Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Whatever voters now think of Ukip, they despise the liberal elite even more


By Tim Stanley Politics Last updated: May 21st, 2014



For some, Ukip is more recognisable than the mainstream parties (Photo: GUZELIAN).

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100272357/whatever-the-voters-now-think-of-ukip-they-despise-the-establishment-even-more/



Ukip, it would seem, has invented a whole new racial slur. Before now, Brits haven’t had much of an opinion about Romanians – except, perhaps, as good looking vampires. But in the last two weeks, Ukip (without much prompting) has launched a character assassination of an entire nation. It’s been inaccurate and nasty, and reconfigured a basically libertarian Right-wing party into a populist nationalist one. But will this descent into xenophobia push it into third place on Thursday? Probably not. After all, about 40 per cent of the votes have probably already been cast by mail – and popped into the letterbox long before Nigel Farage declared war on the “communist people smugglers” of eastern Europe. And many voters have already cast their vote on a more existential level, too. Ignore all the clever-clever psephology. This election is about kicking the establishment, pure and simple, and no amount of national chauvinism will change people’s minds about that.

The establishment finds this state of affairs very confusing. Normally, elections are won on policy and advertising and lost on gaffes – so Ukip ought to be doing badly. Very badly. But what the establishment doesn’t realise is that many voters are actually tired of consensus and slickness. They don’t regard the European elections as particularly significant to their lives (ironic, considering how “all powerful” Ukip insists that the EU is), so they’re seizing upon this electoral round as a low-risk chance to reject the mainstream parties, their multiple failures and the spin that they’ve used to disguise them. They are probably voting not for Ukip but against the powers-that-be – and the more that the establishment expresses its surprise and contempt for this fact, the stronger the rebellion grows. Yes, all the “Farage is a fascist” stuff might even help him in the short-term.

This was crystallised for me in a conversation I had with a journalist friend. He said, “Can you believe that people are even thinking of voting Ukip?” I replied, entirely as a joke, “I’m on the fence.” He then looked at me with a mix of anger and confusion and said, “But I thought you were intelligent?”

London liberals believe that a) their liberalism is self-evidently smart and b) anyone who rejects it is a bigoted moron. For years, those who do not subscribe to London’s fashionable politics have had to put up with being told not only that they are wrong but also mentally deficient and prejudiced. Hence, the attacks on Farage as a racist fool inspire, if not sympathy, a recognition that this slight is daily inflicted upon almost everyone who lives outside the M25. By treating so many of their fellow Britons with contempt, the London establishment has built up a tide of bitterness against it. And, on Thursday, that tide will probably break against the shore.

As a Ukipper might put it, a vote for Ukip is to vote against “those high taxing, crazy spending, wind farm building, country-side demolishing, latte drinking, yoga practising, Taliban tolerating, bearded lady loving, over regulating, cigarette banning, French speaking, politically correctifying, Christian bashing, Dawkins reading, border opening, Daily Mail burning, unpatriotic, suit wearing London snobs who tell the rest of the country that they need to be more egalitarian while sending their own kids to independent schools and jetting off to India to rediscover themselves every six months.” Polly Toynbee, for short.

A vote for Ukip is also a reassertion of a small-c conservatism of the heart that the Tories and Labour have rejected. While neo-liberalism and the cult of the new dominate in Westminster, many folks adhere to a conservatism that is a protection of tradition, economic self-interest, the nation state, the way that things have been because it sort of worked. Of community, cricket, patriotic poetry, white weddings, Anglican Christenings, the Vicar of Dibley, holidays in Wales, politeness, modesty, chivalry and so on into the golden nostalgia of a better yesterday. The stuff of Britishness that is romantic, spiritual and which the voters look for longingly in the mainstream parties and no longer find (no wonder that the Scottish independence campaign, with his hymn to national values, is doing so well). The voters look at Ukip and see a parody of these things that borders on the prejudiced – but that distaste can be set aside during something as inconsequential as a European election. “Vote Ukip,” they might think, “and reject the post-modernity of the London elite. Vote Ukip and assert that there is a different, older definition of what it means to be British that – damn it – still counts for something in some parts of this country.”

