As a Dundee United and Scotland football supporter I am well used to seeing my hopes raised and continuously dashed. Despite myself, however, there always lurks a niggly feeling it will all be different this time and things can only get better.

So I’m trying very hard not to be cynical, to have a bit of patience, and give shiny new Prime Minister Andy Burnham a fighting chance, and I think we all should do the same.

Unlike Keir Starmer, who never looked comfortable in the role of PM, at least Burnham talks like a real person and not an adenoidal robot, clearly has a hunger to get on with the job, and, crucially, displays an upbeat attitude.

And oh how we need a bit of optimism to cling to after being bludgeoned by Brexit, Boris, Covid, the insanity of Liz Truss and the blandness of Rishi Sunak. So I welcome Andy Burnham bouncing into Downing Street like Tigger, bubbling over with brio and with a plan to improve our lives, especially those struggling the most.

It is not surprising that there’s already a long queue of people desperate to throw rocks at Burnham and no matter what he does they want to see him fail. But I’m sick to death of the revolving door of prime ministers – it’s incredibly damaging and while we’ve come to expect it in football, it shouldn’t happen in politics.

Sadly and tiresomely, a lot of........

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