Diane Abbott

I am being really lazy today and most of today's blog is made up of my reply to another blogger's comments to a third blogger's posting. This made me think how incestuous the whole blogging 'scene' can be and wonder who outside reads the blogs. Will we all end up with a sort of 'Planet Blogg' mentality and only believe in the world according to other Blogg citizens? Surreal thoughts of the kind that usually only occur in the West Country are flooding in so will leave those questions dangling.

Today I really want to celebrate how well Diane Abbott did in the hustings last night. But first I must say how awful it is when lesser media commentators suggest her nominations are simply down to 'a bad advert for positive discrimination'. Poor Diane – how awful to be thought ‘a bad advert for positive discrimination’! That little statement ticks about every politically incorrect box going. Hopefully you will have gathered that I am against positive discrimination of any sort believing in the ‘best person for the job’ principle and imo Diane Abbott is just that. She would not have been my first choice for the Labour leadership contest, that would have gone to John McDonnell [I supported him against Gordon Brown last time around and have sadly just put away again my John4Leader t-shirt!] but once John stepped down yesterday Diane Abbott became my natural next choice. Not for any of the ‘positive discrimination’ reasons but because I largely agree with her political views [f'r instance she was anti the Iraq war from the beginning - I was one of those who took part in all the marches] The issue of her sending her son to public school has been raised - I can understand her comment that she was only being questioned because she is a woman because it is true it is largely the case that women MPs of whatever political shade are questioned more often on their childcare and children's schooling etc than male MPs. The question of whether or not the child should be at a private school is a different issue upon which I don’t know enough to comment.

I did write more incisive political and social analysis of the days events but my technophobia came back and I lost the draft of the blog. Well the last bit is true but maybe I have exaggerated the first. But I do want to say that I listened to Vanessa Redgrave on 'Woman's Hour' this morning and found her both moving and admirable. Worth 'listening again' to if you have the chance!

The picture today is of a birthday cake which my youngest daughter made for one of her nieces - my granddaughter! Just to cheer us all up on a grey day when we are trying to lose weight!