Andy Burnham peddles an absurd view of the North

It's been floated by Boris Johnson, so there will be no more substance to it than there was to his bridge over this Irish Sea, but I like the idea of moving the House of Lords to York.

York is a wonderful historic city and the upper house should be elected from the nations and regions and meet well away from London.

Not everyone is happy with the idea:

Oh dear! This is a misunderstanding of York, which is indeed a lovely city, with a superb Minster. But (sadly) we do also have food banks, and homeless people, and hungry children. We had it in Joseph Rowntree's day and we have it now. We do.

— sue mendus (@mendus_sue) July 12, 2020

At least Morrell Professor Emerita in Political Philosophy Sue Mendus, who taught me at the University of York many years ago, put Burnham right.

Burnham has always traded on being from the North of England, but this is not the first time he has adopted a view of the region that accords with the most ignorant Southerner's stereotype of it.

In the Greater Manchester mayoral election he tweeted:

Bit bizarre hearing these right-wing calls for a "Barista Visa". God forbid the idea of waiting longer in the morning for their posh coffee.

— Andy Burnham (@AndyBurnhamGM) April 17, 2017

Fortunately, this fantasy North of Burnham's that lacks historic buildings or coffee shops has little to do with the real thing.