Brief observations on the Shadow Cabinet

I know you'll have been waiting for my thoughts on the Shadow Cabinet. Work and real-world stuff have got in the way of this important matter and my treatment of it.

Here we are:

• Alan Johnson as Shadow Chancellor is a very canny choice. He's a very good communicator, untarnished by any previous strong views on the economy, he provides an excellent antidote to the twerp who is currently Chancellor, and he gets us all past the Balls-Cooper circus.
• Yvette Cooper at Foreign Office instead of DWP isn't something I'd have done. She would have been brilliant at DWP, proving a good, realistic, relatively down-to-earth antidote to the welfare reforms that are going through. In this key battle area, she'd have been someone many voters could have identified with.
• Ed Balls at the Home Office is a classic platform for attack dog-ness. He'll do a good job there, I have no doubt.
• Andy Burnham in education is a great choice - he has a strong personal story, is earnest and passionate, and is human compared to the palpably weird Gove.
• Finally, John Healey seems to be a good appointment as Shadow Health Secretary. He has a good attention to detail and is an antidote to Andrew Lansley's ego.

It's a reasonable Shadow Cabinet, and probably one that no one will remember in two years' time.