Where Eagles Dare

An incident from last month illustrates the depth of Jeremy Corbyn's problems, which have not abated since.

Angela Eagle in Parliament this month.

Angela Eagle MP is the Shadow Business Secretary; in addition, as Shadow First Secretary of State, she deputises for Corbyn at Prime Minister's Questions when he is absent. So it is quite extraordinary that Eagle will not say if her party leader is fit to be Prime Minister:

Asked again if [Corbyn and McDonnell] were suited to highest office [Eagle] said: “I work with people the party gives me to work with. 

“We all have our strengths and weaknesses and the point of having a party is that you can bring together the collective wisdom and that’s what I’m in the middle of doing. It’s one of those questions that you want me to answer in a certain way so that you get a headline out of it and I’m not playing that game this morning."

Consider the Leaders of the Opposition in recent elections: Kinnock, Blair, Hague, Howard, Cameron, Miliband. In the country at large, some were better liked and more successful than others. But if you asked any of their shadow cabinet colleagues whether they were fit to be Prime Minister, the answer would have been a firm, unhesitating "yes".

For some, that answer would not have been the whole truth. In the case of Hague or Miliband, their colleagues must have had more than a few doubts. In private, they might have added, "At least, I bloody well hope he's up to the job." But in public, for the TV cameras? In a functioning opposition party, the only answer is, "Yes of course, our party leader would make an excellent Prime Minister."

A possible exception is Iain Duncan Smith, and he was defenestrated before he had the chance to lead his party into a General Election. History may or may not repeat itself for Corbyn. Either way, Labour is in deep trouble.

The fact that Eagle considers it a trick question, instead of a trivial one, speaks volumes about the state of the Labour party. Corbyn can't sack her from the Shadow Cabinet for such rank disrespect, because who could he possibly replace her with? He has few enough MPs willing to serve in shadow posts as it is.

It also leaves Eagle unable to answer an obvious follow-up question: If you won't say whether your leader is fit to be Prime Minister, why should we vote for any of your lot?

There's plenty of blame to go around for this sorry situation. I expect it will get much worse for Labour, before it has any chance of getting better.

Cute Cat Friday 2015-12-11: Belle

Nice and cosy in her cat bed.

Introductions to Joni continue. It's a three steps forward, two steps back kind of situation, but I think we are seeing progress. I've looked back at old emails and reminded myself it took at least seven weeks before Belle and Dexter were getting along decently, and Joni has only been here for three, so it's early days still.

I think it's fair to say the problem lies with Belle more than Joni. Belle is a highly strung cat, afraid of other cats, and tends to lash out if she feels cornered. Joni for her part seems curious about Belle but basically content to live and let live. Belle was much the same with Dexter at first, so given time we are hopeful she will calm down.

On UK airstrikes in Syria

I'm trying to understand what the UK bombing campaign in Syria is meant to achieve.

The brave lads of the RAF are off to drop explosives on a faraway desert, largely inhabited by people of the Muslim faith. It worked beautifully on Iraq (1998), Afghanistan (2001-present), Iraq again (2003-present), and Libya (2011), all of which are now models of peace, prosperity and democracy. Is the idea to achieve the same brilliant results once more?

An RAF Tornado, loaded with democracy ordnance. 

Sarcasm aside, I'll concede that not all interventions are alike. I'll extend the government a degree of fairness it may not deserve, and try to consider this bombing on its own merits.

Cute Cat Friday 2015-12-04: Joni

Enjoying her victory over the fluffy toy.

Relations between the cats are progressing slowly. They have had one more scuffle, but on the whole we think they are getting used to each other.

Nanowrimo victory

At the start of this month, I signed up for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I'm pleased to say I have succeeded in its objective, and written 50,000 words of fiction in the month of November. I've even done it with one day to spare.

I bashed out roughly 11,000 words on the 29th of November alone, so this is not a high-quality piece of writing. If you said it was mad to attempt this in the first place, alongside baby care, cat wrangling, and a full time job, I would not disagree. But there's a strange kind of masochistic satisfaction to having done it. I do have a better idea how my story will work, if I decide to develop it further.

Regular blogging will resume next week, I need a rest from writing anything that's not strictly necessary.

Edit 2015-12-01: This makes my fifth Nanowrimo win: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, and now 2015.

If anyone's interested, this year's opus is a science fiction tale with working title The Great Beyond. Main characters include a cynical, disillusioned spaceship captain and treasure hunter; an aristocrat's servant who is not all she seems; and a soul eleven thousand years old in a body which is ten years younger than it should be.

It would be hard to overstate the amount of work this needs before it's fit to see the light of day. But I like the setting and some things about the characters and plot, so I might try and move it forward. It's the same science fiction background I tried to use for Nanowrimo in 2012 and 2014. Both those attempts crashed out long before reaching the 50,000 word target, so this is some kind of progress.

Cute Cat Friday 2015-11-27: Belle

Queen of all she surveys (except Joni).

Introductions between Belle and Joni are going pretty well. There was a setback on Wednesday when a face-to-face meeting ended in a short scuffle, but both cats backed off quickly enough. Since then they have observed each other through barriers, a bit of hissing has taken place but on the whole we think they are getting used to each other. We won't rush things; but we're optimistic that in a few days, or at most a couple of weeks, they will be content to be in the same room together.

Cute Cat Friday 2015-11-20: Introducing Joni

Here is Joni, who we adopted and brought home on Wednesday:

She is named for Joni Mitchell, a fine musician and great Canadian.

Joni is a very friendly and playful cat. It's hard to get a good picture of her, because she won't stop moving for long enough! She has settled into the spare room well, but is very curious and already eager to explore the outside world.

Joni was pregnant when her previous owner had to rehome her, and brought her to the Blue Cross. She birthed a litter of four beautiful kittens and spent the next few months caring for them, but now all have been adopted and it's their mother's turn to find a new home.

(Joni has now been neutered, so she won't be having any more kittens. They would be adorable, but we couldn't keep them and there are a lot of cats needing new homes as it is.)

After the misfortune of Freddie, we were very careful about choosing a new companion for Belle. Joni is three and a half years old, about the same age as Belle. All else being equal, an older female will be much less territorial than a younger male like Freddie. Joni is used to contact with other cats and not known to be aggressive.

In the end, how cats get along depends on their individual personalities, so we don't know for sure if this will work out. But the odds seem much better this time and we're willing to give it a try. Belle was happy living with Dexter, and we think it will be good for her to have feline company again, especially since we're busy with the baby and can't play with her as much as we would like.

We're taking the introductions slowly and carefully, as it should be with any two cats. Watch this space for reports on progress.