Ukip's Only MP Insults British Engineers, Gets Owned on Twitter over Computing

Carswell.
Idiot.

What is it with Ukip and Technology?

We know we joke sometimes about the Party being stuck in the past - but such a lack of knowledge and appreciation of the European and specifically British contribution to Computing is unacceptable.

We've had an amusing few days with Ukip MEP David Coburn wanting to leave the EU because he is unable to operate a modern toaster.

So now we now have Ukip MP (the only one) Douglas Carswell on Twitter, simultaneously;

• Displaying his total lack of knowledge of IT;
• Insulting all the many British Engineers who have contributed so greatly to our modern world, from Alan Turing to Sir Tim Berners-Lee;
• Ignoring the greatness of other European Scientific, Cultural and Technological inventiveness;
• Making a tit of himself.

It began when Carswell posted this:

We're not entirely sure why listing some successful American companies is at all a comment on the EU.

More pertinently, by omission, he denigrates and insults the companies and engineers he has chosen to overlook, British and European based.

You know, those people who, er, invented the entire infrastructure that the companies he mentions actually profits from, the infrastructure without which we'd never have heard of Google Facebook, et al.

• The Telephone - 1876, invented USA but by a Scottish immigrant, Alexander Graham Bell, with most critical early work done in Scotland.
  
• The Computer - 1822, The Difference Engine' theorised by Charles Babbage but never actually built until 2002. British.Or .. 1943, Colossus, created by Tommy Flowers. British.
  Or .. 1943, Bombe, created by Alan Turing. British.
• The Mobile Phone - 1973, invented by Motorola US but popularised in 1981 by the Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) system in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden by Nokia, Siemens, Ericsson.
  
• The Smart Phone - 1996/2000 - Created in USA by Palm, Inc, based on and inspired by the 1980's British Psion devices.
  
• Li-On Batteries - 1979, developed at Oxford University by a German scientist with his Japanese colleague.
  
• Linux (Android) : 1991 - The Operating System that runs Banks, Secure Transactions, Nuclear Power Stations, Airlines, Air Traffic Control, the Pentagon, entire Governments, 93% of the Internet and yes, probably your TV, Microwave and Car. Oh, and as Android, it's the biggest OS in the world. Oh, and Apple is based on it. Created by Linus Torvald of Finland.
  
• The Actual Entire WWW - 1989 - Invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee as a 'hyper' document format for sharing research information at Cern, Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire - the world-famous Scientific Project created and co-funded by 21 nations, mainly European, and part-funded by the EU.

Secondly, perhaps just as pertinently, Carswell revels in the success of some of the worlds (certainly the UK's) biggest Tax Dodgers; Amazon, Google, Apple, Facebook, Oh, and Twitter. Every company he mentioned, actually.

Thirdly, he omits to mention the contribution that Immigration played in the creation of those companies :

• Google - Co-founded by Sergey Brin, a Russian born immigrant.
• Apple - Co-founded by Steve Jobs, son of a Syrian immigrant. 
• Facebook - Co-founded by Eduardo Saverin, a Brazilian immigrant.
• Amazon - Founded by Jeff Bezos, son of Mexican immigrants, brought up by his Cuban step-father.

Ok. Carswell is specifically talking about a narrow sector, here. He could, of course, talk about the European success stories in Engineering, Commerce, Culture, or any other sector. But he won't. On the other hand, we will.

Where is America's Porsche, Ferarri, Lamborghini, Ducati ?

Chanel, Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Savile Row ?

Saint Emilion, Krug, Courvoisier, Glenfiddich ?

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EXCLUSIVE – EFDD UKIP Racism Update - The Unholy Sacrifice Of Sarinder Joshua Duroch

Not only do Ukip fail to deal with Racism and Hate from their own supporters, they fail to act - indeed, they cover-up - when one of their own employees and candidates is the victim.

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According to comments published in POLITICO, UKIP have refused to back their British Indian staffer, Sarinder Joshua Duroch, after he reported racist and xenophobic incidents to his superiors.

Despite evidence and statements provided, UKIP’s Brussels press team, (all named in the official investigation), released a statement to say that the incident “never happened” - which is strange given the same news story admits that show UKIP/EFDD declined to investigate the incident and passed it back to the European Parliament to deal with.

Sarinder Joshua Duroch

The statement comes after several attempts to force their member of staff to withdraw the complaint, using a variety of means including outright intimidation.

Has Sarinder Joshua Duroch been sacrificed on the altar of European Group funding to maintain UKIP’s vital financial lifeline from the taxpayer?

We continue to investigate…

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Farage, Caught Lying. Again. To National Media. Plus Ca Change.

ICYMI: One of our little videos ...

When Ukip's Nigel Farage lied "I never said Britain is Full" .. er, yes, you did, actually. Often.

