Comments on: Nigel Farage gets too much air time (continued)

By: Sean O'Hare

Sean O'Hare — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 17:11:32 +0000

The House of Commons is a UKIP free zone, in contrast to the Greens who have managed to secure Caroline Lucas’ election in Brighton. Greens 1, UKIP 0 graphically demonstrates the attitude of the British people towards the UK Independence Party

It is rather odd that you didn’t point out the fact that UKIP gained over 3 times as many votes as the Greens nationally.
UKIP 919,546 (3.1%)
Green Party 285,616 (1.0%)

Caroline Lucas’s election was a fluke, down to a concentration of “greenies” in Brighton. Whereas the kippers are more evenly distributed. Also the Greens percentage of the vote went down (-0.1%) whilst UKIP increased their share of the vote (+0.9).

By: jimjones

jimjones — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 08:44:37 +0000

Presumably for reasons of space, you didn’t include the numbers of votes for the parties in the EP 2009 elections. Allow me to oblige:

Conservative 4,198,394 25
UKIP 2,498,226 13
Labour 2,381,760 13
Liberal Democrat 2,080,613 11
Green 1,223,303 2
BNP 943,598 2
SNP 321,007 2
Plaid Cymru 126,702 1

I agree: UKIP does get disproportionate media coverage – not enough.

By: Roger Helmer MEP

Roger Helmer MEP — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 17:00:37 +0000

Shouldn’t this really be entitled “Mary Honeyball gets too little airtime”? In the 2009 euro-elections, UKIP beat Labour into third place. So perhaps on EU questions, UKIP deserves more air-time than Labour. If we had an election about climate, energy and wind farms, I daresay that UKIP would still beat Labour into third place.

By: Leon Andrews

Leon Andrews — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 09:01:41 +0000

I think they get far too less coverage, considering the fact that they are currently polling 6% – 8% (depending on which poll you look at), whilst the Liberal Democrats are currently polling 8% – 10% (I believe UKIP have ranked higher than the Lib’ Dems’ in one poll), have seats in the House of Lords, and are seeing constant defections from other parties (mostly Conservatives, Lib’ Dems’ and Greens). Why shouldn’t parties other than the (so called) ”big three” get media attention? A great many people agree with UKIP, the SNP, Green Party, Plaid Cymru, and others.

UKIP are only occasionally on shows like Question Time, and only really ever appear of National Television to offer their views on the EU, and the economic crisis, so we, the British public, can actually have a different opinion to listen to (and have one that echos our own feelings).

The vast majority of people in the UK would like to leave the EU. Farage is now possibly the most high profile ”Eurosceptic”, and (thanks to his heroics in the European Parliament) a popular figure back home in the UK. The fact you have written this blog entry reveals a slight fear of UKIP, as they continue to go from strength to strength.

Anyway, I don’t know how you can be complaining about bias in the BBC, considering how your party (Labour) and the Tories are the ones appointing the key people running the BBC over the past 15 years.

By: Peter Shore was right

Peter Shore was right — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 08:44:34 +0000

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/sep/24/peter-shore-labour-prophet

Peter Shore, Labour’s forgotten prophet
The former cabinet minister was right about many issues – it’s time to resurrect some of his democratic socialist policies

“Whoever could have predicted that the Maastricht treaty and the introduction of the euro would lead not to a democratic workers paradise, but to unelected bankers and officials imposing austerity and privatisation on EU member states?

Who could have predicted that closer European integration would lead to ever-rising unemployment across the continent and ordinary people effectively being forced to leave their home countries in order to find work elsewhere?

Well one man did, and his name was Peter Shore.

By: Peter Shore was right

Peter Shore was right — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 08:37:56 +0000

As an ex Labour voter, Mary I can assure you that Nigel Farage, like Kate Hoey, Graham Stringer and Austim Mitchell is far more in touch with public opinion than the Labour hierarchy.

By its constant support of EU membership,Labour has lost and abandoned its own voters. The electoral price will begin to show more and more over the coming years.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/24/eu-referendum-poll-uk-withdrawal

Some 70% of voters want a vote on Britain’s EU membership,

EU referendum: poll shows 49% would vote for UK withdrawal

By: Peter Shore was right

Peter Shore was right — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 08:27:04 +0000

“Broadcasters must understand that the fact that Nigel Farage is a good media performer does not make him representative”

Actually, Mary when it comes to Britain’s EU membership he is very representative of the public view (see the poll below) and should be heard more often

Your party, the Conservatives and Lib Dems have exactly the same position on EU membership and have tried to stifle and close down debate on EU membership because you are frightened of what the public will say

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/43951/half-of-britons-would-vote-to-leave-the-european-union-in-a-referendum/

The level of animosity towards the European Union (EU) in Britain remains high, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found.

In the online survey of a representative national sample of 2,003 British adults, a majority of respondents (57%) believe that EU membership has been negative for the United Kingdom, while only one third (32%) think it has had a positive effect

Half of Britons (49%) say they would vote against the United Kingdom remaining a member of the EU if a referendum took place, while only one-in-four (25%) would vote to stay. Older respondents favour the idea of abandoning the EU by a 3-to-1 margin (68% to 19%).