#AndyBurnham’s first pledge (to end rough sleeping) is significant and worth talking about because it’s not just the right thing to do, but it’s a tangible deliverable.

He can be held to it, progress can be tracked (and obvs any progress will be good). His similar pledge in Manchester wasn’t delivered but led to a fall (I read 50% somewhere) but as he said today needs a national approach because their success in offering beds saw homeless people moving to Manchester.

The nature of hot take media is going to see these first few weeks full of people using policy A to label him a waste, and policy B as the messiah.. I’m just grateful to see change, from someone who can articulate the devastation of neoliberalism’s ‘four horsemen’ and wants to try and do something. I’ve started to read #HeadNorth (the memoir/manifesto he co-wrote with builder-turned-mayor #SteveRotherham) and it’s clear there’s much more than just vibes here.