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Statement On Our Brexit Position - Updated

Readers may recall our previous statement on Brexit (in short, we are undecided but will fight Lies and Misinformation). We have also stated on Twitter many times that we, as a group, are split on this matter.

A poll within our group to clarify whether the Brexit support within SLAT has changed at all, has now been completed, and the results are as follows (values rounded):

80%	will Vote To REMAIN
13%	will Vote To LEAVE
7%	are UNDECIDED

Not all SLAT Members voted, but enough to make this a valid result.

Therefore we will continue our current Social Media Policy on the Brexit Matter. To clarify:

1. The EU is a separate issue from our fight against Ukip. We fully acknowledge that Anti UKIP does not automatically mean Pro EU.
    
2. Within SLATUKIP, WDU and various Anti UKIP Groups there are people in both Pro and Anti EU Camps. We acknowledge this and respect it.
    
3. Whether anyone Anti Ukip states any opinions either way on the EU does not detract from their position on Ukip and will not be taken that way.
    
4. We will freely challenge lies and misinformation. People must decide their EU stance - and their vote - on Fact, not Rhetoric.
    
5. We ask that any EU discussion in Anti Ukip Forums/Groups will be polite and fact-based. Aside from our views on the EU, we are all united in our fight against Ukip and we will not allow a separate issue to detract from that.
    
6. The Groups, REMAIN or LEAVE, who are vying for the official Electoral Commission selection as Nominated Group are many and varied. We will refrain from actively promoting or denigrating any particular Group, REMAIN or LEAVE.

We welcome your comments.

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EXCLUSIVE: Something Is Rotten In The State of #Ukip

Intimidation, Corruption and Fear: The rotten heart of Ukip in Cornwall - and how a cover-up and closing of ranks cost Ukip £100,000.

[This follows on from one of our previous posts, How Ukip Do Social Media.]

We’ve stated many times that even when presented with concrete evidence, UKIP fail to deal with racism and discrimination when it is unmasked within their membership.

The facts in the following case are indisputable, as UKIP officials are caught on record engaging in a ‘cover-up’ when presented with not only Anti-Semitic and Racist Social Media postings, but also a Branch Chairman’s attempts to ‘whitewash’ the entire affair and have OFFICIAL PARTY RECORDS of meetings amended to remove all reference of it ever taking place.

If this wasn’t bad enough; UKIP have officially told the whistle-blowers they are BANNED from discussing these events and threatened them with internal party disciplinary procedure and EXPULSION from UKIP, should they dare to do so.

SLATUKIP has exclusively interviewed several of the UKIP whistleblowers and patrons, they believe that after months of inaction from the party, they have no option; this information must come to light in the public interest.

We can also reveal that significant UKIP donors in the South West Region have also been shown this information, and as a result of the party’s failure to address their legitimate concerns and cover up, they have withdrawn close to £100,000 per year worth of financial and material support from the party. Money that Ukip right now can ill afford to lose.

The following account has been collated from those sources, including the donors and patrons, who wish to remain anonymous. Only a portion of the evidence has been posted due to the size of the feature.

Interestingly, timing wise, Nigel Farage, who is personally aware of this situation, is due to speak at an “EFDD” meeting on Monday night.

... In Cornwall.

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EXCLUSIVE: Internal Ukip Letter - Officials Demand Farage Revamps Entire Party

Farage: Facing challenges within his Party

Our position on the Ukip Party structure has always been that they are undemocratic, disorganised, cliquey, corrupt, and run on intimidation, fear and croneyism. We have even used the word 'dictatorship'.

Seems we are not alone in this opinion.

Senior Regional and Branch Officials within Ukip have had enough, and have penned this joint letter to Nigel Farage and Steve Crowther (although we are unsure what authority Crowther has anymore)

The internal communication, exclusive to us, paints a damning picture of how Ukip is run.

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Ukip, The One-Issue Party, is Critically Split On It's One Issue, Brexit.

Farage - no Untiy
in Ukip for Brexit

As we have reported before there are two Brexit groups vying for the nod from the Electoral Commission for Nominated Group: Vote Leave and Grassroots Out; and Ukip still don't know which way to tilt.

Surprising, that after 20 years of planning, Ukip cannot agree let alone on a policy or a plan, but even on a group to support.

Carswell - You rebel, you.

Grassroots Out is the group backed by Leave.EU - which is supported by Nigel Farage and funded by Arron Banks. Nigel Farage claims this is the 'Official' Ukip Group - although no vote was taken and the Ukip NEC was not consulted.

And here's the initial problem: rival group Vote Leave is backed by Ukip's only MP, Douglas Carswell, and Ukip's leading female figure, Suzanne Evans.

Well, Nigel, here's your new problem:

Douglas Carswell claims tonight that the core of Ukip - it's councillors - have turned their backs on Grassroots Out and jumped on the Vote Leave ship.

That's what happens, Nigel, when you unilaterally declare your Party's position behind a group while never actually asking anyone what they think.

