Jawad Iqbal

Labour’s decisive victory in the Greater Manchester mayoral election is a bad result for Reform UK and the Green Party. No amount of political spin can disguise the truth that both parties came into this contest with high hopes – only to fail spectacularly.  The numbers tell their own story. Labour’s Bev Craig won 47 per cent of first-preference votes, with Reform UK way behind on 21 per cent and the Greens in third on 12 per cent. The contest took place under the supplementary vote system, meaning that, as no candidate achieved more than 50 per cent, voters’ second preferences were counted. When this was done and other parties eliminated, Labour’s share rose to 66.3 per cent and Reform UK’s to 33.7 per cent.

The Greater Manchester Police force has made a jaw-dropping admission. It says it failed to check vital information contained on the Manchester synagogue attacker’s phone – even though he was arrested twice before he carried out his terror attack last year. Jihad al-Shamie was shot dead by police on 2 October last year during the attack at the Heaton Park synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Two worshippers were killed. Sir Stephen Watson, the GMP chief constable, said he was ‘deeply sorry’ after admitting the phones of the terrorist were seized twice in the months before he carried out his attack: ‘In conducting an internal review, it became apparent that GMP had seized al-Shamie’s mobile devices, at the point of each arrest.

Andy Burnham’s new government, barely 24 hours in power, is in danger of collectively losing its marbles. The fault lies largely with the new PM who appears unable to shake off the habit of a lifetime of being all things to all people, and eager for cheap applause whenever the opportunity presents itself. How else to make sense of the unseemly haste with which he reprimanded two senior cabinet ministers for a poor joke about the early prisoner release scheme? A public and humiliating rebuke handed out for the ‘crime’ of a joke in poor taste. Stupid and insensitive, maybe, but nothing more. What is politics coming to? Is this a free country or is it a place where any public misstep deemed inappropriate must result in immediate public recantation of the most demeaning kind?

Andy Burnham will become Prime Minister today – the seventh leader of the country in the last decade. It is a case of all hail the new messiah, who promises to build “a new politics” ( the eternal empty vow of every politician when taking power) but this time with a shiny new twist. Burnham, who oozes a desperate desire to be liked, will lead a government focused on good vibes and the fantasy of a mythical Labour paradise lost, rather than anything grounded in the harsh political realities of today. His approach to power boils down to trusting his instincts (those vibes, again), based on the delusion that he has a special connection with ordinary voters.

England vs Argentina is a match like no other. It is arguably the most highly-charged confrontation in the world of international football – haunted by the ghosts of war, perceived past wrongs on the football pitch, and a ready-made roll call of heroes and villains to choose from. Games between the two sides represent what might be described as a culture clash of ethics and values, an enduring scrap over the way the game should be played and what counts as fair. The match tonight in Atlanta, for the prize of a place in the World Cup final, is destined to be a titanic clash; it cannot be anything else. History be damned.

Andy Burnham, who will be prime minister this time next week, has apparently decided to spend part of the summer touring the UK. He wants to win over voters across the country by offering them a ‘hopeful’ message. What planet do Burnham and his merry band of sycophants live on? Do they really think that spreading positivity is the cure for the country’s many ills? Please, Andy, spare us. Life is already tough enough as it is.The Burnham tour will apparently focus on Labour ‘danger zones’ (it may come as news to him that the entire country outside his Greater Manchester bastion is an unsafe space for Labour right now) where the party has been losing support to Reform.

Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, has come out fighting in response to the intense scrutiny and revelations about his personal finances. He says he will resign his seat to fight a ‘people versus establishment’ by-election in Clacton and believes members of his constituency ‘should be the judges of my actions’. It is a clever move – perhaps the only move he could make – which gives him a chance to retake control of the political narrative. It also carries with it the obvious risk that the voters of Clacton may decide they’ve had enough of the circus surrounding their MP.In a much-trailed statement on his future in public life, Farage adopted a number of personas, sometimes defiant, threatening hellfire on his critics, and at other times playing the victim card.

At 41 years old, Cristiano Ronaldo is a shadow of the once brilliant player he was. Everyone can see it, except the great man himself. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner is now focused on chasing the stupendous milestone of 1,000 career goals, which would be yet another achievement for a footballer obsessed with breaking personal records in a team sport. The 2026 World Cup marks yet another milestone achievement – the sixth time he has played in the tournament. It is a lot of football, and at the highest level, yet Father Time waits for no one, not even someone as rich and famous as Ronaldo. Portugal’s manager Roberto Martinez must take a fair share of the blame. Why does he persist in picking Ronaldo? This once supreme athlete is now a drag on the Portugal team.

The week-long funeral ceremony for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s former supreme leader who was killed in a US-Israeli military strikes four months ago, is expected to draw crowds numbering in the millions. The new rulers of the Islamic Republic will make sure of that. The Tehran hardliners will use every propaganda trick in the book to convey their message For the regime, this is much more than a funeral ceremony; it is a religious and political spectacle, a chance to present to the world its desired image of a beloved leader mourned by millions of supporters. The Tehran hardliners will use every propaganda trick in the book to convey their central message that Khamenei may be dead, but the regime lives on.

Serena Williams is arguably the greatest female tennis player of all time – a seven-time Wimbledon champion and winner of an astonishing 23 Grand Slam titles in all. Even so, should she have been given a wild card to enter this year’s Wimbledon championship? No, not really: a player who has been out of competition for years should not receive a direct entry into a Grand Slam without even playing a proper warm-up tournament. It smacks of a decision based on nostalgia and a desire for cheap headlines on the part of the All England Club. Professional tennis should not be about rewarding superstars trying to relive past glories Wimbledon relies more than ever on marquee names to attract a global TV audience, and they don’t come much bigger than Williams.

It is time to talk about the real Andy Burnham and what he cares about most. In other words, let the discussion begin on his choice of clothing. What Burnham lacks in detailed policies and deeply-held political principles he more than makes up with a wardrobe overflowing with ideas on what to wear and when. Burnham’s wardrobe is all about telling put-upon voters everywhere that he is grounded and relatable The King of the North has spent the last decade or so away from Westminster thinking deeply (more deeply than he cares to admit) about things like bomber jackets and T-shirts. Andy now reaches places that the bog standard male politician (dressed in ill-fitting dark suit, pale shirt and dull tie) can only dream of.

Andy Burnham’s victory in the Makerfield by-election is a big blow for Reform UK and its leader Nigel Farage. Farage and co. will offer up plenty of reasons for defeat in the coming hours and days. We should take these with a pinch of salt. Reform’s spinmeisters will be quick to suggest that it is all down to the Burnham effect. Gawain Towler, a long-time ally of Farage, admitted as much before the vote. He said that the Greater Manchester mayor 'does change the weather', adding that it would be a 'very, very hard task' beating him. Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain party, meanwhile, will be blamed for denting Reform’s chances of victory by splitting the vote on the right. Excuses, excuses and more excuses.

Keir Starmer has entered what might be described as the peak delusion period of what remains of his time in Downing Street. There was fresh evidence of the Prime Minister’s all-consuming divorce from political reality in his latest comments about Andy Burnham, who is widely predicted to win the Makerfield by-election today, and then go on to launch a leadership challenge to turf the PM out of Downing Street. The PM just doesn’t get it Anyone and everyone knows all this and more, except Starmer apparently, who called Burnham “a great asset” and said he deserved “a big role in government”. What is Starmer smoking? The only big role in government that Burnham wants is Starmer’s job in Number 10. That’s the whole point of Burnham’s return to Westminster.