News

Andy Burnham is already revealing the unsoundness of his economics

The Telegraph · Jul 21, 2026 18:30 · 7 min read

Andy Burnham at a meeting of his new Cabinet

SIR – Andy Burnham has declared that VAT on electricity bills will be cut (telegraph.co.uk, July 21). The £850m necessary to cover this is to be found by axing Sir Keir Starmer’s unfunded digital ID scheme. Here we appear to have a superb example of “Burnhamomics”. A cost is a cost. Somebody has to pay. Who? Simon McIlroy Croydon, Surrey SIR – And...

Here we appear to have a superb example of “Burnhamomics”. A cost is a cost. Somebody has to pay. Who?

Simon McIlroy

Croydon, Surrey

SIR – Andy Burnham’s announcement on electricity bills shows how gullible he thinks people are. An average saving of £45 equates to less than 90p per household per week.

Rev M R Freeman

London SW1

SIR – It is ironic that Andy Burnham’s plan to abolish VAT on domestic electricity charges is only possible because of Brexit freedoms. The EU controls its members’ VAT regime and requires a minimum 5 per cent VAT charge on electricity supplied to domestic users.

Nigel Thomas

Chippenham, Wiltshire

SIR – Andy Burnham talks about wanting to make politics “work better”, but almost his first act as Prime Minister was to remove as defence secretary the military veteran Dan Jarvis, in post for only a few weeks, and replace him with Wes Streeting, who resigned as health secretary and then refused to fight Mr Burnham for the leadership.

How can one help taking a cynical view?

Tim Parkinson

Perugia, Umbria, Italy

SIR – What a good night’s sleep I had on Monday, knowing that Ed Miliband was neither Chancellor of the Exchequer nor Energy Secretary. We can now look forward to his first meeting with Donald Trump.

William Sherman

Carlisle, Cumbria

SIR – The elevation of Andy Burnham to become the seventh Prime Minister in a decade – resulting in, among other things, the unfortunate installation of Ed Miliband as Foreign Secretary – highlights a democratic deficit in British politics.

Once again, executive power has changed hands through internal party manoeuvres, effectively decoupled from the will of the general public.

We routinely lecture developing nations on the importance of accountability and democratic legitimacy, yet once again we have witnessed the spectacle of a ruling party simply swapping leaders.

If this new administration wishes to command genuine authority at home and credibility abroad, it must put what vision it possesses to the country. Unless voters are called upon to provide a mandate (or not), they will be left as mere onlookers to a game of musical chairs.

Richard Rose

London NW4

Church activism

SIR – Having just returned from York after attending General Synod as a member of the House of Laity, I am convinced that the Church of England is becoming a far-Left organisation.

We held a shameful debate on the Kairos II document, which deems Israel a “colonial, settler and exclusionary entity” (“British Jews are ‘complicit’ with children suffering, say Christians”, report, July 19).

We approved a report that gave full support to spending £190m over nine years on pursuing net zero, which will have no effect whatsoever on the climate.

We continue to support Project Spire, which will involve spending at least £100m on slavery reparations.

All this is set against a background of severely declining church attendance, yet Synod seemed reluctant to discuss this matter.

Does the Church want to survive to focus on worshipping God, or to become a political protest group? Sadly, the latter seems more likely.

Professor R G Faulkner

Loughborough, Leicestershire

E-bike identification

SIR – There is no point in requiring e-bikes to have number plates (Letters, July 20). It is the riders who need to be identified. They should have to wear a jacket with an identification mark.

Huw Wynne-Griffith

London W8

SIR – My husband and I have been leisure cyclists for most of our lives. Six years ago, at the age of 75, I bought an e-bike, and a few months later my husband followed suit.

The power assistance enables us to conquer routes that would otherwise be beyond our capabilities. The activity keeps us fit – and out of the NHS.

Not all e-bike riders are irresponsible tearaways.

Mary Scott

Derby

Thoughtful postcards

SIR – Two weeks ago, I sent a postcard (Letters, July 21) of a David Hockney painting (I’m a Bradford lass) to a young man of 29.

He had recently returned from some travels. To our delight, we received five postcards from him, two from Japan and one each from Mongolia, Korea and Hong Kong. The only way to thank him for his thoughtfulness was to send him a postcard.

Veronica Craig

Cavendish, Suffolk

SIR – Interested in letters about postcards, I sought out my collection, which includes those written to me by my grandmother in the 1950s. She was encouraging me to read and to write back to her. The postage on each card was two pence.

