politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » The media narrative turns against the purples as the prospect of getting real MPs grows
The former Conservative MP for Tatton who lost out to Martin Bell in 1997 has been much in the news of late as he has tried to be selected for a winnable seat for UKIP at GE15.
Confident as ever, Mr Thorpe knew that the police, the judiciary, the BBC, MI5, the attorney-general and the home secretary were on his side. The establishment, as well as his party, closed ranks, all believing, as one detective inspector said, that a man “of that calibre” would not behave that way. But by 1979 even acquittal could not save his reputation. And so he fell; and with him, inevitably, the party he had so tirelessly and glamorously re-energised, perhaps never to so sparkle again.
I think our UKIP friends may cavil at the suggestion that the 'media narrative' can 'turn against them' as I doubt they believe it has ever been in their favour.
I don't recall any UKIP-favourable stories in the 'join the Euro or die/Brexit = armageddon' FT.....
Like the Lib Dems (Rennard and so forth) they are just going to have to get accustomed to the media scrutiny that Labour & the Tories are used to that comes with proximity to power.
If only they weren't such frequent sources of great copy too......I have no doubt they will add greatly to the gaiety of the nation between now and May.....if not beyond.
No its not. Those who have followed the internal politics of Ukip over the last decade are going to be the least surprised at the now cyclical pattern of internally generated Ukip political scandals. Only difference now is that Ukip has a far higher public profile, and that now means that the media will follow and report these scandals in far more detail than they ever did before when they occur.
No its not. Those who have followed the internal politics of Ukip over the last decade are going to be the least surprised at the now cyclical pattern of internally generated Ukip political scandals. Only difference now is that Ukip has a far higher public profile, and that now means that the media will follow and report these scandals in far more detail than they ever did before when they occur.
It's slightly bizarre that people are talking about Hamilton and Farage rather than Cameron and Miliband with less than 20 weeks to go to polling day.
Indeed, but since Farage isn't going to be PM, and its unlikely in the extreme that UKIP will be part of any coalition, their policy on anything at all doesn't really matter. Where as say what Labour plan on cutting, even in the most general terms, if they form the government after the election will actually make a difference to people's lives. In the same vein it matters if Theresa May is going to give any more powers to the EU without bothering to ask parliament.
Today MPs aspire to join the government, not restrain it. Their career progression, bizarrely, entirely depends on voting exactly as they are told by the government, or the government in waiting. Future generations will shake their heads in utter disbelief, just as we do when we look back at Walpole’s edifice of Old Corruption.
The terrible blurring of the legislative and executive functions of our politicians is the breach through which Ukip is galloping. Ukippers are never going to be in government. They are professional troublemakers. Which is exactly what their constituents want in the legislature. They have no policies. But they have a rough outlook, a gut feeling about the world. This makes them, in one sense, ideal constituency MPs.
A very good thread Mike. I'm afraid this was all inevitable, partly because that's just politics; partly because they UKIP had it easy until now and partly therefore because there is a lot of fodder for a media feast.
Playing the card that 'we're not like the other parties' is dangerous when you start to look worse.
What do you think the chances are the UKIP will be polling significantly lower in a month or two's time ? I would have said low, most of their 20% dont care about policy, because if the did they would be voting for a party with some chance of enacting that policy.
Media narrative turning against UKIP, the media has been putting the boot in with utter glee for months (and that includes this site in a subtle, hinting, liberal democrat reasonable tone way) and a fat lot of good it has done them all.
Now their sexual harrasment bomb has blown up in their faces they've latched onto Hamilton. If only there was such scrutiny in the media of liblabcon candidate selection.......
Playing the card that 'we're not like the other parties' is dangerous when you start to look worse.
What do you think the chances are the UKIP will be polling significantly lower in a month or two's time ? I would have said low, most of their 20% dont care about policy, because if the did they would be voting for a party with some chance of enacting that policy.
Zero. For the same reason it wasn't after the euro elections media onslaught
The elephant in the room, which the liberal media (left and right) dont understand, is UKIP is about small c conservatism, especially social conservatism, and there isn't any other party in town that caters to that demographic. If you are the type of voter whose blood boils at (metropolitan) liberal views including, but not restricted to, political correctness, you won't care how UKIP is portrayed in the newspapers for two reasons, firstly they are the (liberal) "enemy" so what do you expect from them, but also no one else around is even appearing to cater to your views. I am absolutely sure if there was an "old labour" party around UKIP would have half the support they currently enjoy.
TL;DR: If Labour and Conservatives hadn't spent so long disowning their socially conservative members, UKIP would be a 2% non-entity of a party.
Playing the card that 'we're not like the other parties' is dangerous when you start to look worse.
What do you think the chances are the UKIP will be polling significantly lower in a month or two's time ? I would have said low, most of their 20% dont care about policy, because if the did they would be voting for a party with some chance of enacting that policy.
Zero. For the same reason it wasn't after the euro elections media onslaught
Coincidence, no doubt, but today's YouGov has UKIP down at 14........
Playing the card that 'we're not like the other parties' is dangerous when you start to look worse.
What do you think the chances are the UKIP will be polling significantly lower in a month or two's time ? I would have said low, most of their 20% dont care about policy, because if the did they would be voting for a party with some chance of enacting that policy.
Zero. For the same reason it wasn't after the euro elections media onslaught
Coincidence, no doubt, but today's YouGov has UKIP down at 14........
Who knows, did you think on the same basis they were heading for the stars when they got 19% on Ashcroft a couple of days ago ? Must be a good time for a bit of complacency ;-)
The elephant in the room, which the liberal media (left and right) dont understand, is UKIP is about small c conservatism, especially social conservatism, and there isn't any other party in town that caters to that demographic. If you are the type of voter whose blood boils at (metropolitan) liberal views including, but not restricted to, political correctness, you won't care how UKIP is portrayed in the newspapers for two reasons, firstly they are the (liberal) "enemy" so what do you expect from them, but also no one else around is even appearing to cater to your views. I am absolutely sure if there was an "old labour" party around UKIP would have half the support they currently enjoy.
TL;DR: If Labour and Conservatives hadn't spent so long disowning their socially conservative members, UKIP would be a 2% non-entity of a party.
Exactly. In the short term the idea of voting UKIP isnt to give UKIP power, its to deprive the arrogant corrupt troughing fake liberal authoritarian twunts running the three main parties of the power over us they so dearly crave. Dan snows article is the best explanation of UKIPs rise I've seen.
I don’t think that some at least Kippers realise the extent to which “Brussels” is monstered in the popular British media, and how much that contributes to their popularity.
Mention of “straight bananas” for example, was for a considerable while, always good for a laugh.
Watching the Christopher Jeffries docu-drama last night underlined for me how much some parts of our media would much rather sensationalise something than look at the facts.
It's little wonder that UKIP continues to make progress against the Tories when, as last night, the BBC choose to pit the ineffectual, lightweight Penny Morduant against Nigel Farage.
I don’t think that some at least Kippers realise the extent to which “Brussels” is monstered in the popular British media, and how much that contributes to their popularity.
Mention of “straight bananas” for example, was for a considerable while, always good for a laugh.
Watching the Christopher Jeffries docu-drama last night underlined for me how much some parts of our media would much rather sensationalise something than look at the facts.
Occupying foreign powers are occcupying foreign powers however much you dress it up.
I don’t think that some at least Kippers realise the extent to which “Brussels” is monstered in the popular British media, and how much that contributes to their popularity.
