It’s early days of course, but Tom Hodgkinson sees some idlerish tendencies in the new PM. Plus your views below

Is Andy Burnham an idler-friendly Prime Minister? Well, there’s the fact that he actually reads poetry, which I think is in his favour. He read English at Cambridge, which is unusual for PMs, most of whom do PPE at Oxford and are taught a brutal sort of utilitarianism.

One of his professors was the great John Mullan, also a contributor to the Idler Academy. So he’s cultured – rare among MPs, most of whom probably manage a maximum of two Lee Child thrillers per anum.

I’d also add that he has some of the elements of Plato’s philosopher-kings. The ideal ruler, Socrates reckons in the Republic, would be well-trained in mousike, the ancient Greek word covering culture and the arts – poetry, music, drama, dance.

A good governor would also be experienced in governing, and trained for that job. When getting a table made, would you commission the bullshitter who talks persuasively about tables, or the man who has a track record in building good tables and has studied table-making? Clearly the latter. You could argue that Burnham is a trained governor, and has made a success of Manchester.

Reform types will call him a “professional politician”. But that’s precisely what Socrates would have liked about him. We should never elect businessmen as our leaders, Socrates says, because they are “lovers of gain” and will pass laws that favour the growth of their own fortunes.

Socrates says that his ideal ruler would be “temperate and by no means greedy for wealth; for the things for the sake of which money and great expenditure are eagerly sought others may take seriously, but not he.” He should not be “a driver of hard bargains”.

The anarchist in me approves of the principle of devolving power. Burnham also – at this point anyway – appears to have the interests of everyone at heart, and is not a mere lickspittle to the wealthy, a trait we’ve seen in previous PMs, who have seemed just as much slaves to their greed as the most immoral hedge fund manager.

The policies so far mooted – a cut in business rates for pubs and clubs, £2 cap on bus fares, no VAT on fuel bills and increased personal tax allowance – all sound sensible to me. A pledge to end rough sleeping sounds laudable but may be very tricky in practice.

Such are my thoughts. But I admit to being politically unsophisticated, naive and untutored. Maybe you can help me. Send me your views on Burnham and idling. Should he, for example, introduce several new bank holidays or what used to be called feast days?

Live well,

Tom

PS My Stoics course will be released shortly. It comprises six lectures on the Stoic philosophers and how their ideas can help you to get happy and wise.

SELECTED COMMENTS

These comments were mailed to us after an earlier version of this piece was sent out as a newsletter. We like to publish a selection and reserve the right to edit them for clarity. Please add your thoughts in the box below.

Sir: Boris Johnson studied Classics, albeit he had the misfortune to attend Oxford. He spoke fluent French, quoted Homer, and took Lucretius on holiday. Did that make him a better Prime Minister? As Virgil put it in the first century BC, ‘my poems are as effective against the weapons of war as doves are against an eagle.’ Sadly, a literary education doth not a first-rate PM make – if only it did.
Emma Parks

Sir: Leave those rough sleepers alone, tramping life is full of freedom. Get a tent and sleep in the countryside. Enjoy the dawn chorus. Politics is best left to Oxford PPE graduates, things have moved on since Socrates.
Jason Palmer

Sir: Your apparent hero, Andy Burnham, twice voted in favour of the illegal war against Iraq, which resulted in 600,000 deaths. Afterwards, he voted against any public investigation. Cutting VAT on energy bills is bad populist economics. It is highly regressive – saving the income of the rich far more than of the poor – and saves only £45 per year for the average person. Far better would have been a policy of giving everybody £50 a year, andkeeping the VAT. That way would have retained public revenue for worthy actions, reduced inequality and encouraged more people to spend time being idle or working on their enthusiasms. Ponder on it!
Guy Standing

Sir: I think Burnham’s the most Idler-friendly since Cameron, who qualifies only because of his laziness. At least Andy’s got a hinterland of music and reading. I reviewed Burnham’s autobiography/apologia for regional devolution, but his publisher sent me the wrong pdf. It was I think his first draft, full of contempt for the Westminster in-crowd and disarmingly generous with his anecdotes of how naive he is about the media. I wrote the review, at which point the publisher realised the mistake, threatened all sorts if the gormless anecdotes remained. The magazine caved. It was the last thing I ever wrote for them. There was a charming story about how he was out for a drink with his mate Steve Rotherham, when a bottle of champagne arrived with four glasses, swiftly followed by two young, glamorous women. Andy just going, Ooh champagne, where’s this from?; Rotherham physically lifting Andy out of his seat and out of the pub, past the lurking, bitter tabloid photographer. The draft revealed someone who was passionate about something adjacent to politics, but hopeless at showbiz politics. Given everyone’s expectations are so low, maybe he’ll do well.
Ian Martin

Sir: Can anybody recommend a Lee Child thriller as I am ready at 87 to start reading some lightweight rubbish?
Richard Willmore

Subscribers may comment. Please add your idle thoughts using the box below

Subscribe to the Idler here and get 17% off the shop price plus a FREE copy of Idle Thoughts by Tom Hodgkinson, worth £8.95

“A Drink with the Idler” returns in the autumn

How to Live Like a Stoic

The July 2026 issue of the Idler (#110) is available in Waitrose, Smiths and TG Jones.

Click here for your nearest stockist.