UKIP "hammered" - by Richard... Monday, October 19, 2009

UKIP "hammered" - by Richard... Monday, October 19, 2009

Mixed feelings attend the news that the Nigel Farage Party UKIP has been "stung by a devastating court ruling, which ruled £367,697 of donations were impermissible" and are subject to forfeit.

Farage is now suggesting that the party could collapse because of the case, which is the culmination of a two-year saga, arising in the first instance when the party accepted 67 separate donations from Alan Bown and his company Nightech Ltd, without checking that his name was on the electoral register.

Originally "fined" in Westminster Magistrates Court a sum of only £18,481, the Electoral Commission appealed the decision, which brought today's ruling which has UKIP "staring at the political abyss."

Those in the know suggest that this is a spectacular "own goal" by Farage who personally intervened to prevent a response to the Electoral Commission which would have kept the issue out of court, more-or-less goading the Commission to take action in what has become a battle of wills – from which there could be only one loser.

For the diminishing membership of UKIP, however, this is a hard and undeserved blow. Up against the might of the established parties, with the tainted record of their leadership making it harder than ever to attract substantial donations, they had been hoping to field up to 550 candidates for the general election.

Although many candidates are expected to pledge their own funds to the campaign, to put up a full slate will require external funding. Unless new donors are forthcoming, today made it just that bit harder.

The primary beneficiary of this will, of course, be Mr Cameron's Modern Conservative Party (whose marketing gurus don't seem to realise what MCP stands for), which otherwise would be battling in the marginals for a share of the decisive eurosceptic vote.

Without a four-letter word (UKIP) to turn to, voters disaffected by Cameron's "Europe" non-policy will be having to consider three letters, either BNP or ABC. In the absence of UKIP, however, the MCP may get a more comfortable ride than it deserves.

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Some people in London might be interested - by Helen...

The New Culture Forum is holding a discussion about the post-Danish cartoon situation tomorrow evening at 7 in Committee Room 4 of the House of Lords. Some people in London or nearby might be interested. More information here.

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Give us a referendum - by Richard...

The Daily Telegraph leader says "Cameron must be true to his word on Europe". They mean the European Union, of course.

Haven't time to do a full review, so this is a place holder - I'll do it when I get back from Manchester. Cameron really does have a problem. It ain't going to go away!

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Food parcels - by Richard...

The Red Cross is preparing to hand out food parcels to vulnerable populations in ... wait for it ... Europe (i.e., the EU). According to the Swedish Red Cross Gen Sec Christer Zettergren, his Spanish colleagues are preparing to hand out food to hundreds of thousands of people in Spain. The same thing is happening in Italy and in Hungary, where the hand-outs have already started.

The Red Cross and Red Crescent have published a report on the socio-economic situation in Europe and near-Asia. Although the report is not a "fact-rich environment", it paints a pretty poor picture. The message is not a good one. They are certainly fearing the effects of a hard winter.

And so, for the first winter since the immediate post-war years, when international help organisations will have to send food-aid to countries in middle and western Europe, the leaders of the world will gather in Copenhagen to discuss ways to stop global warming. Meanwhile, the greenies want to close down what little industry we have left.

One of the people quoted in the Red Cross report says, "our future is a vacuum". Thus, a reader suggests that, had he been a Marxist, he would have said that we are looking at revolutionary conditions. But you don't have to be a Marxist ... we are looking at revolutionary conditions. We really are going to have to shoot them.

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Is there a link? - by Richard...

British children are the worst in Europe for switching out lights and saving electricity, despite knowing the most about climate change, says a press release from the Energy Saving Trust, copied out in The Daily Telegraph by Louise Gray.

I dunno about "saving the planet". That woman has the easiest job on the planet ... cutting and pasting press releases from the greenies, under the guise of journalism.

Anyhow, despite our kids being stuffed with greenie propaganda, they are doing what kids always do – taking not a blind bit of notice, and doing their own thing. The more you lecture them, the less notice they take. And when even the kids can see though this garbage about carbon "pollution", there is hope for us yet.

There is a thought, though ... if you look round at the drongos who are ruling us, yer average anarchic kid might look at the hype about "destroying the planet" and say to themselves, "bring it on". If we are saving the world to make it a better place for greenies - and Ms Gray's kids - it ain't worth saving.

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The way the cookie crumbles - by Richard...

There were many pieces waiting to be written yesterday, and for the overnight piece which we call the "Horlicks" – for obvious reasons. But there is only so much time in the day, and I ended up writing three, long, difficult pieces on Defence of the Realm, the latest one here.

Generally, I find the readership levels for each piece are in inverse proportion to the care taken and the depth of research and writing. That is not a complaint - I choose to do long, difficult pieces - merely an observation, and a wry reflection on life in general. The harder you work, the less the "reward". There must be a lesson there.

It is also an indicator for those who see the primary objective of a blog as chasing hits: keep the posts short, light and fluffy. Better still, do very little research and keep your comment and analysis at the "man in pub" level.

I'll try, but probably fail, to pick up some of the loose ends later today, although some time will have to be spent driving to Manchester airport to pick up a friend (we do still have a few). That means blogging may be relatively light, after the morning post. Meanwhile, have a read of this. "Negotiators have 50 days to save the world from global warming," Brown is going to tell us. 

How can you trust anyone who comes up with such utter tosh?

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