The Lib Dem leadership

Following politics here isn't much fun to be honest and I do wish that new policies would be written up in plain language for people to follow. If this doesn't happen it tends to keep politics away from the people to some extent. Statutes are always bogged down in legalese, partially because of the need to include everything that has to be included and excluding everything that has to be excluded and to provide the legal system ample guidance in following and interpretting the Act of Parliament as it was meant to be interpretted by the people who put it together in the first place.

Unfortunately this means that it becomes very complicated and interpretation only becomes relatively simple after you've mastered the art of reading the legal language employed by the people to write the statutes.

There seems to be no fun in this country as far as politics goes, nothing to draw people in. And in general politics here is still very wrapped up in legalese whenever it's discussed in detail.

I've been reading about Charles Kennedy's resignation and I think I've read virtually every viewpoint that could be expressed now though ofcourse I could be wrong.

I never know quite what to make of the Lib Dems though was put off them by something Mr Kennedy said. I don't think they are pointless or that being leader of them is a pointless position as I read one columnist stated. I think in the last election, even though they attracted more voters, that they missed an opportunity to become a greater political force in this country. Have to say that I didn't vote for them because they had alienated me rather so I just went to vote to keep Labour in.

Now I've never had a drink problem, doesn't mean that I've never drunk cause I used to but I'm t total now. The only time I've really got into alcohol was after another set of injuries, not the ones I've mentioned before, and I just got totally pissed for a month. Pernod, Brandy etc, etc. I was drinking a lot. And I mean a lot. People wouldn't believe I was drunk though because they thought I didn't drink at the time. Only one person cottoned on and I'd turn up having downed half a bottle of Pernod or something and people would refuse to believe I was drunk because everyone knew at the time that I didn't drink!!! Someone eventually asked me if I was pissed and I said yes. He said I thought you were but everyone says you can't be because you don't drink.

Folks I'd like to say don't do this at home. Drinking like that is bad for the body. Not a good idea at all. Underlined.

I stopped after about a month. One day I went off to buy more drink and I just decided I didn't want it anymore and came back with a large bottle of Diet Coke and that was that.

But I have had people in my life who have had problems and I've been through the A.A option with a couple of them, going to meetings with them and listening to what's said there. I remember hearing that they reckon it'll take a year or so from when you stop drinking, if you have a problem there, to really get back into the flow of things. And this is why some people have problems giving up. There're loads of reasons but for some people this is a problem.

Just going by that and the focus of attention that Mr Kennedy is under I'd say that he has done the right thing for himself and his party in resigning. It'll give him a better chance of coming back strongly later on. I don't think it would've been at all easy in his position to stop drinking and I believe he'd tried and failed a number of times before.

That's just the way I see it. He was already having problems coping with his job and that would've added to the stress and being in the spotlight as a politician and knowing that he could eventually be very publically outed would have made for a very stressful time.

Best to try and sort it out now or many political years are going to be lost.

I'll watch the leadership being sorted out as I did with the Tories but will be more interested when it's decided.