I'm tempted by Nigel Farage !

Hear, hear feetlebaum! I had been thinking the same, along the lines of "I wouldn't vote for Ukip even if the Archangel Gabriel was the candidate".

Not a polite comment, Ana, as we're all (still) entitled to an opinion, and neither feetlebaum nor I has said anything rude (or ridiculous) about people who are planning to vote for Ukip; we are merely putting our own points of view.

I agree with Feetlebaum and wheniwasyourage. Even the photo on the front page put me off, as I told the newsagent when I bought my Guardian today.

I don't think people really know about very much about UKIP policies other than the anti EU / reduce immigration soundbites.

Their pay for a visit to your GP, privatisation of the NHS, reintroduction of selective schooling, anti-green / anti-ecological etc are all part of their retrograde policies...

These are why I won't be voting UKIP.

Oh that and their dubious links to extreme groups in Europe, their poor screening of candidates and their total lack of experience ..... seems like a recipe for disaster

I'm sorry - you mean if UKIP (or any other party) said they 'would cure cancer' you wouldn't vote for them because you disliked some of their other policies?

Note that feetlebaum said 'would' not 'could' or 'would try to'.

Obviously none of you has had first-hand experience of that awful disease.

I do not understand, Ana. Feetlebaum said he would not vote for Ukip whatever, presumably because of their policies in dividing the country.
I would not either because their policies are abhorrent.
They might promise a cure for cancer but would definitely not deliver.

Ana, my husband died of brain cancer in January 2012.

Ana the chances of UKIP doing anything useful, never mind curing cancer, are very remote!
ps I have lost family and friends to cancer..they would not have voted UKIP either!

Sigh...

feetlebaum did not say he wouldn't vote for UKIP 'whatever', durhamjen. And yes, I do realise it's highly unlikely that any party (or any one person) could guarantee a cure for cancer, Penstemmon.

Obviously no one gets my point.

Nigel came through my door today! He is now in the recycling bin.

If anyone actually could demonstrate that they could cure cancer, Ana, people would vote for them in order for them not to have to go through what I have been through,
Thanks for your sympathy, not that I expected anything else from you. You actually said that none of us obviously had first hand experience of that dreadful disease. I tell you that I have and all you do is sigh!

I think the linked article that annodomini posted should give even supporters of UKIP a degree of unease.

Here in Australia we had an MP who said a lot of the same things as Farage, Pauline Hanson. She preyed on people's fears, and got elected to be the federal MP for MY area. I was utterly horrified because I saw through her from the start, and I was equally horrified that over half my neighbours had voted for her anti-immigration, anti-Asian stance.

I joined the Ipswich Anti-Racism Committee to fight against what she stood for, and we defeated all her attempts to get re-elected.

But one lesser known aspect of her tenure as federal MP for Oxley, was that we might as well have had no federal representative at all. The people in her office were useless, they had no idea of their duties at all. If you wanted your MP to deal with a problem she was both unwilling and incapable. She refused to learn about or understand any political issues at all. People had to go to their (Labour) Senator for any representation they needed, and the Senator's office found its work doubled almost overnight.

I don't think Farage is as thick as Hanson - but that could well make him even more dangerous.

Here he is in 1983

Nigel Farage, leader of UKIP circa 1983... UKIP wanted it banned, so here it is!

Tried to copy but UKIP has managed to get it banned perhaps, as they wished to. A picture of Farage when he was a punk with shaved head and huge mohican, etc- sticking 2 fingers up behind a policeman near Picadilly Circus.

durhamjen, I certainly wasn't 'sighing' because you mentioned that you, personally, had been affected by cancer. Anyone who's been touched by any serious illness deserves sympathy of course. What a rather mean thing to say about me!

Is this the photo you meant, granjura?

blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100268896/nigel-farage-the-punk-and-other-photos-the-politicians-dont-want-you-to-see/

Thank goodness we can still vote as we like, NanKate, so if you are tempted to vote for UKIP that is your right. But be aware, UKIP represents a vote for the unknown. They have no real policies or experience of government, they just prey on people's genuine fears and disillusionment with politics. Be careful, though, the garrulous Nigel Farage is like a snake-oil doctor with a quick cure for all ills. UKIP'S record at the EU is disgraceful. They take EU money and play no part in EU proceedings. Their chosen role is to be destructive to the organisation of which they are part. The worry is that UKIP is not just a rather ludicrous irrelevance. There are unfortunate precedents of extreme political organisations that whipped up people's fears and pointed the finger of blame at minorities. In the quite recent past it cost Europe dear to clean up its act after the terrible consequences of such activities and I would not want to contribute to anything that threatened to repeat those awful mistakes. But who you vote for is up to you, NanKate, and long may you continue to enjoy that right.

