I'm tempted by Nigel Farage !

Thanks for that info, Jane. Hope they draw the boundary where Ukip were second. Durham and Darlington NHS is confusing enough, without joining us up for political reasons.
You do not need to start your own party. Just vote Green or NHA. They both oppose everything Ukip stand for, and will save the NHS.

Nankate, you started this. Did you vote Ukip?

I felt a teeny bit sorry for the footballer. He was trying to make the point that UKIP was seen as the lesser of the evils and completely messed it up. I assume he was there in the anticipation of a question about football??? (i turned off after 20 mins)
The UKIP rep was allowed to interrupt constantly - presume the voice in Dimbleby's ear was behind this, as he was just sitting there looking tired and vague and letting her interrupt both panellists and audience members. She reverted to being polite when the UKIP supporter spoke and addressed him as "sir" .
The only realistic way to keep UKIP out is for Labour to get an overall majority, which will need a bit more oomph from them. They need to mobilise the younger voters who have grown up in multi-ethnic UK and are not harking back to the golden age of the British Empire.

I agree absolutely with your last paragraph Jess. The problem seems to me to be that people see politics and politicians as something apart, something they can't relate to, or get involved with.
I think Obama did reach out to the young to a certain extent, through social media. The conventional media certainly don't help by trivialising everything. It always makes me laugh that people say they don't like the way all politicians look and sound the same and then complain that Ed Miliband looks "weird".

It's a worry that the right seem to be on the rise in Europe generally. In Germany one of the pro nazi candidates was elected, in Denmark the right were successful and so it goes. We need to remember that the right tend to rise alongside recessions.

merlotgran

QuestionTime has got off to a hilarious start. Sexist comments from a footballer playing straight into UKIP's hands. Boos from the audience for his crass remark. Ha Ha.

UKIP bashing is so commonplace they don't even bother to find someone articulate enough to put his point across.....I don't even know what his point was.

I've only just watched it and when I saw him on the panel - my face looked like this - I wondered how well informed he was but sadly ...

Even more worrying: I found myself agreeing with Piers Morgan on some things

I found it amusing that the usual 'they are a racist party' was thrown about - right up until a black man said he'd voted for UKIP and will vote for them again; a deathly silence fell over the audience lol Same thing happened last week when it was an Asian man; maybe the opposition spin machine is working well with some people ...

It also turned out that the UKIP manifesto was torn up by Farage as he referred to it as 100 pages of drivel. That's that question answered then

100 pages of embarrassment for him more likely [and [with no manifesto means he doesn't have to be asked questions about it]. Just imagine if another party did that. It's politics seen through the eyes of a 5 year old imo .

HollyDaze I admire your efforts but trying to go against the trend of some threads (including this one) is just peeing in the wind .

I do agree with many of your posts.

petallus - that's not the spririt is it! You can't say nothing just because it goes against the trend

I come at this from a neutral standpoint - I have nothing to gain or lose by the elections in the UK; I am happy, therefore, to call things as I see them. I also like to point out inconsistencies with reasoning ...

After all is said and done - the threads about UKIP are the longest running ones

100 pages of embarrassment for him more likely

Is that what's called a supposition?

If the "other" traditional political parties were worth anything at all then UKIP would be wasting their time wouldn't they? Nigel Farage would be a kind of Screaming Lord Sutch of 2014. But the other parties are totally rubbish and out of touch with ordinary people so UKIP is thriving. You really can't blame Nigel Farage can you?

I think perhaps if we all tried "to see politics through the eyes of a five year old" the world would be a far nicer place Tegan.

As in 'give me my toy back or I will hit you and scream?'

It just might work....

The toy being a referendum on Europe.

Exactly rosesarered That is the way they seem to behave anyway.

Oh dear - it all sounds so damn confusing. I always preferred to stick to the soft left - no raging idealists. I thought the Lib Dems fitted that description, but from what I read, they are imploding. In any case, after the last election they made that dreadful deal with the devil. If I were in the UK I'd probably stick with Labour, and hope they had people-friendly policies and kept the books balanced.

I would never trust UKIP because they are a hard right party. They have successfully tuned into the Zeitgeist against too much immigration, and too much interference from Brussels, but that is just a couple of issues.

Meanwhile here in Australia the population is finding out the hard way that the conservative party, ie the Liberal National Party (LNP) has moved to the vicious right. In the May 13th budget, which may well fail to get through the Upper House, the burden has fallen on the very poorest and most vulnerable, while the rich lose hardly anything in comparison.

The Labour Party was on the nose, with the enthusiastic help of the Murdoch press, and people wished for change.

Well, they should have been careful what they wished for!!

I would never trust UKIP because they are a hard right party.

Apparently not; according to YouGov, they are centre-left of right and classed as 'non-toxic'.

I wonder how many times I'd have to post that before people stop saying they are a radical right wing party

It'll never happen, Holly!

You've got to laugh haven't you Ana - it's a bit like 'stop ruining my strop by pointing out the facts'

HollyDaze; I'm finding it very hard to understand how you are coming at this from a neutral standpoint when you are arguing so much in favour of UKIP . If I defended Labour as much as you defend UKIP I'd assume that I was a died in the wool Labour supporter. Alas, the alternative vote used to be for the LibDems who were always the voice of reason [easy to be when you're never likely to be elected]. That alternative has now gone, but I much prefered it.

My bet is that after all the drama the UK will still have the 2 main parties - Conservative and Labour.
UKIP, LibDems et al have their day but won't last. The electorate are too lazy and/or too complacent to change .
France is nearly the same - once they realise the threat from the right they'll get scared and retract. (hopeful icon). As in 2002.

Hollydaze Yougov are not the final arbiter of anything. They are a market research organisation. We don't actually know what UKIP stand for other that against Europe, and for sending all the foreigners that we don't like (e.g. Romanians but not Germans) home and not letting any more in.
NF tore up the last manifesto and has not written another one. We only have the random rantings of a motley bunch of candidates/MEPs/councillors. These have a right-wing flavour to them. We don't even really have the voting record of the current MEPs as they so rarely turn up to vote, just take the money and enjoy the lunches.

Tegan

As I don't live in the UK, there would be little point in my being a UKIP supporter. I'm very pleased that they have won so many votes for the reasons I have already given.

I don't so much support them - it's more I oppose the misinformation and knee jerk reactions against a legitimate party that are trying to address the concerns of the population of the UK.

If I have stated something in favour of UKIP winning the general election, then please, by all means,point that out to me and I will see where my posting became skewed.

JessM

I didn't say that YouGov are a final arbiter of anything. The chap on BBC news was asked about UKIP and that is how he described them - unless you have suspicions that he is a secret UKIP supporter, I see no reason to disbelieve him.

I don't recall hearing or reading anything about Farage wanting to send all Romanians (but not Germans) home - I have heard him say that the UK needs to be selective in which immigrants are allowed into the UK and with that, I agree with him.

Your comment about him saying 'and not let any more in' is at odds with what he has said numerous times: he would rather have a doctor from India than a labourer from (and I can't remember where from) - I also agree with that.

'Random', 'ranting' and 'motley' - I take it you prefer to use emotive words rather than rational dialogue?

Of course they have a right-wing flavour to them and that may not suit hard line left-wingers but I would imagine it suits those who share the same concerns.

With regard to turning up to vote, that has already been addressed: Farage has a better attendance record in Strasbourg than many MPs do at Westminster (if we take into account those who turn up, sign the book and then leave again without actually taking part in anything and they've only had to travel within the UK).