The Hour

Wow, that was great, wasn’t it? Ed and David Miliband battling it out to win what could – in theory – turn into one of the most important jobs in the world.

That part when they hugged was just perfect. Like Cain and Abel, Venus and Serena, the siblings were loving each other but at the same time fighting for the thing that is most precious to them.  Then later there was a vicious aside like a nasty dig in the ribs.

A bit like my bigger sons when they were locked in yesterday's fight for the telly remote. "But I don't want to watch that. We have to watch something we both like, or it's not fair." "But I got here first." "I'm biggest." “Yeah, and you didn’t tell mum about the bus driver telling you off, did you?” And so on.

It gave me an inkling of what Mrs Miliband snr must have been through. Were her boys at each other's throats throughout childhood, or was it just a case of constant political bickering at every mealtime?

"Mum, he's just too left wing. It's not fair, it'll never work."
"Awww. He's stolen my Communist Manifesto. He had it last."

I wonder if the way she handled it had a bearing on how things turned out this week. I'm forever urging my children to play nicely together, to share, to take turns, be considerate of each other and - above all - to keep quiet. Perhaps my approach is all wrong and I'm going to boss the winning spirit out of them.

What if Mrs Minogue had said to Dannii and Kylie: "Keep quiet girls. You are both very pretty - just as pretty as each other - but won't you just pack in that singing and do your homework?"

And can't you just imagine the frustration in the Williams household? "Girls will you just put those tennis balls down. Don't tell me your sister is out practicing again. Venus, Serena, can't you wear anything but sports gear?"

While the Gallagher brothers parents probably didn't get very far when they told the boys to put their guitars away and get to football practice.

Closer to home, I don't suppose former Scottish rugby stars Scott and Gavin Hastings' parents had much success telling them to sit quietly before piano lessons and play together nicely so as to keep their clothes clean.

Though there are things a mother can do to bring their offspring into line that no one else can. Mums know all the ticklish little secrets, don't they?

I can usually stop my boys' antics and ensure some kind of festering ceasefire, however furious the fight.

If you listen carefully if on the rare occasions Andy and Jamie Murray are on a tennis court together and Judy is watching, you can here her tutting. She'll be watching them ferociously, ready to use the magical word or glance that mothers use to control their children.

So if Dave doesn't quit to take up organic muffin farming maybe mother Miliband will need to be brought into the House to dispense The Look or hiss loudly: "Don't forget whose birthday it is next week, young man."

Let's face it, the outcome when there's no rivalry might be more peaceful at the time, but, in the long run, not so good.

Remember Bros - twins Luke and Matt Goss - got on so well they probably didn't blame each other when their careers went south.

And back at the X Factor, Jedward and Same Difference are singing illustrations of what can happen when brothers and sisters get along just fine.

Maybe I'll let my boys fight it out. I might even take sides from time to time - who knows where the fighting spirit will take them?