Is UKIP the new Punk Rock?

Sadly I'm old enough to remember when Punk Rock arrived on these shores - an anti establishment musical revolution that was 'in yer face', anarchic, rude, violent even - and which for a few years swept all before it.

It was variously a 'yoof' rebellion, a disgusting spectacle of teenage angst or (my view) a breath of fresh air and a welcome alternative to David Cassidy and the utter schmaltz that was increasingly being served up before Punk arrived.

In its early days Punk was much more about attitude and noise than musical talent; its grating loudness was more about the lack of musical talent than a deliberate miss-use of musicianship, but it worked. And how. Safety pins and bin bags became high fashion and, over time, the young talented musicians and bands of the time got on board and the likes of The Clash, Stranglers, Blondie, the Undertones, whilst using the rawness and attitude of the movement, began to bring some real quality into Punk.

Initially the musical purists hated it and tried to use their media power to do it down, but it quickly became evident that they were powerless to do anything in the face of such a wildly and widely popular 'new' form of music, fashion, lifestyle and attitude that swept the nation.

There are, in my view, some strong echoes between Punk then and UKIP now. We are in a time where the establishment is increasingly seen as self-serving, anti ordinary people, out of touch with the population. The 'they work for you' mantra is almost laughable - they work for themselves, clearly. Labour criticise the Tories for being 'Toffs' while having an equal number of 'Toffs' on their own front bench. All of the main political parties talk about 'hard-working people' in a completely patronising way. Very very few of them have ever had a real job - they are just career politicians. Have no idea about real people's lives and struggles.

And people, increasingly, seem to have had enough.

And so along comes UKIP, arguably a rebellious party, a populist party fronted by someone who appears to be much more 'real' than his rivals. It has some views which I would say are largely Thatcherite and patriotic, but after our recent immersion in the PC world (not the computer retailer you understand) are seen as 'edgy', confrontational, sometimes controversial.

How did we allow ourselves to get to the point where 'common sense' (most of what UKIP advocates is simply common sense) is viewed by the majority of commentators as radical, even 'racist'? The latter is just a lazy, uneducated way of trying to denounce UKIP and its supporters in a single word - and, like Punk, this criticism is simply not working. If anything it is pushing more and more people, who just don't buy this lazy journalism, into the arms of UKIP. More here.

And when you do bother to take a look at what UKIP stands for, you quickly see that its arguments are reasoned, thought-through, practical and have the interests of the British population at heart. I'd struggle to make the same point about what the other parties are currently all about. UKIP's 2014 EU election manifesto here.

UKIP has gone through its raw early days and now seems to me to be at the stage where some talent is getting on board. I've even seen criticism that it is in danger of turning into the kind of establishment machine that it criticises. I wonder how else it is supposed to build on its popularity and increasing credibility if not by becoming more professional and capable?

I am not a UKIP member or long-term supporter, but I welcome its growing momentum and I am quick to defend it against the lazy criticism as outlined above. People (commentators and politicians) should not be playing the man not the ball, but actually embracing and considering the issues - after all a significant and growing percentage of the population is now doing exactly that.

UKIP has single-handedly raised the issue of our membership of the EU to a much higher level on the agenda than it has ever been and that is essentially why I'm a fan if not a member. The UK establishment and the EU itself has been trying to keep the issue as low key as possible so that our effective hand-over of power to Brussels can continue unchecked. The stories about straight bananas are deliberately designed to make us see the EU as a joke, not to be taken seriously, so that when the 'biggies' happen, we'll ignore them.

The apologists for the EU - Ken Clarke, Mandelson, Clegg etc - tell us that everything's fine and it's not an important issue for the UK population. But they also say it would be a disaster if we left because of lost jobs. So it is important then? This is just sinister sleight of hand and people are starting to see through it and wonder why we aren't being told the facts about the EU.

By the way, with a £46billion trade deficit with the EU, if we do leave, there will be absolutely no detrimental effect on British jobs - the Eurozone cannot afford not to trade with its single biggest customer on the planet. More here.

A few highly paid British MEPs might find themselves out of a job but that would be about it. And that would include Mr Farage - a fact which I would argue adds credibility to his stance on the EU.

It's not all perfect. Some of the poster ads make me wince. Some of the inevitable nutters' views are unhelpful but as I said in conversation with an extremely politically savvy twitter friend last night, Farage needs ticks in the box - a hit pop record - not a widely acclaimed classical masterpiece that no-one listens to.

So I understand some of the 'frying pan' tactics (subtle as a frying pan to the back of the head) being deployed.

I hope UKIP does cause the earthquake that Nigel predicts on May 22nd. Because that will keep the EU front and centre in British politics and that can only be a good thing, especially at this time in the political cycle with less than a year to go before a General Election.

And because, ultimately for me, we need to have a referendum on our membership of the EU. If we don't leave but endure an 'ever closer' union, we'll end up losing our status as a nation and will be subsumed into the undemocratic socialist project that is the EU. Its stated aim is to establish a united states of Europe. If we're still in when that reaches its ultimate goal, we'll have no pound, no law-making powers (apart from a few meaningless local arrangements) and no way of putting power back in the hands of the voters of this country. Instead we'll be ruled by people who we didn't elect and whom we cannot vote out; people who will probably never have heard of the village, town or city where you live. More here.

That's not democracy, it's take-over. By stealth. And the values and freedoms that our ancestors fought and died for twice in recent history, will be long gone.

So UKIP might be a Punk Party, but it is leading the way in a process that could save our freedoms and democracy in this country by threatening the 'establishment'. And currently it's close to being top of the pops. Long may that continue.

Finish with a song. ;) 

Thanks for reading.