Mention of “straight bananas” for example, was for a considerable while, always good for a laugh.
Watching the Christopher Jeffries docu-drama last night underlined for me how much some parts of our media would much rather sensationalise something than look at the facts.
Occupying foreign powers are occcupying foreign powers however much you dress it up.
How many troops does the EU have stationed in the UK?
Morning all and I reckon Neil Hamilton is about as likely to be an MP come 9th May as NPXMP. I see there was a 5% swing from Labour to Tory in the council by-election in Broxtowe last night according to the result I saw on Twitter.
Why bother about which seats UKIP think they might win. Douglas Carswell will be the only man standing come 9th May, except of course in Trumpton where UKIP will be running the council.
I don’t think that some at least Kippers realise the extent to which “Brussels” is monstered in the popular British media, and how much that contributes to their popularity.
Mention of “straight bananas” for example, was for a considerable while, always good for a laugh.
Watching the Christopher Jeffries docu-drama last night underlined for me how much some parts of our media would much rather sensationalise something than look at the facts.
Occupying foreign powers are occcupying foreign powers however much you dress it up.
Did you have a bad night or something?
I can never understand why it’s always “plucky little Britian” vs Europe. Last time I looked there were 20+ other nations who were EU members, and presumably they all have occasions when national interest appears to be at variance with what “Europe” says. Do we never, ever, agree with anyone else, and do they all, always, gang up against us?
I see there were several Labour to Conservative swings among yesterdays council by-elections. Must be the effect of Ed's barnstorming speech confirming that he will pay off the deficit by planting magic money trees in the back garden of every Islington mansion.
Watching the Christopher Jeffries docu-drama last night underlined for me how much some parts of our media would much rather sensationalise something than look at the facts. A terrific two-nighter over 3 hours and well worth watching if you missed it on ITV this week.
As we saw in the recent Reckless by-election, many kippers will not vote kipper in May. No doubt a very significant and electorally damaging to Dave hardcore will remain. But also it is clear (and openly admitted by many of them) that a certain share will vote Tory in May. My own best guess is that UKIP's actual share on the day will be about 4% lower than current polling and that most of that will revert to the blues. The extent of this 'swingback' will be influenced by issues like Hamilton. The kippers are going to have to work very hard over the coming weeks to maintain discipline and to keep their share of fruitloops and nasties away from the public eye.
I don’t think that some at least Kippers realise the extent to which “Brussels” is monstered in the popular British media, and how much that contributes to their popularity.
Mention of “straight bananas” for example, was for a considerable while, always good for a laugh.
Watching the Christopher Jeffries docu-drama last night underlined for me how much some parts of our media would much rather sensationalise something than look at the facts.
Occupying foreign powers are occcupying foreign powers however much you dress it up.
How many troops does the EU have stationed in the UK?
A better question is why does the EU have troops stationed anywhere since it isn't a nation state, why does it have a military staff, why does it have an external action force etc etc
Oh no! Not the media narrative turning? How will we cope without the constant puff peices in The Guardian or the glowing praise in the DT? The wheels really have come off now -without our staunch Fleet Street support we may as well give up now.
Watching the Christopher Jeffries docu-drama last night underlined for me how much some parts of our media would much rather sensationalise something than look at the facts. A terrific two-nighter over 3 hours and well worth watching if you missed it on ITV this week.
I don’t think that some at least Kippers realise the extent to which “Brussels” is monstered in the popular British media, and how much that contributes to their popularity.
Mention of “straight bananas” for example, was for a considerable while, always good for a laugh.
Watching the Christopher Jeffries docu-drama last night underlined for me how much some parts of our media would much rather sensationalise something than look at the facts.
Occupying foreign powers are occcupying foreign powers however much you dress it up.
Did you have a bad night or something?
I can never understand why it’s always “plucky little Britian” vs Europe. Last time I looked there were 20+ other nations who were EU members, and presumably they all have occasions when national interest appears to be at variance with what “Europe” says. Do we never, ever, agree with anyone else, and do they all, always, gang up against us?
You might have noticed that FN are ahead in France, AfD are rapidly moving up the polls in Germany, Syriza are probably going to win in Greece next month, Bepe Grillo is ahead in Italy. Podemos has come from nowhere to lead the polls in Spain in under four months. Its not that its EU against the UK, its rapidly becoming a large part of the population of major member states against some or all of the EU.
When you read scandalously undemocratic nonsense like this can you be surprised.
Sorry but the media has already decided it hates UKIP and Ed Miliband, though on any particular day it struggles to decide which should receive the most ire.
Andrew Neil@afneil·6 hrs6 hours ago Inheritance of Question Time with Farage/Brand = some real numpties on our Twitter line. Hope they crawl back to their caves by next week
The elephant in the room, which the liberal media (left and right) dont understand, is UKIP is about small c conservatism, especially social conservatism, and there isn't any other party in town that caters to that demographic. If you are the type of voter whose blood boils at (metropolitan) liberal views including, but not restricted to, political correctness, you won't care how UKIP is portrayed in the newspapers for two reasons, firstly they are the (liberal) "enemy" so what do you expect from them, but also no one else around is even appearing to cater to your views. I am absolutely sure if there was an "old labour" party around UKIP would have half the support they currently enjoy.
TL;DR: If Labour and Conservatives hadn't spent so long disowning their socially conservative members, UKIP would be a 2% non-entity of a party.
Small c conservatism is indeed a defining aspect of kipper support. It is why the "back to the fifties" and Trumpton memes work so well. Small c conservatism is defined by opposition to change, even it seems from what the Dear Leader was saying on QT last night, opposition to any use of private companies in the NHS.
But being defined by opposition to change is a rather negative view of how the world should be, and does allow a good deal of conflict ( should we return to eighties Thatcherism, fifties Butskillism, or thirties Imperial preference?). The easy barroom chat does not make for coherent policies.
Hamilton has a lot of support in the party, he easily came top in the recent NEC elections with nearly half the party voting him on. He is not a marginal figure in UKIP. Why he is so popular is a mystery to me. Farage does have a habit of cutting rivals down to size though, so the seeds are set for a kipper bloodbath. Whether this happens before or after the GE is not yet clear. If Farage is not one of the MPs in May then it will happen because of his humiliation, if Farage is MP then he will be even more dictatorial in the party.
The UKIP contains all the seeds of its own destruction, it is just a matter of how it plays out.
Mr Indigo, I certainly don’t think that the EU is, or should be, safe from criticism. No human institution should be.
And I agree with you that, thanks to some serious financial mismanagement, including lack of effective regulation, many of of fellow EU citizens are suffering hardship. It is quite understandable that some will, in those circumstances, be attracted to sort-term, “populist” ideaqs, and parties promoting those ideas.
But yes, the President of the Commission DOES have a duty to combat such short-term views. Whether or not someone in Mr Skouris’ position should be saying so is, I agree, not entirely appropriate, but it doesn’t alter the fact that Mr Juncker does have such a duty.
In the last month, I've noticed a couple of polls which go some way to explaining Ukip's resilience to bad publicity. They may be 'rogue' ones but they chime with comments I heard in the last few years of my tenure as a union rep.
In these polls, about 30% thought they were being 'gagged" in what they could say about some subjects, and in another poll, 50% believed Ukip were being treated unfairly by the media.
