Thanks Richard for this link - we were in Rotherham for the by election, and spent a few hours posting leaflets for UKIP.
Most people we spoke to had no intention of voting, and the one who mentioned UKIP observed, with the fingers down the
throat gesture, that the Hamiltons had come to town to support the UKIP candidate.

Jane Collins, the candidate, has been a UKIP regional organiser for 15 years I believe, but there was no sign of any local organisation
or activists and the shop was 'staffed' by a two person (paid?) team who treated us with all the disdain we deserved - just a pair of
mugs daft enough to work for nothing.

Labour had parachuted in their candidate to prevent a takeover by the Mahroof Hussain faction, only the immigrant communities and those
who directly benefit from Labour largesse in the area are interested in party activisim. UKIP has been mealy mouthed about the real problems
being imposed on Rotherham by overwhelming numbers of immigrants - one woman told me that she regards the fostering of Roma children
as a new local industry, and the Roma themselves are worried about this. They talk about their children being sold - they are not far off the
mark if their children are the basis of large incomes for social workers and foster parents.

The main problem is as you say that voters have completely lost faith in the political process as a means of securing anything but jobs and
money for the select few off the back of immigrants. UKIP was making no effort to engage with Rotherham voters "Kick Them In The Ballot
Box" was their slogan - then they get annoyed at being described as merely a collector of protest votes.

Look forward to reading your comments on the Szamuely piece.

Last GE the UKIP candidate in my constituency wasn't announced until the last minute. I was beginning to doubt there would be one. The electorally credible alternatives were a Lib Dem, who increased his majority, and a Conservative. Labour retained their deposit, just. The LibDem is a nice bloke and an active constituency MP. I think a lot of people are influenced by the niceness of the bloke and he's has a long time to establish his niceness. The LibDems have a good local organisation. I can't stand anything they do, such as triumphantly announcing the installation of speed cameras, but there's no denying they are active.

The Szamuely (pronounced Sam-you-elly)


Repeat after me Sam-you-elly,



duh.

On Peter Hitchens piece:-



I think that is a good reflection - on the current state of the Tories.








A bit over the top [wow what a hypocrite I am ] but a kernel of truth there as well. On the final sentence, I have asked myself the same - why does Dave continue to lavish extravagant favour upon Labour placemen and women, in keeping quango-queens, granting new and vastly overpaid p*88ball easy sinecures to Labour-ites? These people, he knows will spit in his face rather than reciprocate in kind. Dave is a Socialist fifth columnist in the Tory party - trouble is they can't see it, most of the executive have been champagne Socialists all of their lives and the Whig grandees are all statist fat pigs, just look at Ken, Bummer, Yeo, Patten and Tarzan.


But indeed, the Tory party is dying and is it not about time that they and the Marxist nutters in the Nu Scum party were buried with the Dhimmi party - I wish.


On UKIP, is still not at the races, with Nige's drinking club on top, it will always be so. Even though, I will vote UKIP [what other choice is there?] - UKIP desperately need some sort of leadership coup and a re-organisation but it will not happen, so the votes will be wasted and the only happy people will be in Brussels and the mainstream Westminster claque - as Niall has said - a place to park the EU protest vote.

The Westminster bloc [lab/Con] can go on and on - with falling turnouts, look in the north at Middlesborough, Rotherham and Manchester - Labour will win in the north and inner cities, the Tories will win in the south and the shires and the UK elective dictatorship hand in glove with the EU gravy train glides on.

Edited by user 02 December 2012 18:20:21(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Everyone seems to be missing the point with UKIP. They are now classed as a mainstream party and coming close to being the 3rd main party when the Libdems finally turn over and expire. In the last 20 years, and more so now, you have to give them the respect deserved of a party with very limited funds unlike the main 3 plus the greens which have a vast amount of funds given to them from various sources. There are no real career politicians in UKIP unlike the others and the majority of UKIP members are working class or are small business people who believe in making the UK a decent place to live. I have been reading this blog for years and have recommended it to many but I am starting to despair of the direction you appear to going of lately Richard.

Some interesting polling results from:
http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/
YouGov: CON 31%, LAB 44%, LDEM 10%, UKIP 10%.
Opinium: CON 29%(-3), LAB 38%(-1), LDEM 9%(+1), UKIP 13(+3).

I can't give you the source James, but following the counting on the night, I understood that Labour received 4000 (yes, I know) postal votes, that the
postal votes outcome was given whilst the count frpm the polling stations was underway, and that at this point (having been told how many postal votes Labour had secured) Nigel Farage conceded defeat.
One of the sites I was checking which was updating live on the night was rotherhampolitics.wordpress.com and another was a Labour party site.

I see that John Ward has just put up a post on postal vote fraud at Rotherham, but no details there. hat4uk.wordpress.com/tag/postal-vote-fraud-in-rotherham/

John Ward rarely does give details. He's made an educated guess and filled it out with 'someone told me' to make up a blog piece. We can all do that... and probably wouldn't be far wrong.

What is your view on the reasons online polls show better results for Ukip than telephone polls? It seems to go against the stereotype of Ukip supporters.

And the Media still understand how to do Brand Management, to a certain extent. Or do they not revile BNP and UKIP every chance they get?

Of course, just what good does Westminster representation do, as long as y'all maintain your status as regards the EU and its foibles and fantasies? Short of gaining hold of the government, what could MPs of EITHER party credibly do? Even if they DID develop a sudden penchant for Article 50...