Oh yes, he's plausible. He positively oozes plausibility. And he’s no fool.
But that's precisely what makes Nigel Farage so dangerous. And not just if you're Romanian. Or black. Or gay.
He easily won the recent debates with Nick Clegg, which is not necessarily a great achievement, but it is something which Cameron and Brown failed to do before the last election. And it took a head-on interview by James O’Brien on LBC to reveal the contradictions in his attempts to be a rational man putting forward irrational arguments.
But the latest polls still have UKIP leading amongst those certain to vote and - in the ComRes poll - by some considerable margin.
And this is partly – perhaps principally - because of a new development in UKIP propaganda. These accusations of racism, Farage claims, are not from the majority of ordinary people, but emanate from “the politically correct elite”.
The existence of a political elite is not news. And one would expect that such an elite would be “politically correct”, especially when compared with a man who was recorded as far as back as 1999 as using the n-word routinely in the pub after UKIP committee meetings.
But the reference has struck a chord. What insiders refer to as the “Westminster village” is increasingly separate from those whose votes they solicit. The likes of Cameron, Clegg and Miliband are not part of us; their lives are different from ours; their concerns are not our concerns.
This is Farage’s point. And it has some truth in it. Actually, it has a great deal of truth in it.
Even I – united in class, colour and education with Cameron, Clegg and Miliband – find myself increasingly disconnected and discontented with the political elite, its activities and its rhetoric. This has not resulted in any nodding of my head as Farage makes his disingenuous points, but I can understand why others may do so. And I can understand also why there may be a situationist justification for a pro-UKIP vote.
Not for UKIP but against the establishment.
However tempting this is, it must be resisted.
All citizens and residents of the UK need to be aware and beware of Farage’s ability to communicate unpalatable and racist bigotry in a plausible manner.
We should vote not for the Conservative-Labour-LibDem establishment, but against UKIP.
Please.
Today from the everysmith vault: Listening to Bob's take on a Sinatra classic took me to the original. Jeez, Ol' Blue Eyes could sing. But so, as you can hear below, can Bob!
But that's precisely what makes Nigel Farage so dangerous. And not just if you're Romanian. Or black. Or gay.
He easily won the recent debates with Nick Clegg, which is not necessarily a great achievement, but it is something which Cameron and Brown failed to do before the last election. And it took a head-on interview by James O’Brien on LBC to reveal the contradictions in his attempts to be a rational man putting forward irrational arguments.
But the latest polls still have UKIP leading amongst those certain to vote and - in the ComRes poll - by some considerable margin.
And this is partly – perhaps principally - because of a new development in UKIP propaganda. These accusations of racism, Farage claims, are not from the majority of ordinary people, but emanate from “the politically correct elite”.
The existence of a political elite is not news. And one would expect that such an elite would be “politically correct”, especially when compared with a man who was recorded as far as back as 1999 as using the n-word routinely in the pub after UKIP committee meetings.
But the reference has struck a chord. What insiders refer to as the “Westminster village” is increasingly separate from those whose votes they solicit. The likes of Cameron, Clegg and Miliband are not part of us; their lives are different from ours; their concerns are not our concerns.
This is Farage’s point. And it has some truth in it. Actually, it has a great deal of truth in it.
Even I – united in class, colour and education with Cameron, Clegg and Miliband – find myself increasingly disconnected and discontented with the political elite, its activities and its rhetoric. This has not resulted in any nodding of my head as Farage makes his disingenuous points, but I can understand why others may do so. And I can understand also why there may be a situationist justification for a pro-UKIP vote.
Not for UKIP but against the establishment.
However tempting this is, it must be resisted.
All citizens and residents of the UK need to be aware and beware of Farage’s ability to communicate unpalatable and racist bigotry in a plausible manner.
We should vote not for the Conservative-Labour-LibDem establishment, but against UKIP.
Please.
Today from the everysmith vault: Listening to Bob's take on a Sinatra classic took me to the original. Jeez, Ol' Blue Eyes could sing. But so, as you can hear below, can Bob!
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