This may be a combination of unreliable polling and paranoia, but the view about "thought crime" also came from my union members who weren't particularly right wing or Millwall supporters.
With a proportion of the population of this mindset, the main parties may face a bigger struggle than they think to bring their voters back.
These voters expect bad publicity and to be called names - it reinforces their sense of grievance and it's why they defected anyway.
Small c conservatism is indeed a defining aspect of kipper support. It is why the "back to the fifties" and Trumpton memes work so well. Small c conservatism is defined by opposition to change, even it seems from what the Dear Leader was saying on QT last night, opposition to any use of private companies in the NHS.
I think the same is true of "forward looking" parties. Just because its moving forward doesn't mean its going to be an improvement, Milibandism almost certainly won't be an improvement on where we are now, Brownism was a disaster as well. In many ways Europeanism is the ultimate conservatism, its based on the dreams and fears of old men. It has been completely content to ignore the democratic will in two of its nations and conspire in the downfall of elected leaders and replace them with technocrats, and now we have a judge telling politicians that its there job to defeat Euroscepticism, I dont want to go back to the 50's (I'm not a kipper) but I fail to see the EU as the great leap forward, unless we are using those words in their Maoist context.
But yes, the President of the Commission DOES have a duty to combat such short-term views. Whether or not someone in Mr Skouris’ position should be saying so is, I agree, not entirely appropriate, but it doesn’t alter the fact that Mr Juncker does have such a duty.
That's like saying Mr Cameron has a duty to combat short-term socialist leanings because people are currently feeling poor. No politician has a duty to combat any change in view of the electorate, they are the servants not the masters, they have a duty to respond to the views of the electorate, or stand aside when they elect someone else to represent them. Ofcourse Mr Juncker wasn't elected by any electorate...
Yet another reason why UKIP needs a fundamental reevaluation of its leadership. Hamilton, as someone found guilty by a Parliamentary inquiry of abuse of his position should never in a million years have been able to get to the point where he was being considered for a seat and at the same time, if true, then Farage should not be in the position where he can spike prospective candidates because of the threat to his own supremacy.
But yes, the President of the Commission DOES have a duty to combat such short-term views. Whether or not someone in Mr Skouris’ position should be saying so is, I agree, not entirely appropriate, but it doesn’t alter the fact that Mr Juncker does have such a duty.
That's like saying Mr Cameron has a duty to combat short-term socialist leanings because people are currently feeling poor. No politician has a duty to combat any change in view of the electorate, they are the servants not the masters, they have a duty to respond to the views of the electorate, or stand aside when they elect someone else to represent them. Ofcourse Mr Juncker wasn't elected by any electorate...
Ofcourse Mr Juncker wasn't elected by any electorate...
Sadly. “Twould be much better if he were. Might get some more serious candidates elected to the EU Parliament if it had more power over the Commission.
In the last month, I've noticed a couple of polls which go some way to explaining Ukip's resilience to bad publicity. They may be 'rogue' ones but they chime with comments I heard in the last few years of my tenure as a union rep.
In these polls, about 30% thought they were being 'gagged" in what they could say about some subjects, and in another poll, 50% believed Ukip were being treated unfairly by the media.
This may be a combination of unreliable polling and paranoia, but the view about "thought crime" also came from my union members who weren't particularly right wing or Millwall supporters.
With a proportion of the population of this mindset, the main parties may face a bigger struggle than they think to bring their voters back.
These voters expect bad publicity and to be called names - it reinforces their sense of grievance and it's why they defected anyway.
Policies are secondary.
There may be something in that, CD.
UKIP paranoia may be caused by the fact somebody is out to get them. They have certainly been subjected to some aggressive hounding in recent months. First Carswell was personally criticised, until it became obvious it wasn't working: Reckless was likewise vilified, again with little evident success. The Bird/Bolter story would scarcely have registered above local rag rag level had it not appeared to cast UKIP in a bad light. When it transpired the lady was a fantasist and Bird guilty of little more than conceit, interest levels dropped close to zero. Now we have Hamilton, who was correctly judged to be an unsuitable candidate.
If the Wheeler story is true, he is unsuitable to be a sponsor, but on previous Press form we should be prepared for more smoke than fire. UKIP handled the Bird and Hamilton issues well. Maybe they're learning. Let's see how they get on with this new one.
If you are right, CD, they can afford to tough it out.
Btw, if anybody has yet to catch up on the denouement of the Bird/Boulter thing, Nigel Horne did a good summary of it in The Week.
From this week we've learnt that if you want to become a UKIP candidate, it will help if you have either some knee pads or a rich donor sugar daddy.
Remind me how UKIP are different from the other parties again?
They are different I imagine because it won't affect their vote in the slightest, whereas other parties would have had a much bigger problem. UKIP voters are far too angry with the system to care. Also attacking a party whose members are almost defined by their hatred of political correctness on most of the recent issues has got to be the very definition of futility.
Morning all and I reckon Neil Hamilton is about as likely to be an MP come 9th May as NPXMP. I see there was a 5% swing from Labour to Tory in the council by-election in Broxtowe last night according to the result I saw on Twitter.
Why bother about which seats UKIP think they might win. Douglas Carswell will be the only man standing come 9th May, except of course in Trumpton where UKIP will be running the council.
Of course you are cherry picking results to suit your own prejudices, hence why your forecasts are often proved wildly wrong. The By Election Model, for what it is worth, predicts a Labour lead on May 7, I am told. Hence why Rod Crosby has stopped mentioning it.
Small c conservatism is indeed a defining aspect of kipper support. It is why the "back to the fifties" and Trumpton memes work so well. Small c conservatism is defined by opposition to change, even it seems from what the Dear Leader was saying on QT last night, opposition to any use of private companies in the NHS.
I think the same is true of "forward looking" parties. Just because its moving forward doesn't mean its going to be an improvement, Milibandism almost certainly won't be an improvement on where we are now, Brownism was a disaster as well. In many ways Europeanism is the ultimate conservatism, its based on the dreams and fears of old men. It has been completely contents to ignore the democratic will in two of its nations and conspire in the downfall of elected leaders and replace them with technocrats, and now we have a judge telling politicians that its there job to defeat Euroscepticism, I dont want to go back to the 50's (I'm not a kipper) but I fail to see the EU as the great leap forward, unless we are using those words in their Maoist context.
I would agree. The problem with the EU is its own small c conservatism: In particular the CAP supports 19th Century land management, and fails to recognise that agriculture is not the mainspring of the European economy. It favours old style centralism; it fails to recognise the threat to liberal social values of a liberal immigration policy etc.
But the kipper-style small c conservatism breaking out in right wing populism in Europe is at least as repellent, and also fails to engage with the modern world.
But the alternative is not much brighter: The Middle East is a basket case of islamic despotism; Russia is a kleptocracy, China is crushing dissent in Hong Kong; and even the American Dream has gone very sour. Canada and Australia are at least as troubled by multi-culturism as the UK.
Frankly, the world is in a bit of a mess; but Europe is the best and most civilised bit.
I get the sense that the one seat many serious Kippers don't want to win on May 7th is Thanet South
Kind of. In fact on balance... yes.
The only problem with that is that even if UKIP win half a dozen seats in other constituencies, Farage losing would be the media narrative - at least in the short term.
I am also not convinced that if he lost Farage would necessarily give up the leadership - bearing in mind he would still have 3 more years to serve. And that would be a recipe for chaos in the party.
