They say things go in cycles and as there is much civil unrest - at least in the minds of millions of people unhappy with the dictatorial way this country is going - it reminded me of what happened in Britain 100 years ago this summer.
The country blew because the working man had enough of slave labour for low wages, disrespect from his employers, and the sheer bloody poverty gap between those that had and those that had nothing but the hours of a day spent trapped in dangerous factories and on railroads.
1911 was one of the hottest years on record - so intense was the heat that it even stopped the birds from singing - and they say this summer may well be another scorcher. A fine setting to the heated rage that currently bubbles under the surface and made worse by the ignorance of the establishment that cares only for the "agenda" and not the people that blindly support it with no idea of what they are voting for.
That was shown in the Oldham and Saddleworth Byelection. If only the 52% of non-voters had made a stand, come out to vote, and taken a chance on something different, the rest of us would have a voice and a slice of hope.
Instead they cleared the way open for the corrupt and thoroughly despicable Labour party to take the seat that is so far removed from it's roots as the working class man's friend that there is no point to it even pretending to care about anyone on less than £100,000 a year.
And as Leg Iron says, the country could spill over into violence because of the Labour win :
Labour winning that by-election was the best thing that could happen. Winning it with such a paltry share of the vote was even better. The control freaks are encouraged to push and push and push and that step too far comes ever closer.
I don't know what it will be. I don't know when or where it will happen. Neither does anyone else but it just came a lot closer to happening.
It won't be a momentous announcement. It will be a little thing, a trivia, a small nudge over the edge of the abyss we've been nudged towards for many years.
One last, lightweight, inconsequential straw.
For smokers those straws are piled on daily as new ridiculous health scares and threats hit the media fuelled and funded by Fake Charities that are simply a front for the establishment's agenda and Party ideology.
Oldham and Saddleworth is a seat in the BNP’s traditional heartlands, an area in
which they have had councillors and took over 11% of the vote at a Westminster
election. So it is an excellent move that UKIP managed to beat those primeval racists into fifth place.
The result was as follows:
Labour 14,718 (42.1%)
Lib Dem 11,160 (31.9%)
Conservative 4,481 (12.8%)
Paul Nuttall – UKIP 2,029 (5.8%)
BNP 1,560 (4.5%)
Others 982 (2.8%)
Interestingly the English Democrat candidate with 144 votes was beaten by the
Official Monster Raving Loony Party which got 145 votes despite the English Democrats
paying for two billboard sites during the campaign.
I'm guessing that UKIP's rise in popularity is not going down too well with the establishment which is now using "research" to scare the hell out of the electorate by claiming that UKIP is a far right, radical and racist party that is attracting bigots from the BNP.
The research does, however, acknowledge that UKIP is now the fourth party of Britain but it has the reasons for its rise in popularity all wrong.
In the recent Oldham by-election, the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) confirmed its status as the fourth largest party in British politics, ahead of the British National Party (BNP). Now, with the local elections looming, experts are warning that UKIP looks set to become a successful radical right party, similar to those seen in countries like Austria, France and Italy, and a ‘significant vehicle’ for Islamophobia.
“Our research shows that Euroscepticism is not the whole story where UKIP is concerned,” say two of its authors — Dr Robert Ford and Dr Matthew Goodwin — experts on voting behaviour at the Universities of Manchester and Nottingham.
“There’s no doubt the party’s position on Europe is a big factor, but their supporters are increasingly concerned with attitudes more typically associated with the British National Party (BNP). Like far right voters, those who vote UKIP are dissatisfied with the mainstream parties and hostile toward immigration.”
The research is the first of its kind to analyse and understand the attitudes and motives of UKIP supporters. At the 2010 general election, UKIP called for an immediate halt on immigration, the ending of multicultural policies and a ban on the niqab and burqa in certain buildings. Its leader, Nigel Farage, has since given a “cautious welcome” to emulation of his party by the French National Front (FN), one of the most successful radical right parties in Europe.