Of course, Carswell could be lying. We don't know.

Lying, from a Elected Ukip Official? Shocking.

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EU Expenses : Front National Raided ... Ukip Next?

French Police and Fraud Squad Officers have raided the headquarters, offices and private homes of Front National's Staff, Officials and Accountants in a massive crackdown on possible EU Expenses Fraud.

Marine Le Pen, already facing various criminal charges, may be facing a few more.

The allegations relate to a practice we have stated that Ukip almost certainly indulge in: Employing Staff on the #EU Payroll, while those staff are mainly involved in National Politics.

Any brief glance on the UKIP MEPs pages will show that every Ukip MEP has a plethora of 'Research Assistants' .. far more than really needed when one considers the negligeable work that Ukip MEPs actually involve themselves in. Having examined in detail who these are, and how they are initially employed, it is quite clear that this is simply a method of Ukip giving loyal acolytes a well-paid job, on the EU dime.

A Ukip job? Nice little earner.

What are these 'Researchers' doing all day?

Our Inside Source tells us they are very often involved in British Domestic Politics, including Regional or Local organising, administration and campaigning.

This is completely against the EU EFDD Funding rules .. and if proven, constitutes Serious Fraud.

We have said often in the past that it would be Money (either lack of it or illegal use of it) that would bring #Ukip down. If the EU turn their eyes from FN to EFDD, perhaps that moment is one step closer.

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EXCLUSIVE: A Eurosceptic View: Is Referendum Defeat UKIP’s Best Case Scenario?

An opinion piece from within UKIP.

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Remaining in the EU seems to be the scenario which a majority of UKIP’s officials and even some MEPs favour; I believe there are elements who envisage a referendum defeat that leaves UKIP as the party best placed to keep the EU under continued scrutiny. Unlike BREXIT, this would not only allow MEPs to finish their terms but also seek re-election in 2019, and it is interesting to note that talk of the “next election” is a conversation that is seemingly given a higher priority than BREXIT strategy.

Many UKIP insiders and staff are already positioning themselves internally in the hope of favourable or higher position on the lists for an election that the party is not supposed to envisage fighting.

Brexit might not be Ukip's best option

It is also worth noting that EU financing of its parliamentary group, The EFDD, and its MEPs is the only steady revenue stream that UKIP can rely on over a period of years, and that BREXIT will leave the party reliant on its dwindling number of donors and members.

It’s only natural that some MEPs, many of whom are in the biggest job of their lives, on the best pay of their careers, fear for their personal future after leaving the EU. Given that UKIP have consistently failed to replicate any of their European political success at home it is probable that most, if not all, of the current UKIP MEPs will never be elected to a position of this level again.

This thought process is not the case for all UKIP MEPs, as I have encountered some that have a genuine desire to “get out and go home”, who aren’t interested in anything other than BREXIT. But those who have side projects, who host delegations and enjoy the lifestyle a little too much, may find leaving the EU a bitter victory to swallow.

I believe that in the wake of a failed referendum a dozen or so UKIP MEPs will be returned to Strasbourg in 2019, although with diminished numbers they will probably be unable to recreate another incarnation of EFDD. Instead, a broader hard-right political group will form, which UKIP will join, but with less influence than they currently hold.

After Brexit, what then for Ukip?

The European operation itself gives one much insight into how the party functions. UKIP has no voting strategy at EU level, doesn’t vote as a bloc because the MEPs aren’t whipped (yet they still strangely have group meetings where a consensus is attempted to be reached but then MEPs vote the way they want anyway).

Most worryingly there is no dedicated policy unit working on Brexit, and as far as I am aware there is also no Brexit plan costed, researched or even written.

After 17 years in the EU parliament at the taxpayer cost, and with a mandate from UKIP voters in four European elections, the fact that the party cannot produce this plan of action is simply unacceptable. Solid research that is presented is routinely ignored by MEPs - for example an excellent report that linked the EU’s African policies to the ebola crisis was wasted.

Understandably, with no proper management structure to speak of, an internal “party only” recruitment strategy, and a “make it up as you go along” political vision, some staff feel unused and unwanted. While the research which could have a serious impact is sidelined, items which secure and maintain the support of ‘kippers’ in the UK is given priority status. As I was told on one occasion “if there aren’t votes in it, don’t bother”.

Perhaps if UKIP had retained the brilliant intellect of Richard North over a decade ago, and built a world class research unit around him, this would not be the case.

UKIP’s only realistic chance of a breakthrough will come in the event of a snap election which could occur if David Cameron’s government sides with the In campaign but Britain votes overwhelmingly to leave. In this highly unlikely scenario, UKIP could pick up a handful of seats in the fallout - assuming the party has the financial means to do so.

However, I feel that if the UK does vote to leave it will be by a razor thin margin, and at that point the British people will want the best placed most professional team to negotiate the divorce from the EU on their behalf. Unfortunately, barring a few of them, UKIP is not the place where these types of people will be located.

