Letter from London: From Burnham’s Bounce to Ghost Ships in the Danube

Greetings from London, where we are all enjoying, or at least experiencing, the “Burnham Bounce”. No, it’s not an expensive hairstyle, a dance move, isometric exercise, or body modification. It’s a lift in the opinion polls for the ruling Labour Party. It’s attributed to the easy, breezy style of its new leader, our new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, whose relatively jargon-free form of communications has lifted his party out of its former doldrums to the stratospheric-sounding level of 28 per cent support in the polls. There was a time when the two ‘big beasts’ of the British party system, the Labour and Conservative parties, both cruised along at around 40 per cent in the polls. That left the small fry – mainly Liberals and various nationalists – to fight over the remaining 20 per cent. But times have changed. These days, 28 per cent is a stellar achievement for one of the two major parties. Subscribe to Balkan Insight Premium to read the full article. Please login to your account below if you are already a Premium Subscriber. Buy Premium Subscription Our Premium Service gives you full access to all content published on BalkanInsight.com, including analyses, investigations, comments, interviews and more. Choose your subscription today and get unparalleled in-depth coverage of the Southern and Eastern Europe. Buy Premium Subscription If you have trouble logging in or any other questions regarding you account, please contact us