UKIP-An Objective Viewpoint

Nigel Farage: Mad As A Hatter

There are so many reasons why UKIP won't achieve that a whole blog could be taken up with listing and explaining them. Some of them are:

It's merely a plaything for Nigel Farage and his MEP chums who don't take UK politics seriously, only their EU salaries and allowances.

Farage only tolerates his chums and purges the party of anybody he perceives as independent minded or a threat to his position. Hence the candidate in today's Rotherham by-election still being given responsible positions despite being a complete political incompetent.

UKIP claim to be a libertarian party but the overwhelming majority of members would a run a mile if they knew what libertarianism actually was. Other than opposing the smoking ban their few attempts at policy are far from libertarian. If you don't believe me visit the Libertarian Alliance website.

Despite efforts they have never managed to cobble together reasoned and affordable policies, largely because the only thing the membership agree on is getting out of the EU. Any other policy discussions in open meetings are likely to lead to major rows and splits.

The only people who take UKIP ever so seriously are UKIP members.

Following is an independent assessment of UKIP's current position from an article in the Telegraph Online:

Sorry, but it isn’t going to happen. In 1983 the SDP were going to break the mould of British politics; they didn’t. In 1989 the Greens were going to transform the British political landscape; they couldn’t. And in 2015 the great Ukip breakthrough will disintegrate upon the unyielding wall of electoral reality.

This morning the Tweed Army are on a roll. They are surging in Rotherham on the back of the fostering scandal. As this paper reports today, no fewer than eight Tory MPs are said to be in discussion with Sir Stewart Wheeler about possible defection. And opinion poll after opinion poll shows Ukip snapping furiously at the heels of the flatlining Liberal Democrats.
It’s a false dawn. However noble their cause, or steely their resolve, Nigel Farage and his irregulars are marching towards defeat.

Ukip are not a political force, but a political curiosity. In years to come many a pub quiz trophy will be won by those who can correctly answer the question: “What was the name of the guy who ran the anti-EU party? Begins with an N."

In life there are rules. What goes up will come down. The Earth rotates around the Sun, not vice versa. And come election time, minor British political parties get squeezed out of existence.
It may not be fair. It may not be healthy. But them’s the facts. And unfortunately, they are immutable.
Of course, come June 2014, when next year's European votes are counted, there’s going to be a whole lot of muting going on. Ukip will be in the process of recording their greatest ever election triumph. The Tories will have been beaten into a humiliating third place. Eurosceptic MPs will be fanning out across the airways demanding action and the summary execution of Ken Clarke.

And then nothing will happen. A year later Ukip will run, they will fight and they will lose. There will be no Ukip MPs. Their impact on sitting Tory MPs will have been negligible. They will have 3 or at a stretch 4 per cent of the vote to show for their efforts.

How can my cold, Leftist eyes penetrate the political crystal ball so clearly? Well, for one thing, I’m not a Ukip supporter, so I’m unencumbered by the hope and expectation attending several of those currently predicting a national outbreak of Farage Mania.

The truth, if you care to look for it, is out there. Firstly, there is the electoral system. Ukip cannot make a breakthrough in 2015 because the system they will be fighting under has been specifically designed to prevent them from making that breakthrough. It was not built to further the political ambitions of free spirits such as Citizen Farage. It was created to crush them underfoot; and so it will.

Then there is the second big problem facing Nigel Farage’s party: he hasn’t got one. In relative terms, Ukip have no money, no infrastructure and no activists. They have no organisational expertise, no strategy expertise and no policy expertise. Yes, they punch above their weight in the media, but that’s because much of the media is instinctively sympathetic to their agenda, not because of any presentational acumen. Not so long ago Ukip’s idea of a communications strategy was to wind up Robert Kilroy-Silk and let him go.

Then there is a third obstacle. Ukip are a single-issue organisation, campaigning on an issue most voters couldn’t care less about. According to Mori’s latest issue tracker, only 5 per cent of voters regard Europe as one of the most important issues facing the country. At the time of the 1997 election that figure stood at 43 per cent. Ukip aren’t surfing a wave, they’re paddling in a rock pool watching the tide go out.

