UKIP

[Faustus]

I'm on my phone so can't really be arsed going into great detail, but John Mann was spot on when he said as soon as Farage mentioned he was upholding Thatcher's legacy, Labour should have jumped on it and put up billboards and hammered it home along with pictures of the gimp sipping tea from his Maggie Thatcher mug.

 

Labour have been a gang of complete and utter shithouses these last few years.

[Barrington Womble]

I'm on my phone so can't really be arsed going into great detail, but John Mann was spot on when he said as soon as Farage mentioned he was upholding Thatcher's legacy, Labour should have jumped on it and put up billboards and hammered it home along with pictures of the gimp sipping tea from his Maggie Thatcher mug.

 

Labour have been a gang of complete and utter shithouses these last few years.

Or maybe they'll save that for the election that counts next year?

[Pureblood]

I wouldn't worry too much about this, some more lies and a manifesto tweak here and there and the voting public will once again believe they've given their party a bloody nose and not vote ukip next time. I doubt most actually really knew a thing about ukip. What amazes me is that shiny faced twat that leads the tories saying that this as clearly a message from the voters to be even bigger cunts, only the tories could take that spin.

 

 

I think UKIP are here to stay.  There are millions of thick dickheads who think that UKIP represent them and their views.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

I'm on my phone so can't really be arsed going into great detail, but John Mann was spot on when he said as soon as Farage mentioned he was upholding Thatcher's legacy, Labour should have jumped on it and put up billboards and hammered it home along with pictures of the gimp sipping tea from his Maggie Thatcher mug.

 

Labour have been a gang of complete and utter shithouses these last few years.

 

Yeah, not sure I agree with that. Thatcher is loved by a lot of people. Giving him free promotion isn't the best strategy. 

[Stu Monty]

This is what you get when you have a media deliberately trying to divide and conquer so that the proles don't have a quick think about whether it's really the polish plumber that's moved into his street that is responsible for the top 1% of the country having the equivalent wealth of the bottom 60%. The bottom 20% of the population might wonder why they only have 0.6% of the wealth too.

 

The richest 100 people in the country hold the same wealth as the bottom 19 million. They'd really rather you didn't twig on to why that is.

[PestiRed]

I think UKIP are here to stay. There are millions of thick dickheads who think that UKIP represent them and their views.

Doubt it . They are disorganised dickheads who will have a brief moment in the sun and then disappear in a cloud of their own incompetence. I'm more concerned about the effect they might have on the mainstream parties

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Doubt it . They are disorganised dickheads who will have a brief moment in the sun and then disappear in a cloud of their own incompetence. I'm more concerned about the effect they might have on the mainstream parties

 

Yep. 

[Pureblood]

Doubt it . They are disorganised dickheads who will have a brief moment in the sun and then disappear in a cloud of their own incompetence. I'm more concerned about the effect they might have on the mainstream parties

 

Wishful thinking, I reckon. 

[Faustus]

Fair point, Barry, but I think that'd be a bit pointless. Labour need to focus on the Tories and the mammoth task of making that wet lettuce Miliband electable.

 

I honestly don't believe UKIP pose a threat at the next general. I think a significant number of people who voted for them currently think there's no way you could have Farage as PM, but I think a vote for them in the Europeans was more an indictment of disenchantment with the main political parties and the fact that Farage spins the image of himself being an ordinary bloke who smokes, likes a pint and harps on about foreigners.

 

For me, UKIP needed nipping in the bud. Every time Farage went on about immigration or produced a dodgy stat, it should have been mentioned that they're to the right of Thatcher and would be a disaster for those who consider themselves working class, especially since a lot of their votes would have come from that demographic.

 

Instead, fuck all has been done and UKIP have been allowed to be seen as a legitimate party through the complacency and ineptitude of other people. Clegg was made to look a meff in the debate with Farage because he's a typical career politician with no fire in his belly and no particularly strong convictions. It's a bit of a mongy thing to do, but people would have seen Farage bang on about leaving Europe with a forthright belief and people would have lapped it up because it's something severely lacking from modern day politics. Clegg's answer of "about the same as now" to that question about how he thinks the EU will look in 20 years time just summed up how clueless and out of touch he and his ilk are. Cameron's comment of UKIP consisting of "fruit cakes and loonies" was incredibly naïve and encapsulated the complacency of politicians and contempt they have for the public-  "No chance you'll vote for that lot, you'll go for one of the usual suspects so we can continue to shovel shit down your throat."

 

I honestly do think we're heading out of the Europe and it'll be an absolute disaster. The sentiment is there and has been allowed to manifest into something altogether more sinister because of a failure to articulate the benefits of the EU and an abortion of a media. I say all that as someone who's not even a great lover of the EU as well.

[Faustus]

Sorry, Numero mate, just saw your response then.

