We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.

Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]

Samizdata quote of the day

Underneath the contempt for UKIP lies a careless assumption by the antiseptic metropolitan elite that their condescension is universally shared — that these beery coves with fag ash down their golf-club ties are demographic dinosaurs in a Britain ever more diverse, more Muslim, more lesbian, more transgendered. But the Britain to which UKIP speaks resonates beyond the 19th hole. It was not just that the party won an unprecedented number of seats in May’s elections, but that they achieved more second-place finishes than anybody else. Beyond the leafy suburbs and stockbroker counties, in parts of Britain where the traditional working class has been hung out to dry by Labour in pursuit of more fashionable demographics, UKIP has significant appeal.

Mark Steyn

9 comments to Samizdata quote of the day

  • Paul Marks

    The UKIP candidate in the council ward I am sitting in was a person of Muslim heritage from Gaza.

    Also people grow up – the brainwashing of school and university may be effective for awhile, but EXPERIENCE often shows people what they were taught (for example that the E.U. is wonderful) is not true. So the “UKIP are old – they will die off” line of the establishment elite may not prove to be true.

  • Paul Marks

    The vast majority of UKIP voters are good people who stand for national independence and a more limited government – not libertarians, but people who favour civil society and a smaller government.

    These are the people who are the backbone of anti socialist (sorry anti “Progressive”) people in this country. If Mr Cameron thinks they can be fobbed off with the promise of a vote on the E.U. at some distant date (and with him campaigning on the WRONG SIDE – the pro E.U. side) then he is mistaken.

    The United Kingdom has a “first past the post” election system. UKIP voters are vital for defeating the socialists – otherwise seats will fall to Labour all over the country.

    But UKIP voters must be offered real things – not pie in the sky.

  • Brian Micklethwait (London)

    I’ve just been reading an article about the audience for classical music. It is mostly old, and it always has been mostly old. But it never dies, by which I mean that it is always replaced by the next lot of old mostly old people.

    Which rather chimes in with what Paul just said. Yes, the current lot of old UKIP voters will soon be dead. But soon there will be another lot of old UKIP voters coming on stream.

    Well, maybe, maybe not. But like Paul says, the establishment line “may” not be true.

  • RRS

    Nostalgia carries with it ideas of political force. It is not to be derided.

  • Phil B

    “David Cameron’s current pledge of a referendum on EU membership sometime after his reelection, which is intended to staunch defections to UKIP by seizing the nuanced ground of pretending that he’s not entirely opposed to adopting the position of conceding the prospect of admitting the possibility of potentially considering the theoretical option of exploring the hypothetical scenario of discussing in a roundabout way Britain’s leaving the EU.”

    From a superb article with plenty of laugh out loud snippets, that is sheer poetry and first class snark. Definitely a quotable quote.

  • Peter Whale

    It is not all about who thé voter is it is also about protest . The Liblabcon need to be kicked where it hurts and that is in the ballots . With UKIP in second place the next coalition will be a new era.

  • Mr Ed

    I’d have more faith in an offer of protection from the Mafia (if I paid) than Mr Cameron’s referendum. The cavets are, broadly, if he wins a majority, and if he renegotiates membership terms with the EU, then he’ll put his new deal to a referendum.

    If the EU declines to negotiate, a condition precedent fails, no referendum.

    I might as well offer you a buggy ride at my local country show, if a Bull agrees to wear a saddle, and if it agrees to tow you.

  • Regional

    The E.U. is a Ponzi scheme and entrepreneurial Britain will emerge from the inevitable collapse, you have no choice.

  • James Waterton (Perth, Australia)

    I am really very sick of reading about “far right” Ukip in the non British media. But then again, that is the uninformed man’s slur. In a free speech discussion, I once mentioned the plight of free speech champion and martyr Geert Wilders. Almost straight away, an intelligent and genial man I know instantly objected, almost dumbstruck that I would bring up Wilders in such a discussion, as one might be if someone championing individual liberty chose Kim Jong il as an exemplar of the philosophy. I asked my interjector what he knew about Geert Wilders. Well, as it turned out, he knew very very little. What he had heard (I suppose several times over) was some nonsensical characterisation of Wilders in the global 24hr newsmedia, where “Geert Wilders” was no doubt prefaced with “far right”, as I have often heard on the 24 hour global cable news channels. As a consequence of this kind of ham-fisted, lazy, mendacious branding of the opponents of Big Media employees, this man had formed the conclusion that Wilders was an unreconstructed 1930s style fascist. Conversation over, because Hitler.