I'd go back to a 50s/60s style welfare state tomorrow. I doubt many committed Ukippers would. Wasn't it also a period when we spent a lot of time being rebuffed in our attempts to join the EEC?
In the last month, I've noticed a couple of polls which go some way to explaining Ukip's resilience to bad publicity. They may be 'rogue' ones but they chime with comments I heard in the last few years of my tenure as a union rep.
In these polls, about 30% thought they were being 'gagged" in what they could say about some subjects, and in another poll, 50% believed Ukip were being treated unfairly by the media.
This may be a combination of unreliable polling and paranoia, but the view about "thought crime" also came from my union members who weren't particularly right wing or Millwall supporters.
With a proportion of the population of this mindset, the main parties may face a bigger struggle than they think to bring their voters back.
These voters expect bad publicity and to be called names - it reinforces their sense of grievance and it's why they defected anyway.
Policies are secondary.
There may be something in that, CD.
UKIP paranoia may be caused by the fact somebody is out to get them. They have certainly been subjected to some aggressive hounding in recent months. First Carswell was personally criticised, until it became obvious it wasn't working: Reckless was likewise vilified, again with little evident success. The Bird/Bolter story would scarcely have registered above local rag rag level had it not appeared to cast UKIP in a bad light. When it transpired the lady was a fantasist and Bird guilty of little more than conceit, interest levels dropped close to zero. Now we have Hamilton, who was correctly judged to be an unsuitable candidate.
If the Wheeler story is true, he is unsuitable to be a sponsor, but on previous Press form we should be prepared for more smoke than fire. UKIP handled the Bird and Hamilton issues well. Maybe they're learning. Let's see how they get on with this new one.
If you are right, CD, they can afford to tough it out.
Btw, if anybody has yet to catch up on the denouement of the Bird/Boulter thing, Nigel Horne did a good summary of it in The Week.
However, both the Hamilton expenses case, and Bolter, have shown that UKIP's supposed 'water tight' vetting procedures are a complete sham, and no better than those of the other parties.
One wonders who else has crept through the defences?
Playing the card that 'we're not like the other parties' is dangerous when you start to look worse.
What do you think the chances are the UKIP will be polling significantly lower in a month or two's time ? I would have said low, most of their 20% dont care about policy, because if the did they would be voting for a party with some chance of enacting that policy.
Zero. For the same reason it wasn't after the euro elections media onslaught
Coincidence, no doubt, but today's YouGov has UKIP down at 14........
Today's YouGov has the highest retention of Labour 2010 VI and also the highest RedLD VI for over a month.
Small c conservatism is indeed a defining aspect of kipper support. It is why the "back to the fifties" and Trumpton memes work so well. Small c conservatism is defined by opposition to change, even it seems from what the Dear Leader was saying on QT last night, opposition to any use of private companies in the NHS.
I think the same is true of "forward looking" parties. Just because its moving forward doesn't mean its going to be an improvement, Milibandism almost certainly won't be an improvement on where we are now, Brownism was a disaster as well. In many ways Europeanism is the ultimate conservatism, its based on the dreams and fears of old men. It has been completely contents to ignore the democratic will in two of its nations and conspire in the downfall of elected leaders and replace them with technocrats, and now we have a judge telling politicians that its there job to defeat Euroscepticism, I dont want to go back to the 50's (I'm not a kipper) but I fail to see the EU as the great leap forward, unless we are using those words in their Maoist context.
I would agree. The problem with the EU is its own small c conservatism: In particular the CAP supports 19th Century land management, and fails to recognise that agriculture is not the mainspring of the European economy. It favours old style centralism; it fails to recognise the threat to liberal social values of a liberal immigration policy etc.
But the kipper-style small c conservatism breaking out in right wing populism in Europe is at least as repellent, and also fails to engage with the modern world.
But the alternative is not much brighter: The Middle East is a basket case of islamic despotism; Russia is a kleptocracy, China is crushing dissent in Hong Kong; and even the American Dream has gone very sour. Canada and Australia are at least as troubled by multi-culturism as the UK.
Frankly, the world is in a bit of a mess; but Europe is the best and most civilised bit.
Nicely put, Fox.
Btw, CAP makes most sense in terms of German War Reparations - which is not to say it makes much sense now.
I think the Juncker/judge business is unsurprising, but does add to why I think the EU's unsustainable (the larger and more obvious reason is that the eurozone is doomed to fail).
It's not an honest broker. It's slanted, inherently prejudiced at the highest level (we also saw this when Le Pen[sp] was stripped of parliamentary privilege over something she'd said). It can never get the sceptics back on-side because their suspicion is confirmed at every opportunity through failed audits, repeated plebiscites and the blatantly bias of the EU political class.
Imagine if we had a vote on a second EU constitution (the first having had its font changed and the title altered to The Lisbon Treaty), and we said No. Does anyone think that would stop it? We'd either have another vote, or the politicians would sign up to The Shangri-La Treaty, which would jumble up the order of the chapters and decrease the font size by half a point, but tell exactly the same story.
Yes a half decent single poll that if reversed would have drawn endless posts of the "Sleazy Labour on the slide. Tories on the up. If the Tories can keep this up Labour will really be in trouble"
As it is, it's probably just bouncing around the mean. More polls needed!
But neither Bolter nor Hamilton were selected, so the system worked.
Other Parties have not always been successful in stopping unsuitable types from becoming candidates, despite greater experience and resources. You can probably think of as many unfortunate examples as me.
In alphetical order, we can start with Archer and Aitken. How many do you think we'll have by the time we get to Z?
However, both the Hamilton expenses case, and Bolter, have shown that UKIP's supposed 'water tight' vetting procedures are a complete sham, and no better than those of the other parties.
One wonders who else has crept through the defences?
Hamilton got through the Conservative Party vetting a few years ago as well let us not forget, and was rejected by the constituency party. Bolter wasn't a candidate either:
I understand from a Ukip source that Bolter’s sudden decision to back out of the candidate selection process in South Basildon, accusing the party’s general secretary Roger Bird of sexual impropriety, came after she discovered that doubts were being raised within the constituency party about her suitability.
But neither Bolter nor Hamilton were selected, so the system worked.
Other Parties have not always been successful in stopping unsuitable types from becoming candidates, despite greater experience and resources. You can probably think of as many unfortunate examples as me.
In alphetical order, we can start with Archer and Aitken. How many do you think we'll have by the time we get to Z?
Hundreds. Politics does tend to attract the less attractive members of society.
Incidentally, is Hamilton still Deputy Chairman of UKIP?
From this week we've learnt that if you want to become a UKIP candidate, it will help if you have either some knee pads or a rich donor sugar daddy.
Just wondering why this particular "Sugar Daddy" is so keen to see Hamiliton elected even to the point of imploding a party he is actually a major donor to?
If this country is to make way in a very very competitive world in the future we absolutely need to ensure we have a genuinely well educated workforce. The educational establishment is dead against this. Defeating the Blob is a matter of national importance. Really. The Blob poses a greater risk to our national future than terrorism.
But neither Bolter nor Hamilton were selected, so the system worked.
Other Parties have not always been successful in stopping unsuitable types from becoming candidates, despite greater experience and resources. You can probably think of as many unfortunate examples as me.
In alphetical order, we can start with Archer and Aitken. How many do you think we'll have by the time we get to Z?
Hundreds. Politics does tend to attract the worst members of society.
Incidentally, is Hamilton still Deputy Chairman of UKIP?