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Brexit - And The 'Greenland' Conundrum

We keep seeing in the news references to Greenland being a precedent for our citizens retaining free movement within the EU even following a Brexit.

The situation is very different.

Greenland: Beautiful, just not relevant to the Brexit discussion.

Greenland exited in 1985 and retained OCT status (Overseas Country and Territory) due to its political links with Denmark, therefore the citizens of Greenland actually remained EU citizens.

It was also considered feasible due to the small amount of people living in Greenland. Free movement rights were kept by other EU nationals living in Greenland (obviously not necessary to do it the other way around).

We also see The Telegraph has jumped on the Vienna Convention acquired rights argument, however, the President of the CBI has stated that this still needs to be clarified by the European Parliament. He also states that of course this will not apply to UK citizens who want to move to the EU or to UK citizens who want to move within the EU following a Brexit.

The situation will not be the same following Brexit, and we really wish the Brexiters would stop saying that it is.

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The Big Ukip Google Tax Dodging Lie

This Mod's favourite beef, apart from Ukip, is mass corporate tax avoidance. Some estimates put it at an annual cost of £40m, some £80m, We've even seen it at £120m.

Right now Google are in the dock (while Starbucks, Boots and Amazon are keeping their heads down.)

Naturally Ukip, using any excuse to attack the EU - whether valid or not - try to turn the Google Story on it's head by saying that that "the EU rules actually stop us taxing Google fairly".

This is not just a huge lie, it's probably the biggest political lie of the year so far.

At the point where we were going to write about it, 'a liberal life' did much better so here is their post in full.

(Original at aliberallife.wordpress.com and @liberalisland on Twitter)

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How Ukip Does Social Media

There are a fixed number (albeit reducing) of Official Ukip Branches - but there seems to be an endless supply of Social Media Accounts named "Insert Town Name Here" Ukip.

Some of these are Official - we can tell. They restrain themselves, they are not (very often) abusive, and they stick to rather banally reposting from the main Ukip accounts, or those of Ukip MEPs and Officials.

Quite a lot of them are Johnny 'Wannabees' - simply (simple?) Ukip supporters, starting an account, bestowing on themselves a grand title (as if they represent a town, or region). They are unleashed, and can - and usually do - create and spread very offensive and vile hate posts. They love to repost 'White Supremacy' conspiracy theories, other posts from Neo Nazi sites and frequently repost Britain First, EDL and Pegida 'memes'.

Then .. there's the Unofficial Ukip 'sock' accounts; Set up 'outside' the 'Official' Ukip umbrella, but either on Ukip instructions or with tacit agreement and approval, obstensibly with no connection, but the solid link is there.

This is a way for Ukip to post their racism, homophobia and islamophobia without Media or Electoral Commission oversight.

Here's how the timeline works, for just one account, a pretty standard example of the methodology used, from one of our sources inside Ukip:

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Why Louise Bours Is Wrong When She Writes For The Huffington Post #Ukip

We stumbled across this article from Louise Bours, Ukip MEP, in the Huffington Post where she argues Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron was scaremongering in his claim that the National Health Service would come under increasing pressure if the United Kingdom broke free from the European Union.

Louise Bours, or Van Der Bours as she was known.

But she is wrong, because this is not as simple as she claims and in fact wide open to interpretation. The Vienna Convention applies to agreements between States, not between States and International organisations. Fine if the Treaties are considered agreements between States (individually), not so fine if the EU collectively is considered an international organisation. 

Even if the OAPS are allowed to stay Brexit may still impact on their rights within their country of residence in particular access to healthcare which is currently a reciprocal arrangement between the EU states and ourselves. What if, for example, they need a family member to come and join them to help with their care? Didn't the UK just kick an elderly lady out recently because we said she had no rights of residence to remain with her daughter who was caring for her? In this case the elderly  lady concerned was from South Africa, so she was not an EU citizen.
 
Furthermore workers on fixed term contracts will not have them renewed even if the Vienna Convention is applied. The same with SMEs and their contracts with other EU states. There is no mention of Article 1 of the Vienna Convention in Article 50 of the TFEU which relates to the provisions of an EU member state leaving the EU. In fact we can't find anything that specifically states that Article 1 will definitively apply in case we leave.

Surely someone like Louise Bours, who is not a lawyer, but an actress-turned-politician should not be making our OAPs feel secure when they might not be. Surely it is better for them to be considering their options now rather than later. 

UKIP cannot offer assurances to anyone, and in the case of a Brexit it won't be down to them or our government, it will be down to the remaining 27 Member States. What in fact Louise Bours and UKIP are doing here are offering assurances without having any mandate to do so. The Vienna Convention MAY apply, but this is not as clear as she makes out.

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Spain : Finally Eradicating It's Fascist History

Interesting story, this, on BBC.

