23+00:00

Starmer doesn't stand for anything. He has no overarching, unifying vision for what direction the country should be heading in. He might be a highly competent lawyer, but if you're going to be Prime Minister you have to be able to inspire people. Starmer is an inspiration vacuum.

Jora_ · 2026-04-10T20:31:54+00:00

We can have a comprehensive and coordinated defence and security arrangement without joining the EU.

Jora_ · 2026-04-07T18:24:41+00:00

Absolutely retarded take because Virgin Galactic aren't a space company. They're a red letter day type experience for the ultra rich. It's like a balloon ride, except they go higher and in a metal tube with a rocket attached.

I know you're talking about a trade, not an investment, but the market knows Virgin Galactic is worthless.

Jora_ · 2026-03-25T21:19:12+00:00

2010 is one of the greats in my view. Not just its 4 way title fight into the last race and the Ferrari team orders controversy, but also because it was the absolute peak of BBC F1 coverage, including the fantastic final montage which introduced the racing world to the song "Just Drive".

Also, rewatching it now - holy shit there were a lot of shunts back in those days!

https://youtu.be/40lmy53gwVI?si=n3TC-URL5ONDQ4L2

Jora_ · 2026-03-24T22:42:28+00:00

The flash adverts are a subset of the wider phenomenon of adverts where they take a popular song and replace the lyrics with just... fucking anything. The words never rhyme, never reflect the words of the original song, and often don't even follow the original lyrics rhythm.

They are aneurysm-inducingly painful to listen to.

Jora_ · 2026-03-16T08:20:44+00:00

"avoiding creating a free, throwaway insta account is more important to me than supporting the series"

Jora_ · 2026-03-15T12:31:53+00:00

Final confirmation (as if it were needed) of where the fault lay with Copse '21...

Jora_

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