I believe so, Watcher, and although I don't like the guy I can't see much wrong with that (as long as he hasn't fiddled his expenses....again.)
He has experience of politics, is well-known and some people seem to like him. He's obviously totally unsuitable for public office though and if Wheeler can't see that, UKIP will just have to do without his money.
They could probably find other rich donors if they needed to. They are running consistently mid-teens in the polls. Some rich bas*ard will take them up.
If this country is to make way in a very very competitive world in the future we absolutely need to ensure we have a genuinely well educated workforce. The educational establishment is dead against this. Defeating the Blob is a matter of national importance. Really. The Blob poses a greater risk to our national future than terrorism.
Since Gove was replaced by Nicky "We need to promote tolerance of beliefs and ideas even if we strongly disapprove of them." Morgan the conservatives have given up on education. Gove it seems was too ambitious for British children, he didn't understand that the education system was there to be run for the benefit of teachers.
If this country is to make way in a very very competitive world in the future we absolutely need to ensure we have a genuinely well educated workforce. The educational establishment is dead against this. Defeating the Blob is a matter of national importance. Really. The Blob poses a greater risk to our national future than terrorism.
Ordinary teachers (My wife is one) defined as the blob?
Really - is that what rightwing commentary has come to?
If this country is to make way in a very very competitive world in the future we absolutely need to ensure we have a genuinely well educated workforce. The educational establishment is dead against this. Defeating the Blob is a matter of national importance. Really. The Blob poses a greater risk to our national future than terrorism.
Since Gove was replaced by Nicky "We need to promote tolerance of beliefs and ideas even if we strongly disapprove of them." Morgan the conservatives have given up on education. Gove it seems was too ambitious for British children, he didn't understand that the education system was there to be run for the benefit of teachers.
Teachers vote. If Dave gets back in I strongly suspect the Blob will come under renewed attack. I'm hoping for a massive ramping up of Free School numbers. The Blob cannot and will not be reformed. It must simply be sidelined and made irrelevant.
If this country is to make way in a very very competitive world in the future we absolutely need to ensure we have a genuinely well educated workforce. The educational establishment is dead against this. Defeating the Blob is a matter of national importance. Really. The Blob poses a greater risk to our national future than terrorism.
Ordinary teachers (My wife is one) defined as the blob?
Really - is that what rightwing commentary has come to?
No wonder they won't vote for you.
Apparently they do, thats the problem. If the teaching establishment was a bunch of lefties, Cameron would ignore them because they dont vote for him. Unfortunately it seems have over half of teachers vote Conservative, hence his backpedalling to keep them happy.
If this country is to make way in a very very competitive world in the future we absolutely need to ensure we have a genuinely well educated workforce. The educational establishment is dead against this. Defeating the Blob is a matter of national importance. Really. The Blob poses a greater risk to our national future than terrorism.
Ordinary teachers (My wife is one) defined as the blob?
Really - is that what rightwing commentary has come to?
No wonder they won't vote for you.
If she shares your views, I'd plonk her firmly in the Blob.
But neither Bolter nor Hamilton were selected, so the system worked.
Other Parties have not always been successful in stopping unsuitable types from becoming candidates, despite greater experience and resources. You can probably think of as many unfortunate examples as me.
In alphetical order, we can start with Archer and Aitken. How many do you think we'll have by the time we get to Z?
Hundreds. Politics does tend to attract the worst members of society.
Incidentally, is Hamilton still Deputy Chairman of UKIP?
I believe so, Watcher, and although I don't like the guy I can't see much wrong with that (as long as he hasn't fiddled his expenses....again.)
He has experience of politics, is well-known and some people seem to like him. He's obviously totally unsuitable for public office though and if Wheeler can't see that, UKIP will just have to do without his money.
They could probably find other rich donors if they needed to. They are running consistently mid-teens in the polls. Some rich bas*ard will take them up.
UKIP aren't particularly dependent on rich donors in any case. Stuart Wheeler's money is handy, but it won't be the end of the world if he stops giving.
If this country is to make way in a very very competitive world in the future we absolutely need to ensure we have a genuinely well educated workforce. The educational establishment is dead against this. Defeating the Blob is a matter of national importance. Really. The Blob poses a greater risk to our national future than terrorism.
Ordinary teachers (My wife is one) defined as the blob?
Really - is that what rightwing commentary has come to?
No wonder they won't vote for you.
If she shares your views, I'd plonk her firmly in the Blob.
If the Blob is defeating the gragantuanly wasteful free schools policy, I'm all for it.
I know to my personal cost that UKIP is very light on the trigger when deciding who is 'unsuitable' to be a UKIP candidate.
FWIW, I generously think that is more good than bad. But to maintain fairness and balance, they need an effective and transparent appeal system. They do not have one---or not yet.
There is certainly a shortage of good UKIP candidates. But that shouldn't be a surprise. Most people who would obviously make a good MP will have joined a different party.
Hello Easterross - yes, that was a good Tory by-election result in their strongest ward, and I predicted the result fairly accurately - Tory hold but majority down (by 100, though up in % terms) as everyone's vote collapsed. Before you put money on Broxtowe, though, note that the 4% swing to the Tories was compared with 2011 (when Labour was 10% ahead nationally in the polls) - it's equivalent to a 2% national Labour lead now.
There were lots of local factors, not least clear skies all day but heavy rain in the evening, but one point of wider interest is the LibDem dog that didn't bark. There was no LD candidate this time, and normally you'd expect that to help Labour. I didn't see much sign of that on the doorstep - the LD vote was just dissipating, to all parties and abstention. That's different from parts of the constituency where the LibDem 2010 vote was essentially a Guardian vote - conversion to Labour in those areas is massive, while in yesterday's ward (mainly a middle-class commuter area) Guardian readership is I suspect negligible. So I wonder if the Red Liberal phenomenon needs to be broken down by demographics for punters weighing up constitutencies, and it will be much more marked in places like Cambridge (which Labour hopes to win from 3rd place) and much less so in areas where it was basically NOTA.
Small c conservatism is indeed a defining aspect of kipper support. It is why the "back to the fifties" and Trumpton memes work so well. Small c conservatism is defined by opposition to change, even it seems from what the Dear Leader was saying on QT last night, opposition to any use of private companies in the NHS.
I think the same is true of "forward looking" parties. Just because its moving forward doesn't mean its going to be an improvement, Milibandism almost certainly won't be an improvement on where we are now, Brownism was a disaster as well. In many ways Europeanism is the ultimate conservatism, its based on the dreams and fears of old men. It has been completely contents to ignore the democratic will in two of its nations and conspire in the downfall of elected leaders and replace them with technocrats, and now we have a judge telling politicians that its there job to defeat Euroscepticism, I dont want to go back to the 50's (I'm not a kipper) but I fail to see the EU as the great leap forward, unless we are using those words in their Maoist context.
I would agree. The problem with the EU is its own small c conservatism: In particular the CAP supports 19th Century land management, and fails to recognise that agriculture is not the mainspring of the European economy. It favours old style centralism; it fails to recognise the threat to liberal social values of a liberal immigration policy etc.
But the kipper-style small c conservatism breaking out in right wing populism in Europe is at least as repellent, and also fails to engage with the modern world.
But the alternative is not much brighter: The Middle East is a basket case of islamic despotism; Russia is a kleptocracy, China is crushing dissent in Hong Kong; and even the American Dream has gone very sour. Canada and Australia are at least as troubled by multi-culturism as the UK.
