MILLIBAND (MINOR) - IMPRESSES AT THE HUSTINGS.

Friday 20/08/10 - 2 PM, to Reid Kerr College to meet; question and listen to Ed. Milliband as he takes his mobile hustings around the country. Readers who are astute enough to visit my site regularly will know that I will be voting for Dianne Abbott; the voting however will be carried out by stating your preferences and numbering them. A process of elimination will then follow so; I took the chance to listen to another candidate, notwithstanding my declared preference for first past the post the experience was worthwhile. I have always taken the view that it is well nigh impossible to find a candidate for anything with whom you will find yourself in total agreement and so it proved with Ed. Milliband, and Ms. Abbott and the others for that matter. There is only ever one candidate who fits that bill and that is our good selves.

The famously taciturn American President Calvin Coolidge returned from worship services one day, “what did the preacher preach on asked his wife “Sin,” he replied. “Well, what did he say about it,” she continued. “He was agin it!” Coolidge answered.

So it was with Ed. Milliband he was predictably in favour of most things his audience were for and “agin” what they were “agin” This loosely tends to be the case with most political parties, their leaders and members, excluding of course the likes of the SNP, BNP and SSP where dissent is as rare as a rocking horse's s***e; otherwise we would not have political parties. It falls therefore to the individual to do some research on the candidates because it would be very unlikely that someone would decide on who to vote for based only on a hustings meeting. The wretched coverage of the leader’s debate at the last election where the now exposed Clegg was given the hard sell from the deviant British media only to crash and burn on Election Day was handy proof of that.

Back to Milliband minor however; he is as expected a very impressive candidate with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the issues, unruffled; friendly and incandescently bright. The standard of candidates in fact for this leadership election is very high indeed and he did not let himself down as he took questions from everyone on any subject even including what music and books he liked. He famously comes of course from a kind of family that are considered “left wing royalty” with radical left wing Jewish parents who fled Nazi Occupied Europe. His dad will be no stranger to anyone who like me is a political anorak. Ralph Milliband was a political historian and thinker of huge authority he was also a Marxist as was their mother, Milliband raised a huge laugh when asked which brother she would vote for when he answered “neither, she will vote for Dianne Abbott”

Our diligent,hard working Labour MP Jim Sheridan arranged this meeting and the members and other invited guests raised a varied set of questions; it was a robust, and friendly exchange of views and the standard of questions and knowledge of our society and political ideas demonstrated by those present was very impressive indeed. Ed. Milliband enjoyed the meeting as did those who attended; there is no substitute for hearing statements and opinions from the horse’s mouth rather than having to rely on the rancid bias of our media and that proved to be a breath of fresh air as well.

The running order for my vote is 1/ Abbott 2/ Milliband minor 3/ Milliband major 4/ Balls 5/ Burnam. I’m sure all my Labour readers will do the right thing and do what I tell them right?