100 years ago, Argentina was one of the richest, most successful countries in the world. Even as recently as the early 1960s, its GDP per capita was higher than that of Japan, Italy, Spain or Austria.

What went wrong? Never-ending shambolic governance, never in the common good.

Argentina has scarcely had a decent government in a century. Its political system is a disaster. Its economy is a disaster. The right fails, the left fails, and Peronism - which stands for nothing, believes in nothing, but just drapes itself in emotion and the flag - rules.

It is the only economy I can think of which travelled from the Third World to the First World, then all the way back to the Third World again. There are four different kinds of economies:

- Developed
- Underdeveloped
- Japan
- Argentina

But this isn't a thread about Argentina. It's a thread about Britain: a country with which Argentina has this fascinating love/hate relationship. Conflict over the Falklands/Malvinas and football; but British culture is hugely influential among young, well-educated Argentinians.

And you see: I think the two countries have more and more in common. And not in a good way either.

I left the UK in 2012. When a Uruguayan here asked me why, I answered: "Because we're turning into Argentina".

What did I mean by that?

No objections from me to Labour voting for the deal - despite my now being very much a Starmer sceptic. There are multiple reasons why Labour should vote for it.

1. We left the EU at the end of January. Leave v Remain has been done since then. Finished.

Some people like to act as though it's not. Even, almost as though someone can wave a magic wand and turn the clock back 5 years. Nobody can.

No doubt the deal will be renegotiated by future governments; that's when rejoining might become a possibility. But it's years away.

And no doubt, too, the Tories will have plenty of shenanigans up their sleeves to achieve what many of them REALLY want. Which is when, memo to Starmer, we'll need an effective opposition!

But right now, it's just about moving on.

2. Starmer's approach is to contrast Labour's apparent competence with the Tories' staggering incompetence. And to appear like a government-in-waiting - which means 'the national interest'.

It's wearisome I know. But most of us on here are far more political than most people.

Most of the electorate do not think like you or me - and we're way past time to stop pretending that they do. Most of the electorate aren't very political at all - but they do want competence, and they don't trust parties they think are unpatriotic.

Here's a thread for you. Why Uruguay's not so hot.

I tweet about this country regularly. I love it very deeply - please bear that in mind throughout this thread. It's just that, like all places, it has its issues: plenty of them. And they're not well known outside the country.

A bit like how Uruguay isn't well known outside the country - meaning that tourist guidebooks, expat websites etc completely miss much of what I'm about to set out. In a globalised world, it's amazing how much isn't commonly known about this place: good and bad.

1. Cost.

Picture the scene. In 2012, I was wandering through Montevideo's old city between classes, doing some maths in my head. Via currency conversions, I was working out how much I was spending in Uruguay compared with my former life in the UK.

Then, I stopped dead.

Because I'd realised I was somehow paying MORE here than there - despite salaries being half of those in the UK at best. I kept checking and rechecking: surely this couldn't be correct? But it *was* correct. Uruguay is an insanely expensive country to live in.

It has only 3.5m people: much of which are either pensioners or kids. Many of those of working age leave for better opportunities in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, the USA, Europe or Australia. Because they just can't earn enough to make real steps forward.