Andy Burnham, sworn in as UK PM, promises to decentralize political power
THE 'KISSING HANDS': Andy Burnham accepting King Charles III's invitation to form a new Government, at Buckingham Palace, on Monday.
Of all things he promised—bombastic and otherwise—the only really specific action doable for him in the package is a targeted initiative aimed squarely at ending national rough sleeping. The other one looking so revolutionary— a new economic model that restores public control over essential services—is too ambitious and utopian and out of his hands. What is the methodology after all?
LONDON, Jul 20: Newly elected Labour party leader Andy Burnham was sworn in
as UK's Prime Minister on Monday—the 7th in 10 years. He succeeds Keir Starmer,
who resigned following a lacklustre performance—sliding approval ratings, internal
party pressure and local election losses.
Burnham promised a "circuit breaker" moment for Britain, detailing plans to
rewire the State, decentralize power, and deliver the biggest structural
model changes in 40 years to establish a new politico-economic
framework.
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He said he will devolve power away from Westminster toward local regions and
communities. The immediate focus, he said, will be on tackling the cost-of-living
crisis and fixing struggling public services.
Of all things he promised—bombastic or otherwise—the only really specific action
doable for him in the package is a targeted initiative aimed squarely at ending
national rough sleeping. The other one looking so revolutionary— a new economic
model that restores public control over essential services—is too ambitious
and utopian and out of his hands.
Transition of power
Following through a highly choreographed constitutional process, the transition
of power commenced when outgoing leader Keir Starmer delivered a final address
outside 10 Downing Street (after he informed the King) and following the address
traveled to Buckingham Palace to formally offer his resignation to King Charles
III.
Immediately thereafter, the King received Burnham in an audience for the traditional
"kissing hands" ceremony, formally inviting him to establish a new administration.
Upon accepting the offer, Burnham proceeded to Downing Street, where he broke
with tradition by abandoning the standard standing lectern for his first prime
ministerial speech. He declared his appointment a "circuit breaker" moment for
British poitics, outlining immediate plans to lower the cost of living and
dedicating 340 million pounds to end rough sleeping nationwide.
Starmer's resignation
His departure came just over two years after he led Labour to a landslide victory
in the 2024 general election, ending 14 years of Conservative rule and becoming
Britain's 58th PM. He broke down as he made the expected announcement on June
22 outside 10 Downing Street, after informed King Charles of his decision. He
said the question before Labour was if he is the right person to lead the party
in the next election. In his address he said, "I have heard the answer of my
party." Andy Burnham was declared Labour leader on Friday, following which he
made his policy statement in his address to the party MPs and on Monday after
swearing-in.
The doable and the bombastic: Explained
The methodology to achieve the main goals listed by Burnham relies on two completely
different mechanisms of British governance.
The rough sleeping initiative uses direct executive spending allocation, while
reforming the economic model requires a multi-year legislative pipeline.
Methodology 1:
The Rough Sleeping Initiative (Direct Execution)
This is highly doable because it functions via direct budgetary intervention
rather than structural policy change:
The Funding Pipeline: The promised 340 pound million is funneled directly
through the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
Local Authority Grants: The money is distributed via targeted grants
to municipal councils and regional mayors who already have the boots-on-the-ground
infrastructure to expand emergency shelters and supportive housing.
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The "Housing First" Model: Rather than needing new laws, Burnham can simply
use executive orders to pivot national policy toward the "Housing First" methodology,
prioritizing immediate permanent housing as a right before addressing underlying
issues like addiction or unemployment.
Methodology 2:
Public Control of Essential Services (Legislative Overhaul)
The reason this feels "utopian" and out of his immediate hands is that a Prime
Minister cannot simply declare an industry nationalized; it requires dismantling
decades of corporate legal structures through Parliament:
The King’s Speech (The Legislative Framework): To start this process, Burnham must draft specific Bills to be read in the upcoming King’s Speech, setting the parliamentary agenda for the year.
Primary Legislation: Parliament must debate and pass individual Acts
for each targeted sector (e.g., a Railways Bill or an Energy Nationalisation
Bill). This process involves months of committee scrutiny, amendments, and voting
in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Compensation and Legal Battles: The State must legally buy out private
shareholders. The methodology requires navigating complex valuation formulas
to avoid prolonged legal warfare in international corporate courts, which could
stall the "revolutionary" aspect of the plan for years.
The incident has triggered a debate on social media whether the officer refused to take orders from a party leader or he was accused of any corruption, some netizens justifying the handling in either case, that Ratnakar was blocking public welfare work! It is true the Govt machinery has been the enemy Number One of the people of this country, existing for itself and for these politicians, for well over seven decades. India will never make an inch of progress - real progress, not make-believe-progress - unless and until this machinery is eliminated.
ANALYSIS: There have been cases of Britons going to Switzerland to get rid of a miserable life. Now once the House of Lords also passes the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, terminally ill Britons can call it quits with the help of a medical practitioner here itself. But the measure when comes into practice, will have very serious social consequences, it is feared. There won't be comparisons, even as tropes in Latin American folklores. The worst case scenario is of those who are not terminally ill also trying to misuse the provision to leave this world early when life with dignity is not available. But that is, in fact, a political question and not a moral imbroglio!
The CCTV footage and the video circulating on social media do not indicate any serious abnormalities in takeoff or descent, it has been confirmed. The disaster is becoming curiouser and curiouser. The flight path was not curvy. And the aircraft maintained a steady, gliding descent with its nose straight and the wings perfectly level. The pilot's distress call does not specify what prevented lift and climb-out. Here are some expert opinions. The sole purpose is to raise travellers' awareness about air travel.
Many of the victims were charred beyond recognition, making identification difficult. Three hundred nineteen body parts have been sent for DNA matching with relatives to determine the identities.
A comment on social media on Kanimozhi's answer on the question of national language read: "Daughter of Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi. Delivered the Birthday Present to her Father!!" (Karunanidhi was born on June 3, 1924)
(Today's headlines )
Trump said, "Elon is not really leaving" and will be "back and forth" to the White House because DOGE is his "baby." "I think he’s going to be doing a lot of things.”
Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.
PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.
Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people.
(Today's headlines )
"Coming from a system like in England, empowering," she says she never had an idea of this sort of experience... being asked to “socialise with middle-aged men” who financed the event...humiliating...
Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.
Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.
As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.
"It's a big victory not just for Tamil Nadu but for all Indian States. DMK will continue to struggle for and win State autonomy and Federal polity," Chief Minister MK Stalin said.
Of 2.08 km in length, it features 99 spans and a 72.5-metre vertical lift span that rises up to a height of 17 metres, facilitating smooth movement of ships while ensuring seamless train services to the holy town of Rameswaram on Pamban island.
ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!
What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America!
(Today's headlines )
PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).
In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.
THE AMERICAN CONUNDRUM: Political venom has migrated to top echelons in the US. It was reported last year NASA has become politicised, vitiated. But NASA refuted the charge. How Boeing developed a glitch but its unmanned return was smooth. When Suni-Wilmore were stranded last June, why the return was set for February? Because that comes only after January 20! SpaceX called the shots, for itself and for Trump. Then the mission was manipulated for March for a better bargain! In between, what made Elon Musk 'predict' during campaign if Kamala Harris wins he would be in jail. In politics, it is said, "the only rule is there are no rules." Difficult times for Americans too.
The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.
Suddenly these colonial clerks feel this effortless, little rule will tremendously enhance security and convenience for the railway passengers manifold. More stations will be covered in the next 77 years! (Also See:
New Delhi station stampede... What went wrong?)
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