In Heywood and Middleton, a classic Labour northern English seat, UKIP and the Tories combined got 51% of the vote. In Clacton – a deprived coastal area – the Conservatives and UKIP got 83% of the vote.
It is not that Labour and the Lib Dems offer an alternative that is in any significant way less devoted to corporate interests and serving the economic needs of the super-rich. The large majority of voters, and especially those who do not bother to vote, have by now worked out that the difference in their lives is negligible if they have a different member of the political class with his or her nose in the trough at their expense.
But everybody who has seen an actual UKIP campaign knows that their grassroots appeal is simply racist – they promote the idea that it is not the billionaires and ultra-wealthy who are sucking the resources from society, but rather the poor of a different colour. The Conservatives are striving, particularly through rampant Islamophobia, to compete for the atavistic vote.
UKIP is an antibody produced by the political establishment and their paymasters, to counter public disillusion with a dreadful and worsening unequal society. UKIP’s task is to divert public anger away from their exploiters towards specific groups of the poor. It does so very effectively. UKIP’s success yesterday will lead to a race among the mainstream parties to scapegoat vulnerable social groups – immigrants, benefit claimants, unemployed – and to compete in external xenophobia. The next government of the United Kingdom will be right wing to a degree which would have seemed unthinkable for the majority of my life.
Hi Craig,
You are spot on about Ukip tapping into racism. Did you hear what Gordon Brown said when he was challenged by Mrs Duffy, off mike?
I think If you have not seen the you tube video, “why Scottish Independence could save the world”, take a look. The message is loud and clear and to the point. In fact all the NO voters should look at it. However, a friend told me yesterday it is impossible to get these thickos to look at anything that challenges their point of view. Ostriches!!!
I watched “Aegis trophy video” as you suggested, shocker!!!
Again, try and get a NO voter to look at what they have endorsed, no chance.
You are doing a great job for us all even for the No voter. They just don’t get it yet.
My sister is or was a nurse at one point of her life and the apple of my father’s eye. One day he said his back was sore, so my sister told him to go and see his doctor, “Och doctors”, he replied. This went on for about a week. He said it again, and my sister said, “it can’t be sore enough yet”.
That is where the No voter is at the moment, it is not sore enough yet!
I was surprised that “core” Tory voters in Clacton were ready to ditch the tories to such an extent… they tend to be very loyal and would only do that if they thought UKIP embodied conservative values. We shouldn’t write UKIP off as racist and xenophobic, however, because that’s where a lot of older white voters are at the moment, and we need to accept that. They are not happy with a cosmopolitan UK, and of course in recent years the media have helped that along nicely.
What a mess! Labour could offer more to working class voters and there is a message for them; the conservatives have annoyed their core vote and difficult to see a way back for them this side of the election, except to run a presidential campaign with Cameron as statesman and presenting Miliband as anything but. Interesting few months in store…
When having conversations with some NO voters,trying to give them information the response was “I have a right to my opinion”.
With a right wing government at Westminister Will things become “sore enough fot the NO voters”? Low taxes for the rich high taxes for the poor.
divide and rule, old idea – now England will have around 5 parties to vote for next May
(some random Indian website)
at least the NED aren’t (yet) involved in UK Politics! (Sri Lankan newspaper has discovered CIA funding starting in Sri Lankan politics, Umbrellas anyone?)
The hubris of cameron, in confident public pyatt/nudelmaning mode with cousin bloomberg about a purring Queen, will soon be reflected in the bookies’ odds, just like the NO vote. As usual the FOIs are one step ahead,clegg has simply sacrificed the LibDems to achieve their aims and the Greens should pick up what remains of their support.
“UKIP’s task is to divert public anger away from their exploiters towards specific groups of the poor”
The main plank of UKIP policy is British withdrawal from the EU. It argues that the EU policy of encouraging the migration of labour from Europe’s poorest regions to its wealthiest serves to drive down wages everywhere. Craig fails to mention any of this, presumably because of his support for the EU.
UKIP certainly does attract racist bigots but, if some of the comments from Yes campaigners on this blog in recent weeks are anything to go by, so does the SNP.
Craig,
Whilst I agree with you on all points you made, you don’t seem prepared to accept the real reason for this massive swing to the right – which will indeed make things very much worse for the poor.
Let me give you a hint – as this is pretty much my own home territory. The school just 100 yards or so from the large Victorian house I grew up in now has a 98% ethnic population. Apart from some Polish immigrants (who were born in England) it was close to 100% indigenous English 50 years ago. That is an enormous cultural change – close to a complete swamping of English culture by a foreign one.
I see more English people in Goa, than some parts of Oldham.
Tony
Carswell virtually had UKIP’s endorsement in 2010, since they decided not to stand against him. So the voters of Clacton may have voted for Carswell rather than UKIP, because they were voting for an MP whom they already knew; his majority was about the same as last time. Let’s see what happens in other constituencies.
