I'm tempted by Nigel Farage !

i shall be voting ukip in may. whether i would vote for then in the general election i havn't decided yet. i think brussels have too much say in how we run our own country. i have no objection to skilled workers coming to fill jobs here if they can't be filled by british citizens. i think the human rights act is being abused, if we want to get rid of foreign criminals etc we shouid be abie to decide not brussels. we are not in control of our own country now. the last person i would want in power is ed milliband and i wouldn'd trust ed balls with my weekly shop! i believe the conservatives are trying to sort the mess left by labour but some of their policies i don't agree with ie overseas aid and gay marriage. i am all in favour of live and let live and i am not racist.

It is no surprise that there are few British nurses coming up when they treat there existing highly qualified staff so badly. They are actually forcing these nurses to leave by demanding unreasonable conditions on them. would you, or your husband expect to take a pay cut ( £7000 per year in one instance) to do the same job, but at a lower grade, or keep the same pay by working 12 hour shifts and be on call at weekends?

I don't understand what this means HollyDaze:
If Farage can put a stop to jobs being advertised (and filled) abroad with the UK government giving financial incentives for companies to do exactly that, before they are advertised in the UK, I'd be all for him getting in
Government giving incentives for companies to recruit from abroad???

The NHS only advertise for foreign nurses when they are desperate. Not enough british people want to go into nursing these days. My local hospital was desperate for midwives as they had a very high demand (youngest city in the UK) and the only solution was to import a clutch of Italian midwives.
I was sitting on a train heading into the south london suburbs recently and thinking about Farage's nasty speech about not hearing English spoken. There was a mix of people on that train, and many of them were not white but many of these looked to me like born and brought up Londoners to me. Few people talk at all on London area public transport. And who are these English people who "speak on public transport" . Pretty darn rare birds I'd say. Made me think that the picture he was trying to summon into peoples minds (although of course it would be illegal to say it out loud) was "I was the only white person in the carriage!!!!"

I'm sorry, laidback, I'm not quite sure what you mean when you say they are buying policies from "Think Tanks". If you mean paying for surveys to be done, or paying consultants to find out what the public are wanting, then I would imagine all the political parties do that. If they don't, then it may account for the fact that they are so out of touch with the general public. Unless, of course, they just listen to the Trade Unions, or to those with big business power

As for the recruiting of staff overseas, three of my family work for the NHS. They are all highly qualified in their field and on top of a three year pay freeze have all been given the option of downgrading - taking large pay cuts, or working 12 hour shifts and being on call at weekends. At the same time there are adverts in Romania for nurses with 'at least six months experience' for a good salary as well as relocation expenses and housing benefits when they arrive.

The moral of the staff is at an all time low to say the least and the prospect of opting out of the EU is very tempting for them.

Stopped worrying about ukip when I read they were buying policies from 'think tanks'. Wonder if they have a full set yet!

Aka Why do they have to be encouraged unless, of course, they are genuinely rather than ironically pathetic and won't say boo to a goose? What a low opinion you and Ana seem have of so many Gransnet members. I have much more respect for them.

Sorry, I do not understand, Ana. Can you explain your last comment a bit more clearly. Do you want us out of Europe or not?

I wish everyone who wants us out of Europe would provide us with a full account of the potential financial implications on the UK economy of such a move.

(By which I mean, of course, that you're both killing any sort of debate before it's begun, in case I get accused of criticism again )

Yeah, go absent and durhamjen!

Absent that's really going to encourage people to speak out

There's nothing wrong with wanting to opt out of Europe, but there's plenty wrong with the spurious arguments put forward by UKIP.

Maybe they just do not exist, Absent. We must all want to stay in Europe.

I'm a little tired of all these hypothetical pathetic grannies who don't have the courage of their own convictions and won't say boo to a goose, although apparently there are loads of them.

Of course there are. I just don't think anyone would want to put their head above the parapet when the ammunition is obviously already there and waiting!

Why not? There are good and bad arguments for in, and out.

You know no one would dare to argue a case for opting out of Europe on here, granjura! That doesn't mean there aren't any who would do so if they were given the choice.

LOL- as I agree with you, and we would probably put forward the same arguments, that's OK ;)

I'm with Ariadne and Aka on this one.
Granjura, I don't believe the Uk would be better out of Europe. Do I have to put my arguments, or can I just say i'd prefer to remain part of Europe.

Quite right Ariadne

It's hard to believe that anyone could take this bunch of xenophobic clowns seriously, but of course Farage and his ilk play on ignorance and/or fear.

Agreed Ariadne.

BTW- who here truly believes the UK would be better out of Europe- and what are your arguments?

People may say UKIP is not veering towards the National Front, but the obvious distaste for foreigners and the desire to cleanse our shores suggests the opposite. They are right of right wing already - do we really want this?

Farage is, of course, speaking the language that presses the buttons of the Little Englanders, and that in itself is frightening, in that they believe him.

Re anno's comment about the immigrant staff who work in the NHS - we were waiting in an outpatients' clinic, and appointments were running late. Miserable OG sitting in front of us started moaning loudly about foreigners blocking the system. Theseus pointed out to me the names, up on the board, of the doctors: Dr Li, Dr Owanga and Dr Singh....

There are loonies in all of the political parties. If I lived in the UK, I would most certainly vote UKIP. I have seen Farage on Question Time a fair few times now and he is far more eloquent and widely spoken than many of the mainstream politicians.

I think the attraction of UKIP is that people want someone to listen to their concerns and Farage does do that - if he would deliver is another matter but if he didn't, that would make him the same as Tories, Labour and Lib Dems.

If Farage can put a stop to jobs being advertised (and filled) abroad with the UK government giving financial incentives for companies to do exactly that, before they are advertised in the UK, I'd be all for him getting in.

We must not forget the out and out loonies who have been involved with UKIP - Farage tries to distance himself from them, but there have been too many for his party to be taken remotely seriously. Feeding peoples' anxieties and nurturing disaffection with the main parties are easy to do - formulating realistic affordable policies is another matter entirely.

Of course both Farage and LePen are milking it ;)