I'm tempted by Nigel Farage !

What exactly do you take exception to, Bold "Penstemmon" ? More Grammar Schools? Re-instating the student grant? protecting rural Schools? The demise of village schools is the reason they have to shut so quickly when bad weather strikes as very few pupils, or pupils live within walking distance..

I admit he's a better speaker than any of the other three, Cameron, Clegg or Miliband - but that's the trouble. (Saw him on Sunday with Andrew Marr.)

I wouldn't trust him an inch.

I don't trust any of them!

You can give parents the right to choose which school their children attend. What you can't do is guarantee they can then attend the school of their choice.

The BNP (formerly National Front) is losing membership and support to UKIP. In my opinion, the latter is just the former with a suit and tie.

Hear hear!

Hear hear too!

....and another from me. If I hear Nigel Farage talking about his discomfort when travelling in a large city and hearing only foreign languages spoken until he reaches the suburbs, I'm sure I will explode. What the hell does that idiot expect in large university towns and cities, with substantial ethnic populations of both students travelling up and down to uni, and legitimate immigrants who enrich the culture, working, shopping and living in the city centre? It's his mentality that is causing his discomfort. As has been reported in response to his comments, the majority of citizens who are used to hearing other languages take it in their stride. He needs to get out more (not the pub!)

I heard him speaking about the pressure immigration puts on the NHS. What does he think the NHS would do without immigrant staff?

Did you hear the remark made by a young party member who said she loved UKIP because it was fun - just like being in Dad's Army??

But he is winning and fooling many- and his rise is seriously worrying because, as Anno says, he just represents the NF but in a suit. I've forgotten, when are the next General Elections?
People are so disgruntled and disenfranchised- that he will very possibly win the populist vote- with the help of the populist Press (:
Frightening. This is happening all over Europe too. And Marine Lepen is rising fast, just as he is.

come on- he is not the national front - he may be right wing but nowhere is he advocating any National front policies. if people feel disgruntled and disenfranchised because they are being ignored by the main parties that is a failure of democracy.
the National front like to think UKIP is allied to them because it suits their purpose and far too many people are falling for that line.
fwiw - I support no particular party at the moment as I can see what a mess and how fractured this country is and no-one seems to be able to straighten it out.

Euro elections are on May 22nd in this country. UKIP made inroads last time. I was an observer at the count and was dismayed at the way their piles of votes were mounting up. General election is to be in May 2015.

Nigel Farage to me is very much a one horse race, talking only of immigration.

Given some power, what will he be saying???

Thanks Annodomini- living abroad I'd forgotten.

I suppose you are aware that we are in turmoil here in Switzerland. Our voting system is totally the opposite to UK- direct democracy. And anyone who can collect a sufficient of signatures, can force a new Law to be voted by the public. 2 weeks ago, there was a vote on limiting foreigners in Switzerland- and the vote passed, with the tiniest of majority- the French speaking Cantons and the larger German speaking cities of Basel and Zurich, voting against. It is creating so much turmoil- and of course putting the bilateral agreements Switzerland has with Europe, into jeaopary- the Erasmus programme for students, and international research programmes, being the first casualties. Direct Democracy sounds great, doesn't it? And yet so frustrating when a large minority (French speaking) always loses the vote- but has to suffer the consequences (the Central German Kantons who voted massively in favour hardly have any immigrants!!!) - and when the populist Press whips up the populist vote.

Switzerland has of course got a much higher % of immigrants than UK.

Of course both Farage and LePen are milking it ;)

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.

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.

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....

Agreed Ariadne.

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

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.

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.

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

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.