To wonder if Yvette Cooper might have done a happy dance inside?

[GoringBit]

I'm sure she feels terrible for Ed Balls losing his seat, but if, as has been reported, they both have (had) ambitions to lead the Labour party, his being removed from that particular picture will avoid any Miliband-brothers-style leadership dramas in the Cooper-Balls home.

FWIW, I've been impressed by the way Nicola Sturgeon and, to a lesser extent, Leanne Wood and Natalie Bennett have been performing as party leaders. I think Yvette Cooper could be the new broom that Labour badly needs.

Hilary Benn came across as statesmanlike and sincere, I think he would be ideal. Plus I thought his dad was amazing!

Dan Jarvis.

I've just read up on him a bit and he'd be a breath of fresh air.
He's had a 'proper' job and experienced real life hardship.

Ex military, he left when his wife died of bowel cancer and is a single dad of 2; he has been interested in politics since he was a young boy and appears to be a genuine type with moral courage.

Our new leader needs to stop saying "look"

Well I'd vote for Yvette and even DH quite likes her, and we're exactly the kind of "quite liked" Blair voters the Labour Party needs to appeal to if its going to get back into power.

The Labour Party needs to stop attacking its past leaders, and to attack what the Tories were doing. (Even the Iraq war, why did the conservatives support it rather than do their job of opposing?). You don't find Tories attacking Thatcher, even if they did knife her in the back in the end, they praise the good she did and remember that people liked her.