I also found a card sent by a friend in 1967 asking me to keep in touch. Sorry, Pat, that I did not reply.

David Faulks

Hove, East Sussex

SIR – I collect postcards and have one addressed to “Everyone in the office except Nigel”.

I wonder what he did.

Derek Coupe

Evesham, Worcestershire

SIR – A postcard sent by our younger daughter, away at Brownie camp, had this less-than-reassuring message: “Having fun. Don’t worry about my foot.”

We hadn’t been, until we received the postcard.

Jennie Gibbs

Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex

NHS limbo

SIR – Peter Chorley’s letter (July 21) regarding NHS waiting times resonates all too painfully. His wife was taken off the list because she had resorted to expensive private treatment. My own experience raises a different question.

In October last year, my GP referred me to see a consultant. The only communication I received from the hospital was a generic letter stating that it would contact me once I had a consultant. Eight months later, I received an email offering me an appointment at noon on December 25 this year. I assumed that, extraordinary though it seemed, I was expected to attend hospital on Christmas Day.

However, when I mentioned this to my GP, she said: “That’s not a real appointment.” She explained that, if I scrolled down, the email eventually stated that the appointment was not genuine. Why send it, then? If the NHS is issuing fictitious appointments, only to state in the small print that they are not real, one has to wonder whether it is an administrative quirk or a way of disguising the extent of waiting times.

From my GP referral in October 2025 to the purported consultant appointment in December 2026 is a period of more than 14 months – and that is before I have even seen a consultant, let alone joined another queue. The Government may claim that waiting lists are falling. Patients may ask whether the figures reflect reality.

Claire Meyer

Hungerford, Berkshire

Sobers in action

SIR – In my first year at the Dragon School in 1963, aged eight, I watched the West Indies play Oxford in the University Parks. I even talked to Learie Constantine and saw Garry Sobers (Obituaries, July 20). No better introduction to cricket.

Nick Longford

Newmarket, Suffolk

SIR – I saw Garry Sobers at Bramall Lane, Sheffield, in 1963. A dull Monday lit up when he strode out to bat. The sun came out and by five o’clock he had stroked a magnificent century.

Ken Hunter

Gilling West, North Yorkshire

SIR – Mark Young (Letters, July 20) is correct: Colin Cowdrey did indeed drop a straightforward chance from Garry Sobers early in his innings at Lord’s in 1966. I was also there. Sobers then scored 160 and shepherded his inexperienced partner to a century, a partnership of 270. A great cricketer.

John Bushell

Oxshott, Surrey

The best way to enjoy Homer’s masterpiece

Sing to me, Muse: portrait of Homer by Italian Baroque artist Girolamo Troppa - Getty

SIR – Jane Shilling admits to never having read The Odyssey (Comment, July 20).

The Odyssey is a masterpiece of oral storytelling. It is much better enjoyed as an audiobook. There are many versions available.

Sara Levene

Jerusalem, Israel

SIR – I found Christopher Nolan’s interpretation of Homer’s epic tale both moving and thought-provoking.

Inevitably some episodes had to be left out, notably the hospitality of the Phaeacians who delivered Odysseus back to his native Ithaca. But I was especially gratified that proper place was given to Argus, Odysseus’s faithful hunting hound, which had waited 20 years, used and abused, for his master’s return. Thrown out of the palace to die on a dung-heap, he alone recognises his master through his disguise, gives a feeble wag of his tail and dies.

It is one of the most poignant moments of the poem, and I cannot read it to my Year 7s without a catch in my throat and a tear in my eye. They notice, of course.

Gareth Burnell

Head of Classics, Beeston Hall School

West Runton, Norfolk

SIR – Unlike Jane Shilling I have read and enjoyed The Odyssey.

The same cannot be said for James Joyce’s Ulysses, which has defeated numerous attempts over the years. The bookmark in my Penguin copy is currently at page 194 of 931; I think this is my personal best, but it was too long ago to remember.

David Miller

Tunbridge Wells, Kent

A child’s introduction to tea-drinking

SIR – Drinking tea from a saucer (Letters, July 21) used to be common practice, as it was a way of getting children to drink tea that wasn’t too hot, which it could be if taken from the cup.

By the time my sons were learning in the 1970s, however, there were plastic cups with spouts.

Andrew Glover

Leicester