@Ana - Seven years ago I was operated on for lung cancer, so I am not completely lacking in experience of that disease (or on fact those diseases). My original comment was, as I am sure you know really, rhetorical - since the situation could never arise, I could do the cause of cancer research no harm by not voting for Doctor Crock and his Crackpots.

At least the Monster Raving Loony Party has a sense of humour...

Whether you like UKIP or Nigel Farage or not, they are going to do very well in the next election. Why! Because whether or not you agree with what he says or stands for he is simply chiming with the public.

Now I think there are some who would consider anybody who votes for UKIP as the 'Great Unwashed Public' but that is not the case. He is taking votes from all parties and all classes.

I have said before, I would not for UKIP as they do not take part in voting in the European Parliament, just cause trouble. They have some good ideas that I agree with, e.g. I too consider that immigration should be on merit not through free movement of nations. I also believe that many UKIP supporters, like those who detest UKIP believe, they have a policy of closing the door on immigration. This is both scaremongering by the haters and an Ill perceived notion of what UKIP policies are by the UKIP voter who does not listen to what Farage says. He does not advocate a total ban on immigration and it is a lie to say he does.

The rise of the 'Nationalist' parties, I do not call them far right anymore as I have never thought that was true, is gaining a hell of a momentum. Why! Because the public in many countries are sick of poor governance by both their own governments and the European government.

I watched a report on BBC News today. They were doing a report on the EU. It summed it up to me. They were in Portugal where, like us in the UK, they are going through an austerity programme. Public Sector jobs and wages were cut etc. They are disillusioned with their government for getting them into the mess and the EU Parliament equally. Then they went to Poland. Today is the 10th anniversary of Poland joining the EU. They love it. Why wouldn't they??? They have received handouts from the EU, us included, that have made their standard of living better and their economy grow.

As they say in the report. It is a tale of 2 Europe's.

As for being in or out of Europe I for one am tempted by out if it does not address the obvious move to being a Federal State. I would not have that thought had the initial negotiations which intended it to be a trading policy had still been in place.

The EU Parliament is too me a dangerous, devisive organisation as it it is today.

Instead of having wars it is proving 'The pen is mightier than the sword' and we are loosing our identity and right of self governance, that is why I am tempted to vote to bail out before it is too late.

Yes, thanks Ana, that's the one. The others in that article are amazing and surprising too - wow.

Every vote if it counts is a vote for the unknown as compromise and wheeler dealing come into the equation as soon as the electorate go back to their homes. I would vote for any party which made it compulsory to vote with a space on the voting paper to say that all candidates are a waste of space. Round where I live people are believed to vote for a monkey if it's wearing the right colour. I think it would be a great benefit to this part of the world if there were no safe seats. It would keep them on their toes and the north east would suddenly find jobs and opportunity thrust upon them.

Stansgran

I don't like the 'Safe Seat' scenario. I agree it would keep them on their toes more.

I think it makes for lazy councils and MP's in some cases.

The biggest problem with a safe seat is in my opinion the need to 'keep the voter' in a state of what he/she expects their life to be. I will expand. If you live in the North it would appear that there is a repeated arguement , even on GN, that the North suffers from lack of employment and relies on welfare more than the South. I personally find that questionable but if we accept that is the case then Labour will want to 'keep that status quo' as that is where their core vote comes from. If things look up then the argument of the North South divide starts to decrease and the voter just might think beyond their stereotypical voting pattern or what their peer group has always voted for, namely Labour.

What I am trying to say, perhaps badly, is, all parties parachute in candidates into their safe seats who have no knowledge of the area, doesn't have to work for their votes and quite possibly is the worst candidate/council the voter will get.

Take the current hooha over Straw, Blair and Kinnock children, being parachuted into safe seats. Take the talk about Boris Johnson and the Newark election. All parties have the same outlook over the safe seat, it is tantamount to taking the rise out of the local electorate in my opinion.

The damn problem is, they all do it. They all will continue to do it. We, the voter will very rarely change our opinion because we do not have truly local knowledge of the person we are voting for as our MP in most cases, unless ofcourse they have been voted in for years and we know what they stand for. Even then do we change our mind?

Politics certainly is a game isn't it.

UKIP are not competent to sort out the problems of British politics. These have caused a huge public sense of disillusionment with politics in general and many aspects of the conduct of the establishment. Charlatans outfits like UKIP who have no manifesto or experience of governing anything properly, even their own party, will only make things worse with their divisive rantings. I wish that it were otherwise but it ain't. I had great hopes for the Liberals until they ditched their scruples and got into bed with the Tories.

Just to mention in case someone missed the point, only the first photo is allegedly genuine; the rest are photoshop efforts by the journalist who wrote the article!!