I see that democracy in action has given UKIP a considerable number of MEP's.

I doubt that those who voted for them can see the irony of their actions.

But in a democracy they have a right to be elected and take their one trick pony policies to the parliament and discuss them. Far more civilised than trying to kill people.

As I stated in another post, IMO, UKIP is an insect bite that is an irritant for a short time and then it disappears.
No matter all the bluster, media fawning etc. will change that.

I sense that UKIP voters may actually have done politics in this country a great service without them realising why.

The point is people are disaffected from Europe and are struggling to see the benefits Europe brings - wrongly in my view.

Leaving Europe would be a mistake IMO but this is what happens when you have the quality of politicians we have and the general lack of interest and gravitas in this area.

You don't 'stick 2 fingers up at the establishment' by voting for a bunch of racist, mysoginistic chancers. Anyone who voted UKIP is either a racist or a moron. No exceptions.

Edit: Well, I suppose they could be both. In fact that's quite likely really.

Far better would be to open up "the books" to all political leaders and "shadow" chancellors for constant appraisal and then have them base their policies and manifestos on true figures and forecasts rather than have the old chestnut excuse of "We didn't realise it was this bad until we got into power" or "We've had to spend a lot more than we imagined just to fix what the previous government did".

Its beyond belief that public money can be spent in a way that only a few people in government have access to - by all means put your political beliefs into practice but lets see the plans and have others make sure that they are viable, affordable and open to consultation - and more importantly, fixable by the next government if it all goes wrong.

But just think of the benefits if UKIP did get some electoral power.
We could build a modern day Maginot Line around the whole of our British coastals waters.
We could even have castle and moats and things?

...and we won't have to extend it beyond Berwick because the Scots will soon be paying for their own, some rolls of barbledy wire on top of Hadrians Wall and jobs a good'un.

Whats the salary like for one of the new Farage Border Agents, I fancy the stretch of coastline in Newton Bay Northumberland, give me a uniform, a gun and a deckchair and I'll do five shifts a week sitting on the beach waiting to repel "immigrunts" and then retire to The Ship Inn behind me to quaff a few ales in true Farage style.

I disagree that leaving the EU would be a bad thing, the EU started as a means to boost trade but has snowballed over the decades to become a multi-billion pound monster that interferes with National laws and regulations. I find the system where countries pay billions in, to then get some money back in subsidies and grants (minus of course the costs of running the EU) a bafflingly inefficient system in my opinion.

I feel we could still enjoy the benefits we get through trade deals, without the excessive costs of EU membership and without the interference on laws and regulations. Judging by the polls yesterday other countries are feeling the same. As things stand I can't see the EU still being around in its current form in 10 years time.

I do agree with your other point though, the current crop of 'prominent' politicians are the worst I can remember. Love them or hate them, when figures such as Thatcher or Blair spoke they commanded, even their biggest critics would surely agree that they'd wipe the floor with the current crop if they were around today. Milliband should trouncing the equally mediocre Cameron given the austerity cuts, and Clegg's completely ruined his own party and stripped them of their identity. Its probably too late for all 3 to change leader before the election, but all 3 need to take a hard look at their policies and change tactics IMO.

Whilst I agree the EU is an inefficient monster if we left it would have significant impacts on inward investment here. Very likely firms such as Honda would relocate into Europe.

Indeed and while Europe would still allow us to trade with them they wouldn't allow us to undercut them by reducing the pay and working conditions here to do it.

That can't be true surely, Mr Farage said they'll be begging us to do business with them after we've left the club and stopped paying our fees, says that we are their biggest export market so they CAN'T impose terms on us if we leave, in fact he seems to think we'll have the whip hand when we renegotiate all our trade deals with Europe.

He wouldn't lie to us would he ?

My options at the ballot were...

Labour - No
Tories - Hell No
Greens - What's the point
English Democrats - No
Britain First - Hell No

and Ukip, so I voted for them based on process of elimination.

What a horrible racist I must be!

I admire your honesty

2 more seats than a so called mainstream party.
Under the system of PR used, your vote counts.