Frankly, the world is in a bit of a mess; but Europe is the best and most civilised bit
What many Europeans are finding is that the modern world isn't turning out very well for them.
If this country is to make way in a very very competitive world in the future we absolutely need to ensure we have a genuinely well educated workforce. The educational establishment is dead against this. Defeating the Blob is a matter of national importance. Really. The Blob poses a greater risk to our national future than terrorism.
Moronic article, the quality of the students is by far the biggest determinant in educational outcomes. The relentless importing of low IQ immigrants ensure we will continue to see a decline in the standard of living and a grim future.
Hopefully Nick P will be along later to explain it. Meanwhile, it appears the 4/11 against him winning back his seat is too short. Perhaps some bold PBer will offer something a tad more generous.
If this country is to make way in a very very competitive world in the future we absolutely need to ensure we have a genuinely well educated workforce. The educational establishment is dead against this. Defeating the Blob is a matter of national importance. Really. The Blob poses a greater risk to our national future than terrorism.
Ordinary teachers (My wife is one) defined as the blob?
Really - is that what rightwing commentary has come to?
No wonder they won't vote for you.
If she shares your views, I'd plonk her firmly in the Blob.
If the Blob is defeating the gragantuanly wasteful free schools policy, I'm all for it.
Sadly, the Blob is all for keeping the deadwood in place, to the detriment of teaching standards.
But neither Bolter nor Hamilton were selected, so the system worked.
Other Parties have not always been successful in stopping unsuitable types from becoming candidates, despite greater experience and resources. You can probably think of as many unfortunate examples as me.
In alphetical order, we can start with Archer and Aitken. How many do you think we'll have by the time we get to Z?
What I can't understand is why parties will often stand by obviously dreadful people to the bitter end. Had CCHQ not expelled Brian Coleman, Barnet Conservatives would have reselected him, and lost control of the borough.
In all fairness, not sure the media ever did like Ukip did they?
Ukip if you want. The media is not for kipping.
I think the media didn't really pay much attention to UKIP till about a year ago. Most media outlets (with the exception of the Express) have been hostile since the Spring (though there individual journalists are sympathetic).
I know to my personal cost that UKIP is very light on the trigger when deciding who is 'unsuitable' to be a UKIP candidate.
FWIW, I generously think that is more good than bad. But to maintain fairness and balance, they need an effective and transparent appeal system. They do not have one---or not yet.
There is certainly a shortage of good UKIP candidates. But that shouldn't be a surprise. Most people who would obviously make a good MP will have joined a different party.
Ffs David - if they won't have you they must be picky!
Good luck anyway with your Party ambitions, whatever they are now. Maybe the post of Deputy Chairman will become vacant soon?
If this country is to make way in a very very competitive world in the future we absolutely need to ensure we have a genuinely well educated workforce. The educational establishment is dead against this. Defeating the Blob is a matter of national importance. Really. The Blob poses a greater risk to our national future than terrorism.
Moronic article, the quality of the students is by far the biggest determinant in educational outcomes. The relentless importing of low IQ immigrants ensure we will continue to see a decline in the standard of living and a grim future.
One of my friends, who suffered a serious stroke last year, has a new, albeit temporary, carer; a young Bulgarian lady who says that she's a law graduate. Sadly, apparently, her father needs a procedure which, in Bulgaria, isn't free, so to pay for it she's working here. She can earn more as a carer in UK, apparently, than she can as a new law graduate at home.
Reading between the lines, I think Stuart Wheeler likes Neil Hamilton, because he thinks Hamilton is innocent of the charges the Phoney Pharaoh accused him of.
Remember, Hamilton proved very publicly he was the victim of a monstrous injustice, twice if you include the time he won damages from the Bolshevik Broadcasting Corporation in the 80s.
Based on the current polling averages, with Con 31%, Lab 33%, LibDems 8% and UKIP 16%, Stephen Fisher's latest 2015 GE seats projection (showing changes over the past week) is as follows:
If this country is to make way in a very very competitive world in the future we absolutely need to ensure we have a genuinely well educated workforce. The educational establishment is dead against this. Defeating the Blob is a matter of national importance. Really. The Blob poses a greater risk to our national future than terrorism.
Ordinary teachers (My wife is one) defined as the blob?
Really - is that what rightwing commentary has come to?
No wonder they won't vote for you.
If she shares your views, I'd plonk her firmly in the Blob.
If the Blob is defeating the gragantuanly wasteful free schools policy, I'm all for it.
Trouble is you sum up perfectly the problem. My wife and also at a school found that whatever Labour said the majority by far would welcome with open arms however stupid or whacky. On the other hand the same people would go out of their way to ensure anything the Tories put forward failed and by god they really made sure that happened.
My wife finally resigned and left as she said at the time "the children were just simply political cannon fodder to these people"
Moronic article, the quality of the students is by far the biggest determinant in educational outcomes. The relentless importing of low IQ immigrants ensure we will continue to see a decline in the standard of living and a grim future.
Its nonsense, never mind quotes from Wikipedia, and "most respectable scientists" here it is from the horses mouth, the American Psychological Association, IQ tests are not culturally neutral.
Are "culture-free" or "culture-fair" intelligence tests possible, or is success on a test inevitably influenced by familiarity with the culture in which the test was developed?
Moreover, is it desirable--or even possible--to adapt Western tests to non-Western cultures, or should new tests be designed from the ground up to measure skills and abilities valued by the culture in which they are to be used?
Many psychologists believe that the idea that a test can be completely absent of cultural bias--a recurrent hope of test developers in the 20th century--is contradicted by the weight of the evidence. Raven's Progressive Matrices, for example, is one of several nonverbal intelligence tests that were originally advertised as "culture free," but are now recognized as culturally loaded.
Hello Easterross - yes, that was a good Tory by-election result in their strongest ward, and I predicted the result fairly accurately - Tory hold but majority down (by 100, though up in % terms) as everyone's vote collapsed. Before you put money on Broxtowe, though, note that the 4% swing to the Tories was compared with 2011 (when Labour was 10% ahead nationally in the polls) - it's equivalent to a 2% national Labour lead now.
There were lots of local factors, not least clear skies all day but heavy rain in the evening, but one point of wider interest is the LibDem dog that didn't bark. There was no LD candidate this time, and normally you'd expect that to help Labour. I didn't see much sign of that on the doorstep - the LD vote was just dissipating, to all parties and abstention. That's different from parts of the constituency where the LibDem 2010 vote was essentially a Guardian vote - conversion to Labour in those areas is massive, while in yesterday's ward (mainly a middle-class commuter area) Guardian readership is I suspect negligible. So I wonder if the Red Liberal phenomenon needs to be broken down by demographics for punters weighing up constitutencies, and it will be much more marked in places like Cambridge (which Labour hopes to win from 3rd place) and much less so in areas where it was basically NOTA.
Thanks Nick, that's helpful in more ways than one.
There have been some suggestions here this morning that the odds of 4/11 about you retaining Broxtowe are a bit short. Stick around. We may be able to pick up a bargain.
Hopefully Nick P will be along later to explain it. Meanwhile, it appears the 4/11 against him winning back his seat is too short. Perhaps some bold PBer will offer something a tad more generous.
You open for business, SquareRoot?
You've got the inside info haven't you.??
Nevertheless the point remains, Labour should have taken it and didn't.. I guess it must have been the heavy rain after all!
