Anoosh Chakelian’s Cover Story explains popular dissatisfaction with successive governments far better than analyses focused on the cost of living or immigration figures. At its heart, the issue is one of unaccountable systems leading to scapegoating. The final paragraph summarises the sense of powerlessness felt by all involved, which I can verify, having worked for both Serco and central government.
Improving processes will not solve the fundamental problem of outsourcing being used by politicians to avoid answering difficult questions about what services are provided, where, and at what cost. This model of avoidance has run its course, and any potential new leader should explain how they would do things differently in order to give people a greater sense of agency. If they cannot provide answers to understandable feelings of powerlessness in a global economy, this will leave the way open to those who simply blame others.
David Henig, director, European Centre for International Political Economy
Inside outsourcing
Anoosh Chakelian’s insightful, well-researched and cogently argued article, “The failed state”, is one very good reason why I subscribe to the NS. I shall make sure my Labour MP reads it. Indeed, it should be compulsory reading for all MPs, especially those who acquiesced in the transfer of power, along with bazillions of pounds of public money, by offloading the management of the state’s responsibilities to a handful of apparently unaccountable private contractors. The article is particularly relevant to those heedless MPs who appear on television seemingly unable – or, more likely, unwilling – to recognise why, “angry and lost in the middle of this blame game, some voters are concluding that there is only one thing to blame now: their neighbours”. Is it any wonder that disillusionment and despair “stalk the land”? You are right to hold out little hope that any of the Makerfield contenders will sort things out.
Brent Charlesworth, Lincoln
I am no fan of Serco, but Anoosh Chakelian’s report on the firm’s impact on Makerfield did not justify the coverline “Everything is broken”. The problem is not who runs the Home Office contract, but that the contract does not require asylum seekers to be dispersed across the country rather than being disproportionately accommodated in the poorest areas with the worst housing. Makerfield residents are aware of the gap between their community and many areas of the south that do not experience the same levels of economic and social deprivation. The sight of so many well-heeled journalists and party activists descending on Makerfield will only have sharpened that neglect and isolation.
Peter Fahy, Rugeley, Staffordshire
The demonised barber
Tom McTague writes that a large part of the answer to why the country is in such a dire state is that there is less money to go around. But this is not true. GDP has grown year by year, aside from the Covid-related downturn, from which it has now recovered. The problem is how the wealth has been distributed: between the public and private sectors, and between the rich and the rest. It is the government’s failure to make a meaningful difference to this that is so disappointing and that creates an opening for Reform.
Martin Brown, Bisley, Stroud
Tom McTague quotes a voter in Makerfield who demonises the new wave of barbershops in the UK. What am I missing here? Here in Bridport, Dorset, we have three Kurdish/Turkish barbers. They’re great. I get a good haircut, nose wax, scorched ear hairs, a hot towel shave and a head massage, not to mention interesting conversation about Kurdistan and its varied beauty, from a smashing chap, all for £30. Us men are lucky to have access to such affordable pampering. For years, high-street barbers seemed to have all but died out. Now they are easy to find – that’s a very good thing. I would encourage all New Statesman readers who enjoy an expert shave to speak out before “defenders of the British high street” wipe out this service.
John Alexander, Bridport, Dorset
The north remembers
One of the stand-out accolades of the series Game of Thrones was the number of powerful female figures at its centre. Daenerys, the dragon queen; Catelyn Stark, widow of Ned and family matriarch; Cersei Lannister, the first queen of Westeros; Arya Stark, assassin and chief avenger; the Queen in the North, Sansa Stark. Ailbhe Rea quotes an insider in Andy Burnham’s team saying that his operation is run by two “northern queens” – Louise Haigh and Anneliese Midgley. Both come across in Ailbhe’s writing as just as tough and resourceful as any heroine of Westeros. If Andy Burnham’s march south to Westminster (King’s Landing) is to be successful, Haigh and Midgley’s advice might well be necessary to help him defeat the Night King, aka Nigel Farage.
Tom Stubbs, Surbiton, Greater London
Regarding Ailbhe Rea’s column on the “northern queens”, could it be that revenge is a meal best served gently warmed by Louise Haigh?
Judith A Daniels, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk
Bog-standard politics
Reading Will Dunn’s Sketch on the Makerfield by-election and the possibility of two plumbers gracing the benches of the House of Commons, I could not help wondering what the great parliamentarian Tony Benn would have made of it.
I was reminded of a story I heard from a colleague in the Department of Trade and Industry, who had served in Benn’s private office when he was minister of technology in the first Wilson government. On one occasion, after attending a meeting at which he drank lashings of tea, Benn retired to the loos in Millbank Tower with his aide. Suddenly, there was a gush of water that came pouring from the toilets’ ceiling, upon which Tony uttered the immortal words: “What this country needs is more plumbers and fewer politicians.” One must assume, therefore, that he would welcome the current trend.
John Dearing, Reading
Critical moments
It was weird to see myself identified as the only named critic of Mariana Mazzucato in your magazine. She has many serious critics, but I’m not one of them. I was brought up on exactly the traditions she advocates so fluently, rarely disagree with her writing, and I have only once criticised her publicly, ten years ago, and for a very specific reason.
A colleague of mine at Nesta (where I was CEO) had written a careful critique of her work (not prompted by me), which angered her. She didn’t respond to the appraisal but instead started publicly criticising Nesta. I wrote a piece on the broader issue of how celebrity intellectuals (I gave the business guru Michael Porter as an example) no longer bother with academic debate, avoid engaging with critics or acknowledging the many others whose ideas they’ve used. But that was a long time ago, and Mariana did eventually write a rather good response to my colleague’s critique. Our only other divergence is that I worry that she, like many left intellectuals, neglects the boring practicalities of implementation. This became a serious problem when Labour did so little work on how to implement its missions. I warned that these would quickly unravel on contact with reality and, unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened.
I greatly admire Mariana’s intellectual energy and her ability to reach a big audience with clear, simple messages, and I wish we had more people with her extraordinary self-confidence and combative style.
Geoff Mulgan, Luton
Cold comforts
I regularly went through the alarming process of defrosting the fridge up to about 20 years ago. Nicholas Lezard, here’s a tip: buy a fridge without a freezer compartment. Aside from not being able to have ice on demand for your gin and tonic, there’s a lot of upsides: they’re cheaper to run, meaning more dosh to spend at the Regency and no more blowing the fuses. When I fancy some frozen peas or a pack of fish fingers I just nip to the local shop – 50m away – and utilise their freezer compartment. I am sure Waitrose can oblige.
CH Johnson, Colyton, Devon
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This article appears in the 17 Jun 2026 issue of the New Statesman, The Race