So UKIP have managed to bag themselves their first MP in a Tory area, while almost giving Labour the surprise of a lifetime to boot. All of this off of the back of claiming to be something new and exciting in British politics, while they quietly mop up (and prop up) failed politicians and angry opportunists by the bucket load.
The biggest irony of UKIP is just how old they really are. Their ideas come from Thatcher, with extra Euro scepticism, their candidates come from the Conservatives, with a smattering of ex-BNP, and their message of protest comes from the Lib Dems, with added scapegoating of the weak and the foreign (and less leaflets).
Their leadership and their donors are more representative of a trading floor than a housing estate, and their penchant for real ale is more trendy than traditional. They could (and should) be viewed as a misfit love child of the Young Ones and Upstairs Downstairs, Bottom for millionaires with an upper class Alf Garnet at the helm.
Instead, though, we find ourselves wringing our hands as they make gain after gain, unable to stop a tide of protest that has been hijacked by the very vested interests that it is aimed at railing against. Even the high intensity lense that is the nation's media can't fry these ants in our political school yard, as they nibble and make off with our picnic of power.
The answer? I see no evidence of a credible solution to the problem so far. The polished turd of anger and hatred that UKIP are currently serving up to the public isn't going to be smothered by the silk handkerchief of privilege that is the root cause and effect of our current political and financial woes as a nation.
The greatest trick that UKIP has pulled is to convince the public that being rich, entitled, and a little bit racist is fine as long as you didn't go to the "right" school, or study PPE at Oxford, even if you are happy to make money off of the backs the poor and the weak, while blaming it all on... the poor and the weak (but less White and/or British so it's fine).
So the nightmare scenario? A 2015 in which UKIP and the Tories go into coalition, and austerity becomes a lost pipe dream of yesteryear as they gleefully destroy not just our human rights, but the last of our dwindling safety net, while they gut our public services for their buddies in big business. Who would live in a nation like this I ask you?
The biggest irony of UKIP is just how old they really are. Their ideas come from Thatcher, with extra Euro scepticism, their candidates come from the Conservatives, with a smattering of ex-BNP, and their message of protest comes from the Lib Dems, with added scapegoating of the weak and the foreign (and less leaflets).
Their leadership and their donors are more representative of a trading floor than a housing estate, and their penchant for real ale is more trendy than traditional. They could (and should) be viewed as a misfit love child of the Young Ones and Upstairs Downstairs, Bottom for millionaires with an upper class Alf Garnet at the helm.
Instead, though, we find ourselves wringing our hands as they make gain after gain, unable to stop a tide of protest that has been hijacked by the very vested interests that it is aimed at railing against. Even the high intensity lense that is the nation's media can't fry these ants in our political school yard, as they nibble and make off with our picnic of power.
The answer? I see no evidence of a credible solution to the problem so far. The polished turd of anger and hatred that UKIP are currently serving up to the public isn't going to be smothered by the silk handkerchief of privilege that is the root cause and effect of our current political and financial woes as a nation.
The greatest trick that UKIP has pulled is to convince the public that being rich, entitled, and a little bit racist is fine as long as you didn't go to the "right" school, or study PPE at Oxford, even if you are happy to make money off of the backs the poor and the weak, while blaming it all on... the poor and the weak (but less White and/or British so it's fine).
So the nightmare scenario? A 2015 in which UKIP and the Tories go into coalition, and austerity becomes a lost pipe dream of yesteryear as they gleefully destroy not just our human rights, but the last of our dwindling safety net, while they gut our public services for their buddies in big business. Who would live in a nation like this I ask you?
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