General Franco

Spain has for a long time struggled to overcome it's 40 year Fascist rule under General Franco, who took power in 1936, overthrowing a democratically elected Left Wing Government

This started the Spanish Civil War (which this writer's Grandfather fought in against Franco) and with support from Hitler and Mussolini, Franco triumphed, just, beginning forty years of dictatorship.

He banned all other political parties. He then formed 190 Concentration Camps, and others for forced labor and executions, mostly against political and ideological enemies, causing an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 deaths.

And we wonder where Hitler got all his best ideas from?

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EXCLUSIVE : EU Parliament Investigation Into UKIP/EFDD Racism Revealed

Alistair Earl Harrison, who works for UKIP’s Media team in Brussels warned that the EFDD Group in the EU was “in danger of breaking up” if knowledge of these incidents were ever reported.

Which incidents? These ones ...

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We first reported that there was a major investigation into racism within UKIP’s European Parliament group, The EFDD, at the end of last year. Today we will be laying out the true nature of the complaint that was made to EU authorities thanks to sources within the European Parliament.

For background, please read our previous article: Ukip’s flirtation with racism becomes a long term relationship.


"Appropriate Methods"

Our sources tell us that Przemek Kilian, an assistant for who works for EFDD’s Polish MEP, Robert Iwaszkiewicz, initiated a conversation with members of UKIP staff regarding immigrants coming into Southern and Eastern Europe, describing it in a very critical manner. Kilian allegedly “lectured” the staff on the “appropriate methods” for dealing with Muslims living in Poland and Eastern Europe, suggesting to his colleagues that:

“...the best way to frighten immigrants away from Poland was to do what his football supporters do, and that is to take a pig into a football stadium and write “Allah” all over it and then proceed to slaughter the pig amongst loud cheers of joy."

He also went onto say that he would only welcome Ukrainians and other related races into his nation rather than Asians.

The Polish far-right often uses pigs as a tool to highlight their perceived grievances, seen here in a protest against mainstream parties. Photo © Getty images.

The alleged incident was witnessed by a senior member of EFD group staff who later submitted a statement at the request of EU Parliament authorities, verifying the conversation took place.

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The Man Who Cried EU! – A Modern Day Parable

Here’s our take on Nigel Farage and his answer to any question. His answer is always “Blame the EU” .. when it’s not “Blame the Gays” or Romanians or Syrians.

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This Is The Ukip Standard Of English

"Speak our language" Ukip say. Constantly.

Okay, Ukip, let's get all migrants to do that - as soon as you manage to;

1. Spell 'Independence' correctly (Clue - it's in your Party Title) and;
   
2. Spell your own Candidate's name properly.

This is the level of (lack of) professionalism we see day in, day out, from Ukip. And they, apparently, want people to trust them to run a country. This was from 2015 but has only just come to our attention.

Two major typos on one leaflet? That's a first, even for Ukip.

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Opinion: Brexit Questions - We Need Answers

We are - as stated before - as a team, split on Brexit. What we will challenge, though, without fail, is bullshit - from both sides.

The British people have a key decision to make. That decision has to be made on fact, not rhetoric. On cold, hard data, not emotion or principle. And on the real upsides and downsides of both options, not misinformation and fear.

The problem is, there are no facts, as yet. Granted, the Campaign officially hasn't even started yet, but the scrabbling for position has, in earnest.

So here are the key questions that this Slat Team Member wants the answers to.

Where is the Economic Consensus that shows Brexit will be Detrimental / Beneficial to our Economy?

Both sides are happy to very often publicise viewpoints from individual economists, industries and commentators about how Brexit will affect our economy. Neither have provided any expert, independent economic consensus.

Probably there is no consensus either way.

After all, even if you laid every British Economist end to end, they still wouldn't reach a conclusion.

So we'll settle for a majority. We've looked - and there is none. So, to both sides; Don't try to claim your option will be best for our economy unless you can prove it, which you can't.

How Will Brexit Halt or Reduce Immigration, while still Retaining Single Market Access?

The #Ukip war-cry is 'Control Our Borders'. Farage means EU Migrants, of course.

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EXCLUSIVE: No Surprises as UKIP’s Candidate Selection Process is Laid Bare

Throughout the party’s history, UKIP’s electoral success has been sporadic. A host of local election victories provided the party with a platform for a push in 2014’s European Parliament election, securing 25 MEPs for the party - two of whom no longer remain part of it.

Coming out of May 2014, UKIP lauded its victory and promised to "park the tanks on the Labour lawn" and achieve great things in the following UK general election. UKIP benefited from the usual public disinterest and apathy when it comes to EU elections, along with the highly visible and heavily scrutinised action taken by Brussels to keep the Eurozone together. But 2015 was a very different election; the hunt for UKIP’s prospective members of parliament was on.  