If this country is to make way in a very very competitive world in the future we absolutely need to ensure we have a genuinely well educated workforce. The educational establishment is dead against this. Defeating the Blob is a matter of national importance. Really. The Blob poses a greater risk to our national future than terrorism.
Moronic article, the quality of the students is by far the biggest determinant in educational outcomes. The relentless importing of low IQ immigrants ensure we will continue to see a decline in the standard of living and a grim future.
Codswallop.
Report into the success of London primary schooling points out that the diversity of pupils is the biggest determining factor.
I don’t think that some at least Kippers realise the extent to which “Brussels” is monstered in the popular British media, and how much that contributes to their popularity.
Mention of “straight bananas” for example, was for a considerable while, always good for a laugh.
Watching the Christopher Jeffries docu-drama last night underlined for me how much some parts of our media would much rather sensationalise something than look at the facts.
Occupying foreign powers are occcupying foreign powers however much you dress it up.
How many troops does the EU have stationed in the UK?
A better question is why does the EU have troops stationed anywhere since it isn't a nation state, why does it have a military staff, why does it have an external action force etc etc
"Eurocorps" is the nearest the EU has to a military force.
There's only issue with it.
It's not an EU force, and is not subordinate to the EU in any way shape or form.
In 1987, the French and Germans put together a brigade - The Franco-German Brigade - which could be deployed when both countries agreed.
That has since been expanded, and five states are part of Eurocorp. They are: Belgium, France, Germany, Luxemboug and Spain. In total, Eurocorp has maybe 6,000 troops associated with it. (Most of these are the original Frenco-German brigade, and are French or German.)
Mr. M, if you're giving multi-culturalism the benefit for educational achievement in London, will you give it the blame for the disgrace that happened in Rotherham?
Edited extra bit: left the original message, as amending it might make replies look weird.
That was somewhat clumsily worded. Mass immigration would be a better way of describing what's happened, and why we have some backward cultural enclaves.
If this country is to make way in a very very competitive world in the future we absolutely need to ensure we have a genuinely well educated workforce. The educational establishment is dead against this. Defeating the Blob is a matter of national importance. Really. The Blob poses a greater risk to our national future than terrorism.
Moronic article, the quality of the students is by far the biggest determinant in educational outcomes. The relentless importing of low IQ immigrants ensure we will continue to see a decline in the standard of living and a grim future.
Codswallop.
Report into the success of London primary schooling points out that the diversity of pupils is the biggest determining factor.
Reading between the lines, I think Stuart Wheeler likes Neil Hamilton, because he thinks Hamilton is innocent of the charges the Phoney Pharaoh accused him of.
Remember, Hamilton proved very publicly he was the victim of a monstrous injustice, twice if you include the time he won damages from the Bolshevik Broadcasting Corporation in the 80s.
He did get the better of George Carman.
Carman: "I suppose you refuse to listen to anything you find disagreeable."
Comments
Apt, all considered....
Time to tell the fools that we are their masters....
I don't recall any UKIP-favourable stories in the 'join the Euro or die/Brexit = armageddon' FT.....
Like the Lib Dems (Rennard and so forth) they are just going to have to get accustomed to the media scrutiny that Labour & the Tories are used to that comes with proximity to power.
If only they weren't such frequent sources of great copy too......I have no doubt they will add greatly to the gaiety of the nation between now and May.....if not beyond.
Poor lambs......Its so unfair!
I think Dan Snow is right on the money.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/26/ukip-history-mps-government In any case I dont think it will effect UKIP's vote that much, because Farage is following the 25% strategy, just like Clegg is.
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/12/nick-clegg-and-nigel-farage-are-pursuing-the-same-electoral-strategy/
As for Neil Hamilton: he's poison.
Playing the card that 'we're not like the other parties' is dangerous when you start to look worse.
Now their sexual harrasment bomb has blown up in their faces they've latched onto Hamilton. If only there was such scrutiny in the media of liblabcon candidate selection.......
TL;DR: If Labour and Conservatives hadn't spent so long disowning their socially conservative members, UKIP would be a 2% non-entity of a party.
Mention of “straight bananas” for example, was for a considerable while, always good for a laugh.
Watching the Christopher Jeffries docu-drama last night underlined for me how much some parts of our media would much rather sensationalise something than look at the facts.
Neil Hamilton Will Never Be Prime Minister
Why bother about which seats UKIP think they might win. Douglas Carswell will be the only man standing come 9th May, except of course in Trumpton where UKIP will be running the council.
I can never understand why it’s always “plucky little Britian” vs Europe. Last time I looked there were 20+ other nations who were EU members, and presumably they all have occasions when national interest appears to be at variance with what “Europe” says.
Do we never, ever, agree with anyone else, and do they all, always, gang up against us?
A terrific two-nighter over 3 hours and well worth watching if you missed it on ITV this week.
When you read scandalously undemocratic nonsense like this can you be surprised.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/11286233/EU-judge-gives-Jean-Claude-Juncker-the-key-task-of-defeating-Euroscepticism.html
"Your mission is to defeat Eurosceptics, the EU's most senior judge tells the president of the European Commission"
Not a politician, a JUDGE!
Sorry but the media has already decided it hates UKIP and Ed Miliband, though on any particular day it struggles to decide which should receive the most ire.
Inheritance of Question Time with Farage/Brand = some real numpties on our Twitter line. Hope they crawl back to their caves by next week
But being defined by opposition to change is a rather negative view of how the world should be, and does allow a good deal of conflict ( should we return to eighties Thatcherism, fifties Butskillism, or thirties Imperial preference?). The easy barroom chat does not make for coherent policies.
Hamilton has a lot of support in the party, he easily came top in the recent NEC elections with nearly half the party voting him on. He is not a marginal figure in UKIP. Why he is so popular is a mystery to me. Farage does have a habit of cutting rivals down to size though, so the seeds are set for a kipper bloodbath. Whether this happens before or after the GE is not yet clear. If Farage is not one of the MPs in May then it will happen because of his humiliation, if Farage is MP then he will be even more dictatorial in the party.
The UKIP contains all the seeds of its own destruction, it is just a matter of how it plays out.
And I agree with you that, thanks to some serious financial mismanagement, including lack of effective regulation, many of of fellow EU citizens are suffering hardship. It is quite understandable that some will, in those circumstances, be attracted to sort-term, “populist” ideaqs, and parties promoting those ideas.
But yes, the President of the Commission DOES have a duty to combat such short-term views. Whether or not someone in Mr Skouris’ position should be saying so is, I agree, not entirely appropriate, but it doesn’t alter the fact that Mr Juncker does have such a duty.
In these polls, about 30% thought they were being 'gagged" in what they could say about some subjects, and in another poll, 50% believed Ukip were being treated unfairly by the media.
This may be a combination of unreliable polling and paranoia, but the view about "thought crime" also came from my union members who weren't particularly right wing or Millwall supporters.
With a proportion of the population of this mindset, the main parties may face a bigger struggle than they think to bring their voters back.
These voters expect bad publicity and to be called names - it reinforces their sense of grievance and it's why they defected anyway.
Policies are secondary.
We need a complete change at the top.
Sadly. “Twould be much better if he were. Might get some more serious candidates elected to the EU Parliament if it had more power over the Commission.
Remind me how UKIP are different from the other parties again?
'Turns against' implies a change of state. I'm not sure that's the case here.
