Andy Burnham hasn’t even started the leadership contest for his own political party yet. He’s only been an MP for 2 weeks. And yet is fast becoming burnt out, before he’s even started. The cynical way he was boosted onto the path to Noombah 10 (as he calls it; before he moves it to Manchester, which he’s already planned) has led to the almost universal presumption that ‘he IS the next Prime Minister’. Of MY fucking country. Which, in all likelihood, he will, sadly, become before the heat-wave dies off. Probably why he wants to stay in Manchester. Where it’s always cold and rainy. There is no northern expression for ‘heat-wave’. They don’t have them. Oop thah’re.

He wants to send our money north. To the devolved mayoralties where a bunch of no goods can apparently ‘tackle welfare dependency, deliver social housing and improve 16+ education’. Yet we know that no-one builds houses. Not previous governments, not current ones and certainly not OUR mayor here in London, Sir Sadiq Fuckface. Half the money sent up north will end up in Gaza, run by Hamas, who’ll use it to improve their missiles. The other half will be squandered on meaningless projects, consultancies and quangos on the take. It’s what happens when you send money north of Watford.

But Andy, the socialist, sees ‘the South East’ as some bottomless pot of cash. “We take too much tax from work and not enough from assets”. Setting out his stall. “We need to increase Capital Gains Tax in line with income tax and charge ‘building tax’ on valuable homes.

None of which will raise one extra penny for the exchequer; tax hikes never do. What they do is send all the job creators looking elsewhere. And I’m not talking about Sheffield. They be on the first boat to Dubai, Monaco, Spain, any place where their invaluable talents are appreciated. But Andy has never done a day’s work in his life outside the political arena. He knows nothing about the people who create work; he just sees them as a target for his ‘student-lefty ideology’ and his ‘just world hypothesis’. In short: he’s a tosser. And he’s got a funny face.

In my mind; whatever the problem is, Andy Burnham is never the solution. And then you have to imagine him on the international stage. He’ll need subtitles for the English speakers. Somehow, the socially awkward Keir Starmer managed to get on the right side of Donald Trump. Burnham doing so is simply inconceivable. With his current act as ‘Mr Normal’, ‘Mr Down-to-Earth’. He acts like the leader of the student union.

I’m so unhappy about all this, I may have to watch England play football tonight. At least the temperature in New York should be more tolerable than my tennis was this morning.

Happy Saturday

A xxxx

This pic is the Jewish Museum in Warsaw. Just because I like it.