@Tony.
Does Goa have a GIP? Goa Independence Party.
It may be the Tories have just died. Osborne’s announcement that the coming eurozone crash will screw us as well (true, in the absence of any constructive economic and industrial planning against this contingency, for decades) is preparatory to his whisking away the few sweeties -in 2018 – he dangled in front of the well-off, and cutting public services even more savagely. A giraffe in a shellsuit could win a bye-election by simply announcing it wasn’t a Tory, now.
Look, I know it’s racist and fascist of me – I’ve never claimed ideological purity – but re Farage’s opinion that we should not admit immigrants with HIV, what the hell”s wrong with that? The NHS is on the verge of collapse; it’s got more than enough on its plate. So:
http://www.nat.org.uk/media/Files/Policy/2012/April-2012-QandA-Changes-to-NHS-charging-rules-for-HIV.pdf
£7000 p.a. per pop? The rationale is that by making treatment free, the risk of infection to the rest of the population is reduced. There’s another way, and it doesn’t cost the taxpayer anything or further congest the NHS…
Once in a while Farage gets it right. Which makes him an infallible fount of wisdom compared with the competition’s record. No wonder people vote for his (shambolic) party.
Certain amount of Schadenfreude to see Libdems get what they deserve,but the implications are pretty scary.Scotland will end up being pistol whipped if come next election that is how the parties stand.
“With a right wing government at Westminister Will things become “sore enough fot the NO voters”? Low taxes for the rich high taxes for the poor.”
You oppose UKIP because they are right wing not because they are racist?
Throughout my life Westminster has swung from one side of centre to the other and back again that’s politics that’s democracy. UKIP should be being opposed because of their Nationalist traits not their Tory ones.
Ba’al Zevul, 11.02 a.m. “A giraffe in a shellsuit could win a by-election by simply announcing it wasn’t a Tory, now.” Brilliant-can’t wait to see it happen. As to UKIP- I do not know whether it is a true protest phenomena, or simply another Neocon or Suspicious Characters invention. Sure thing to me is that the things I am seeing worldwide appear to have had a lot of sophisticated psychology applied in regard to their intended outcomes.
AS the lone NO voter here I should ask people to look to see who the six Scottish MEP is. So much for our Scottish enlightened principles, the same undercurrent exists in Scotland. My vote was because not a damn thing would change we would end up with the same contemptible political class in Holyrood as we currently have in Westminster (And to be fair hy holyrood currently have)
Thatcher/Cameron/Clegg/Miliband >>> cloned world wide from its centre in Milton Freidman’s Chicago School. The most vicious, the most rabid capitalism. The coin dominates rather than being just a token.
So yet again next May, I will be using that stubby pencil (why a pencil and not a pen?) on its piece of string to draw a line across the paper and write ‘None of the above’. There are no electoral choices.
Sometimes more obtuse minds need to incinerate what they have before they come to value it and recognise the foolishness of their own actions.
If we end up with a far right government in 2015 I believe that their more decent enablers will be truly horrified at the consequences and come to feel shame for their actions.
They will find that they have seriously damaged, not only the lives of the vulnerable scapegoated groups but the lives of their own families and the UK’s ability to function as a civilised nation.
This lesson perhaps needs to be learned, a bit like allowing small children to fall occasionally so that they might learn to take better care in future.
Of course the impact on the vulnerable scapegoated groups will be severe to the point of borderline sadism and the kinder souls in society must do as much as possible to protect them during this period.
The only good that could come from such a dark half decade is the rehabilitation period that will commence in 2020.
In a strange way the longer term future of the UK might be best served by facing this horror now. The younger generation are the future of the UK and witnessing such a brutal event first hand will turn their stomach’s and lead to a longer term rejection of the political-media-corporate collusions that have led us here.
Sometimes the war is won by losing some battles.
“everybody who has seen an actual UKIP campaign knows that their grassroots appeal is simply racist – they promote the idea that it is not the billionaires and ultra-wealthy who are sucking the resources from society, but rather the poor of a different colour”.
BRAVO.
“Look, I know it’s racist and fascist of me – I’ve never claimed ideological purity – but re Farage’s opinion that we should not admit immigrants with HIV, what the hell”s wrong with that? The NHS is on the verge of collapse; it’s got more than enough on its plate.”
Why stop with HIV sufferers? Smokers cost the NHS £5bn a year, lets ban any smoking immigrants too. Drinkers? Major drain on the NHS, we should get them banned. Be best checking immigrant family histories for increased risk of a multitude of genetic disorders which could end up needing treatment in later life, or could be passed to their offspring. Diabetes, Cancer, Cystic Fibrosis, Huntingtons, Downs. The list is huge. Ban the lot. Such a drain.
