‘Chaotic and ruthless’ – Peter Hitchens & Camilla Tominey on Burnham's first week | The Edition

This week: has Andy Burnham really brought change to Downing Street – or merely repackaged Labour’s old guard? Has Ed Miliband been sidelined by being sent to the Foreign Office, a ‘non-job’ in which he can do little harm? The panel also asks whether Burnham is prepared to make the difficult decisions required of a prime minister – and why the Conservatives have been so reluctant to demand a general election. Also: is America’s socialist left taking over the Democratic party? Candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America are gaining ground, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may be underestimated as a future presidential nominee and parts of the radical left are beginning to embrace gun ownership. Could Bernie Sanders have beaten Donald Trump in 2016 – had the Democrats not chosen ‘the only person who could conceivably lose’ to him? Plus: who really blew up the Nord Stream pipeline? The accepted account holds that a small band of Ukrainians carried out one of the most sophisticated acts of sabotage in recent history. But does the evidence look less like a professional intelligence operation than ‘somebody establishing an alibi’? Morning Patrick – apols for the message – is there anything we’ll need to know for Edition next week? // SUBSCRIBE TO THE SPECTATOR Get 12 issues for £12, plus a free £20 John Lewis/Waitrose voucher https://www.spectator.co.uk/tvoffer // FREE PODCASTS FROM THE SPECTATOR Hear more from The Spectator's journalists on their podcasts, covering everything from the politics of the UK, US and China, to religion, literature, lifestyle and more. https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/ // FOLLOW US   / spectator     / officialspectator     / the-spectator     / spectator1828     / thespectatormagazine