[Ben Reeve Lewis considers UKIP – you may want to look away ..]
If you are a UKIP voter look away now……Its not going to be pleasant.
UKIP – its not pretty
I’ve been watching this shower of idiots for some time now. As their policies unfold to the basest fears and prejudices of the nation.
Of course the Tories and Labour only have themselves to blame in a sense.
The effects of immigration, rightly or wrongly are being hotly debated in a variety of fora, as is overbearing EU control and neither of the major groups are proffering solutions to ameliorate the concerns of the British public.
The Elephant in the room
UKIP simply names the elephant in the room, much as the National Socialists did in the Bier-Kellars of 1920s Munich.
In difficult times, if you can address the concerns of the pissed and the pissed off you’re in! And nary a Brown shirt in sight.
So what are UKIPs housing policies exactly? At this time in political life when Farrage announced to the world that he would be prepared to go into a coalition with the Tories to give them an extra 5 years in office, as if it was in his Nero-esque power to grant such a boon with a wave of his bejewelled, regal hand.
Delusions of grandeur? As they say on Big Brother in a fake Geordie accent “You decide”.
Thoughts on Council Housing
The Guardian last month ran a piece on their thought (s?) on housing the main thrust of which seems to be:
“Council house applicants whose parents or grandparents were born locally should be given priority on waiting lists”
Well what a searing insight into the housing crisis that is eh? Family values over foreigners. UKIP’s housing bod Andrew Charalambous said of this idea:
“The proposal would strengthen local communities, particularly in London, because many people are being encouraged to move out to obtain cheaper housing.”
Andrew who?
Hang on a minute. Haven’t I heard of Andrew Charalambous?……….oh yeah. He was the guy exposed in February for being a private landlord in receipt of over £745,000 per annum in housing benefit chiefly from migrant tenants.
Of course, employing the great democratiser, ‘supply and demand’, Charalambous hid behind the ethical statement:
“Immigration has not only fuelled demand but has fuelled price”.
So does that mean you are for it or agin it?
If your party ever wins on it’s anti-immigration ticket then your income is going to take a serious kicking Andrew. Meanwhile you are happy to back restrictive policies whilst profiteering from it on the sly while you wait to see how the situation resolves itself.
UKIP Housing Policies – from the website
If you aren’t aware of UKIP’s housing policies then this is straight off of their website
- UKIP will protect the Green Belt
- Planning rules in the NPPF will be changed to make it easier to build on brownfield sites instead of greenfield sites. Central government is to list the nationally available brownfield sites for development and issue low-interest bonds to enable decontamination.
- Houses on brownfield sites will be exempt from Stamp Duty on first sale and VAT relaxed for redevelopment of brownfield sites.
- Planning Permission for large-scale developments can be overturned by a referendum triggered by the signatures of 5% of the District or Borough electors collected within three months.
Er….that’s it in it’s entirety.
Excuse me but have I fallen through a trapdoor into Alice in Wonderland???? Is this a serious set of policies designed to cure one of the biggest social needs of our time?
Greenfield sites equates, in politician world, as valued, moneyed up right leaning voters. Brownfield sites means urban, unemployed foreigners so who cares? They don’t bother voting anyway.
Loosing faith
I know it’s early but I already know who I shall be voting for next year…Labour.
Do I have faith in their polices? Do I bollocks. They are just politicians at the end of the day and will change policies as the wind suits. A different kind of supply and demand.
Groucho Marx once said “These are my opinions. I hold to them firmly. If you don’t like them, I have others”
That about sums the game up.
Where are our inspirational leaders?
But I loathe Cameron’s cronyism and I abhor Farrage’s opportunistic ‘Gap fillers’. God preserve all of us if UKIP get any further in appealing to the nations fears rather than the nation’s hopes. Where our Nelson Mandelas? Our Mahatma Ghandis?
We are as a nation bereft of inspiration and instead we are lead by bean counters, stock-takers, consultants and would-be Waffen SS.
Anyway, that’s enough of that.
Universal Credit
My old mate Barry Marlow has a new blog based on his work as a critical friend of social landlords
Fellow critical friend Cath Davies brought to light some interesting statistics gleaned from findings from First Choice Homes, a housing association in Oldham who have been working under Universal Credit since July and get this:
- “74% of tenants had not been offered personal budgeting support by the DWP.
- 8% of tenants had taken out a pay day loan to bridge the gap from making a Universal Credit claim to receiving payment
- 48% of tenants did not know they could apply for an advance payment for Universal Credit
- 22% of tenants said that the job centre had not informed them that their rent needed to be paid out of their Universal Credit.”
A bit worrying and it chimes with my experiences.
Last year I ran several training courses for tenants and whenever I mentioned UC I would be lucky if out of a room of twenty people, I got two who had even heard of it, let alone what it would mean to them in the future.
When I explained how it worked to them I felt like the captain of the Titanic addressing a sea of horrified faces rapidly assessing their near futures and likelihood of survival.
Growing up quickly
Cath’s article concentrates on changing the attitudes of the tenants and putting more responsibility on them to break the cycle of parent/child dependence that us social housing types only have ourselves to blame for in a respect.
Very much on message with government plans but there is a difference. As Cath points out children don’t become adults overnight, it’s a growth process, whereas the aim of UC is to just pull the plug and leave people to sink or swim. A difficult trick to pull off wearing lead boots that you’ve been forced to wear.
A smile at the end
What made me smile this week? A Youtube clip of Billy Connolly laying into religion “Take your Reformation, your Vatican, Your Mecca…..and F**k off” I couldn’t have put it better myself.
You’re in the place I got to with rentergirl. Just sooo angry.
Ben,
I will be voting for UKIP next May, yes they are a “shower of idiots” but so are all the alternatives. UKIP are nowhere near forming a majority government but if they get enough votes to show the mainstream parties that there is an alternative and stops them taking our votes for granted, that will do me. Why you will be voting labour puzzles me but that is why I enjoy your blog.
I am a landlord and Like Andrew Charalambous if immigration decreases thus causing a fall in property prices and rents, especially in the SE, I will lose money but I think it is the right thing for the good of the country. If more politicians promoted policies that were beneficial to the majority rather than themselves and their cronies the world would be a better place.
Dave I couldnt agree more with the last sentence there although we may not agree on what is best for the country. I dont think UKIP is..or perhaps more accurately I dont think ANY Politicians are in the best interest of anyone’s country haha
As I get older I find myself getting angry with anyone who thinks they know best and try and foist their arrogance on the rest of us. Politicians are the obvious example but so are woefully inadequate managers , religious leaders, agony aunts and bossy, annoying people like Vanessa Feltz.
Its why I like watching the Apprentice. All those cock-sure youngsters who act like they know what makes the world tick and how to navigate within it, wearing suits as a front to hide their inadequacies and then, as the weeks unfurl watching the whole package fall apart, revealing that they know no more and are no less able to control their environment than the rest of us.
Its the ultimate in Schadenfreude for me.
Back in the 18th Century people used to pay money to go into Bedlam and laugh at the mad people. I think we should resurrect it and get people to pay to go into parliament to laugh at the array of delusional nut-bags, their mad ideas, their lies, corruption and their arrogance. I’d be there every week with me fiver.
I wish every ukip voter was on my fb friends list….just so I could have the pleasure of deleting them ¦)
I too will be giving u kip a chance, I feel that they certainly can’t do worse than the rest already have, time to shake the trees.