The Times articles exposing UKIP’s candidate process doesn’t come as a shock to me,” says a UKIP staffer speaking exclusively to us, who asked not to be named but worked on the 2015 election. 

“I first began to realise UKIP had serious problems during candidacy selection exams when I saw the types of candidates that branches thought would be acceptable to stand and who they believed would win seats. There was considerable pressure to get candidates through the tests to appease branch and inter-party rivalries."

“Despite hustings, the branch’s favoured candidates usually managed to get selected - after they had (in many cases) been re-tested multiple times with the same questions. One of the test questions for the test was “How many seats do you expect to win next year?”, the preferred answer was to the effect of “wait and see”, “we can’t say but we are optimistic”. Looking back at my notes I can now see clearly the disengagement many kippers had from political reality - “sixty”, “one hundred”, “fifty”, “over one hundred”, “six hundred”. In one case out of the six candidates in the session, only one of them had a reasonable and rational expectation of seats.” 

The process of sifting through candidates took up huge resources from the party which it could ill afford, and some candidates were expected to travel hundreds of miles at their own expense to sit the selection exams. UKIP’s branch structure, celebrated by Nigel Farage as his “people’s army” was the first point of contact for potential candidates, and where possible issues with candidates could and should have been flagged. 

“The assessment teams assumed that the branches would vet their potential candidates and make us aware of any issues ahead of the interviews,” says the UKIP staffer, “but the cronyism and internal politics got in the way, this meant we were not always told the truth about the people we were supposed to be vetting."

“In one high profile case which caught national news, a candidate was put forward by a branch Chairman and her committee. It was made quite clear to us we were expected to get him through the process, and despite concerns during the interviews we were pressured by an elected UKIP official to pass him."

"The candidate was later embroiled in a national scandal and de-selected.”

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Homophobia in Ukip - Act IV

After our previous post "Homophobia in Ukip - A Tragedy In Three Acts", 48 hours passed (despite promising a statement 'shortly') before the LGBT Wing of #Ukip - @ukiplgbt - finally decided that it might be an idea to issue something.

48 hours. That long - simply to express their resistance to a Homophobic Ukip Candidate. That should have taken 10 minutes. It's what @ukiplgbt are supposed to do.

Ukip LGBT - Conspicuous by their silence.

And even then, their "statement" was watered down so much it was hard to see any edge in it. Here it is, with our critique.

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#Ukip, Freedom of Speech, and Alan Craig.

Freedom of speech is a funny old thing. For Ukip this is a central theme to their politics and rhetoric, the right to say what you are thinking and what everyone else is thinking, and so on. We've heard it called out to us countless times, and even been accused of trying to ban the freedom of speech of others, as if we could stop someone from speaking, online or offline.

Ukip of course have their own version of free speech and what is acceptable and what is not, and go to great lengths to protect their rights to say what they want.

And they do. Take David Coburn, for example.

But heaven forbid you say anything about Ukip. Remember Charlie Bloom? and don't ever call Ukip racist, says Farage! It's simply not true! You're the real fascists he says - whilst quoting a non-existent Churchill quote.

And please don't call us Nazis!

But if we, the Kippers, want to call other people Nazis, then we can!

Yesterday a petition emerged on social media urging Ukip NEC to 'say NO to political correctness infiltrating UKIP', and in what is turning out to be a battle between the PC and the non-PC, with another petition here urging Kippers to remove UKIP GLA candidate Alan Craig from the approved candidates list.

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Pegida Ireland Owned In Dublin - And Online

As they say in Ireland, "Fair play to yer, lads!" because newly-formed Pegida Ireland got humiliated yesterday. Twice.

Pegida got chased out of Dublin. The Irish, you gotta love 'em. :-)

Firstly, as they launched their 'movement' in Dublin, they were chased off O'Connell Street by counter-demonstrators shouting 'Nazi Scum' and ended up running away pretty fast.

Expectations are that it'll be some time before they show again.

Secondly, you'd think they'd grab the Twitter name, @PegidaIreland, surely?

No. Someone else did (good work, son!) and sat on it, publicly broadcasting the fact.

So subtly and effectively have they done so, that there appears to be confusion over which account is the real one.

Nice job, Ireland :-)

Source : The Telegraph.

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Homophobia in Ukip - A Tragedy In Three Acts

A saga this week that hammers home the final nail in the "Ukip We're Not Homophobic, Honest" coffin.

Act I - Alan Craig Selected as London Candidate

London's Ukip members had no say in the selection of Candidate Alan Craig for the London Assembly - much as the Ukip members in Wales had no say either in their Candidates. It's very undemocratic, but it's very Ukip.

Clearly had they been given the chance, they would never have selected Alan Craig. He's been chosen by the 'local branch' apparently - and approved by Nigel Farage, of course.

It's the Ukip way.

Alan Craig - possibly the most openly homophobic Ukip Candidate, ever.

