Retirement may not be that far away, Mr Corbyn

With dozens of bustling seafront towns and villages nesting within the rolling Downs, it's no wonder that thousands chose to retreat to Sussex to put their feet up.

While towns like Worthing, Bexhill and Eastbourne have done a lot to rid themselves of the tagline "God's waiting room", there's no hiding that retirement always looks a bit better with blue skies above.

It was therefore a bit of a surprise that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's first visit to the county was not to places where his party have a foothold, such as Crawley, Hastings or Brighton and Hove, but in Eastbourne, a place where the party is in third behind the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats (remember them?).

Perhaps anticipating the script, the embattled Mr Corbyn made clear he was not sizing up his retirement options.

"I'm carrying on. Don't worry about that. I'm carrying on. I'm fine. I'm very happy." he told the waiting media and crowds of supporters.

He then carried on with the real purpose of his visit, to attend the annual conference of transport union TSSA.

A case of Carry On Campaigning then.

If you speak to those in the left of the party, Corbyn's ascension as party leader gives socialists a four year window to reshape the party after the Blair and Brown years.

Issues such as Trident, refugees and re-nationalising of the railways have all come to the fore since the honourable member of Islington North was surprisingly elected as Labour leader a year ago.

With more members than ever and the Conservatives taking chunks out of each other over Europe, things should be looking up for Labour.

Instead, the general feeling is the party of the red are feeling a little blue.

Constant rumours of a leadership coup are not helpful, nor were the recent election results, which has seen them relegated to third party status in Scotland.

To sum up the mire, let me present a fascinating graphic which popped up on my Twitter timeline this week.

It showed how each of the two main parties had performed in local elections immediately after the selection of a new leader.

The figures went back 40 years to Margaret Thatcher whose Conservative party won a net 199 council seats in 1975.

The biggest ground made was Tony Blair's Labour who won 1,807 in 1995, the least Labour's Neil Kinnock who gained 88 in 1984.

That was until this year when Jeremy Corbyn's Labour recorded a net loss of 18 - that's worse than Iain Duncan Smith (238), who was kicked out before facing a general election with the Conservatives.

Speaking off the record directly after results day, one former Labour MP told me that he believes Corbyn's time is running out.

I asked how long, the answer was "soon".

So that's a little longer than it may take you to scream "right wing media conspiracy" but not quite as long as it will take to reel off Corbyn's "friends" who he asks questions on behalf of at PMQs.

Perhaps the Labour leader retreated to Sussex not just for some R and R but also to bask in some relative success.

Locally his party seemed to do OK at the elections a fortnight ago.

Hastings and Crawley councils were held and some gains were made in Adur.

But the first two are areas where the red flag should be flying high while the gains in the latter were equalled by UKIP - hardly a sign of a move towards forming a majority government.

The problem will only get more complicated with the proposed Boundary Commission changes to constituencies which could see Labour lose a further 50 seats.

That would put them at a further disadvantage to the Conservatives, who will be all but guaranteed to be the guardians of a one-party state.

So whether it's tomorrow or in a couple of years time, Jeremy Corbyn would be wrong to think that retirement is that far away.

When he does decide to put his feet up for good, judging by the welcome he received in Eastbourne, he could do a lot worse then pick Sussex as his final resting place.

I'm guessing not many of you follow the news from France that closely.

But last week there was a fascinating ruling passed that looks like it could become law.

In an effort to stamp out "digital burnout" President Francois Hollande's Socialist Party is about to vote through a measure that will give employees for the first time a "right to disconnect".

That means companies of more than 50 people will be obliged to draw up a charter of good conduct, setting out the hours - normally in the evening and at the weekend - when staff are not supposed to send or answer emails.

For those of us who have been woken at 6.30am on Sunday morning or 11pm at night expecting to drop everything for a "crisis" at work, this is welcome relief.

Vive le liberte I say...