I have come to realise that the most valuable education I ever received was learning to see the same country from two completely different points of view.
I was reminded of this recently while listening to Andy Burnham speak about the “Makerfield test”: his promise that national policy should be judged by whether it improves life in places such as Makerfield, rather than merely satisfying the economic and political orthodoxies of Westminster.
I was attracted to the idea immediately. That was not altogether surprising. Burnham and I have several things in common.