Oh Andy, Andy, Andy.. just Why?

But these polls are so limited (if not corrupt) - if you asked me who I prefer for PM, Farage or Burnham - it would be Burnham without a doubt.

We can't help it if he AB is coming across as a lot of hot air, at the moment.

That’s another fair point about the limitations of polls - and I’d probably have been the first to point that out when Reform were crowing that they needed a bigger seat at the political table, based on high polling alone.

It’s genuinely interesting to be on threads like this one and see different perspectives (even if it won’t persuade me to fall out of love with Andy Burnham myself, just yet 😆)

We cannot persuade you that, that
will be AB’s job!

I like to back up what I am posting - so here is what is on the BBC about the Reform exposé

Reform's head of policy, James Orr, who also appeared in the film, suggested to the undercover reporter that perhaps his American father could pay for opinion polling to aid Reform's campaigning.
In all, Channel 4 News claims three polls were commissioned in this way costing £32,500 in total and that the public was not told who commissioned or funded them.
Not disclosing such funding would be illegal and accepting this kind of foreign funding would also be illegal.

I have studied Communism for a long time and been to see the Stasi Musems in Berlin and Leipzig. I would just like to know after providing all the physical needs of people like jobs, housing and health care why they still wanted to escape?

I would say, because those that thought for themselves felt suffocated by the level of control that was exerted over them. Have you seen this

Bing Videos

I think that’s because even though the basic needs of a person are met, it’s within a collective setting. everybody wants to be seen as an individual and that’s just not there.
State planning is very rigid, there is no place for material frivolities and there is no space for ideological luxuries, such as individual beliefs.
So, people’s eyes wander to the other side of the fence.

Love that film.

I have been on holiday in Russia before the Iron Curtain fell. There wasn't enough to eat, for tourists or for the locals.

Housing was a tiny utilitarian flat for most families.

Jobs, there's a Russian joke "we pretend to work and they pretend to pay us".

We went to an exhibition of "state of the art" products, they were so proud to show us. It was 1983, I think, and the TVs and motorcycles on display looked like the ones we had in the 1950s.

People on the street tried to buy our jeans and our watches.

Communism doesn't work. State control of the means of production doesn't work.

It appears the young uns are still hankering after Communism though. Maybe because they can't afford to buy a house and are suffering from job insecurity. Housing and jobs is what Labour has to get to grips with. But knowing them, they'll just tinker around the edges.

I like him as a person, he means well. He's not a PM though, by any stretch, and I think he'll be another short stay.

Wakey wakey 'the alarm goes off...'
Why is he treating us like we are in preschool show and tell.

They have no idea what it actually is.

They have bought into a warm and fuzzy feelz.

Undef communism they will most likely live in a mouldy two bed flat with parents and siblings and at with least one grandparent.

Because he knows his core vote.

I quite like AB and I'm a Tory, but he does have a tendency to infantilise his audience. Although I disagree with a lot of what he says, he strikes me as able to build bridges for important matters. Social care is one of the obvious problem areas that we shall need cross-party consensus to solve. So while I don't agree with him very closely on political points, I am happy to go along for now.

I liked SKS, especially on the international stage where I thought he performed superbly, but he was leaden in UK events.

I thought his core voters were middle class champagne socialists. Could be just London though.

Maybe there is some research out there that suggests that infantile voters with less intellect have gone towards Reform and they need to be won back. Complex statements and explanations about fiscal policy won't cut it hence the use of props and toys.

Unlikely, Reform voters know you can"t solve anything by spending 5 million that isn"t yours on a vanity project.

I think they’re trying more to get Green voters back.

The simple reason as to why he’s doing it, is his audience like it. On that specific “wakey-wakey” post, on IG the top rated comment is about what a breathe of fresh air Andy Burnham is.

Other party leaders aren’t using social media to make complex statements and explanations about fiscal policy either, by the way. But it seems the online audience prefer props and toys to name-calling and mudslinging about other politicians, which is what Kemi Badenboch and Nigel Farage both do a lot of online. In an online world saturated in cynicism and outrage, I really struggle to see that as a bad thing.

Well, I’ll start worrying if I see him using toy aircraft carriers the way Argentina is behaving.

Fair! 😆

He does seem to be aware that same topics aren’t prop-appropriate. But it’s a risk!

AB is far less 'Green' than KS if we look at what I think of as Green policies. AB immediately cancelled our support for climate renewables support in other countries (and said they'll have to take out loans).

Also the drill, baby, drill - which is part of Burnham's new stance.

I'm still drumming my fingers waiting for any explanation as to how he is going to grow the private sector economy to pay for his plans .....

Just Stop Oil have started up again. I guess we’ll see if what you mention dents the AB vote.

I agree with you in that he is engaging- here we are talking about all his props and antics on Insta!