This is getting silly, Multz. I wasn't arguing that Newsnight swings elections, I was simply saying that it's part of the mainstream, which is supposed to be Starmer's terrain. Admittedly I'd think that what they did to Driscoll mattered if it was a community council, a CTC DA (or whatever they're called these days), or the committee of a village jumble sale, but he's the leader of a large regional authority which is set to become a lot larger next year. We're talking about two million people, if I've got the gist of the devolution thingy (I'm not going to read the whole agreement). This is the mayor's remit:
- housing and regeneration
- education, skills and training
- the adult education budget
- the functional power of competence
- housing and planning, including mayoral development areas and corporations, land and acquisition powers
- finance, through council precepts and business rate supplements
- transport, including bus grants and franchising powers
It's as plain as day that what these control freaks want to quash is anything that demonstrates that government can and should a) be democratic and b) make a palpable difference to people's lives. I don't think you have to be a card-carrying Corbynista to get pissed off by a bunch of cold-eyed briefcases telling you your city, county or region will just have to stay sh
it forever for Fiscal Reasons They Just Made up, and to be attracted by someone who actually demonstrates that you can just decide to do things like have functional public transport and build houses.