People can spend the next couple of years preparing with mounting excitement for Ukip’s moment. But come the next election, the fix will be in. That tiny percentage of voters who rate Europe as the defining issue will have a clear choice. The Eurowary – if not fully fledged sceptic – Prime Minister Cameron. Or the Europhile – if not fully obsessive – Prime Minister Miliband. Nigel Farage – no debate, no money, no activists, no infrastructure, no hope of a seat, never mind power – won’t get a look-in.

That’s the problem with being a lone warrior. It’s lonely.

UKIP-Politics of the Playground

Just when UKIP were being defended by non members over the Rotherham foster business they go and prove, once again, why they bomb in proper elections, only gaining seats under the EU's ludicrous PR system.

Michael Fabricant suggests an electoral pact with UKIP in return for an in-out referendum on the EU. Do UKIP jump at the chance? No, they condemn it out of hand in a school playground style tantrum. Why? Because David Cameron called them names a few years ago.

Paul Nuttall, bagman for Nigel Farage, was on Radio Manchester today sobbing that David Cameron called them closet racists so they won't play with him any more. This is the party that claims causing offence should not be a criminal offence, but are happy to refuse us the chance of a referendum because Cameron upset them a few years ago.

Or maybe the UKIP MEPs are just enjoying their fat salaries and generous expenses a little too much to risk their seats on the gravy train. UKIP, part of the problem, not the solution.

A Letter from Ashdod, Israel

The following guest blog is from an English friend living in Ashdod in southern Israel. It tells of his life living with the constant threat of shells landing from Gaza from where Hamas have been carrying out terror attacks on Israeli civilians for some time:

It’s impossible for someone who has never been in southern Israel during a rocket attack to fully understand the emotions and thoughts you have when the Banshee-like rocket sirens begin to wail. They are loud and mournful, almost as if an angel was foreseeing the deaths of innocent children. When they occur in the dark of night, they are especially haunting and fill every fibre of your being with fear, adrenaline, and foreboding. You know instantly that rockets are heading towards your location and that within seconds they could explode on top of you.  

I lost count of the number of sirens we heard in our city of Ashdod over the 8 days of Operation Pillar of Defence (14-21 November 2012). I think I read somewhere that there were 140 individual rocket barrages on Ashdod alone. That means 140 sirens, which is on average one attack every 1 hour and 37 minutes, over 8 days. They seemed to never end. Across Israel, over 1,456 rockets were fired by Gazan terrorist groups. 

Normal every day activities you hardly think about become a matter of intense discussion and frequent hesitation. Going to the toilet, taking a shower, changing clothes, boiling/frying food in pans, taking the dog a walk, taking the bins out, going for a nap … going to bed at night, all become things you think about twice and then thrice, and do with a certain urgency. For example, during one attack I was caught in the shower and had to dry my feet (to avoid breaking my neck on the tiled floor) and run outside, wrapped in my towel, to the neighbour’s shelter all in the space of 45 seconds. 

We didn’t have a shelter or safety room of our own. Every time a siren sounded we had to race next door and into their safety room via their living room and kitchen. Once inside, when the sirens stopped, the rockets began to land or be taken out by the impressive Iron Dome missile defence shield. The explosions of the Iron Dome intercepting the rockets were huge and frequently occurred right over our location. The walls shook, the ground vibrated, windows sometimes smashed nearby and the audible volume of the explosions were akin to a car backfiring nearby.  

Sometimes the rockets landed. It’s quite easy to differentiate between an Iron Dome interception and a rocket hitting the ground. The interceptions mid-air are like someone whacking a large drum and frequently occur in groups. A rocket hitting the ground is more of a thud, and somehow, you hear … feel … and then visualize in your mind (within a split-second) the rocket impacting concrete. Again, it’s impossible to put into words, you have to experience it. In Ashdod alone, a number of buildings suffered direct hits and fires resulted. Many people suffered from shrapnel wounds, injuries from falling over, and probably the most underappreciated injury one can suffer during an attack, that of shock.  

