Those Behind Cry, Forward!
I have been thinking all week about a thoughtful speech made last weekend by one of Labour's more impressive politicians - Douglas Alexander.
Douglas is on a mission - and his mission is to shake Labour out of its slumbers - for the party to say what it actually stands for - not what the party is against.
To make a positive case to the Scottish people - to stop its relentlessly negative message and attacks upon the SNP.
Now I agree with the case Douglas is making - it's the only way forward for Labour in Scotland - because the party has lost its way.
But the reason my head hurts is that I can't understand why someone as talented as Douglas Alexander - is making his case from the safety of Westminster.
Why doesn't he just roll his sleeves up - get stuck in - and stand to be the leader of the Scottish Labour party?
Because otherwise - he's trying to lead from the back - which reminds me of the famous poem about Horatius at the Bridge.
Here's a verse from this rather lengthy poem - by Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay - which to my mind sums up Labour's predicament in Scotland:
Was none who would be foremost to lead such dire attack?
But those behind cried "Forward!", and those before cried "Back!"
And backward now and forward wavers the deep array;
And on the tossing sea of steel, to and fro the standards reel;
And the victorious trumpet-peal dies fitfully away.
Sooner or later Labour's best people must come forward - and lead from the front - the voters in Scotland are not going to accept what amounts to Labour's B Team.
