AOG - so the right across the EU do not talk to each other? Bull, total bull - what about that Dutch prat that they tried to get in to speak here, Geert Wilders - and it was a UKIP Lord that invited him to show his film "Fitna" there and give a speech, something that he even had the audacity to quote Churchill from his 'The River War' and insult the prophet Muhammad by calling him a "barbarian, a mass murderer, and a pedophile" and referring to Islam as a "fascist ideology" which was "violent, dangerous, and retarded". Not exactly the language of a moderate and here a senior UKIP member was condoning it.
That noble member of our upper house was no less than Lord Pearson.
Such actions and support of anti-immigration smacks very much of racism. So yes, I will group a large faction of UKIP along with the EDL and BNP, only 30 degrees west of them when it comes to violence.
And before you scream, I am in favour of a sensible immigrant policy but not the degree of 'attack' that UKIP would like to see. We have always been an immigrant society going back through the centuries giving us many benefits in society at large that far outweigh the costs. Long may that continue.
The other problem with UKIP's approach is that it thinks that the UK can go it alone in a word of increasing trading blocs. This is so spurious and will be financially disastrous. No, I am not saying that the EEC is perfect it isn't but I agree with the three main parties that the way to change things is to work from within, not throw all our national toys out of the basket. And ultimately, I challenge you to show me a sensible economic policy that shows even a semblance of a budget, never mind a balanced or positive one.
They are here for one thing and that is shyte stirring and reflect the myopism that has oft beset this country's foreign policy and I suggest you read Kissinger's 'Diplomacy' for a better understanding of this as we moved from the Metternich balancing role we played into our lack of understanding of the New Europe starting post the Boer War.
The other point that you make about the left and fear. AOG, if you don't know me yet, I am very much a centrist - I have lived in the PRC and have visited North Korea (as well as many other communist countries) which I doubt very much you have. If you wish to learn about living within the system, I steer you to Frank Butterfield's "The Bitter Sea." Therefore, I have no truck to live permanently under such pluralistic dictatorships, though one should recognise that 80% of the Far East live in such conditions or with one-party states (some of which are just changing - such as Japan and S Korea).