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Andy Burnham - Our First Indie-Kid PM?
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Andy Burnham: Britain's First Indie-Kid Prime Minister?
At 35:00 · chapter starts 26:03
Richard Osman begins by surveying the musical credentials of Burnham's predecessors: Cameron's advisors picked This Charming Man and Fake Plastic Trees for Desert Island Discs; Boris Johnson chose Pressure Drop; Kemi Badenoch went with Hamilton and Baz Luhrmann's Sunscreen. None of it passes the authenticity test. Burnham's Baker's Dozen in The Quietus is a different category entirely: The Beatles, Hatfield of Hollow by The Smiths (year zero of becoming an indie kid), Rum Sodomy and the Lash by the Pogues, the Stone Roses' debut, The La's, Billy Bragg's William Bloke, Radiohead's OK Computer, The Strokes, Big Thief's Capacity, New Order, and The Courteeners. What seals it, Osman argues, is the specificity: Burnham says he wants Sick Bed of Cuckoo Lane played at his funeral, he recalls going to the Hacienda on Thursday student nights (never the big Saturday rave nights), drinking lager and not taking ecstasy, and developing a friendship with Tony Wilson [1] — Richard Osman "Richard Osman makes the case that incoming British PM Andy Burnham is the genuine article: his Baker's Dozen list in The Quietus includes R…" 26:03 . 'There would be a few members of Inspiral Carpets hanging around,' Burnham told The Quietus — a sentence, Osman notes, that no British Prime Minister has ever uttered before. Marina Hyde adds that the mainstream equivalent — Keir Starmer's genuine love of football — paradoxically can't be used, because the public now reads every politician's cultural reference as a calculated focus-group play, creating what comms guru Kas Horowitz calls 'the ultimate high-stakes authenticity trap' [2] — Richard Osman "Andy Burnham used to go to the Hacienda on Thursday nights — student night — drinking lager, and claims he never took ecstasy. Richard Osma…" 31:19 .
Richard Osman makes the case that incoming British PM Andy Burnham is the genuine article: his Baker's Dozen list in The Quietus includes Rum Sodomy and the Lash, George Best by The Wedding Present, and Big Thief's Capacity — the kind of choices no political advisor would ever greenlight. Authenticity confirmed.
Andy Burnham participated in The Quietus's Baker's Dozen feature, choosing his 13 favourite albums, which Richard Osman used as evidence of his authentic indie credentials.
Andy Burnham was born in the same year as Richard Osman, which Osman used humorously to decode the generational authenticity of Burnham's record collection.
Andy Burnham used to go to the Hacienda on Thursday nights — student night — drinking lager, and claims he never took ecstasy. Richard Osman notes that no British Prime Minister has ever referenced Inspiral Carpets before, and that Burnham's friendship with Tony Wilson adds further credibility to his Northern cultural mythology.
Even authentic cultural interests become liabilities for politicians the moment they're perceived as calculated. Keir Starmer genuinely loves football but barely mentions it — because the public now assumes any cultural reference is a focus-group play. Authenticity is the most important quality, and also the easiest to destroy.
