In defence of Mrs Balls

It was fairly predictable that the right-wing blogs would have a field day with yesterday's London Evening Standard story about Yvette Cooper running for Labour leader. Guido describes her as a comedy candidate while Iain comments: "Please let it be true. Pretty please."

For what it's worth, this is what I wrote on Iain's blog:

"It's not in the least absurd. Yvette Cooper is easily the most intellectually capable of all the potential women candidates and it's quite obvious to anyone who knows her that she is capable of being Prime Minister - something that could not be said of Ms Harman.

Yvette is handicapped by the fact that she occupies the most junior position in the Cabinet, and to a lesser extent by the fact that she is seen as junior to her husband, but it should not be forgotten that she has been in the Commons eight years longer than he has.

Her career has been held back thus far for two reasons. Firstly, she had an attack of ME during Labour's first term which hampered her progress up the ministerial ladder. Second, she incurred the emnity of Tony Blair who refused to promote her to the Cabinet even though she was widely regarded as the most able junior minister of her generation.

Now that she has finally made it to the top table, it is entirely proper that she should be talked about as a potential Labour leader. In my view, the party could do a lot, lot worse."

I'm not quite sure why it is that the right has it in for Yvette in a way that it doesn't, for instance, for Hazel Blears or Jacqui Smith. Sure, she can come across as a bit strident on the telly at times, but so did their heroine Mrs T. I personally think Cooper vs Cameron would make a very interesting contest.

One further point about the Standard story which some other bloggers may have missed: it carried the by-line of political editor Joe Murphy, which suggests to me there is probably something in it.

Lets hear it for the girls...

At the risk of permanently alienating those who believe the history of popular music came to an end with the death of Curtis, or at the very least with the breakup of the Smiths a few years later, I thoroughly enjoyed last night's Brit Awards and in particular the award of Best Single to Girls Aloud for The Promise.

Okay, so I don't generally go in for their kind of music, and had such a manufactured outfit won an award such as Best Group it would have been a travesty, but I know a perfectly-crafted pop single when I hear one and The Promise is one such.

They don't come along too often. Keane had one a few years back with Everybody's Changing, Kylie Minogue has had several - notably Better The Devil You Know and Can't Get You Out of My Head - while one that I always remember from my teenage years was Never Let Her Slip Away by Andrew Gold.

So well done to Cheryl, Kimberley, Nicola, Sarah and Nadine - not forgetting Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins, Jason Resch, Kieran Jones, and Carla Marie who actually wrote the song.

Is it game on for Alan Johnson?

It's hard not to detect a pattern forming here....but full marks to the UK Daily Pundit who clearly knew something a good week or so before the mainstream media caught up with it.

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"According to one source the Health Secretary will publicly denounce Brown's leadership before the June elections. Word is, the Miliband/Johnson dream ticket is back on and they want Brown out by September."

UK Daily Pundit

"Only Johnson can hold back the Tories. The Prime Minister's mistakes are catching up with him. If his party stays loyal to him, it means certain electoral ruin"

John Rentoul, Independent

"The Tories, for their part, are privately wondering which of his prospective successors they should fear most: as it happens, Alan Johnson, interviewed in the current issue of The Spectator, is the figure who bothers the Cameroons most."

Matthew d'Ancona, Telegraph

"If Brown stepped aside and was replaced by, say, Alan Johnson, then Labour might do better in that election. The one quality Johnson does have is authenticity - and that is what is needed right now. Labour people aren't saying they would actually win it, but think that they could limit a Tory majority, or hold them to a hung parliament."

Jackie Ashley, Guardian

The Welsh and Irish Lions

A good weekend's rugby-watching is practically the only thing that makes this time of the year bearable, so it's great that the Six Nations is still one of the few sporting events available on terrestrial telly.

It's Lions year this year so after each Six Nations round I'll be posting regular updates on what, in my view, is likely to constitute the starting XV in South Africa this summer.

With Wales and Ireland storming to the top of the table, there would seem to be little scope for the inclusion of any English and Scotsmen in the line-up on current form, although I doubt if it will stay that way.

Here's my current selection.

15 Lee Byrne (Wales)
14 Leigh Halfpenny (Wales)
13 Jamie Roberts (Wales)
12 Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland)
11 Shane Williams (Wales)
10 Stephen Jones(Wales)
9 Mike Phillips (Wales)
8 Jamie Heaslip (Ireland)
7 David Wallace (Ireland)
6 Ryan Jones (Wales, Captain)
5 Alun Wyn Jones (Wales)
4 Paul O'Connell (Ireland)
3 John Hayes (Ireland)
2 Jerry Flannery (Ireland)
1 Garin Jenkins (Wales)