Is it such a bad thing to drop shadow cabinet elections?

I am a strong supporter of bringing in more accountability and democracy to the Labour Party, but the shadow cabinet elections are a rather problematic arrangement and I can understand why Ed Miliband would want to get rid of them.

The leader is elected by a 3 way split of MPs & MEPs / Trade Unions and Labour party affiliates / Ordinary Members.  Ed just scraped in with more votes when all 3 constituents were taken into account, but David Miliband had a clear lead in the parliamentary labour party.  This means that many in the shadow cabinet are supporters of his brother David.  In total there are - members of the shadow cabinet who supported David:

• Douglas Alexander
• Angela Eagle
• Tessa Jowell
• Caroline Flint
• Ivan Lewis
• Jim Murphy
• Mary Creagh
• Meg Hillier
• Shaun Woodward
• Liam Byrne

If you also take into account those who supported campaigns for the other candidates it only leaves a few cabinet members who actually campaigned for Ed to be leader.

While I am not for one minute suggesting any of these people are being disloyal, it is possible that there are some people who feel that Ed is taking the wrong direction.

It surely makes more sense for a leader to pick his/her own cabinet which more strongly represents the general thinking of the leader.  It also gives the leader the opportunity to put a shadow cabinet together who will continue in those roles once Labour are re-elected, rather than the leader having to carry out a re-shuffle of places once in government.

Withdraw Brian Souter's Knighthood

In the recent Queen's birthday honours list it was announced Stagecoach co-founder Brian Souter is to be awarded a knighthood.

I could not think of a more unsuitable person to receive such an honour.  Souter personally bank-rolled a referendum in Scotland campaigning to keep the homophobic law Section 28, which stopped the "promotion" of homosexuality in schools.

I urge people to sign the following petition:

We the undersigned are deeply offended that Brian Souter has been awarded a Knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2011.
Mr. Souter ran a campaign of fear and misinformation which was deeply hurtful to the LGBT community in Scotland.
The Keep The Clause Campaign increased hatred towards an already victimised group and saw a corresponding increase in violence against LGBT people.
We believe that it is wrong for such a person to be given such a high honour by Her Majesty The Queen and call on HM Government to withdraw this award.

Click here to sign http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/notosoutersknighthood/

The petition has already attracted over 3800 signatories in two days.

My Desert Island Discs

I enjoyed listening to the Your Desert Island Discs programme on Radio 4 yesterday.  It  encouraged listeners to send in their Desert Island Disc choices, which I along with 10,000 other listeners did.

The choices were rather predictable, especially considering the listener demographic, but I do like the top 8 choices, although I would say that Bohemian Rhapsody is far from the best song by Queen.

I can't remember all 8 songs I selected, but if I was submitting today I would choose the following 8:

1. Casta Diva from Bellini's Norma, sung by Maria Callas



2. Drown by the Smashing Pumpkins



3. I'd Rather Go Blind, sung by Etta James



4. If It Be Your Will by Leonard Cohen



5. Symphony No.5 by Mahler



6. Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf Mix) by The Pixies



7. Estranged by Guns N Roses



8. With Or Without You  by U2



It is rather difficult whittling your choices down to 8, I could have easily picked 20 tracks.  I would have liked to have added Billie Holiday, Judy Garland, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Billy Bragg, Chopin, Goldfrapp and Pink Floyd to name but a few.

My choice of book would be easier.  Without a doubt it would be the Tales of the City series by Armistead Maupin which I cannot recommend highly enough.

And my luxury would have to be and endless supply of wine, as that would be the only way to survive the tedium :)