Congratulations Andy Burnham on a God awful day for winning Manchester. Regardless of his Hillsborough work, I met him a decade ago as a railway worker when he was a transport minister. Really is a decent, genuine bloke. In a far off future, probably when I've shuffled off the mortal coil, there may be another Labour government, with Andy at its head, hopefully. And kudos to Manchester for electing a Scouser too.
I can see Burnham being a good Labour leader, not too far to the left so will get a lot of the middle ground votes. He also talks sense, which is rare in a politician.
I've said before that he should be the man leading Labour. Hopefully they'll see sense at some point.
I think he will be Mayor of Manchester for the next four years which will make him a good choice for the general election after next, assuming Corbyn staggers on till then
Corbyn will need his tbroat slitting in tbe night. I truly tbink ge will ignore a landslide to the tories and call it a success for himself and think he can. Someone will have to fake up a fraud charge to get him locked up or something. Seriously ... ive seen resignations for less than these results.
On some rare occasions there comes a politician you have some respect for. Andy Burnham is one of them. Politicians have become a byword for self centred cynical opportunists. And they are there at the very top of government and of the Labour Party.
I voted for Burnham in 2010 and 2015. I voted for Smith last year. I remember when Cornyn got in and Tobes predicted what a disaster it would e. 'But don't worry, he won't be there by 2020 for the next election " I optimistically opined. He couldn't do that much damage, could he? Bah.
Good Man and exactly the type Labour need right now but he's exactly the type being purged by the great Ivan Corbyn.
Burnham was a shoe-in for this from the off as soon as he announced his candidacy It was an open goal for a politician like him, especially after he failed at the Lab leadership Have you seen the opposition he had ?? A gay, buck-toothed tory (not insulting him for that, just sayin' that's not gonna fly with the electorate for many reasons) and a Lib Dem nobody has ever heard of Turnout was shocking anyway ... 28% on average. Same in all the metro mayor elections. Nobody gives a **** which is abominable really since they're lucky to have democracy
Just received an e-mail from Jeremy saying that the results are 'Challenging ', and would I like to donate more. Haven't paid my subs for four months - thought they may have got the message. Maybe he could ask all those £1 a year arrivistes if they could dig deeper.
I don't care. It's a privilege to live in a democratic society and a privilege each time you have a chance to vote If it didn't sound too much like autocracy I'd advocate that anybody who doesn't use their vote once, maybe two times in a row, loses the right to vote for a period of time. If you simply don't want to vote for anybody you should be required to show up to spoil your ballot But I know all that's asking too much in this lazy, insolent, intolerant, fetid society we live in or have to deal with
Its also part of democracy to be allowed to Not vote. Frankly did the people want or ask for these metro mayors? Why should people be enthusiastic about something nobody cares about or really wants. I have voted in every election I could since turning 18, with the exception of Police Commissioners as I don't believe they are needed and aren't something the general public needs or should be voting on. Also Democracy gave us Brexit, still think the general public should be encouraged to vote on everything. There are a lot of moronic ideas and beliefs out there.
Yes and I have that covered by making sure people spoil there ballot paper, that's not voting and usefully it gives an indication of voter apathy or not botheredness or idiocy If the entire voting populace or electorate had turned out for the referendum there's a really strong chance that Remain would have won with a good majority and Brexit would therefore never have even happened However I do take your point about morons and the brain dead
Apathy and protest are entirely different things. Not caring = abdication to someone else. Over half the yanks didn't bother and ended up with Trump. Damned if I know they still actually give a ****. 70% or so voted in Brexit. That 30% who didn't bother don't care. If less than 50% turn up for getting and tories get landslide who is happy
The Tories. I personally believe everyone should vote and we should be like Germany and Australia and implement mandatory voting. I think for any vote to truly show the will of the people the whole of the populace should be voting. And in turn spoilt ballots should be counted and shown, as to gage the apathy towards the options. Think its important for the parties to see just how far away from the common man they are.
Its all attitude. E.g. Germans don't have Sunday shopping. They have family time and if you don't have a family go sit at home or whatever... but seriously, thry don't tolerate drunks falling about and fighting in the streets either. Imo not caring goes a long way further than voting and the guys at the very top want to keep people not caring as long as they keep spending all day everyday on what they want people to spend on.
Yeah, you could carry on with that for pages. They just want the masses anaesthetised through commercialism and shopping, alcohol and drugs, the media, whatever they can use to keep getting away with what they do. It's about standards, Europeans have them, we don't in this country. They simply have a more civilised lifestyle and culture over there, especially with attitudes to going out and drinking as you say Another thing is major European cities are so clean and tidy, littering, spitting, dropping fag butts whatever is mostly a no no, you would certainly very very rarely, probably never see people just puking up in the middle of the city from drinking too much or lolling around on the pavement shouting and eating kebabs and getting into fights