Kennedy - he's gone

Seems to me that Charles Kennedy, who has admitted that he is an alcoholic, although he says "dry" for several months, is finished as the leader of the Liberal Democrats, and the longer he hangs on the worse for the party. The current state of play:

More than half of his 62 MPs told a BBC Newsnight survey that Mr Kennedy should go or said his position was untenable.
Twenty-one frontbenchers have signed a statement saying they will resign if he does not quit by Monday. Another four MPs are refusing to serve under him.
Mr Kennedy insists he has overwhelming support from ordinary party members and says he will not abandon his duties.

Pity that there is apparently not one woman even in the long-list to replace him. And all of the people saying he was "brave" to admit it do make one worry slightly about the human race; he "chose" to admit it a few hours before it would be broadcast to the world. That's not choice; it's news management.

I don't particularly care about the Lib Dems as such; although it is a natural effect of the British first-past-the-post, one-member-one-seat electoral system, a party that can't decide if it is to the left or the right is a bit of a worry. Still, the only thing that is going to improve the electoral system is a hung parliament and a consequence change to some form of proportional representation (even a single transferable vote would help). And that, for the foreseeable future, will probably require the Lib Dems to do reasonably well.