UKIP Round Up

Another day, another apology, I will justify, but not excuse my absense by pointing out that I was travelling, and taking part in the TICAP conference in Den Haag.

Apropos of nothing much, there is a piece on the His Grace's website about Farage's visit to the Bishop of Buckingham,

Cranmer was not actually there, so he has no secret knowledge that the holy oil was poured out upon the head of the former leader of the UK Independence Party as a blessing upon his quest to take the seat of Buckingham at the forthcoming General Election. But why else was a parliamentary candidate seeking an Episcopal audience?

The image is certainly rather fun.
Cranmer seems to show a sneaking sympathy for Farage's campaign to unseat Mr bercow,

Cranmer does not know the Bishop of Buckingham’s politics any more than he knows Nigel Farage’s faith.
But knowing something of the manifest common sense, insight, discernment and wisdom they each possess, Cranmer would be tempted to bet (if he were so inclined) his withered arm that Bishop Alan might just be as relieved to see the back of John Bercow as Mr Farage would be.

However, the blogging Bishop himself explains the trip in the comments section, with a proper CofE liberality of spirit,

Mr Farage is a candidate in what promises to be a very interesting election in the county I serve, and as someone with a long-standing interest in Milton and Burke (two great men with strong Bucks conections) I enjoyed briefly meeting him personally.
As I'm sure I would any other candidate in an election who cared to drop by...
I do not endorse any candidate, as doing so would compromise my ability to offer friendship and a listening ear to any or all the others. It would be worse than advertisng on the BBC.

I rather warm to Bishop Alan.

Obviously the big UKIP news that I have missed is the op-ed piece by the Party Leader in yesterday's Express, judging from the comments section - and do I recognise a couple of names, he seems to have struck a nerve.

Lord Pearson talks a lot sense! Where is the debate about what REALLY matters?The 3 main parties avoid the European question like the plague. Personally I think it
is absolutely disgusting that the REAL topics of this election campaign are
being white washed over by the media and the 3 main parties. (this article is
possibly the only exception I have seen)Personally I totally agree with Lord
Pearson's comments and look forward to hearing these topics being discussed in
the run up to the election. (But I bet they are avoided as per usual)

Elsewhere, amongst others, The Morning Advertiser reports that Nick Hogan is going to UKIP candidate in Chorley. Nick is subject of a rather dismissive letter in the Telegraph, taking Philip Jonston to task for highlighting the absurdity of Hogan's fate in his Monday column.

Farage's debate against James Elles - federastic Tory MEP at Buckingham University was noted locally.
Daviod Campbell Bannerman gets a good hearing from Graham Dines in the EADT. Pointing out that,

UKIP is not a one issue party. That's the assurance deputy leader David Campbell Bannerman has given to voters and to prove it, 17 detailed policy papers will be issued in the run-up to the General Election.

Well, we know that, but it is good that somebody else is noticing,

Says Mr Campbell Bannerman, a former adviser to Tory Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Patrick Mayhew: “We want to use this election to nail the lie that UKIP is a single issue party. We have 17 detailed policy papers, including defence in which we promise a 40% increase in spending which would be good for jobs and UK-based manufacturing.
“Our role this time is to put down a manifesto for radical True Change, which David Cameron does not - he is a social democrat, and has long departed from the traditional tenets of the Conservative Party.
“He is prepared to slash defence spending without a second thought. If the Tories win, the public will soon see just how brittle Cameron really is.”

Mike Nattrass is reported as visiting local businesses near Kidderminster, and down in Hampshire activity is afoot.

Otherwiose the Daily Mail today highlights two areas of EU concern,
First the ongoing scandal involving EU doctors in the NHS. It leads on the sad tale of Ena Dickinson, killed

because of appalling blunders by a German surgeon flown in by the NHS.
Ena Dickinson, 94, lost nearly half the blood in her body during what should have been a routine hip operation.
Werner Kolb cut the wrong muscle, severed an artery and used the wrong cutting tool in what an expert witness described as the worst case of negligence he had come across.

And Ros Coward has the main Op-Ed piece on the pressure put on UK higher education through the influx of EU students.

In the Daily Telegraph their are two key buiness stories of note,
Claims by the Government that they have defeated the Hedge Fund Directive seem to be premature. It looks more likely that an effective lobbying campaign has been waged by the Treasury to push EU plans to devastae the city have been pushed back to teh other side of the election. This is no victory except for spin.

However, despite Mr Brown's actions earning a postponement, Britain remains very isolated on the issue in Europe. Those lobbying for change within the UK Government admit they will almost certainly fail to win all the changes they want in the legislation and that proposals for tougher regulation and transparency, being championed by France and Germany, could yet be adopted.

However, Mr Brown's move is likely to have shifted the issue beyond the general election and avoided an embarrassing defeat for the Government at the hands of Europe.

And Ambrose EP keeps up his interest in the Greek situation,

Wolgang Schäuble, Germany's finance minister, told the Bundestag that any new facility would be a "last resort" if Greece is near default, and that no firm deal had yet been reached. He said Eurogroup ministers had merely discussed "technical modalities", leaving it to EU leaders meeting later this month to make a political decision.

"There hasn't been any meaningful advance," said Julian Callow from Barclays Capital. "The picture is still very confusing. The fact that there is still no news after so much talk is itself news. What we are seeing is further brinkmanship."

Simon Heffer points to the collapse in a belief in personal autonomy from our masters which may be the most damaging legacy of the Labour period in office,

This is the natural consequence of having politicians infected with a doctrine that office is about the power to prevent rather than about the power to enable. They are also politicians who restrict the many, without a thought for their liberty, in order to try to control the behaviour of a few. Individualism and autonomy used to be prized rights of our people. Now they are held in contempt by our governors.

Update - or those we have missed...
John Bufton talking about the facial covering ban on the BBC, (BBCi only working in the UK), the phone in is very interesting from about 45 mins in.
Godfrey Bloom aims his barrels at plans to introduce a dog tax in the Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph,

"Labour has come up with another hopeless plan that will penalise law-abiding citizens and turn out to be a further stealth tax. This time the cash cow is a dog, or rather every dog in the land. Proposals to make owners take out insurance and get them micro-chipped will involve additional costs, both for the owners and the Government"

and next up he is taken to task quite well in the Bradford Telegraph,

"The UKIP MEP Geoffrey Bloom (Letters, March 2) says “politicians are both stupid and deceitful” and that “investment banks... are institutionally amoral and greedy”. He also says he is “an ex-investment banker turned politician”, so he certainly should know!"