The Assassination of Ahmed Jabari 

I knew immediately upon reading reports that Ahmed Jabari (head of the Hamas military wing) had been killed that we’d have rockets fired on our city within a few hours. There was no doubt about it, southern Israel would be under intense rocket fire that would rival any previous experience I had had in the two years I’d lived in the port city of Ashdod. The assassination of Jabari was a huge hit and would unleash a tightly coiled spring of fury that had been waiting to leap forth for many months.  

There had been a number of flare ups over the previous month or two, each one resulting in a brief lull. The latest exchange had started a week before the assassination (10th November 2012) when an Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) jeep on routine patrol next to the Gaza Strip border was attacked with an anti-tank missile. The two sides exchanged fire and rockets (over 100) began hitting southern Israeli communities, including a single attack here in Ashdod. All the major cities were hit, many people were wounded, and all schools were cancelled. Residents were upset that the Israeli response to the rocket fire was so weak, with barely any air strikes in retaliation.  

Things then went quiet (13th November 2012) amid rumours of a ceasefire. Most people, including myself, estimated this relatively brief exchange was over until the next one in a few months. However,   worst was soon to come. Israel had secretly decided upon a course of action in order to punish the terror group’s unprovoked attacks on Israeli civilians.  

The Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak had given a clue to the imminent strike, saying "Israel's reaction will come at the appropriate time”. Israelis shrugged off such words as typical inaction and delay in the face of rocket fire. Another minister Benny Begin said "the current exchange of hostilities seems to be over”, which made me and most other people think that was that. It no doubt also made the terrorists think they had got away with their rocket fire.  

Preparing for Rocket Attacks 

BOOM! On a Wednesday afternoon (14th November 2012) I was finishing off a bit of work. As I usually do during or after a flare-up in tensions, I began my hourly check of the Israeli news sites, expecting to see very little that was new. There it was in black and white, the breaking news reports that a senior terrorist had just been killed inside his car minutes before. I sat for the next half an hour refreshing the news websites reading the new details emerging about the strike. When the target’s name was revealed, I knew the gates of hell were about to open on our heads. 

I made phone calls and sent text messages to people telling them what had happened and what was about to happen. People needed to know, not for celebratory reasons (the extinguishing of a terrorist head who was instrumental in the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit for nearly 6 years was something to be pleased about) but because they would need to make arrangements for their families and perhaps drive home earlier from work. I would have put all the money I owned on the fact there would be rockets before the end of the day. I was right. 

Ceasefire 

After 8 days of constant action, here’s now a ceasefire which, at the time of writing, seems to be holding. Hamas and other terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip such as Islamic Jihad have suffered immense damage to their arsenals and infrastructure. However, they were not destroyed and they will rebuild and return to firing rockets in the not too distant future.  

Residents of southern Israel will once again hear the rocket sirens sound and race for the nearest shelter. The international media will of course ignore these attacks unless an Israeli is killed. When Israel finally loses patience and fires back at another terrorist leader, the events of the previous week will be repeated. 

What Israel can do about this situation is for another article but suffice to say, the various options will all result in loss of life on both sides.  

More rockets? 

Let me make a couple of estimates.

My first estimate is that the first post-ceasefire rocket will land in Israel’s Eshkol or Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Councils (those that border the Gaza Strip) by the end of November. My second estimate is that a post-ceasefire rocket will be fired at one of the big cities (Ashkelon/Ashdod/Beersheva) before June 2013.  

If you want to know what it’s like during a rocket attack on southern Israel, watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-wETUOJDmc 

For more news and updates on Israel follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/edward_bea

UKIP and the Race Obsessed

He'd be at home in Rotherham!

I joined UKIP in 2000 and stood in three parliamentary elections. I worked for a UKIP MEP for nearly five years. I became disillusioned in 2009 and resigned my membership, six months after leaving my job with UKIP. That's the background to this post.

