Mr Benn 10.06.07

I was getting ready to take Sam to his Uncle's when Robbie asked me who I thought was the best candidate for the Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party. That really was a random question because it has so little relevance to me that it is not on even on my radar, but I am used to odd questions and I always do my best to answer, so I had a look at the list of candidates. I was looking for the name of that woman that looks like a horse, you know, the one who likes caravan holidays. Anyway she wasn't a candidate, I thought she would have been a good bet because she would be unlikely to be led astray, but then thinking about it looks didn't stop David Blunkett and Robin Cook from going astray, there must be some very silly women in the world! I cast my eyes down the list of unfulfilled egos and hazarded my opinion that Hilary Benn was probably the best option. Robbie said that he didn't know anything about her, and he refused to believe me when I told him that it was a man! He then demanded to know the reason for my choice, well I guess there are two reasons, I think he would give Gordon a hard time because they are not exactly on the same page politically speaking. I also think the man must have bottle, because anyone who studied Russian and East European Studies at University and only became an MP in 1999 but thinks he has what it takes to be deputy leader must have the essential ability to be a successful politician. You may wonder what that is, it is the ability to ignore the facts and carry on regardless!! Actually there is one genuine reason why he probably is a good candidate, he is teetotal.

I know much more about the other Mr Benn, no not the potty one who writes diaries, the one who lived at 52 Festive Road, he was an iconic figure in my childhood. He lived in an ordinary street in an ordinary town, but from time to time he escaped from the ordinary and he visited a Fancy Dress shop, tried on a costume and stepped in to an extraordinary adventure. When his adventure was over the shopkeeper would appear as if by magic and Mr Benn would be back in the changing room and he would happily step back into his ordinary world, but he always found a little momento of his adventure. Those programmes made a big impression on me, perhaps they made me unwilling to settle for an ordinary uneventful life - there must be some reason why I find Robbie irresistible!!