The Rise and Guise of UKIP
I’m particularly worried about British politics and the electorate at the moment. In my view the electorate leave full time education, whether at sixteen or eighteen, without a firm enough grasp on the way that British politics works and the overarching effect that it has on them. Then, in the quest to make an honest wage, there are obstacles, hardships and many simple lessons to learn — the primary one being that decent jobs are hard to come by in this country. In the absence of seeing the broader picture, of understanding and rationalising the position that they are in and believing they can better it, what so many of the population have left are feelings towards politics.
For those who vote this simplifies things to two factors: 1) politics of personalities — how they feel about particular leaders; and 2) politics of a big agendas — what do they feel about immigration. More knowledgeable historians than me have made comparisons between the circumstances we find ourselves in and the rise of nazism. There are many respected publications that have written about this. See this google search. Add to this the personality politics that has come to dominates the USA since their TV debates in the early 1960s and yes, we should be worried about the state of British politics.
At this point in history we are in a perfect storm of causality for our current state of affairs. The long legacy of British imperialism and post-industrial service-sector industries homogenising the workplace which has stripped generations of formerly working class people of their dignity and identity. Add to this an increasing sense of alienation and confusion brought about by 24/7 access to unlimited media as well as the threat posed by rising property prices and the average Briton feels fragmented, insecure and vulnerable. They need to find their mojo again via powerful, simple rhetoric towards a straightforward ideology. Enter UKIP.
Reading UKIP’s Manifesto page I have to admit that I agree with a lot of it. I am surprised by this myself but their transport policies — No to HS2, a Britdisc for overseas HGVs, their housing and planning with its emphasis on brownfield developments over greenfield, extra protection for UK Green Belts and legislation in local planning to control Britain’s dying high streets seem eminently sensible. They’ll get rid of the bedroom tax as well — good! I also agree with the building of electricity generation schemes for industrial units that they propose. However, while we’re on their energy proposals, their play-it-safe short-termist proposal for a variety of energy sources will lead to increased fossil fuel burning. This takes away from research in and use of renewable energies and it is a pig-headed move.
Furthermore, they say that they will abolish green taxes for energy suppliers and negate The Climate Change Act 2008. How foolish! UKIP are climate change deniers when all but the most outlandish pre-eminent scientists agree that the world is warming because of human activities and have shown us time and again the devastating effects that it will have on our planet. On the same page UKIP have the headline “Reducing debts we leave to our grandchildren”. In this context, to see debts purely as pound notes is appalling and stupid. As if what man makes is ever going to be more important than what man can make it on — a healthy planet — for the future generations. When it comes to climate change UKIP are even worse than Labour, the Lib Dems and even the Tories.
UKIP want us to retract back onto our shores. By stating “a much-reduced aid budget administered by the Foreign Office” and pulling out of Europe they want to put a filter between ourselves and the rest of the world and ignore our responsibilities for the plundering of our past empire. They want to go back to a time like the 1960s when the men shuffled to the smoking rooms of the pubs, doffing their caps to the schoolmaster on the street. They want to bring back grammar schools to bring back the security of a class system again — know your place! There may be a clever lad on this estate but let’s not have any more of you lot getting above your station! That said, there is a strong argument for their proposals to introduce apprenticeships and giving school children the option of beginning something that is meaningful to them from age 14. Education systems in this country have failed to educate enough students in the roles, rights and responsibilities of being citizens — hence the tendency towards UKIP. There is little point in some 30% of students all but wasting two years of their lives going to a place that they have nothing but contempt for. They sit core subjects (English, Maths, Science) and are out on apprenticeships the rest of the time. Perhaps they’ll learn more common sense in the work place.
In order to reinforce the class system and make future bosses of those who leave school early for apprenticeships UKIP say that “Subject to academic performance UKIP will remove tuition fees for students taking approved degrees in science, medicine, technology, engineering, maths”. No tuition fees for some. Great. But what about languages, the arts, humanities?
Where is the humanity in UKIP’s manifesto? They propose to “limit foreign aid to healthcare initiatives, inoculations against preventable diseases and clean water programmes”. Healthcare (drugs and technologies) and clean water (chemicals) are areas where British engineering and drugs companies can test products or turn a profit; this smells of exploitation. To add to this if we produce a glut of graduates in technologies, maths and science then they will become ten-a-penny and that will devalue their knowledge. That may fit with their “foreign aid” because most of those graduates will have to go abroad to find work. Those who are left will live in a country devoid of a diversity in cultural expression with no chance of defining the zeitgeist and consequently no enthusiasm for exploring the abstract concepts and questions in their own lives, let alone their own subjects. A grey island surrounded by poisonous purple seas.
Here’s a bit more from their manifesto:
“Law and Order
– UKIP will withdraw from the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights.”
Are we seriously saying that we can understand law and ethics so absolutely that we need no further safety net for those complex cases which are referred to the above? That is a huge concern. Of course, we could pay for legal advisors but that’s it isn’t it? UKIP and the Tories think that you can pay for anything, that there’s no such thing as your own integrity in your job beyond money . Who’s to say how inexorably linked to money the British justice system is or will become? If you are a judge or advisor in the European Court then you are trusted to treat every case on a case by case basis notwithstanding how much you are paid for your advice because you have a salary. It may be expensive and there may have been many decisions taken in that court that have frustrated the British penal system. However, this court presents another tier of justice which can only be a good thing for the liberty of the individual.
“– We will repeal the Human Rights Act and replace it with a new British Bill of Rights.”
This too looks to be a serious concern. Farage is well-versed in law. UKIP must explain the clauses and sub-clauses of the Human Rights Act which they will not include in this proposed British version.
UKIP look at Britain and see a country that has lost control; control of its borders and control of its once great place in the world. Well, guess what Mr Farage, Great Britain was “great” to its leaders and it was great in newspapers and television too once upon a time. It was great to those born to the purple. But nowadays we know the full story of empire and, surprise surprise, it was as exploitative as it was democratic. That was then. Now we need a clear vision that sets us off on a very different course — yes one of engineering in renewables, including water supplies and food production — but also a course where we are educated and informed enough to create and celebrate our cultural diversity and our world-renowned open mindedness, inventiveness and creativity.
The English language is our example. From its medieval core it has become an amalgam of languages from all over the world. It is flexible and diverse. It goes beyond lawyer talk, science and simple big-policy rhetoric. It has the capacity to dream up how our world should be. We should not merely fine-tune how the world already is to the exclusion of others who are less privileged than yourself.
