No contest

​The selection of the Labour parliamentary candidate for Scarborough and Whitby constituency is under way. Amazingly this seat is now in the upper range of the party’s target seats, given the much reduced majority the Conservative incumbent got last time round. Since I am completely out of touch with local party thinking I’ve no idea what kind of candidate the membership will go for. For my money I will be hoping for a candidate who displays an independence of mind, a grasp of climate change politics, a remainer (preferably a remoaner seeking a second referendum), somebody who knows the location and name of each and every back street and alley in Whitby, Robin Hood’s Bay and Scarborough, a vegetarian, a lifelong member of the League Against Cruel Sports, possessing a familiarity with the works of Wittgenstein and who entertains a sympathetic ear for minimalist composers as well as a sensibility to the weaknesses of post-modernist ontology. I wouldn’t have much in common with this person, but such a woman would get my vote.