What should Andy do?

One small step for Labour, one giant hop for Britain :slightly_smiling_face:

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I do find the whole “Andy” thing difficult. I keep thinking we’re talking about someone else. I would prefer what should “Burnham” do? Sounds more grownup too.

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Y’see i don’t think he has “blown it” where it matters. At least not as much as his detractors would have you believe.

He just hasn’t handled the optics as well as he should have.

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Of course there are questions about both SKS and AB but is this the time for throwing everything up in the air when there are serious international tensions and at least SKS has been building relationships on those fronts. Can’t it wait until further in in the five year mandate? I love in France so don’t have the right to vote but it just seems crazy to fall into the same trap as the Tories and vote for a new PM (from my point of view) or labour Leader (from the labour party’s point of view).

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I don’t see any progress really Billy. Just a slowdown in decline. He’s no strategy or plan, on anything, as far as I can see. He’s not communicating well because he has nothing to communicate. He should have had a few “quick wins”when he came to power, to get people behind him. Instead he (and Reeves) did the opposite, and went steadily downhill from there.

There’s nothing personal in this. He’s just no good at the job and it’s too important a job a job to just wait and see. If he was a CEO of a turnaround he’d be shown the door. Beimg PM is far more critical than that.

He knows his track record, he knows his not up to it. He has a choice now, move over and let Burnham have a go or cause a fight which will just cause damage. Even if he won it would have caused massive damage. If he chooses “fight” that just reenforces my view of him.

iPad battery’s on the way outtttt….. time to go home and charge :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

If he was the CEO attempting a company turnaround he’s be gone.

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I live in France, but that is just a distant memory. :roll_eyes:

BTW I realise that this joke will be made redundant after a simple typo correction, go on Alan, don’t do the right thing. :wink:

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As a UK national living abroad your right to vote in parliamentary elections has been restored, since the 15 year rule was removed.

It had always been there if your absence from the UK was under 15 years.

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Ha ha - well spotted :sweat_smile:. For once a spell check (or simple error) is also correct!!

Mind you my local family and friends here in Corsica might not agree with the “in France” bit!!!

Do you mean in the UK? I thought they’d changed the rules so that people who left more than 15 years ago can vote in general elections.

I agree with a lot of what you say.

Whether he hangs on any longer or not depends on his key supporters in government.

When the cards are stacked up against him he will have to go, just like Thatcher did.

We are destined for slow decline in Europe as a whole. This is because of the dynamics between USA and China, and our increasing inability to produce in UK and Europe to USA markets against Chinese competition, with USA determined to keep the dollar as the global currency (hence drill baby drill).

There is a commenter btl on The Guardian called Froghole2 who explains all this very well, better than many journalist-economists.

I definitely live in France - but I hadn’t heard of that change in law! I’ve been away from UK now since 2011 (France, Malaysia, Gabon and France again - Corsica).

What do you want to “see” exactly?

I share your views up to a point. But anything to stop Farage becoming PM is wort it. End justifies the means.

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They very much have. My last GE vote would have been 2019, but due to the change I then got my vote back for 2024.

Previously you would have lost your vote this year, but as long as you stay registered (you have to renew every 3 years) you’ll be good for 2029, or whenever the next one is.

Yes I think that’s the problem, I have not kept up that three year rolling verification. Last election I voted in was the Brexit referendum (no prizes for guessing what I voted!!).

Can you ring the council for where you last voted in the UK? The voter services/whatever people where we were are very helpful.

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No doubt you were voting for most of us that had been denied a say. :grinning_face:

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I suppose I could (it would be Aberdeen I think, that is where I was registered but I can’t remember if I voted while there, it was only six months between expat roles in France!!). Sounds weird but we had to get back out of UK because our son had been in the French system so long and the French private school in Aberdeen was horrendously expensive! In fact those are the only six months I’ve lived in the UK since mid 2000.

I think Alan this is five to midnight for any attempt to stop Fararge. It’s not certain it can be done but it’s certainly the time to throw everything at it. Starmer has lost all credibility, he can’t turn this around. Maybe nobody can but it’s worth a try.

I think the UK (and maybe all of Western Europe) is pretty irrelevant in the M/E. It’s two lunatics and a foul regime that count. At least Starmer stood up to Trump and didn’t get involved, he deserves praise for that. All that can be done for Ukraine is now being done since Orbán has been defenestrated. Though we need to keep an eye on Slovakia. Anyway, when your own house is on fire should you be spending time round at the neigbours?

I think the mistake the Tories made wasn’t in changing PMs, it was in consistently choosing ones that were worse than the previous one :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

You can still get back into the system despite lapses. Clearly you will need to know which was the last local authority that you registered in, but that shouldn’t be too hard.