UK braced for another day of being unable to escape Farage’s gaping maw

[T_i_B]

In case you didn't know, Nigel Farage is leader of the UK Independence Party, our equivalent of the Tea Party and darling of the British media (in spite of him being a blatant charlatan)

http://eveningharold.com/2014/11/20/uk-braced-for-another-day-of-being-unable-to-escape-farages-gaping-maw/

As the Rochester & Strood by-election takes place today Britain will be forced once again to endure saturation coverage of Nigel Farage’s enormous mouth.

“I’m all for democracy,” Harold pensioner Tom Stalling told us. “I just wish it could happen without having to see a thousand images of the bleak cavern of cliché and invective that resides under that cream-faced loon’s nose.”

[pampango]

1. Here's a recent poll showing that "Quarter of Britons say 'all immigrants should leave'"

And that includes legal as well as illegal immigrants. Unfortunately seems that folks, particularly conservative folks, are coming around to Farage's way of thinking.

And yet I just heard on PRI The World that support for UK membership in the EU is at an all-time high. If true that is an odd state of affairs.

Quarter of Britons say 'all immigrants should leave'

A quarter of Britons believe all immigrants should be returned to their home countries, according to a new poll by a think-tank.

A survey conducted for British Future found 25 per cent of people agreed that the government should “insist that all immigrants should return to the countries they came from, whether they’re here legally or illegally”. A small majority – 52 per cent – disagreed with the statement, while the remainder neither agreed nor disagreed, in a poll of 2,000 adults by ICM.
The poll also found that Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, was the most trusted politician on the subject of immigration.

The 140-page study said liberal, pro-immigration arguments could often lead people who were undecided on the issue to “harden” their attitude against immigration.

“While this reassured liberals who would never consider supporting Ukip, it carried little weight with those who were thinking about voting for them – in fact it may have increased the party’s ‘outsider’ appeal.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/11238754/Quarter-of-Britons-say-all-immigrants-should-leave.html

It's good to see that a majority still opposed the desire to see all immigrants return to their home countries but it is surprising that the percentage was just 52%. I would have to admit that the efforts of the "British Tea Party" (UKIP) are effective.

[T_i_B]

4. Is support for membership of the EU at an all time high?

Almost certainly not. The EU is still very unpopular over here.

And as for immigration, when people get obsessed about that subject they really get obsessed. And obsessive immigrant bashing is a major factor in UKIP's current success.

Although it it noticeable that for some reason the worst anti-immigrant obsessives always seem to be in areas with very few immigrants. See UKIP's recently won parliamentary seat of Clacton for evidence of this.

[pampango]

5. I found this article in October: Poll: British support for EU membership hits 23-year high

Support among Britons for staying in the European Union is at its highest in 23 years, according to a poll on Wednesday (October 22), even though the anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP) is gaining in popularity.

Under pressure from UKIP and Eurosceptic members of his Conservative party, British Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged to hold a referendum in 2017 on Britain's EU membership if his Conservative party wins an election next year. But the poll by Ipsos MORI showed just over half of Conservative supporters favoured staying in the EU, indicating Cameron has a fine line to tread and could risk losing support by taking too hard line an approach to Europe.

Among the other parties, 73% of supporters of the opposition Labour party and 82% of backers of the Liberal Democrats, the government's junior coalition partner, favour EU membership. By contrast, just 11% of supporters of UKIP, which earlier this month won its first elected seat in parliament, said they would vote to stay in.

Overall, 56% of Britons would back staying in the EU, compared with 36% who would choose to leave. That was the highest level of support for Britain's EU membership since 1991, and showed a switch from 2012, when more people said they wanted to exit the bloc than remain in.

http://www.euractiv.com/sections/uk-europe/poll-british-support-eu-membership-hits-23-year-high-309425

A month may be an eternity in the world of British immigration/EU politics.

[True Blue Door]

8. Stupidity and evil are eternal constituencies in all societies.

You can't argue them into being other than they are. All you can do is find some kind of leverage and let them be miserable as they prefer to be.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

2. So the Evening Harold is the British equivilent of The Onion or Borowitz, I'm taking. nt

[T_i_B]

3. There are a few Onion ripoffs over here

The best is the brilliant, vicious and often surreal http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/

There's also http://newsthump.com/ and http://www.newsbiscuit.co.uk/ and of course Evening Harold, which is coming out with some good stuff at the moment.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Sample result from today:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30133981

The British Tea Party is expected to win it, unfortunately.

[T_i_B]

7. Looks like they have.

If anything, this result is even worse then Clacton.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. UKIP holds a weekly leadership contest - the person with the widest gape wins

Here, we see Farage defending his post for the 245th consecutive week:

[T_i_B]

10. I was in Clacton area a few weeks ago

And I came across people who'd had the misfortune to meet Farage. The things they mentioned are how unpleasant he is in person and how much security he's got. Apparently it's quite the entourage.