Ryan Bridge: We should be worried about the message behind Starmer's resignation

Author: Ryan Bridge,
Publish Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2026, 6:05am

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Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street. (Photo by Alishia Abodunde/Getty Images)

Sir Keir Starmer's resignation has come as no surprise to those who listen to this - or pretty any - show on this station.

But what should worry us is why.

Sure, he was a dud. Sure, he was a bit of a goofball. He wasn't cool.

But, on immigration he was, at-least, trying. Net immigration was 85% below peak. Crime there is apparently falling. The economy's stumbling but not fallen over.

The Times newspaper nailed it with a headline: 'Panicking politicians addicted to iPhones oust a Prime Minister'.

In just ten years they've had Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak, Starmer and now, shortly, Burnham.

Who'll probably end up just as loathed and hated as the bloke who went before him.

I don't think this is just a politics thing, and certainly not just a British thing.

We humans are undergoing an evolutionary metamorphosis - into impatient and petulant children.

All of us.

Yesterday researchers reported kids can't watch movies these days because their attention spans are too short. And movies are meant to be fun.

Musical albums are a thing of the past. Even the idea of a sitting and listening to entire song is foreign to some - a few seconds or hooks of a chorus on TikTok passes as easy listening these days.

Forget reading a book.

Is it any wonder the world is chewing through political leaders like there's no tomorrow.

And consuming more content than the world ever has in its history, yet somehow end up dumber than beforehand?

And the irony of AI, the great saviour of the universe, the technological equivalent of Andy Burnham, will save us time. Will give us mor time.

To read and watch movies and switch political leaders.

What on earth will we do with it all?