Michael Frayn wrote it, John Cleese delivered it and I currently find myself thinking of it every time Andy Burnham opens his mouth. “It’s not the despair, Laura,” explained Cleese’s chaotic headmaster Brian Stimpson in the 1986 film Clockwise. “I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand.”

There is, in no particular order, Tuesday’s announcement of plans to help the legions of young people currently being failed by the education system, the removal of VAT from our electricity bills, the cap on bus fares, social care reform, an end to rough sleeping and the business rates cut for much of the beleaguered hospitality industry.

There is also, less seriously but no less importantly in electoral terms, the basic approachability and facility with social media that is seeing him reach parts that most Labour politicians have historically failed to reach. One clip, where he and Chancellor John Healey rank their favourite pub snacks, took seconds to drive home just what Keir Starmer so signally lacked: normality, the “common touch”, being recognisably human. Who knew that a scampi fry could make such a profound contribution to political discourse?

All of this is, of course, vulnerable to accusations of gimmickry or tinkering at the edges of problems that deserve bigger, more decisive action. And those accusations will........

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