Farage has the “talent” for saying those things out loud which he thinks a lot of people are thinking but feel they cannot express publicly for fear of being branded, for want of two better words, “intolerant” and “racist”.
He grew up, as I did, in 1960s Southeast London suburbia, the epitome of suburban middle class life as it then was.
One of my favourite songs is “The Boys of Summer” by Don Henley and there’s a line in that “Don’t Look Back, You Can Never Look Back”. Farage is constantly looking back - he has a romanticised view of what England was like and like many he views the future through the prism of the past.
Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be, I was once told, and you can’t inform your politics exclusively via nostalgia because life doesn’t work that way. Mrs Stodge’s mother, like many in their ninetieth year, bemoans much of what she calls “modern life” but I remind her progress is never linear.
Trying to explain the future to an ageing population is a challenge - the certainties are gone, yes, there may be new certainties but they will be equally transient. Competent Government is by its nature reactive - good Government is proactive.
Trying to govern via nostalgia is a cul-de-sac in extremis. To her credit, I suspect of all Britain’s political leaders, Badenoch is the one who might get it. My concern is she will fall into the trap of trying to use the past to resolve the future - that’s lazy thinking. What you need is people who can conceive the future and build the policies which will achieve that.
Makes you wonder what the Reform polling ceiling is. I seem to remember the SDP hitting 50% at their peak.
The Alliance did very well in polling around the end of 1981, with one outlier putting it at 50%. General Galtieri then intervened and the rest is history.
My instinct is that Reform are too Marmite to improve their vote share much beyond 25% or to get anywhere close to winning a General Election, but frankly if the Tories rolled over and died leaving a big section of the electorate politically homeless then who knows?
Farage got 30% in the 2019 EU Parliament elections with the Brexit Party, albeit that was with the Tories collapsing to 9%
Doesn’t Farage personally get ~33% approval?
That’s likely the Reform ceiling, approximately, as long as he’s leader
Certainly enough for Reform to lead a rightwing coalition govt with the Tories after GE 28
If Reform get 33%, how many seats do the Tories get?
Dunno. It’s midnight in Rangoon and I can’t be arsed to Baxter numbers
But my totally nonsense long range prediction is a GE result of something like
I did actually just Baxter those numbers and it gives
For Reform to get to 31% I would expect the Tories to be lower than 23% though and the LDs also to be higher than 9%
No! William Glenn says Ref government with Tory opposition. If Ref take both Con and Labour voters and Con take Lib, Labour and Green voters one would expect the Tories to be on more than circa 25%. Unless of course one believes William's thesis to be bollocks.
Not necessarily. It could be a Tory government with Reform opposition if enough centrist voters get behind Badenoch to block Farage.
Why would they do that?
Farage is awful, but it's not obvious that Badenoch is better. Indeed, by some measures, she is even more likely to jump into the populist deep end.
And is Farage awful? 10 years ago I'd have said of course. After Boris, Truss, and the likes of Williamson, Patel, Hancock, JRM at the heart of government, Farage doesn't stand out as clearly worse. I suspect he would govern similarly to Boris, enjoy a similar honeymoon period and a similar fall out by running out of MPs willing to bat for him.
He's pretty awful. I'd be horrified if he became PM. He's got some interesting and sometimes wise views, and I'm very happy he's part of day-to-day politics. Williamson is the only one of those that you list that I'd be less keen on to lead the country, although of course Truss has totally gone now.
Farage is a country mile better than Corbyn, and look at all the fools who voted for him.
How is Farage a “country mile better than Corbyn”?
Both are organisationally inept ideologues peddling populist film-flam.
Well.... I trust, if that's the word, Farage not to wreck the country - and I mean simply abandon it to the winds, more than I do Corbyn. Much more. Corbyn would happily screw everyone.
If Farage were actually to follow through with the sort of policies he talks about, the country would be in for a very painful economic restructuring. That’s not to say it would be impossible - plenty have done it around the world before - but it would not be an easy ride.
Yes. Should he become PM there's a lot of risk. The Tories gave us Boris and Truss - mix them up and filter out the good bits, and you get what's on offer from a Reform PM (Farage is better than the others in his party)
Having had the dubious pleasure of spending several hours drinking and talking with him I would give my absolutely fool proof insight.
