Argh!! Sewing machine bobbin keeps catching.

[SylvesterTheCat]

What am I doing wrong? Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Bobbin is turning anti-clockwise, as it specifies. I'd be grateful for any help.
The photo is what it looks like once my fabric has been cut away and removed.

Looks to me like your bobbin isn't wound tightly enough. Take the cotton off and redo. See if that works.

Ha! Well I've just cut the excess from the bobbin (not the long bit that's loose, the other end that sticks up) and it has just worked on my bit of paper so fingers crossed.
I am using this MN post as a future reference for myself!

Is it old thread ? If cotton ( as opposed to poly) they can degrade overtime and cause problems.

I also rethreaded the top cotton bit through the machine. So, actually, I don't really know which was the fix!

Does the bobbin thread feed through anything to create tension? It looks loose to me.

No the bobbin thread doesn't feed through anything to create tension. How do you think I should do this, if this would make it more reliable? It looks particularly loose in Pic 1 because that's after it had it freak out and spun around like a looney.
The cotton is brand new.
It's working well now
I've just cut away the fabric and this is what it looks like, having been a Good Little Machine.
It's a Brother machine if that's useful for you to know.