Elections

Today, in mock signatures we put an 'X' in a box and then put our folded, hidden answers in a box. In the Polling station I attended this morning, the distant observer, with an idea of the order of the candidates would have no problem knowing who you voted for. Obscured the non-booths most surely were not. There are legal requirements around the running of elections, but in today's world of bureaucracies and politics, who 'in authority' need feel constrained by law?

But who will these people, trekking in rain to 'have their say' vote for? This left over of times when the liberty of the individual and the the sanctity of the Englishman in his freedom, is strangely at odds with the rest of our experience. Enormous effort is made to coerce us to vote according the the whims of those who know best, with the BBC and a chorus of other media outlets not just singing the praises of half-wits, but also screaming abuse at the usurper.

You see politics has settled into a cosy career, where as a politician you pretty much don't do anything, but strut around in the certainty of your importance and seek ways to enrich yourself. It is difficult to get caught out on anything of substance because you will espouse no policies, your party will contain no great thinkers. Ironically it will be stupendously easy to catch you on detail, as you won't have the faintest idea about your 'brief'.

Then up pops a party who generally have a list of policies that are supported by a very large section of the community (and certainly the forgotten class; the wage earning British person). I speak of course of UKIP. Now UKIP are seen as being like a bad smell to the career political elite, like the mediaeval poor who offended the rich by their very presence. UKIP don't have the manners of the Westminster bubble, donchaknow?

The politicians, to continue their work avoidance suggest that the attitudes of the people (the hoi polloi) is evidence of a need for education. The poor lambs don't understand in the way the elite does, so it either needs to be explained to them until they are compliant or the option to have a say be removed. They are such a hindrance to progress!

The idea that the elite might be wrong, in error, not just doesn't occur to them, the mere thought would fill them with horror. It could never be so, they would aver, because they know best and always have your best interests at heart (like when Blair increased his police escort and required traffic lights to change in his favour, it was for you. When an MP makes a fortune selling a second home you paid the mortgage on, it is for you).

So, UKIP have attracted ire from all across the spectrum of political entrenchment. They are racist, they will destroy Britain, they will cause riots on the streets (rivers of blood anyone?). None of it is true and the vitriol is extreme and so severe that you just know the fate of Britain or your welfare is not behind it. In fact you are being attacked just as strongly, because so many it seems will vote UKIP.

This is because we have been misled, they say. No it isn't. We have been misled on many things from the NHS to the police, from taxation to the Global Warming scam. But UKIP have one very useful talent; they scare these complacent, money wasting parasites to death.