I was pleased to read yesterday that John McDonnell will be the challenger from the left of the Labour Party, facing Gordon Brown. John has conducted his campaign with a solid and gentlemanly approach, far different to Michael Meacher who always just struck me as a bit of a prat. I don’t think McDonnell has a hope of winning and I for sure will not vote for him in the leadership contest, but as argued in this BBC piece, I think that a contest could well be a healthy thing – Labour needs some debate about ideas and its direction and a leadership contest could well assist with that.