The Labour Leadership

Today the Colchester Labour Party made its choice regarding who it is nominating for the Labour Leadership contest.

I have watched most of the hustings for the post of Labour leader (I have yet to watch the deputy leadership ones) and the person I was most impressed with was Lisa Nandy.  While one person in the meeting claimed that all the candidates are uninspiring, I disagree.  Many spoke out about the different candidates who have inspired different members.  But overall, I have to say I back Lisa Nandy.

Boris Johnson has created a vacuum when it comes to politicians speaking to the public by refusing to speak on the BBC Today programme or Good Morning Britain.  I know the reason why, and that is because he will be challenged over his repeated lies and half truths.  And that offers Labour a huge chance to get its message across.  Jeremy Corbyn failed to engage properly with enough of the media frequently enough to get the message of how Labour can benefit the nation.

But when it comes to the leader, Labour has to pick one who is able to get that message across to those who have stopped voting Labour and those Labour needs to turn in the target seats.

Rebecca Long-Bailey is amazing at communicating with the Labour core.  She is able to inspire those on the left of the party, but my fear is that her choice of terms will continue to repel voters from Labour.

Emily Thornberry has shown her ability to communicate over and over again at PMQs and has been devastating when she calmly savages the government members who are sacrificed at the despatch box.  But my concerns relate to that tweet as well as her ability to get her message across to the voters Labour needs to attract.

The ability and experience of Keir Starmer is without doubt, and to be fair, at the moment he is my second choice.  He is a great communicator but his strong pro-remain views may hold Labour back with him as leader.

I feel that Lisa Nandy has that ability to communicate to those who Labour needs to appeal to.  I have been impressed with her honesty over difficult questions and her refusal to condemn either the Blair/Brown years as well as the Corbyn years.

She is new blood and I do think that after the way Labour tried to emulate the disastrous Tory campaign of 2017 in 2019, the last thing that is needed is a continuity candidate, but rather one who can heal the divides of Labour and bring in new, competent blood into the party.

It was not me

My son was meant to clean his room.  He did not.  And when my wife found out, she was slightly annoyed.  To make things worse plastic bottles were found down the side of his bed.  When challenged about this, he said it was not him.

Talking about it at work, the same issue happens with a fourteen year old son of one of the ladies who I work with.  All sorts of things appear in his bedroom which he did not put there either.  So we worked out that there were two options.  One is that my daughter has put things in my sons doom and has gone to the house of a boy she does not know to put things in his room.  Or that it was aliens.  No other explanation is really possible.

Plasticity

Since my last post I have been trying to get out of bed sooner so that I get into work sooner and get home sooner.  It has not worked as well as I want, yet, but I am hopeful.

Anyway, today I cycled to my Wednesday job for the first time in ages.  I had been parking and walking before, but I cycled.  I cannot say that I loved it, but I did enjoy getting on my bike.

Getting back, after helping my wife with a few things, we all watched an episode of Angel while treating the eczema that my son has on his back, and then helped my daughter with her homework.

For psychology she has to take in two models to show the development of the human brain.  And it was nice to be involved in that again.  The last time we helped her with this was in primary school (not counting the help my wife gave her with her art homework at times in the first two years of secondary school).  So, using Plasticine that my wife had bought, we made her brains. Hopefully it will not be too bad!

0-0 to the Arsenal

Yesterday, I had been out with the kids to see my mother.  My wife had been away on a weekend (or rather, for the night) to meet up with some old friends, so after doing some paper work on Saturday, I took the kids down to see her (after making sure that I had a nap to recharge my batteries).  Before this though, my wife had given me a shopping list and taking the kids to Costco, I decided to be nice Dad. My son loved it as he went and picked lots of stuff to take home.  My daughter decided that she had to be the sensible one and got stressed over this (and has vowed never to do the same again).  In addition to seeing my Mum, I also got to meet up with the youngest of my brothers.  I have not really had the chance to spend lots of time with him in ages and it was great to sit and chat.

As for Sunday, we had a trip to see some friends.  My wife joined us later, but missed the later lunch that took place after watching the football game (I am not sure if her arrival time was influenced by that).  While Arsenal drew, it was good to see that for most of the game, we were better defending than before, though I do think that we look vulnerable when defending the near post.  It is depressing to see how far down we are in the table, but based on the performance, we should rise up.

Brexit day

Happy Brexit day!

Those in favour of it think that other nations will offer our nation of 66 million, the same terms and conditions that we had when we were part of the EU with a population of over 500 million consumers.

Well today, 2300 was celebrated across many parts of the UK.  But we should remember that companies like Fiat, Seat and Peugeot are hoping that we have a hard Brexit with a clean break from the EU, so that they can decimate our car industry.

I do hope that Brexit is the success many feel it will be.  But I doubt it will be for most.

Ill in stereo

The kids are ill.  In tandem.  But they were better earlier this week.  How they survived in the same house together eludes me considering how they bicker. But I do hope they get better soon.

One bright side of when they are well is spending time with them.  On Sunday, I got to spend time walking into town with my son.  His stamina has improved since he has been cycling to school and I have to say it is a real pleasure doing so.  I do bribe him with a packet of sweets and he allows me to play Pokémon.  And on that note, I was knocked out of one of the Pokégyms on Sunday.  I thought that I had a chance of being in it for a while when I passed it as it was empty.  But in the days before, I noted that someone had been trying to take it down.  I did not think that they has much chance due to its location, but they must have stopped the vehicle they were in to take me out.  Which means that I may not break my record of staying in a Pokégym...

What is haggis made from?

Walked to work today, a long walk.  On the walk, I took a detour and walked through some fields.  And when I saw a big pile of poo, well, manure, I thought of a friend of mine, took a picture and sent him it.

So he sent me a poem.

A nice one.

Full of love and compassion.

Muse 18.

Let me compare thee to a summers poo.
Thou art more stinky and flatulent,
Rough wind may shake the darling buds of may,
And your stink may linger all too long a date,
Sometimes your farts make too foul the room,
And in turn my complexion greened,
And every stink and smell sometimes declines,
By chance, or a chickpea curry untrimmed,
But thous eternal stink shall not fade,
Not lose possession of that foulness thou ow’st,
Nor shall death want you, cos you smell,
When in eternal lines thou grow’st,
So long as men must wear pegs to breath, or avert their eyes,
So long lives this and gives stink to thee xx

I like the poem.

Anyway, we are to have some friends round for Burns night.  My son has eaten haggis in the past, but had refused to because it has fish in it. We told him he was wrong, but when we refused to tell him what was in it, he still refused to eat it.