On Sky News:
“Well, one of Tony Wilson’s most famous phrases is, ‘this is Manchester, we do things differently here’.
“And what we have seen [is] a realisation of that really in Manchester, doing things differently, taking powers, working together strategically, collaboratively across business, the voluntary sector, universities and others with a long-term vision about how we’re going to rebirth Manchester, renaissance of Manchester, bringing jobs and investment.
“But crucially, that all parts of Greater Manchester benefit from that, and that people who live here are able to contribute and be part of that renaissance.”
‘Asked how that would apply to the rest of the country, she pointed to spreading investment across the country, and giving individual places the powers to “set out their own long-term” and attract the necessary investment.’ Your cash is going to councillors now…
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You’re either in front of Guido, or you are behind…
Earlier Guido totted up the known ‘Burnham Bill‘ – what a Manchesterist administration would cost the British taxpayer. All likely to kick in come September…
Burnham is a wild advocate of nationalisation. As Guido noted, his pet policy to bring the water industry into ‘public ownership’ would cost at least £100 billion according to the government’s own estimates…
Looking a little closer, the Government’s current policy position is that ‘regulatory capital value’ or RCV – an Ofwat measure – is considered the “closest proxy for the total value of the sector’s debt and equity”. According to Ofwat’s company financial models for 2025-2030, Thames Water’s RCV is estimated to be £30 billion in 2030. The projected time that nationalisation would take place under Burnham…
Thames Water is a regulated business. If it were nationalised, its creditors would need to be compensated. So £30 billion is the cost of purchasing Thames Water, not bailing out all of its creditors, which would be additional…
A good proxy is the Railtrack nationalisation – when the government bought the assets, a load of other associated parties had to be compensated too. Where is the money coming from?
The Bob Vylan fiasco isn’t over for the BBC after the duo said it would now sue the BBC. For what remains unclear…
A statement released by the act this afternoon says:
“We have decided to take legal action against the BBC.
In the immediate aftermath of our performance at Glastonbury 2025, The BBC wasted no time in placing labels upon us that did not, do not and never will fit.
As a corporation that receives the majority of its funding from the public, it has disappointingly continued to prove how little it represents the interests of the people and our access to unbiased news and information.
The BBC have attempted to silence those that oppose the heinous crimes taking place in Palestine, instead labelling them as anti-semitic, editing their speeches, removing their content and even blocking the release of documentaries that challenge the desired narrative of The BBC and it’s [sic] top brass.
These responses are unacceptable.
So seeing the opportunity to remind them the power of the people that they are attempting to silence, we had no choice but to take on this fight.
In fact, we take great pleasure in serving them that reminder in court.”
Another headache for new Director General Matt Brittin, who is in front of MPs at the Culture select committee next week for the first time…
David Lammy’s new “Judicial and Legal Diversity Board” to increase ethnic minority representation in the judiciary has had one meeting and has already spawned an entire ecosystem of sub-committees, working groups and “task and finish” units. A peek behind the Civil Service curtain…
Guido’s FOI Unit has uncovered documents revealing the extent of bureaucratic sprawl:
Nine bodies, each of which draws “organisational resource” out of the MoJ, the judiciary, Judicial Appointments Commission, Bar Council, Law Society, CILEx, the Legal Services Board, and the CPS. The main Board meets for just 90 minutes twice a year. The sub-groups will file reports in September and December 2026 that will inform the creation of other groups. At the first meeting of the main board David Lammy said it was crucial that he was the first black Lord Chancellor, which indicates “the symbolic importance of leadership”…
The MoJ under Lammy has launched a new strategy to increase representation – which is already over the national average in some respects – by hiring without CVs and forcing non-white people onto appointment commissions. Is he in a rush?
UPDATE: Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy tells Guido:
“David Lammy is campaigning for appointments to be based on skin colour or sex rather than merit, yet the law says judges should be chosen for merit alone. Responding to my letter, he could not explain how his new public appointments strategy is lawful, and refused to disclose his legal advice – what does he have to hide?
There was no Equality Impact Assessment for it, and the Equality & Human Rights Commission have not replied to my request to disclose any advice provided. And the new judicial appointments chair told Parliament she doesn’t believe in appointing on merit alone. This is extreme DEI madness – and it may be against the law.”
Badenoch said at her speech on Monday morning: “We are absolutely ready to fight a general election. We saw the results in Aberdeen South: 50% of the vote. Because we can unite the country… It’s about uniting the country, for God’s sake, behind a centre-right agenda.”