The good news for the establishment is that however Ukip do on Thursday, they’ll do much worse afterwards. The party has become defined now as nationalist and the British actually hold it as part of their national identity to reject nationalism. But we can probably still expect a significant protest vote this week, one that will perplex the tiny elite who run our country and try to dictate its tastes and beliefs. And isn’t it a good thing occasionally to give the establishment a good, sharp slap in the face? By most narrow Ukip definitions, I’m probably a London liberal – but I’d be the first to say that we’ve got it coming and that it’s richly deserved.

rory mac and woz sent out wedding invites at the w/e and today they call everything off including their relationship
all a bit sad, though both were really too young to marry anyway

rory mac and woz?? Never heard of them, what are they, members of the Wombles?

He claims that he wasn't ready for marriage. It may have been the shock of a £100,000 engagement ring that he bought.

you're obviously not a golfer .... rory mcilroy (golf) and caroline wozniacki (tennis)

===============

bet he doesn't get that back and it's not tax deductible either :-)

Rubbish post.

As for why people will vote UKIP, I think the answer is very simple, outside of multicultural London people feel like foreigners in their own cities. This is mainly due to the fact that us Brits don't speak other languages and at home prefer to hear English spoken..... It winds the elderly up in the post office to no end, hearing them jabber on and wanting to send money out of the country...

UKIP appears to be the only party that will manage our borders and say no to further infux of people. They also appear to be the only party that want to govern us internally without having the scapegoat EU to blame when policy doesn't fit... After all, what use is a corrupt government here when it takes orders from the EU at every bend and turn!

I've heard of Rory Mcilroy yes (the ugly one with fuzzy hair) but not the tennis player...

He may be worth millions already at the age of 25, but the downside is that he now lives his life in a goldfish bowl. Shortie - he's had a haircut at last! :-)

Bet the odds on him for the BMW just took a tumble!!

He has never played well at Wentworth, Shortie - so I would be surprised if this year was any different! Putting isn't his strong point and the greens at Wentworth are difficult to read.

shortie - odds would have LENGTHENED!!!! :-)

re your post 41077, your comment about hearing english (only) spoken is interesting insofar as there have been enclaves of all sorts of various nationalities for many centuries .... the older inhabitants will nearly all have spoken only their native tongues ..... glasgow is certainly no different now; totally incomprehensible, assuming one actually wanted to understand!

more seriously ...
the offspring of these immigrant groups will assuredly speak english, even if they continue with their own culture and language when at home - and why not indeed

Shortie
UKIP will not manage our borders. They say they would, but without MPs they won't actually do anything.

doodle - if you get a chance, go to watch for it's a great tournament for that .... best vantage point i always think is by just above 7th green, and if you're feeling spiteful, walk down towards 8th green and watch the regular disasters that occur on the shots into that very difficult green

to my mind, 8th is probably the best hole on the course ....... Harry Colt in 21st century; there's the fairway; there's the green; no hidden tricks; just play it :-)

Of course Cynic...... Lengthened... I'm not a PC.. lol. ;-)

Supermum Sue Radford Expecting Child Number Seventeen ..... but as the family receives no benefits (other than child i guess), then i have no complaints ..... merely very glad that the horde don't live in our road even if they're not romanians!

Well if thats the case Hays, noboby will be managing our borders.

The Tories certainly dont.

Going down the QUEEN VIC tomorrow night Hays to drown your sorrows.

My god that programme is worse than physical torture every other night. Her indoors as me watching it.

I cant believe that they have a party every other day, surely that cant be right ehh???

And are the people in London SO UGLY.

Cant believe it.

Interesting polls

Crap post.