He is probably the most openly brazen homophobic man in Ukip.

He compared gay equality advocates to Nazis. He believes homosexuality is an illness that can be cured by therapy. No wonder Stonewall nominated him Bigot Of The Year. He says gay marriage is social vandalism.

Are Ukip wary of him? No - they defend him to the hilt.

So angry are some Ukip members than a petition has started within Ukip to oust Craig.

Good luck with that. Craig was 'Nigel Approved'. There is no arguing with your unelected leader, Ukip people. You know this.

Act II - Richard Hendron Resigns

One of the other Candidates for the GLA was Richard Hendron. We have little respect for most Ukip types, but we like Hendron. He has, as we have urged others in Ukip to do, openly challenged at length the Homophobic Hate within Ukip.

He is not afraid to criticise his own party.

Richard Hendron, could have - should have - been the Ukip Candidate.

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Farage's Friend Marine Le Pen Awarded Political Liar Of The Year Award

From Francaise Local:

And the 'Liar Of The Year' award goes to ... Marine Le Pen.

European jury of Experts has chosen Marine Le Pen as the "political liar of the year", pointing to a series of occasions she has has shared misleading information - mostly about migrants.

The jury for Friday's prize was made up of a series of journalists and presided over by political scientist Thomas Guénolé, reported France Info.

Le Pen, the president of the anti-Europe and anti-immigration National Front, appeared to have tripped up most when it came to immigrant statistics.

More at Francaise Local.

Well, we're used to lies from Nigel Farage, of course, which so often go unchallenged by the media, but in France, they take their politicians head on.

It seems his BFF in the EU, Fascist Le Pen, not content with a court case for Racism and an investigation for Fraud, has now been caught just too many times telling porkies on live French TV.

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BNP Blame Muslims For Unexploded Nazi Bomb In London

Mention the words 'bomb' and 'London' and the knee-jerk hatefest from BNP and other Far Right Groups kicks into gear.

Except this bomb dated back to WWII. The unexploded Luftwaffe delivery was found on a building site near Victoria Station, but that didn't stop the loons pointing the finger at Islam.

Silly sods: #BNP blames unexploded World War 2 bomb in London on Muslim extremists... pic.twitter.com/5HRL0k2CGb

— Matthew Collins (@MattHopeNotHate) February 5, 2016

You can't make this comedy gold up - and thankfully we'll never have to.

 

Twitter responded as expected, of course.

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Ukip Wales Nathan Gill Facing Calls To Quit Over Undemocratic Candidate Selection Procedure

It's knives out in Ukip again. Must be a Thursday.

Ukip Wales are rightly furious that they will not select their own candidates, but will be allowed merely to 'change the order' on the Candidates on the List. The actual list will be decided by the very English Ukip NEC.

Nathan Gill, Ukip Wales boss, has claimed this as a Victory over the Ukip NEC, or at the very least, a 'Compromise'. It's clearly neither, so four Ukip Candidates are calling for his head.

In a UK region facing Elections, where Ukip have performed so poorly in the past, they might have had a chance of some gains, particularly as they were coming from such a low base.

Candidate Joe Smyth stated, correctly;

"Gill is trying to make out now that he's saved the selection process by allowing the Welsh members to vote on the candidates, it's a fallacy."

"Nathan was responsible and agreed to how the selection process was going to be run at the very beginning."

"It's completely and utterly farcical."

"Nathan Gill has been terrible, he has to go."

"There is no leadership in Wales, the organisation in north Wales is in disarray."

More at the BBC.

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Ukip, After That Broadcast on Turkey, Not Even Trying To Hide The Hate?

Tonight's Ukip Broadcast (on the possibility of Turkey becoming an EU Member state) wasn't even subtle.

In case you missed it (lucky you) and feel like putting yourself through the pain, here it is.



Oh, and well done Ukip - for 2 reasons.

1. You conflated the 'EU' and 'Europe', just 45 seconds in - precisely what you have accused your opponents of doing.
2. All that work you've done to shed yourselves of the Racist image? Undone in a mere 3m 40s.

There's a lot of issues with Turkey joining - not least those Human Rights violations and Journalistic Oppression. So we're not saying that they should be allowed entry - just that the decision cannot and should not be decided on many of the factors raised in this video, full of 'could be's 'maybe's 'might be's and 'technically's.

Didn't Ukip used to to actually try to hide their hatred of other races and nationalities?

Have we reached a point now where these kind of statements are now so socially acceptable that there is no longer any requirement to gloss over them?

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Arthur “Misty” Thackery - An Inevitable Fall From Grace For Coburn’s “Enforcer”

The dramatic fall of one of UKIP Scotland’s key players and Chairman, Arthur “Misty” Thackeray, has been on the cards for some time as rumours circulating inside and outside the party suggested a scandal was soon to break. With a list of alleged offences against his name, many were expecting Thackeray's tenure to soon be at an end, but perhaps not in the form of a sex scandal.

