Are the Labour Party a real alternative to Cameron & the Tories?

For AS (the Labour party) & A2 (Socialism)

Is the Labour Party leadership Cameron's secret weapon? Miliband's poll ratings are 15-20% behind Cameron despite the relative unpopularity of the Conservatives.

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/sep/23/emay-not-matter-that-much-at-least-for-now-with-david-cameron-nhs-election

Now the Scottish 'branch' of the party, pivotal to a Labour victory, are floundering from the aftermath of the referendum.

The grim reaper is knocking for Scottish Labour

A once mighty movement lies broken and battered, thanks to Blairism and the referendum. Yet there is a way to revive it, argues Owen Jones excellent column in todays Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/27/grim-reaper-knocking-scottish-labour

The 1980's were a decade when the Left & the Labour movement struggled to organise itself into a serious alternative to the Conservative government of the time. Vanessa Engle revisits this turbulent era when the Left believed it could change the world for the better. 

This episode looks at the Left's attempt to set up a national newspaper