He’s a bit of a one trick pony, or was. He’s not the most interesting man and very far from being a renaissance man. He’s a nice man. He’s polite and pleasant. He loves his vision of the UK, maybe really England. He’s not stupid. He probably sees himself as one of the stout yeoman of Agincourt (to hark to earlier posts). He thinks he would have been drinking with Hal and Falstaff. He wants, truly, Britain to be great.
I think he probably should have worked his way through Tory ranks but it was probably too much like hard work. He saw an opening and a lazy shortcut.
I think he is actually, by virtue of his beliefs and career background, one of the few politicians where if he had power would listen to people who know their shit about the economy and business even if it disagreed with easy statements he made to get elected.
He’s not and Orban or a Fico. He’s not Mosley, Le Pen, Tommy, Putin.
I don’t want reform governing, I want a strong Tory party with sensible economic and social ideas, but if the worst populist we get is Nige then we are very very lucky.
I’ve also met him and your mini biopic is on point in all respects - that’s Farage
It is truly ridiculous our childish politics regards him as some British Pinochet
I don't like plenty of the things about his politics over the years, but I do think he comes across as generally likeable and normal. That doesn't mean he would necessarily poll very well with everyone, but on a personal level he probably comes across ok.
A bit like with Corbyn if you steered clear of politics he is probably a pleasant enough old twee Englishman.
Farage is not particularly racist. He’s ethnocentric, at most, which is a very different thing
He’s way less racist, for example, than many of the raging, outright anti-Semites on the left and on the Labour benches
He would prefer Britain to keep its historic demographics, if possible, which apparently makes him Hitler but is also the view of the majority of Britons, I suspect
Not according to various House Masters at Dulwich College.
A smiling assassin.
I'm not a big fan of Mr Farage despite being probably in his broad "appeal". Not for me at all
JUST IN: Bill Gates says he was very “impressed” by Trump during their three hour dinner together.
Everyone is falling in line. Interesting.
Gates said he and the president elect had a very “intriguing” conversation about global health.
“[Trump was] energized and looking forward to helping to drive innovation. You know, I was frankly impressed with how well he showed a lot of interest in the issues I brought up.”
Ridiculous to change one's view of Trump just because he won the election.
But... Is it really bending the knee based on that clip?
Gates took a load of global health issues like polio to Trump and they had apparently a three hour chat and dinner with him and Wiles, Chief of Staff; and Gates talked them through these issues across the world. And Trump seemed engaged and energised.
There are way way more bended knees than this.
Perhaps because Gates is, at the end of the day, out of the Tech Great Game unlike say Bezos.
Hopefully Mr Kennedy bends his knee to established medical knowledge with regard to vaccines or we're going to have some issues.
America already has issues under Biden with the bird flu spread.
This is a fucking disaster coming at us like a slow car crash.
During COVID a few high profile US anti-vaxxers found themselves in that inoculation cubicle in the sky. Meatloaf and Herman Cain spring to mind. Both of course recipients of both the Darwin and Herman Cain awards.
JUST IN: Bill Gates says he was very “impressed” by Trump during their three hour dinner together.
Everyone is falling in line. Interesting.
Gates said he and the president elect had a very “intriguing” conversation about global health.
“[Trump was] energized and looking forward to helping to drive innovation. You know, I was frankly impressed with how well he showed a lot of interest in the issues I brought up.”
Ridiculous to change one's view of Trump just because he won the election.
But... Is it really bending the knee based on that clip?
Gates took a load of global health issues like polio to Trump and they had apparently a three hour chat and dinner with him and Wiles, Chief of Staff; and Gates talked them through these issues across the world. And Trump seemed engaged and energised.
There are way way more bended knees than this.
Perhaps because Gates is, at the end of the day, out of the Tech Great Game unlike say Bezos.
Hopefully Mr Kennedy bends his knee to established medical knowledge with regard to vaccines or we're going to have some issues.
America already has issues under Biden with the bird flu spread.
This is a fucking disaster coming at us like a slow car crash.