UKIP paranoia may be caused by the fact somebody is out to get them. They have certainly been subjected to some aggressive hounding in recent months. First Carswell was personally criticised, until it became obvious it wasn't working: Reckless was likewise vilified, again with little evident success. The Bird/Bolter story would scarcely have registered above local rag rag level had it not appeared to cast UKIP in a bad light. When it transpired the lady was a fantasist and Bird guilty of little more than conceit, interest levels dropped close to zero. Now we have Hamilton, who was correctly judged to be an unsuitable candidate.
If the Wheeler story is true, he is unsuitable to be a sponsor, but on previous Press form we should be prepared for more smoke than fire. UKIP handled the Bird and Hamilton issues well. Maybe they're learning. Let's see how they get on with this new one.
If you are right, CD, they can afford to tough it out.
Btw, if anybody has yet to catch up on the denouement of the Bird/Boulter thing, Nigel Horne did a good summary of it in The Week.
http://www.theweek.co.uk/politics/61754/sex-leaks-and-lies-basildon-brush-off-for-natasha-and-neil
But the kipper-style small c conservatism breaking out in right wing populism in Europe is at least as repellent, and also fails to engage with the modern world.
But the alternative is not much brighter: The Middle East is a basket case of islamic despotism; Russia is a kleptocracy, China is crushing dissent in Hong Kong; and even the American Dream has gone very sour. Canada and Australia are at least as troubled by multi-culturism as the UK.
Frankly, the world is in a bit of a mess; but Europe is the best and most civilised bit.
The only problem with that is that even if UKIP win half a dozen seats in other constituencies, Farage losing would be the media narrative - at least in the short term.
I am also not convinced that if he lost Farage would necessarily give up the leadership - bearing in mind he would still have 3 more years to serve. And that would be a recipe for chaos in the party.
Question Time is an entertainment programme
One wonders who else has crept through the defences?
Ukip if you want. The media is not for kipping.
Btw, CAP makes most sense in terms of German War Reparations - which is not to say it makes much sense now.
It's not an honest broker. It's slanted, inherently prejudiced at the highest level (we also saw this when Le Pen[sp] was stripped of parliamentary privilege over something she'd said). It can never get the sceptics back on-side because their suspicion is confirmed at every opportunity through failed audits, repeated plebiscites and the blatantly bias of the EU political class.
Imagine if we had a vote on a second EU constitution (the first having had its font changed and the title altered to The Lisbon Treaty), and we said No. Does anyone think that would stop it? We'd either have another vote, or the politicians would sign up to The Shangri-La Treaty, which would jumble up the order of the chapters and decrease the font size by half a point, but tell exactly the same story.
As it is, it's probably just bouncing around the mean. More polls needed!
But neither Bolter nor Hamilton were selected, so the system worked.
Other Parties have not always been successful in stopping unsuitable types from becoming candidates, despite greater experience and resources. You can probably think of as many unfortunate examples as me.
In alphetical order, we can start with Archer and Aitken. How many do you think we'll have by the time we get to Z?
So it might be more accurate, although obviously less fun, to say that both of them were rejected by UKIPs vetting process.
Incidentally, is Hamilton still Deputy Chairman of UKIP?
"Morning all and I reckon Neil Hamilton is about as likely to be an MP come 9th May as NPXMP."
You offering odds, or just shooting the breeze?
Nick Palmer is 4/11, if you need a guide price.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/11288932/The-Blob-gobbled-up-Michael-Gove-now-its-coming-for-David-Cameron.html
If this country is to make way in a very very competitive world in the future we absolutely need to ensure we have a genuinely well educated workforce. The educational establishment is dead against this. Defeating the Blob is a matter of national importance. Really. The Blob poses a greater risk to our national future than terrorism.
He has experience of politics, is well-known and some people seem to like him. He's obviously totally unsuitable for public office though and if Wheeler can't see that, UKIP will just have to do without his money.
They could probably find other rich donors if they needed to. They are running consistently mid-teens in the polls. Some rich bas*ard will take them up.
Really - is that what rightwing commentary has come to?
No wonder they won't vote for you.
Toton & Childwell Meadows (Broxtowe) result:
CON - 54.5% (+5.8)
LAB - 26.0% (-3.5)
UKIP - 19.5% (+9.8)
FWIW, I generously think that is more good than bad. But to maintain fairness and balance, they need an effective and transparent appeal system. They do not have one---or not yet.
There is certainly a shortage of good UKIP candidates. But that shouldn't be a surprise. Most people who would obviously make a good MP will have joined a different party.
There were lots of local factors, not least clear skies all day but heavy rain in the evening, but one point of wider interest is the LibDem dog that didn't bark. There was no LD candidate this time, and normally you'd expect that to help Labour. I didn't see much sign of that on the doorstep - the LD vote was just dissipating, to all parties and abstention. That's different from parts of the constituency where the LibDem 2010 vote was essentially a Guardian vote - conversion to Labour in those areas is massive, while in yesterday's ward (mainly a middle-class commuter area) Guardian readership is I suspect negligible. So I wonder if the Red Liberal phenomenon needs to be broken down by demographics for punters weighing up constitutencies, and it will be much more marked in places like Cambridge (which Labour hopes to win from 3rd place) and much less so in areas where it was basically NOTA.
Not the 'Shoo in for Palmer' then ?
Hopefully Nick P will be along later to explain it. Meanwhile, it appears the 4/11 against him winning back his seat is too short. Perhaps some bold PBer will offer something a tad more generous.
You open for business, SquareRoot?
Good luck anyway with your Party ambitions, whatever they are now. Maybe the post of Deputy Chairman will become vacant soon?
So low IQ ...... not always.
Remember, Hamilton proved very publicly he was the victim of a monstrous injustice, twice if you include the time he won damages from the Bolshevik Broadcasting Corporation in the 80s.
Con ................ 291 (-1 seat)
Lab ................ 299 (+1 seat)
Lib Dems ......... 29 (unchanged)
Others ............. 31 (unchanged)
Total ............. 650 seats
Surprisingly, there's still seemingly little or no account taken of the surge in support for the SNP.
My wife finally resigned and left as she said at the time "the children were just simply political cannon fodder to these people"
http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb03/intelligence.aspx
There have been some suggestions here this morning that the odds of 4/11 about you retaining Broxtowe are a bit short. Stick around. We may be able to pick up a bargain.
Nevertheless the point remains, Labour should have taken it and didn't.. I guess it must have been the heavy rain after all!
Report into the success of London primary schooling points out that the diversity of pupils is the biggest determining factor.
http://www.bris.ac.uk/news/2014/november/london-effect.html
There's only issue with it.
It's not an EU force, and is not subordinate to the EU in any way shape or form.
In 1987, the French and Germans put together a brigade - The Franco-German Brigade - which could be deployed when both countries agreed.
That has since been expanded, and five states are part of Eurocorp. They are: Belgium, France, Germany, Luxemboug and Spain. In total, Eurocorp has maybe 6,000 troops associated with it. (Most of these are the original Frenco-German brigade, and are French or German.)
But Eurocorp is not an EU force.
Edited extra bit: left the original message, as amending it might make replies look weird.
That was somewhat clumsily worded. Mass immigration would be a better way of describing what's happened, and why we have some backward cultural enclaves.
Carman: "I suppose you refuse to listen to anything you find disagreeable."
Hamilton: " Not really. I'm listening to you."