Misery Loves Company

Some headlines are so arresting that you simply have to stop and read more. “Europe tells Britain to increase taxes”, it says on the front of the newspaper I work for.

Indeed. The unelected Eurocrats want the British government to raise taxes, especially on land and property. I wondered, in a tweet retweeted by a number of apparent Ukip supporters, how many votes this would bring in for Nigel Farage in the Newark by-election.

This was, presumably, not the intention, though one can never be sure what Brussels actually intends. One can only assume that those Eurocrats, having wrecked much of Europe’s economy while seeing the UK’s starting to move ahead again strongly, would prefer us to revert to the misery they have caused elsewhere in the Eurozone. In some perverse new rendering of, we’re all in it together.

Meanwhile Brussels would also like to see more austerity meted out in Greece, a country already at breaking point – the Athenian economy hasn’t looked this sick since, ooh, the end of the Second Peloponnesian War. Should be good for a few more votes for the neo-fascist Golden Dawn.

I did not vote for Ukip, and I know of few people in business who believe we should leave the EU. But I can understand why some people think we should.

Advertisement

On The Rise of Ukip

People have been surprised at the strong showing in the local council elections for Ukip, well ahead of what the opinion polls suggested. Some wonder if, when the result of the European elections is announced on Monday, the party will do much better than expected.

There is one factor here, I suggest, which may have been overlooked. The Tories tend to do better in the polling booth than earlier opinion polls would suggest because some people, convinced Tory voters, are embarrassed or ashamed to admit their intentions to pollsters beforehand. The nasty party, and all that. This is an accepted statistical blip.

How much more true is this likely to be for Ukip, the party that in smart metropolitan circles dare not speak its name? We shall see.