Last night and this morning I have been in a rage. I can categorically state that UKIP is not a racist party and that Rotherham Borough Council, in taking foster children away from a couple because they are UKIP members, have acted like some kind of totalitarian banana state.

 A woman called Joyce Thacker, who has just been on TV news spouting off about multiculturalism, should be immediately sacked from her job. She couldn't answer the question why the decision had been taken, and had as much human warmth as a dead polar bear. She didn't seem fit to me to be taking decisions about anything let alone the lives of vulnerable children. That the Labour Party calls for an investigation shows how appallingly fascistic this decision is. But why an investigation? Sack the people involved now. Yet another example of how race is used by the left, Rotherham is a Labour council, to suppress freedom of speech.

I have lots of reasons for leaving UKIP behind, none more so than their party leader who I would trust as far as I could throw him, but this attack on them is frightening in its implications. It says to me that the state is far too powerful and those involved in this decision have power way beyond their capabilities or ideas of democracy. All those involved should be immediately sacked and never employed again.

It is surely time to rise up against this politically correct police state that we are sleep walking into.

Kick Out Racism

It was good to hear that the politically correct thought police have dropped their persecution of football referee Mark Clattenburg. Girls in Rochdale who were being sexually abused by gangs of Asian men were ignored when they complained to the authorities. But dare make an accusation of racism and the full force of the law cranks into operation. Racism is the new witchcraft.

Chelsea FC seem to be going out of their way lately to prove themselves the chavviest football club in the world. Their refusal now to apologise for making up claims of racism to attack Clattenburg show them to be a  club with no values, morality or honesty. Quite apt that in the sordid world of professional football they should be current European Champions.

The overwhelming majority of people are decent and have no interest in race whatsoever. It seems to me that a tiny minority are racially obsessed. The BNP, as we know, but also the left who see racism in everything. Let's face it, the left use race to divide and rule, throw racism at somebody then call the ethnic minorities into your arms for protection. The left and the BNP, two sides of the same coin.

But who are the real racists? The case against Clattenburg came about because of a complaint from the Society of Black Lawyers. Obviously the allegations weren't investigated by the National Black Police Association, otherwise he would probably have been found guilty instantly.

Change the words 'black' in the organisations above to 'white' and the paragraph immediately sounds like something from 1950s Alabama or apartheid South Africa. This virulent type of racism really should be kicked out.

More Snouts In The Trough

Another day in Parliament

It seems to me that MPs are now just taking the piss out of us, pushing their luck time and again to see how much they can get away with. And a docile, state loving public just seem to lie there happy for the state to shaft them as and when it wants.

The latest MP to push it is Stephen Dorrell. Hot on his heels is Ian Stewart who is having his expenses closely scrutinised. And before the hand wringing lefties and pinko liberals point the finger at these two Tories, remember Denis  McShane. Then there's that fat old bag Moran who avoided a spell in chokey by feigning claiming mental illness at her trial. She just proves that psychos are more welcome in Parliament than in chokey.

Then there is that poisonous little dwarf John Bercow trying to suppress information about MPs and their dodgy expenses claims. Pigs policing pigs obviously doesn't work. Furthermore the pathetic excuse trundled out by many of these greedy bastards that "I haven't broken the rules" doesn't wash. In fact it not only doesn't wash it is absolute bullshit! Ever heard of  that old saying 'the spirit of the law' chaps? Ever heard of morality chaps? If that is your level of judgement then you really should not be lording it over us mere mortals. You really should be banged up for  a few years to contemplate your snivelling little lives. Then put up against the wall and shot.

But millions of people need to take a good hard look at what they are allowing to happen in their name. Every time you think the state should do X, Y or Z you are saying you want to give more power to people like Dorrell, McShane, Moran et al. Every socialist is effectively saying he/she is happy to hand over responsibility for their lives to MPs and bureaucrats. Nationalisation means handing business, including healthcare in the form of the NHS, to MPs and the state.

The last thing we need is more state. What we need is to smash the current sytem and to start again. Pigs with their snouts in the trough should be the first to go.