In fact, why stop with immigrants, lets just abort or euthanise any offspring of the indigenous population who might be prone to illness at any point in life. We’d save billions a year. I mean, its not as if eugenics isn’t utterly disproven.
Oh, wait. It is.
Alternatively, how about you take your admittedly racist/fascist nonsense and shove it up your hoop. Its utterly abhorrent.
D Simmons
That UKIP MEP in Scotland got elected on 10% of the vote. UKIP’s share of the vote in Scotland was one third what it was in England.
Of course Scotland is not devoid of idiots. UKIP get the Orange order vote and a large share of the pensioner unionist vote.
A hypocrite too. How about the lime green love seat? I wouldn’t mind some new furniture.
Clacton by-election: 12 facts about Ukip’s new MP Douglas Carswell http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/clacton-byelection-10-facts-about-ukips-new-mp-douglas-carswell-9786170.html
Can’t decide whose side Lebedev is on.
Omitted from the piece above. From Carswell’s TWFY.
Overseas visits
Name of donor:
1. Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies 2. Conservative Friends of Israel Address of donor:
1. Tchernikovsky 49/9, Jerusalem, Israel. 2. 45b Westbourne Terrace, London W2 3UR. Amount of donation (or estimate of the probable value):
1. £1500 for travel, accommodation and meals. 2. £250 for meals and transport. Destination of visit: Israel
Date of visit: 23-26 January 2010
Purpose of visit: to give a lecture to the Jerusalem Institute of Market Studies.
Overseas visits
8-13 January 2006, to Israel, hosted by Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI). CFI contributed the cost of flights, accommodation and some meals. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs contributed to the costs of travel inside Israel and some meals. (Registered 24 January 2006)
Quite a Zionist.
Goldstone Report (12 January 2010)
Douglas Carswell: The Goldstone report was set in motion after a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution that stated from the outset that it holds Israel accountable for war crimes and that focused only on Israel. Is this not a case of being literally pre judice-prejudice?
[Mr. Peter Atkinson in the Chair] — Israel (20 May 2008)
Douglas Carswell: I congratulate the state of Israel on reaching her 60th birthday, and I salute her remarkable achievements. Israel has achieved a remarkable amount, and I want to talk about some of her achievements, particularly in science and technology. I shall be as brief as I can because I am conscious that other hon. Members wish to speak. Israel is a country that is low in natural resources, and to…
[John Bercow in the Chair] — Israel and Palestinian Territories (27 February 2008)
Douglas Carswell: I shall take three minutes, if I may. Israel is often criticised for its policy on settlements and the closure of territories. It is easy to make those criticisms, but I believe that they are unfair and that the UK Government must not join in with them. What else is Israel supposed to do? Her actions are essentially defensive, not aggressive. Israel has dismantled settlements in trying to…
[John Bercow in the Chair] — Israel and Palestinian Territories (27 February 2008)
Douglas Carswell: That is an easy point to make, but I have visited Israel and the west bank and I found it interesting that, although it is easy to talk about where the barrier should be, and about the 1967 barrier, one is quite often talking about someone’s back garden, where a family happen to spend their afternoon. I simply do not agree about the issue. The barrier needs to be built where it will provide…
[John Bercow in the Chair] — Israel and Palestinian Territories (27 February 2008)
Douglas Carswell: …Governments to abide by them, but it is slightly unfair to expect one side to conform to international law when another so clearly violates its principles. When I hear people posturing against Israel, I sometimes wonder if it tells us more about the person doing the posturing than about the reality in the middle east. It is nice, particularly for politicians, to find a righteous cause or a…
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/search/?q=israel&pid=11621
Banners saying “Britain for the British” look an awful lot like banners saying “Scotland for the Scottish” to me.
Fred
There has never been a banner saying “Scotland for the Scottish.” Alex Salmond boldly and plainly explained that Scotland needed and would welcome higher immigration than the UK would permit. This was agreed across the Independence movement. Even by your standards, that is a really crass effort.
I posted this earlier on the previous thread, and yet again I find Craig, that you are spot on with your analysis.
The GE15 is indeed going to produce a very ugly political landscape in parts of the UK – it’s not going to be pretty for small-L liberal and radical minded folks in England whose only possible safe haven will be the Greens, I am also desparately worried about Wales, that one time bastion of liberal values, where incredibly eughnionism and eughkip are making a great push forward. Perhaps Plaid Cymru under Leanne Wood can pick up support and prevent this cancer from taking hold in our society.
So, what of Scotland in this coming maelstrom of right wing, worst kind of Unionist, nationalism? The need for Scotland to speak with one clear voice in support of real radical liberalism will never have been stronger. Scotland will need a broad coalition of nationalists, liberals, socialists, environmentalists, decent conservatives if there is any such thing, this time to say NO to whatever direction rUK politics may drag it in the aftermath of whatever’s coming.
