My advice for Burnham’s first budget? Hit the banks – and hit them hard | Polly Toynbee

Bankers have barely begun to repay the billions they cost the country after 2008. In this PM they may have met their match Vibes matter. We live by how we feel – an idea that orthodox economics gets wrong and Andy Burnham’s first budget looks set to get right. This walking good-v

Bankers have barely begun to repay the billions they cost the country after 2008. In this PM they may have met their match Vibes matter. We live by how we feel – an idea that orthodox economics gets wrong and Andy Burnham’s first budget looks set to get right.

This walking good-vibes maestro is spreading a confetti of small good deeds. These may not shift the dial yet on 40 years of neoliberal economics, but they show the way he’s heading. Eyecatching everyday things – from capping bus fares to that small but resonant sum of £45 VAT on average off electricity bills – get people talking, alongside bigger plans for a national care service , electoral reform and a possible journey back to the EU .

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...