1 October 2025

Letter of the week: It takes more than a mayor

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Given Andy Burnham’s oft-professed willingness to work with other progressive parties, it was disappointing to note that Tom McTague’s profile of him in last week’s issue (The NS Interview, 26 September) did not mention his partnership work with Liberal Democrat-led Stockport Council, as your article celebrated “his” achievements in our borough.

We may be the only non-Labour-led council in Greater Manchester, but we are proud of our town-centre transformation, albeit backed by the area’s first mayoral development corporation, and would not want anyone to be deluded into thinking it was only or all down to the work of the mayor. Somewhere along the line, vision, determination and campaigning were also key to our success.

As I often said while serving on the Greater Manchester Combined Authority – under Andy’s chairmanship – for three years, it’s amazing what can be done when you don’t mind who takes the credit for it!
Councillor Mark Hunter, Liberal Democrat leader of Stockport Council, May 2022 – May 2025

Burnham after reading

The juxtaposition of Tom McTague’s insightful portrait of Andy Burnham (The NS Interview, 26 September) with Andrew Marr’s wise and thoughtful piece on the need above all to avoid a Labour civil war (Special Report, 26 September) leads me to the conclusion: let Keir Starmer – good, honourable Keir – serve out the next full few years of his remaining term, with not a whiff of internal challenge, but rather healthy debate about policy in the best of the Labour tradition. Then contemplate a change in leadership either side of the next general election, and not a moment sooner.

And, for Starmer, above all, be sure to tell a positive and uplifting story about the future: a vision of peace and justice in Israel and Gaza; of climate action; of an end to the two-child benefit cap; and a vision of growth, drawing on Torsten Bell’s good ideas (and his excellent book Great Britain?), as described in Marr’s piece. Encourage the cabinet to be thankful for their jobs and to get to work to do them well. And hey presto!
Edward Davey, Labour Party member, Lewes

Could you please stop referring to Andy Burnham as the mayor of Manchester? I’m not just splitting hairs here. Manchester itself accounts for less than a tenth of Greater Manchester’s area, and only around a fifth of its population. If you’re still in doubt, you could try asking people from Wigan and Rochdale whether they see themselves as Mancunians. It’s nice to keep things snappy, but not when it means throwing accuracy out of the window.
Graham Hughes, Chester

More proportional responses

Bill Myers (Correspondence, 26 September) rightly notes that under single-transferable vote (STV), the “second choices of voters who give their first choice to the runner-up” are not fully counted. However, this often does not lead to a significantly different outcome compared to the closed proportional list system that will soon be used in the Welsh Senedd. It has been calculated that if the 2024 general election had been held under STV, the Conservatives would have won 148 seats, the SNP 16, and the Liberal Democrats 71. Using a List PR system, the Conservatives would have won 147 seats, the SNP 16, and the Lib Dems 78. While STV might be slightly less proportional than the new Senedd system, it still means seat share largely reflects the feelings of the electorate, despite the issue identified.
Geva Hill, Hertfordshire

General readers

In-between night shifts in hospital, I mistakenly ordered two subscriptions to the New Statesman. While your magazine deserves to be read twice over, I often find little use for the additional copy. I have been leaving it in the trainee common room in our anaesthetic department. While I did not intend to do so anonymously, this has resulted in my junior colleagues wondering aloud as to who in their midst is the left-wing subversive planting this progressive magazine. At this point, may I reassure fellow readers that no copies were employed to put patients to sleep.
Dr Humza Aasim Yusuf, London N1

The man show

Readers are rightly raving about the scintillating content and brilliant personalities on display since the editorial refreshment at the New Statesman. However, two consecutive weeks with portraits of brooding political males on the cover! Of course, Zohran Mamdani and our very own giant-killer Andy Burnham deserve to be feted, but their uncompromising glares have ensured the magazine’s banishment from the bedside table and there’s no way they’re getting into the bath with me.
Linda Calvey, Northampton

Gag reflex

It can be hard to tolerate views you dislike, and the natural tendency is to censor. Yet free speech shouldn’t be seen as either a left or right issue. Freddie Hayward is right to point out the left is now suffering at the hands of the very medicine they were dishing out just a few years ago (American Affairs, 26 September). This is the danger of cancel culture: when the shoe is on the other foot, you can become the loser. As someone who believes in the arts, and especially comedy, I think we need to be serious about defending free speech. It is the heart of creativity and the arts can’t thrive without it. We need better ways to deal with jokes, like Jimmy Kimmel’s, that are crass, fail to hit the mark, mistimed ad-libs, slips of the tongue or taken out of context. Let’s be more forgiving but more importantly, let’s not have such glum and joyless lives, and enjoy a few jokes even if the odd one is off-colour.
Charles Lambert, London SW15

Inner life

I was particularly taken by Finn McRedmond’s account of dining at Inner Temple (Silver Spoon, 19 September). The schoolchild-like behaviour of the privileged class that she observed could also explain how preferences and ideas among this set are as fervent as they are fleeting. Members pursue new causes (Brexit, social justice, etc) in a manner only observed among schoolchildren desperate to fit in with the whirlwind social demands of a public school. Perhaps if our politico-legal (and perhaps media too) class was genuinely drawn from a wider array of backgrounds, such groupthink would dissipate, and genuine, deeply held values would endure for longer.
Aman Patel, London E16

I write in defence of the Inner Temple after Finn McRedmond’s missive regarding the custard and the dining hall more generally. While her response is understandable and not dissimilar to my own when I first arrived at Inner Temple, I would commend her to delve a little deeper.

Each year the Inner Temple awards more than £2m in means-tested scholarships to law students (I declare an interest: I am one of the recipients). They also interview every candidate to help mitigate the unconscious biases of the grown-up junior prefects Finn encountered. I have found the commitment to social mobility at the Bar is far more serious, professionalised and well-resourced than I have found elsewhere, working in parliament and for the Labour Party.
Jack McKenna, Inner Temple Library, London

Farewell, The Fan

The disappointing outcome on 9 April 1992 was the starting point. I wasn’t actively political then but had an inkling I would be; it was just a question of when. Then Blair became the leader of the Labour Party and I signed up. I thought I ought to deepen my political knowledge so began reading the New Statesman every week. I hadn’t quite remembered when Hunter Davies first appeared (1996 apparently) but looking back, it feels like he was always there. Except in the summer. And the winters in warmer climes.

I’d save his column until the end (sometimes Lezard took the periodical end-piece berth). I learned a bit about the beautiful game; learned to see aspects of it in a different light; laughed, smiled or felt sad at the anecdotes and observations. And now it turns out his column this week (The Fan, 26 September), on the cusp of my turning 60, is his curtain call. I’ve long been a fan of The Fan; he’ll be sadly missed and I wish him well.
Michael Haskell, Broughton, Flintshire

Spread the love

A belated Bravo for increasing the number of letters (Correspondence, 26 September). A spread lets us all get to know our fellow readers and what’s important to them much better than a single page.
David Murray, Wallington, Surrey

Note from the letters’ editor: Thank you, readers, for such a strong showing in the letters inbox. Keep them coming!

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