Arthur 'Misty' Thackeray former Chairman of Ukip Scotland

Along with his domestic issues relating to “sex calls” from a Glasgow pub, we can reveal that Thackeray and his MEP, David Coburn, have been named in an official EU Parliament investigation relating to racism and religious intolerance within UKIP’s political group, the EFDD. Fifty-five year old Thackeray, who draws a generous taxpayer funded salary as Coburn’s Chief of Staff, is being looked into for multiple sectarian slurs allegedly made since he was contracted as an EU employee. In 2014 he was quoted on record as saying Catholicism is a “fascist ideology".

Our sources also report that the former “security consultant” is unable to campaign in certain areas of Glasgow due to a stirring up of religious tensions, and that some UKIP Scotland activists refuse to knock on doors in case they are confronted with fury from residents of all races and religions on account of his statements. Previously Thackeray has been quoted as saying “GCC” stands for “Gays, Catholics, and Communists”. rather than its proper title Glasgow City Council; and stated that he felt campaigning in Glasgow was akin to “contesting a seat in Pakistan” such was the influence of “Islamism” on Labour and the SNP.

It has also been reported that during the Scottish independence referendum, Coburn and Thackeray sought the support of Ulster’s Orange Order and brought many members and affiliates to Scotland to campaign for them. These connections were also utilised in Coburn’s 2014 European election campaign, helping him to secure UKIP’s sole EU parliamentary seat in Scotland.

Thackeray's rise to the top of Scottish UKIP came after a bitter power struggle, in which many long standing members were ousted or pushed aside. After several instances of sectarianism were reported the party attempted to alleviate concerns of members and the public by sending Thackeray to “counselling”. Since his takeover of the Scottish operation, the party has almost ceased to operate, with members dropping out and patrons switching support.

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So Who Tried To Shut Us Down ? You Failed

A day ago this new blog was shut down by Blogger.

Reason? Mass, anonymous reporting of abuse of Terms and Conditions. Unfortunately the way Blogger works, you're guilty until proven innocent, so our site was suspended.

A quick appeal, and we're back up. How? Blogger manually inspected our site, confirmed that there wasn't one single rule we'd broken, and reinstated us with immediate effect.

More importantly, Blogger confirmed in a separate email that we were anonymously mass reported. This has happened before, of course, not just to us but to other political blogs particularly in the USA. Who? Well, let's say we have our suspicions.

The good news is this: We've been approved now. This means that if it should happen again, our site will be inspected for breaches before it is brought down.

Did you think you could kill us off so easy, Ukip? Or whoever? No chance.

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Ukip Farage and Gill To Make Joint Statement on Wales Candidates Tuesday

On Twitter just now:

There will be a joint statement from @NathanGillMEP and @Nigel_Farage on the Welsh Assembly candidate selection tomorrow morning.

— UKIP Wales (@UKIPWales) February 1, 2016

You'll recall that Nigel Farage wants the Ukip NEC - his NEC - to select some or all of the Candidates, with possibilities to include Mark Reckless (rejected by voters of Rochester in 2015) and the ghastly Neil Hamilton.

In other words, Candidates with no connection to, and little knowledge of, Wales, the Welsh, and Welsh issues.

Nathan Gill - facing a fight for Welsh Candidates.

Ukip MEP Nathan Gill as head of Ukip Wales, is fighting for Welsh Candidates for the Wales Elections. But Gill is facing resignations and entire local branches of Ukip folding unless Ukip Wales members get to choose their own Candidates.

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PegidaUK - Openly Welcoming EDL Support

Any possible doubts that Far Right Extremist Group PegidaUK are simply The English Defence League reborn, can be confirmed from this tweet. Just a few short weeks ago, as 'leader' Tommy Robinson (who co-leads along with Anne Marie Waters of Ukip) posted this.

And there was us thinking Tommy had 'cut all ties' with the English Defence League. Clearly not, indeed, he welcomes the support of a group he left, voluntarily, due to it's extremism, public drunkeness, criminal behaviour and racist chanting.

But Tommy has not changed his view, clearly. Just yesterday came this:

Remember, this is the new 'reformed, peaceful, reasonable' Tommy Robinson. However that quotation, and that sentiment, comes straight from his days of leading the English Defence League - the dreaded spectre of 'Forced Repatriation'.

His co-leader, Ukip's Anne Marie Waters, has yet to comment on this. Her struggle to muzzle or house-train Tommy is failing.

Clearly this weekend's PegidaUK 'Silent March' in Birmingham will tell us whether PegidaUK is indeed (as they claim) a peaceful pressure group ... or just another bunch of drunken Neo Nazi thugs intent on Hate.

We suspect the latter. "New Era", eh? Looking suspiciously like the 'Old Era'.

From an article on IndyMedia - @IndyMediaUK on Twitter.

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