The Andy Burnham blueprint

It’s all change at Number 10 as Andy Burnham steps up to the top job. Only two years ago, Big Issue published our Blueprint for Change for the incoming prime minister at the time, Keir Starmer. We’ve dusted it off to rate what has been achieved over his term, and updated it for the new incumbent with a list of priorities for his in-tray. We explore Burnham’s concept of ‘Manchesterism’ and whether devolution could bring the UK out of the rut we’re in; take a look at his plans for housing; and offer a to-do list that we believe could bring about real change for the country. And as World Cup fever draws to a close, we ask why football managers – and prime ministers – are nowadays replaced so often and so easily.

Also inside

• In a Letter to her Younger Self, Dame Elaine Paige reflects on her glittering stage career – and wasn’t it good?
• We look at how social media has become a popularity contest for politicians – and the surprising winners and losers
• Novelist James Meek explains why his latest book is all about grief, loss and the passage of time
• Tom Holland’s Spidey thwips back onto the big screen in Spider-Man: Brand New Day
• Taskmaster‘s Phil Ellis has a new hairline – and a story to tell from the operating table
• Invisible Cities guide Danielle takes us on a “real and raw” tour of her home town, Liverpool
• BIG Kids introduces a furr-miliar face: Downing Street’s longest-lasting resident, Larry the Cat
• And Reading vendor Russell credits his dad, who has dementia, and his dogs for helping him to turn his life around

And much more

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