“Our analysis shows while UKIP does mop up ‘defectors’ from the Tories - upper and middle class voters who largely follow UKIP to lodge their feelings on Europe at European Parliament elections - its appeal in domestic elections is rather different”, says Robert Ford, the lead author.
“In domestic elections like Oldham East, UKIP tends to do best amongst disaffected working class voters, who find UKIP’s populist attacks on immigrants, Muslims and the political establishment attractive. UKIP appeals to the same kind of voters as the BNP, but may be able to recruit a broader and more sustainable vote base, with UKIP voters outnumbering BNP voters three to one. While many voters who agree with the BNP’s political messages, they are turned off by its violent and fascist reputation. UKIP suffers no such legitimacy problems. It is in a position to not only recruit a much broader base of BNP support, but a much more sustainable base.”
The research also shows that due, in part, to its more moderate reputation, UKIP has succeeded in securing the votes of important groups like women, who have traditionally rejected the BNP due to its perceived extremism.
“Until now, getting to grips with UKIP has been extremely difficult due to an absence of any real systematic research,” Dr Goodwin adds. “This is why the party remains something of a puzzle to many.”
The paper; Strategic Eurosceptics and Polite Xenophobes: support for the UK Independence Party in the 2009 European Parliament Elections, looks at data gathered from the YouGov online panel in the week prior to the European Parliament Election, and is also authored by Dr David Cutts at the University of Manchester.
Amongst other methods, the researchers compared the views of more than 4,306 UKIP in a group of 34,000 randomly interviewed in the 2001 census. It builds on their previous pioneering studies of BNP voters.
“Ultimately” adds Dr Goodwin,”our research backs up assertions that UKIP, unlike the BNP, are thought of as a legitimate force in British politics, with access to mainstream media and political elites. Voters who shun the BNP are willing to listen to the same messages when they come from UKIP. UKIP may therefore function as a “polite alternative” for voters worried about immigration and Islam, but repelled by the BNP’s public image.”
The fact that YouGov - a throughoughly bigoted organsation that works for Govt and produces "results" that Govt wants to persuade the electorate that they really want a Govt that dictates to them how to live - leads me to believe instantly that this "research" is largely rubbish.
My own experiences of UKIP is that racism is frowned upon. Nigel Farage represents more accurately all of the different strands of discontentment running through British society and particularly it's concern at EU migration.
Not only do we have situation where English people are required to speak Polish so that they can work in British factories, but a friend of mine tells me his job is currently under threat because of a new Polish manager at his factory who is shoving out English workers to get her Eastern European mates in to the exclusion of the local unemployed.
This very cultural, third generation mixed race British born, non racist young man of 21, has been trying to get long term unemployed friends into jobs at his factory but all have been blocked by the Polish manager. Persecution by the ConDems because they have no work, and being pushed out of their traditional jobs by the EU, is why people are raging.
It has nothing to do with racism and everything to do with fairness and wanting to be treated equally in the land of their birth whatever their ethnic genetics.
Others are simply terrified by Islam - a religion they do not understand in a country which is so culturally different to those in the Middle East where Islam rules. Can they really be dismissed as racist because they fear the loss of their own cultural identity?
Racism means judging a person by the colour of their skin. UKIP doesn't do that. Unlike the BNP, it welcomes people from all faiths and backgrounds and it is pulling in as many disaffected Labour and Lib Dem supporters of all faiths and colours as Tory supporters who miss Margaret Thatcher.
The establishment may want to believe - and "prove" to others - that UKIP is a Tory middle class protest party but it is so much more than that.
It is the only hope this country has got.
If the LibLabCon Party does not start to listen to the very angry electorate, then this summer may just prove to be as heated as 1911 as the ordinary person reacts to yet more state control which continues unabated despite the fact that we sent a very clear message to all three parties at the last election that we have simply had enough of it all.
We want our lives back. UKIP can deliver that. It's why I support the party in a way I haven't since campaigning for the former Labour party back in the early 90s.
* Photos from Devils Let Loose, the story of the Lincoln Riots 1911 by Pat Nurse. Copywrite Pat Nurse and Tony Gadd.