As you say, Craig, it’s going to be ugly. And to think, in one bound, Scotland could have been free ..
@Mary
10 Oct, 2014 – 3:53 am
On the other thread about the appalling news that turncoat cowswill is back in the uk parliament but now wearing the dreadful gharish colours of eughkip.
So just how fucking stupid do Scotland’s naysayers look now .. see what they’re going to get!?
Devomax? my arse!
England going to the dogs with the eughkippers mounting a big challenge to the eughnited kingdom establishment parties, who will respond by becoming more and more extreme, little englanders, driving a coach and horses through human rights, traditional ‘liberal’ and ‘radical’ values to assuage the kippers fanatical thirst for extremist english supremacist dogma and looming ever larger the specter of the brexit refferendum.
Devomax? I reckon you can forget that. If the eughkippers ever get their way, it’ll be bye bye Holyrood, tata Cardiff Bay, welcome back the Scottish and Welsh Grand Committees. Just read the maniffesto.
Craig was right, fuck you naysayers, fuck you Gordon Brown, especially you, Gordon Brown. I think the Irish had a name for the likes of you ..
Juteman,
“Does Goa have a GIP? Goa Independence Party.”
Yes, and I have every sympathy for them, for numerous reasons. First of all, most of the large hotels have been acquired by large multi-nationals – effectively throwing the indigenous Goans off very prime agricultural land, and then draining the local eco-system of fresh water for the swimming pools for fat bastards like me to swim in (the sea is usually too dangerous – and polluted to swim in).. The second main reason – again due to multi-nationals (mainly Japanese) polluting enoromous areas of Goa – including the water system (you can taste the metal in the tap water) and the air within a large radius of the most appalling mining practices directly poisoning everything including the land.
However, booking a holiday to Goa – including the hotel – is the cheapest way to get there. We usually disappear off to somewhere much more isolated and real and unspoilt in between arriving for one night at the beginning and the end. India is a most wonderful country completely different to what you might imagine if you have never been there, and the people are lovely…and you can live for next to nothing in a rural beach shack – with free air-conditioning from the sea breeze.
Tony
MPs likely to vote to recognise Palestine as a state
Motion is only symbolic and ministers will abstain, since official government position is to support talks for two-state solution
Rowena Mason, political correspondent
The Guardian, Friday 10 October 2014
John Hilley writes on Medialens
Westminster’s radical statement for Palestine…
Posted by John Hilley on October 10, 2014
…Not.
‘Some Labour MPs cannot even countenance being part of this token gesture:
Some within Labour are not happy about voting for the motion and may abstain despite the party whip.
Some of the same people were opposed to Ed Miliband’s tough stance on the conflict in Gaza over the summer when he condemned the shelling of schools as disproportionate.’
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/10/mps-vote-recognise-palestine-state
Re: Westminster’s radical statement for Palestine…
Posted by psingh on October 10, 2014, 11:20 am, in reply to “Westminster’s radical statement for Palestine…”
“Some of the same people were opposed to Ed
: Miliband’s tough stance on the conflict in
: Gaza over the summer when he condemned the
: shelling of schools as disproportionate”
If you want proof of the cowardice, moral depravity of the Labour party then that sentence should clinch it.
Fred: “Throughout my life Westminster has swung from one side of centre to the other and back again that’s politics that’s democracy.”
It has swung from left to right but never as far back to left as it swung from. There has been a rightward trend throughout your life, and I do not believe that it reflects the majority’s wishes. Our ‘democratic’ choices are controlled. We are only allowed to choose between ‘alternatives’ which are acceptable to the Powers That Be. Which party in the next General Election can I choose to halt this rightward progress?
Democracy in this country is an illusion.
@Mary 10 Oct, 2014 – 11:53 am, ´`·.¸¸.¸¸.··.¸¸Node 10 Oct, 2014 – 11:55 am
Agreed. What is to be done?
What if there was a “No Vote” campaign? How low would voter turnout have to be for the government to have no legitimacy? I would love to see the public boycott the elections in droves.
“There has never been a banner saying “Scotland for the Scottish.” Alex Salmond boldly and plainly explained that Scotland needed and would welcome higher immigration than the UK would permit. This was agreed across the Independence movement. Even by your standards, that is a really crass effort.”
No, the SNP had only one policy, independence for Scotland, immigrant workers was just a way of balancing the books in a country with a sparse and ageing population.
On immigrants entering Scotland and claiming benefits I doubt their policies would have been too different to the UKIPs.
No answer. Sorry Mochyn69.
Medialens think Craig’s metaphor for UKIP is apt.
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1412933990.html
An antibody (Ab), also known as an immunoglobulin (Ig), is a large Y-shape protein produced by plasma cells that is used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects such as bacteria and viruses. The antibody recognizes a unique part of the foreign target, called an antigen…….. Wiki