During COVID a few high profile US anti-vaxxers found themselves in that inoculation cubicle in the sky. Meatloaf and Herman Cain spring to mind. Both of course recipients of both the Darwin and Herman Cain awards.
This is the no1 thing that occurs to me while typing this as a big threat. My wife and kid are in the USA at the moment and I'm so glad that they're coming home
On an aside, I had a look at what passes for data tables from Find Out Now.
Totally and utterly useless - the only thing I gleaned was about one third of the electorate are Don’t Knows. The DK Party clearly in the ascendency it would seem and if their 2029 Manifesto is a single A4 page with the words Don’t Know in big letters they’ll win a landslide.
To be fair, it would be the most honest manifesto.
On an aside, I had a look at what passes for data tables from Find Out Now.
Totally and utterly useless - the only thing I gleaned was about one third of the electorate are Don’t Knows. The DK Party clearly in the ascendency it would seem and if their 2029 Manifesto is a single A4 page with the words Don’t Know in big letters they’ll win a landslide.
To be fair, it would be the most honest manifesto.
Lol not gonna lie, I might have voted for a no policy platform /sarcasm
On an aside, I had a look at what passes for data tables from Find Out Now.
Totally and utterly useless - the only thing I gleaned was about one third of the electorate are Don’t Knows. The DK Party clearly in the ascendency it would seem and if their 2029 Manifesto is a single A4 page with the words Don’t Know in big letters they’ll win a landslide.
To be fair, it would be the most honest manifesto.
Lol not gonna lie, I might have voted for a no policy platform /sarcasm
I have long advocated Apathy Rules OK.
That is, in an election you can vote for RON (Re Open Nominations). Further, anyone who doesn’t vote is taken as voting for RON.
So if everyone stays at home, all the candidates are eliminated and an election held with new candidates.
That is the trailer. Steve Coogan plays Brian Walden interviewing Mrs Thatcher. It is a two-part drama from Channel 4, to be broadcast at the end of January.
You all know that, of course. What I've just noticed is it seems to be available for streaming already. Has anyone seen it? I'm too tired to watch now and Saturday is a full day of sport, with racing starting at 10.15 for some unimaginable reason.
That is the trailer. Steve Coogan plays Brian Walden interviewing Mrs Thatcher. It is a two-part drama from Channel 4, to be broadcast at the end of January.
You all know that, of course. What I've just noticed is it seems to be available for streaming already. Has anyone seen it? I'm too tired to watch now and Saturday is a full day of sport, with racing starting at 10.15 for some unimaginable reason.
Enjoying the afternoon action from Trentham and Wingatui, free to stream on the Loveracing website for those of us in New Zealand,
The early start at Lingfield is due to the new Premier racing which means only three cards in the afternoon though if Haydock falls that will look as silly as it did two weeks ago.
The early Lingfield start takes me back to the 1990s when they used to have 12 race cards on the Equitrack with a 10.30 or 10.45 start. The old Derby restaurant would open for breakfast at 9am - full English for a fiver - happy days.
That is the trailer. Steve Coogan plays Brian Walden interviewing Mrs Thatcher. It is a two-part drama from Channel 4, to be broadcast at the end of January.
You all know that, of course. What I've just noticed is it seems to be available for streaming already. Has anyone seen it? I'm too tired to watch now and Saturday is a full day of sport, with racing starting at 10.15 for some unimaginable reason.
Enjoying the afternoon action from Trentham and Wingatui, free to stream on the Loveracing website for those of us in New Zealand,
The early start at Lingfield is due to the new Premier racing which means only three cards in the afternoon though if Haydock falls that will look as silly as it did two weeks ago.
The early Lingfield start takes me back to the 1990s when they used to have 12 race cards on the Equitrack with a 10.30 or 10.45 start. The old Derby restaurant would open for breakfast at 9am - full English for a fiver - happy days.
Ah yes, of course, Premier Racing, a concept that still escapes me because I cannot see that any stakeholders will change their behaviour as a result, and as you say, abandonments can be fatal.
That is the trailer. Steve Coogan plays Brian Walden interviewing Mrs Thatcher. It is a two-part drama from Channel 4, to be broadcast at the end of January.
