Its Aubry....

By just 102 votes Martine Aubry, daughter of Jaques Delors and founder of the 35 hour week, has become the first secretary of the French Socialist Party. This means that the Socialist nomination for the next French Presidential Election is wide open. Royal may yet prevail but this is a boost to the anything but Royal camp.

From a British perspective the battle for the leadership of the PS should be used to shine a light on how our own leadership battles work, do we have powerful regional fiefdoms? and if so what role do they play in the selection of our leaders?

The French Socialists - It's a virtual draw

Congratulations must go to the PS for managing to cock up the relatively straightforward process of selecting a leader. Aubry (of 35 hour working week fame) beat Royal by less than 1% and already accusations of dodgy voting are circulating. At least Gordon Brown's 'succession' as Labour leader resolved the issue quickly this dispute could go on for months.

Home News & the International Story of the Day

On the Oscott front our esteemed local Councilllor Keith Linnecor has launched a campaign to save local shops, I wish him all the best it would be a real shame to see our part of Birmingham become a wasteland like some parts of South Birmingham where all the little independent shops closed a long time ago. One of my greatest complaints about the UK is the dire state of independent retail, we must value our little shops as they are what give our towns and cities their character.

Away from Home (in France to be precise) comes the news that Ségolène Royal will run for the leadership of the Socialist Party. For those not well versed in the ways of French politics the story so far runs a little like this. Ms Royal's former partner and father of her children, Francois Hollande is the current leader of the Socialists he is standing down, Ms Royal stood as the Presidential candidate and lost to Sarkozy, she blamed those inside her own party for not supporting her, M. Hollande wanted the gay mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë to be the next leader, it was speculated that rather than stand herself Royal would support a weak third-party candidate, but now it appears she wants to do a Sarkozy and have the party to herself. (Thanks to French Politics for most of the info)