I want to believe

The Alliance is meeting this weekend to discuss their election strategy. It's expected that they will decide to contest the party vote, and elect a new leadership that actually has some interest in the party. Hopefully in the process they'll also appoint somebody to handle their press operation, which is woefully inadequate at the moment. There are a number of issues which I'd expect a left party to be highlighting at the moment - Civil Unions, asset forfeiture, and Ahmed Zaoui among them - on which the Alliance has been silent. While some might blame the media, there are simply no releases about these issues on their website; presumably their spokespeople have declined to voice an opinion. But media attention is the lifeblood of a political party, and in order to get some you have to at least say something.

I want to believe in the Alliance. I think there is a need for a left alternative to Labour for people who can't stomach the Greens, and until 2002 the Alliance provided this. But unless they can get their shit together, and start actually voicing that alternative, then they have noone to blame but themselves.