The treatment of Nigel Farage in Edinburgh recently is, in my opinion, a national embarrassment for the Scottish people. They may not realise it but UKIP is currently being supported by at least a quarter of the English people. Yes I know UKIP does not have a council seat north of Harrogate but even in the Labour heartlands a fifth of the population has still voted for UKIP.
This means that Nigel Farage has leapt in a very short time from political nonentity into the mainstream limelight so to physically harrass him on the streets of Edinburgh demonstrates a political naivety bordering on the fascist. This was a deliberate attempt to destroy democratic process and I was amazed that Alex Salmond did not condemn the behaviour.
I despise many of our mainstream politicians because of their lack of candour and lack of support for the general public. I would never however, deny their right to voice their poisonous rhetoric. I therefore have to conclude that shutting Farage up was motivated by fear. Fear that his no nonsense straight talking might just resonate for many of the Scots currently disenfranchised by their two party system!
3 comments:
Hi Bry, had to answer even though I missed most of it as I was working.
Remember, here he is seen along the same lines as the BNP and EDL.
I feel a bit ambivalent about this, I sometimes feel students should shut up until they have lived a bit, but I also think they are entitled to their opinion, no matter how puerile. However when Nigel Farage pulled the race card he shot himself in the foot - one of the leaders of the protest is English. He also pulled the political stunt on radio of hanging up on the questioner when the going got a bit tough. However, I think he did the right thing for himself as he has raised his profile in the UK which can only be good for him and if I was of a cynical mind I might wonder if there was a bit of stage management going on. What the hell is he doing in a pub in Edinburgh? The TV and the police seemed to be aware that something was going to happen.
I told you a couple of weeks ago we would not go for someone called Nigel.
I'm not convinced we feel disenfranchised because of proportional representation. This allows the Tories to have 15 msp's in Hollyrood when Scotland only has 1 tory MP in Westminster.
Hi GRN I was beginning to worry LOL! I should have realised that you work long hours. I do not know why Farage is being compared to the BNP or EDL but I witnessed it in South Shields so I know it is correct. Perhaps it is a deliberate tactic by the mainstream politicians. Farage has polled so well in all areas of England that I think he was dipping his toe into the Scottish pond. I know full well however, that north of the border have a different view on politics. A s you state perhaps 'Nigel' is just far too English for the Scots to accept! Good to hear from you.
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