WHEN Labour was trying to make itself electable again in the 1990s its media advisers developed a tick-box approach to avoiding policies and attitudes that might discourage voters. It was called “eliminating the negatives”. Alba seems to be doing precisely the reverse. In its short life, Alex Salmond's party appears to be piling up as many negatives as possible.
Offensive remarks about racial minorities: check. Arouse the antagonism of LGBT community – check. Invite accusations of anti-English racism – check. Deeply unpopular leader – check. All they need to do now is kick away a few wheelchairs from disabled people and advocate seal pup killing and they'd have antagonised every minorities lobby in the land. I joke, perhaps, but not much. It's been rather like an episode of The Thick of It.