Simon Biltcliffe did not enter politics because business failed him. He entered because business showed him what failure really looks like when systems are wrong.

In Part Two of The Digital Forge, David Richards MBE moves beyond the story of Webmart and into something deeper. Power. Politics. Control. And why places like Barnsley were left behind.

Simon returns to South Yorkshire not out of nostalgia, but conviction. He argues that the North does not lack talent, ambition or opportunity. It lacks power. The UK, he says, is one of the most centralised countries in the developed world, with decisions made far from the people who live with the consequences.

He explains his idea of Marxist capitalism. Not ideology, but a system. Use capitalism to create value. Then distribute that value back to the people who made it. Simple. Uncomfortable. Necessary.

This episode also lifts the lid on the machinery of the state. Lobbying, regulation, taxation, and why governments often make it harder to build than it needs to be. Simon argues that the UK could unlock growth overnight by removing friction, decentralising control and trusting local leadership.

And then there is Yorkshire.

A region of more than five million people with almost no real power. Simon makes the case for devolution, for economic self-determination, and for turning places like Barnsley from afterthoughts into engines of growth.

This is not a polite conversation. It is a challenge.

If Part One was about building a company with values, Part Two is about building a system that works.