In answer to the question: "Is Ukip a party of bigots?"- UKIP is entering the big leagues now and journalists should recognise this reality by resisting the same old lazy smears
Alex Andreou’s recent over at the New Statesman comes with a rather apt sub-title: 'Asking the questions others are too intelligent to ask'. I’d suggest his latest question -- "Is Ukip a party of bigots?" -- at least shows that his blogging does what it says on the tin.He begins with the just factually incorrect assertion that UKIP’s manifesto is negative. In actual fact it supports grammar schools, prison expansion, a doubling of the defence budget, taking those on minimum wage out of income tax, abolishing national insurance, bringing in a 31 percent flat tax, and a number of other very positive, forward-thinking ideas. But I guess he missed those bits.
Then we get to the widely-discredited “extremism” accusations. There has been a concerted attempt over many years to try and smear UKIP as racist, fascist and xenophobic. It failed after many years of dirt digging once most quality journalists realised the answer was a cut and dry “no”.
Is Ukip a party of bigots? Let's look at the evidence- Their manifesto might just look like a list of things that annoy people, but party members hold some views that should concern us, says Alex Andreou
The danger with extremism is that, when filtered through eyes and minds of reasonable people, it appears ridiculous. The reasonable assumption is that others will view it through the same filter and find it equally ridiculous. But, while The Reasonable laugh, support for extremist views creeps up. Because what The Reasonable failed to notice is that fear and insecurity have a way of robbing others of reason.Ukip’s manifesto is a collection of promises selected, seemingly, on the basis of “twenty things that really annoy people”, with no inkling of implementation method or any costings; a wish list for The Annoyed.
Scared of immigrants? Vote Ukip.
15 Feb 2013, 8:07 am
