Stormy Weather

I'm often tempted to mention politics here but usually manage to talk myself out of it. It doesn't feel like the right place. On the other hand, not talking about politics, allowing the status quo to persist, is to actually be part of the problem. Occasionally, it feels necessary to stick one's head above the parapet.

I feel like there are so many things I should be doing right now, getting out into the online world rather than hiding away in my privileged little bubble next to the moor, just writing, walking, running. I have to keep reminding myself of the need to be selfish at this point in my life, telling myself that is okay. For all sorts of reasons, having invested such a huge amount of time in the project, I have to finish this novel of mine before anything else. Much like my first book, written over thirty years ago, this has a will of its own. I feel like a conduit through which this story is being written. It's coming from outside of myself and I can't deny its agency. Anyway, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

I just wanted to record here what might, hopefully, prove to be a significant day in the political history of this country. If there was any doubt before, there can be no doubt now that the Labour Party is unelectable. I don't believe that any amount of radical change in organisation or policy is going to make a difference to that. Under our current electoral system, it will never achieve power again. Hard though it is to admit , I was celebrating Labour's appalling result in the by-election at Hartlepool and the subsequent mishandling of the fallout. The party needs to accept that it can't win the next election on its own. Its own stormy weather of the last few days will help focus minds on that reality.

I'd like to think that the majority of conservative Conservatives would agree on the need for a healthy opposition in parliament. A government that can get away with anything, especially one that has such a tenuous relationship with the truth, is dangerous. The prospect of this current bunch being in power for the foreseeable future is deeply depressing.

Forrest and I have recently joined Compass, supporting the need for a progressive alliance. I'm not engaged enough to know if Compass have much of a profile at the moment. If you don't know anything about them, take a look here. Consider joining. This movement is really important. It appears to be our only hope of moving towards a more authentic representational democracy.