Deckchairs

So, the Tories took 317 council seats from Labour. Is that a meltdown yet? It's certainly the worst local election result in Labour history. Quick! Three seconds runaround, n-n-now! The reshuffle - about which Margaret Beckett must have known last night on QT (hence the smug chops) - goes like this: Beckett to Foreign Secretary (Rest Of The World), Hoon also to Foreign Secretary (Europe only), Straw to the ejector seat, otherwise known as Commons Leader (which, in magazine publishing, is called Special Projects), the oily David Milliband to the Environment, Charles Clarke sacked (he declined another cabinet job apparently - a man of character after all - and went to the back benches), the bullet-headed John Reid (sorry, Doctor John Reid!) becomes Home Secretary, a post to which he will no doubt bring a shade more belligerence than Clarke, someone called Des Browne (another Scot) gets to take over defence at what is, for the world, a pretty uneventful time, someone called Alan Johnson (a former union man who thinks Clause IV should be reinstated, the crazy man) takes over Education from the boy Kelly, Hazel Blears (onomatopaeic name) gets the Chairmanship while Ian McCartney spends more time with his heart, and Prescott loses his job but not his position. (Hmm, even saying the words Prescott and "position" in the same sentence now conjures unsavoury images - sorry about that. I wonder if he approves or disapproves of the 63-year-old woman who's having a baby?) The cover of the new New Statesman asks the following question: Is this the end?

And, in other news . . .
We have got a kitten. He's called Paddy and he's a grey tabby, just under eight weeks old. Because he's being introduced into a house with an adult cat already in it, we're keeping them apart until the time is right. Paddy is in the spare room, all mod cons (food, litter tray, scratching post, bed), and he's already squeezed inside the sofa-bed, where he's been all day. He's a bit shy and freaked out but has been playing with some string. It's too early to freak him out further by flashing a camera at him, but as soon as I do, it'll go up here.