You all know that, of course. What I've just noticed is it seems to be available for streaming already. Has anyone seen it? I'm too tired to watch now and Saturday is a full day of sport, with racing starting at 10.15 for some unimaginable reason.
Enjoying the afternoon action from Trentham and Wingatui, free to stream on the Loveracing website for those of us in New Zealand,
The early start at Lingfield is due to the new Premier racing which means only three cards in the afternoon though if Haydock falls that will look as silly as it did two weeks ago.
The early Lingfield start takes me back to the 1990s when they used to have 12 race cards on the Equitrack with a 10.30 or 10.45 start. The old Derby restaurant would open for breakfast at 9am - full English for a fiver - happy days.
Ah yes, of course, Premier Racing, a concept that still escapes me because I cannot see that any stakeholders will change their behaviour as a result, and as you say, abandonments can be fatal.
Richard Hoiles, the wise man of ITV racing, suggested it should be the races not the meetings which are protected. Having a 20 or 30 minute window around the Group or Grade 1 races makes a lot of sense with big screens at most courses. It already happens for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Derby and the Grand National but could be extended to all top races.
It had occurred to me that Trump might be angling for a Nobel Prize, especially as Obama got one simply for not being George W Bush. At least Trump is anti-war.
Comments
Farage has the “talent” for saying those things out loud which he thinks a lot of people are thinking but feel they cannot express publicly for fear of being branded, for want of two better words, “intolerant” and “racist”.
He grew up, as I did, in 1960s Southeast London suburbia, the epitome of suburban middle class life as it then was.
One of my favourite songs is “The Boys of Summer” by Don Henley and there’s a line in that “Don’t Look Back, You Can Never Look Back”. Farage is constantly looking back - he has a romanticised view of what England was like and like many he views the future through the prism of the past.
Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be, I was once told, and you can’t inform your politics exclusively via nostalgia because life doesn’t work that way. Mrs Stodge’s mother, like many in their ninetieth year, bemoans much of what she calls “modern life” but I remind her progress is never linear.
Trying to explain the future to an ageing population is a challenge - the certainties are gone, yes, there may be new certainties but they will be equally transient. Competent Government is by its nature reactive - good Government is proactive.
Trying to govern via nostalgia is a cul-de-sac in extremis. To her credit, I suspect of all Britain’s political leaders, Badenoch is the one who might get it. My concern is she will fall into the trap of trying to use the past to resolve the future - that’s lazy thinking. What you need is people who can conceive the future and build the policies which will achieve that.
Totally and utterly useless - the only thing I gleaned was about one third of the electorate are Don’t Knows. The DK Party clearly in the ascendency it would seem and if their 2029 Manifesto is a single A4 page with the words Don’t Know in big letters they’ll win a landslide.
To be fair, it would be the most honest manifesto.
Sadly, I cannot find it on youtube.
That is, in an election you can vote for RON (Re Open Nominations). Further, anyone who doesn’t vote is taken as voting for RON.
So if everyone stays at home, all the candidates are eliminated and an election held with new candidates.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW-KCX3spks
That is the trailer. Steve Coogan plays Brian Walden interviewing Mrs Thatcher. It is a two-part drama from Channel 4, to be broadcast at the end of January.
You all know that, of course. What I've just noticed is it seems to be available for streaming already. Has anyone seen it? I'm too tired to watch now and Saturday is a full day of sport, with racing starting at 10.15 for some unimaginable reason.
The early start at Lingfield is due to the new Premier racing which means only three cards in the afternoon though if Haydock falls that will look as silly as it did two weeks ago.
The early Lingfield start takes me back to the 1990s when they used to have 12 race cards on the Equitrack with a 10.30 or 10.45 start. The old Derby restaurant would open for breakfast at 9am - full English for a fiver - happy days.
He’s riled up royals and critics alike, but the firebrand has become an expert in staying one step ahead of the outrage machine
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/17/piers-morgan-interview-uncensored-trump-meghan-farage/ (£££)
It had occurred to me that Trump might be angling for a Nobel Prize, especially as Obama got one simply for not being George W Bush. At least Trump is anti-war.
Liz Truss in Maga hat will be at the inauguration, apparently.