Knobhead of the Year-David Cameron?

It's that time of year when I start wondering who will get the Knobhead of the Year award.

There are plenty of candidates this year, such as the committee full of knobheads and out and out nutjobs who gave the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union. Rio Ferdinand is high on the list for boring the arse off us all with his constant whining and whinging about supposed racism in football.

But today David Cameron has enthusiastically joined the fray with a wonderfully bizarre defence of the most ridiculed and unwanted elections in the history of the world, yesterday's Police and Crime Commissioner elections. Only around 15% of the electorate could be bothered wasting a few seconds of their lives to put a cross by the name of a muppet attempting to clamber aboard the latest gravy train for failed and aspiring politicos. Here's what the knobhead said:

'The turnout was always going to be low, when you're electing a new post for the first time,'

No Dave, turnout was low because we're sick of voting for knobheads like you.

Police State

If anybody thought that this bastard son of Blair government, aka The Coalition, would improve anything in the UK then think again. The public have told the government that they don't want the police commissars (PCCs), foisted on us by Cameron, by not bothering to vote yesterday.

This morning on TV Damian Green MP, Minister for Police and Criminal Justice, claimed that even though less than 20% of the electorate voted, the new commissars had a mandate from the public because we had the chance to vote for them. How very North Korean.

No Mr Green, we didn't vote because we don't want them. In plain English, we don't give a shit about your poxy commissars. They do not have a mandate any more than this poxy government that nobody actually voted for has a mandate.

Then this morning I read about a man in Glasgow who is to appear in court charged with behaving "in a threatening or abusive" manner. He fed a sausage roll to a police horse who he felt looked hungry. It may have been a daft thing to do, but arrested and charged? Nice to know the Glasgow police have no real crime to take up their time.

Recently there has also been a case where a drunken student was arrested and spent a night in the cells for behaving in a "homophobic manner". His crime? He asked a police horse if it was gay. Yes, I know. It seems that the police put the poor delicate flowers among their ranks, the ones who are easily offended and emotionally delicate, out of the way up there on horseback.

It is easy to laugh at these and other ludicrous examples of the state losing all sense of proportion, but that is a very dangerous trap to fall into. What these things show, the commissars and the humourless prats on horseback, is actually how far down the authoritarian road to a police state we have moved in the last couple of decades.

So, the next time you pass a bobby, especially one on a horse, make sure you smile and greet him with a cheery "good morning officer". Anything less may be interpreted as threatening behaviour, and may find yourself cuffed, horsewhipped and dragged into cell for a night.

And bear in mind that the annual police terror will soon be upon us as the police try to catch us for drink driving on the way to work of a morning after the previous night's Christmas party. Be warned!

Full story of the sausage roll here.

Ayn Rand on Israel

"If you mean whose side one should be on, Israel or the Arabs, I would certainly say Israel because it’s the advanced, technological, civilized country amidst a group of almost totally primitive savages who have not changed for years and who are racist and who resent Israel because it’s bringing industry, intelligence, and modern technology into their stagnation."

Q and A session during taping of Donohue, Live in New York

Very hard to disagree with her. What Israel is suffering is an extremely concentrated version of what the rest of us face from Islamist extremists.

Nadine Dorries and the PPC Elections

The Police and Crime Commissioners are just another gravy train,  so I've spoilt my postal ballot paper already for tomorrow's election. I did intend abstaining completely but felt the urge to leave a message on the ballot paper, it may not do much good, but it made me feel better.

A friend of mine has a good idea. At the bottom of each ballot paper there should be a 'Non of the Above' box and if 51% vote NOTA then the election is declared void and nobody is elected. I would also count abstentions because, let's face it, if the candidates can't muster 51% between them then none of them deserve to be elected. I'd rather have no MP at the moment than the insipid little clown who currently 'represents' Morecambe and Lunesdale.

