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Leamington Letters #80: Don't be fooled. He's no fool.

19/5/2014

9 Comments

 
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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!

9 Comments
Craig
19/5/2014 02:44:40

A salutary warning. I've been a "vote Labour with no illusions" man since the 60s, and will be again.

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SteveB
19/5/2014 03:07:30

I agree. It's not much of a reason for voting for the current lot, but that's a reflection of the appalling state of current politics. Sterile, banal, pompous. But I would vote for Osborne over Farage. And if we are not careful, that could be the choice.

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Allan
19/5/2014 04:43:08

"Disconnected and discontented". About sums it up. What will happen if UKIP is successful is that Tory/Labour/LibDem axis will move to adjust. The centre of political gravity will go to the right. Even if this is a short-term phenomenon, it will have long-term repercussions.

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Rod
19/5/2014 08:47:02

Right on!

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Duncan
19/5/2014 09:57:58

It is an act. Similar to Boris, he plays the man of the people stuff to make his unappetising agenda appear palatable.

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DavidJ
19/5/2014 13:45:37

You have identified the problem. When Farage blames the political elite, he is right. This new breed of politicians, starting with Blair, are the source of our ills. Farage is not the answer of course but he is a bloody good question.

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MattS
29/5/2014 01:57:47

I'm writing this after the event. Your worst nightmares came true. People were fooled. Or we're they? Is the real worry that people knew exactly what Farage stands for and voted for it? In France also. That this many citizens were prepared to back these kind of ... Not policies but prejudices is something that should frighten us all. And the current elite cannot and will not address it.

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CJ
29/5/2014 02:16:33

Just got round to listening to the Dylan. Pleasant enough but does he miss a couple of notes in there?

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Sean
3/6/2014 05:53:05

One thing that irks me is how much air time the media gave this grinning tool. Every single broadcast banged on and on about him, giving him and his ludicrous party the air of being real players. Starved of this publicity I'm sure the public would have remained unmoved. Also for the fox to actually be in the Westminster henhouse you would actually need to have, you know, like, an actual MP. People who hate being part of Europe representing the UK in a European parliament? It's the stuff of Catch 22.

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     Max Smith

    European writer, radical, restaurateur and Red Sox fan. 70-something husband, father, step-father. and grandfather. Resident in Warwick, England.

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