 

I do see where you're coming from, but I think more of a concerted effort should have been used to emphasise the point in the northern cities and staunch working class communities where a Tory vote is a social stigma. In my opinion, it's just soft to allow UKIP to perpetuate the idea that they speak up for the working classes when they do anything but.

[Guest davelfc]

I think UKIP are here to stay.  There are millions of thick dickheads who think that UKIP represent them and their views.

 

Of course they'll keep some votes, I just don't see them having much of an impact themselves in a general election, they may steal enough votes to swing the balance in close seats though. I still believe the british public decided to protest vote in huge numbers, I still believe that the average ukip voter hasn't got a clue what they stand for. I don't think more than 10% of the people that voted for them in these european elections would do so next year. 

[Pureblood]

Of course they'll keep some votes, I just don't see them having much of an impact themselves in a general election, they may steal enough votes to swing the balance in close seats though. I still believe the british public decided to protest vote in huge numbers, I still believe that the average ukip voter hasn't got a clue what they stand for. I don't think more than 10% of the people that voted for them in these european elections would do so next year. 

 

Farage is clever and knows how to tap into people with a strong sense of national pride; feelings driven by paranoia, fear and bigotry.  

 

The name of the party is a stroke of genius - it has "UK" in it, and "UKIP" sounds snappy.  

 

Farage is an expert at winning over the vote using lowest common denominator rhetoric and dubious soundbites/stats.

 

I can't see how the millions of voters he has onside are going to change their views.  If anything, I think the party will become more popular on the back of this success.  I'm not saying it will be enough to win a general election, but I think they now have a solid foothold in the electorate and it won't just evaporate or go away, in my opinion.  

 

Section is right - abandon ship.

[PestiRed]

It normally takes a great deal more than a single charismatic(can't believe I've written that about Farage) politician to build a successful political party. He has the added disadvantage of attracting nutters. They'll implode sooner or later

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

If only there was a history of these types of party and a wealth of knowledge about what happens to them. 

[Pureblood]

But are these "normal" times? 

[PestiRed]

But are these "normal" times?

Nope. The world will explode soon.

 

Vote Green

[Spy Bee]

This is UKIP's greatest triumph and the media's greatest failure.  (I can't really blame the three big parties for not countering this myth with "UKIP are every bit as awful as us.")

 

Everything people hate about mainstream politics - the venality, the dishonesty, the disconnect from ordinary people's lives, the willingness to do anything to climb the pole, the sucking of corporate cock, ausfuckingsterity - UKIP turn it all up to 11.

 

The Devil's greatest trick was convincing the world he doesn't exist.

Just fucking name me!

 

I don't see an argument for being in Europe. It costs us money and what do we get for it?

[Stu Monty]

Just fucking name me!

 

I don't see an argument for being in Europe. It costs us money and what do we get for it?

 

Define "being in Europe" mate.

[Spy Bee]

Define "being in Europe" mate.

Do I really need to Stu?

 

Other countries that are within Europe but not part of the EU seem to be fairing quite well.

[Anubis]

If UKIP did the as well in the general election as they did in the local elections they'd have one MP. One MP. So listening to Nigel buttering up Cameron (he's come out of this the 'least scathed' apparently) is amusing as he must think he can form a coalition government.

[aws]

The economic argument against Europe is it's too big and too centrist. The peripheries get thrown a bone from time to time as the real wealth gets sucked into the centre. The big economic decisions are taken in the interests of the centre. Same as the UK really.

[PestiRed]

Spy Bee, take a second or two to have a look at EU funded projects in the UK. And before you say, yeah but we could pay for that ourselves, take another second or two to look at the Big Society policy commended by our current govt and ask yourself whether they would bother spending the money that way, or whether they would give it to the bankers

 

Spare a thought for Hungary and Eastern European countries whose taxpayer's money paid for the education and training of all those doctors and nurses who came to the UK for higher pay and now prop up your healthcare system. What do you think they say about their best and brightest fucking off as soon as they've had their free education?

 

And that's before we even start to think about trade and the free market that provides a great deal of the things you buy, plus the opportunity for British small business to do business overseas. And then have a good think about how fucking ridiculously expensive it is to live in Norway

[Stu Monty]

Do I really need to Stu?

 

Other countries that are within Europe but not part of the EU seem to be fairing quite well.

 

Well yeah, if we want a coherent conversation then defining what "out of Europe" means is helpful. It could be anywhere on a long scale of different options for pulling away from the mainland nations. 

[Spy Bee]

If you live in Norway it's not as expensive, it's all relative.

 

This government being shite is not an argument for EU membership.

[Spy Bee]

Well yeah, if we want a coherent conversation then defining what "out of Europe" means is helpful. It could be anywhere on a long scale of different options for pulling away from the mainland nations. 

Oh fuck off Stu!