Broody Men

I am a 23 year old broody male. I posted on Twitter "is it odd for a 23 year old straight male to get paternal?" I have had some interesting responses.

What has been established, by men, is that it is not odd - it is perfectly acceptable. One respondee has been broody since 19. Kudos!

From women there have been mixed responses. Many have said it is rare. One has said it was a bit strange. But it has raised a stigma attached to male broodiness.

Time for the revolution.

Labour Ballot

I know these things are supposed to remain secret, but I am using my discretion to divulge my choices in the Leadership,Treasurer, NEC, and NPF elections.

For Labour Leader my preferences are:
1- David Miliband
2 - Andy Burnham
3 - Ed Balls
4 - Diane Abbott
5 - Ed Miliband

It has been a hard choice for positions 2 - 5. Admittedly I didn't have to vote for every candidate, but I chose to exercise that option. David was always my first choice and the others have vied for my attention - and I have ranked them in accordance to the attention they grabbed.

For Labour Party Treasurer I voted for Diana Holland.
I believe that the party needs to move forward, not just as a Parliamentary Party but, as a party united and whole. I don't think Lord Prescott offered that. Besides Diana's 'manifesto' in the supporting literature appealed to me more.

For the National Executive Committee I voted for:

Johanna Baxter
Ann Black
Oona King
Christine Shawcroft
Rajwant Singh Sidhu
Sam Tarry

These six appealed to me more than the other candidates did.

For the National Policy Forum Regional Representatives I voted for:

Vicki Black
Keir Dhillon
Glyn Ford
Clare Moody

Again these four appealed to me more than the other candidates did.

For NPF Regional Youth Rep I voted for Gus Baker. As Gus appealed to me more.

The decisions made for positions other than Leader and Treasurer were harder to make as I don't know who they are, they're not in the press, and yet they are just as important in the overall structure of the Party and formation of Policy as the Leader of the Party. All I have to make my decision is 100 or so words in the supporting booklet. I know it is impractical, but I believe that Hustings for non-leader positions, especialy for the Regional representatives, would have made the decision easier and would have engaged members more than it has - which it hasn't at all.

Gordon's Gaffe

It's a shame that something like the word "bigot" is caught when it's not meant to - like with Gordon Brown when a mic was left on his shirt. Should he have said it? No. Was he right in his analysis? Fairly. But you can judge for yourself wether she was bigoted or not. I agree with Gordon (but I would've kept it to myself).