Then we have Nadine Dorries waltzing off to the jungle. She claims that it will give her access to 16m viewers who will then see politicians in a different light. What her entering actually shows is how out of touch our politicians really are. Did she not realise that people like her are only invited on to have the piss taken out of them? Did you not see George Galloway Nadine? And is she not the one who accused Sally Bercow of bringing her husband's position as Speaker of the House when she went on Celebrity Big Brother?

But I have mixed feelings about Nadine buggering off during term time like that. Part of me wishes every Member of Parliament had buggered off with her, preferably until the next election. At least then they couldn't keep mithering and badgering us with new laws and taxes.

Pub Closures-The Gransmoor, Openshaw, Manchester

I was thinking about pub closures today and remembered the Gransmoor on Ashton Old Road in Manchester. Last time I passed it was a secondhand fridge and washing machine shop. Sad as it was a great old Victorian place.

Then I started thinking of some of the bands we used to see there when we were in our teens. Manchester pubs and clubs were the launch pad for many great bands, I suppose they just use the internet these days which is a shame as so many small atmospheric venues and pubs are no more.

One band that I remember from the late seventies, and I was introduced to them by my cousin Vinny in the Gransmoor, was Gammer. The last incarnation of Gammer's original band I saw was Gammer and His Familiars at the old Band on the Wall in Manchester in the early eighties. Happy daze!

So this post has really just become a plug for Norman Gammer. I've posted this before but eh, if something's good..





  

For the Fallen-We Will Remember Them

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

 

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

 

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

 

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

 

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

 

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

 

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

Police and Crime Commissioner Elections-November 15th

In the run up to the last few elections I've pledged to boycott, abstain, spoil my ballot paper or whatever. But when push came to shove I always caved in, held my nose and voted for the least scary option.

This time though I have followed through and spoilt my ballot paper for the PCC elections on November 15th. I have a postal vote you see. I wrote 'just another gravy train' at the top of the ballot paper and 'muppet' next to the name of each candidate. If nothing else it may give the poor counters a giggle when they have the boring job of counting. Mind you, they won't be too bored this time as turnout is likely to be an all-time low, so they'll probably be done in half an hour.

However, just because I've told them what I think doesn't mean I shouldn't hlp those who may wish to join in this charade of democracy. So here is a useful link to a website that links, when you enter your postcode, to details of your candidates.

I only found it today but it made me even more convinced that abstaining is the only way. My candidates look like a right bunch of oddballs, loonies and fruitcakes.

Can They Get Any Worse?

So, the pinko lefties are drooling about Obama being re-elected. Big deal.  Seeing him constantly on TV these last few weeks has really shown how shallow politics has become here and in the States. He seems hot on rhetoric but when you analyse it he says little of any real substance. From a British point of view having a US President who supports Argentina's claim to the Falklands isn't very helpful either.

Then there's the question of race. This morning I've lost count of the number of references to Obama's race. At best it makes him sound like a token black man, at worst it is surely racism. I've always said that the far left and the far right are two sides of the same coin on the question of race and racism. The reaction to the re-election of Obama, I think, proves me right.

Then we have Nadine Dorries MP disappearing off to Australia to play around in the reality TV show I'm A Celebrity.. Says it all about what she thinks of her position as a Member of Parliament and her constituents. At least George Galloway wasn't an MP when he was well and truly humiliated on Big Brother.

Then we have hundreds of thousands of people signing petitions calling for a referendum on our continued membership of the European Union. Do we get a referendum? No, instead we get to vote for elected Police and Crime Commissioners on November 15th. Democracy in action?

Yesterday I spoilt my ballot paper for the November 15th election. I posted it back with 'just another politicians' gravy train' written across it and something like 'muppet' written against the name of each candidate. I look forward to doing similar at the next general election.

Surely it can't get any worse.

NHS-Paid To Kill

I was out early today, looking forward to a busy day including Mass as today is All Saints Day, a holy day of obligation for us Roman Catholics. But when I got my copy of the Daily Telegraph I was shocked to read this story.

It seems that not only has euthanasia been allowed through the back door, but the government has paid as much as £12m to hospitals that help the terminally ill to die. I can't help wondering what else is going on in our state health system that they don't want us to know about.