The British right-wing political party, UKIP, is very much on the rise in the UK, and a similar thing is happening in France.
UKIP stands for the UK Independence Party, a protest movement against immigration, squeezed living standards, job insecurity and membership of the EU, a general punch-bag for grumpy old men. A snapshot of the sort of people who vote for this right-wing group can be found in the March edition of Prospect magazine. Those most likely to vote for UKIP are, in descending likelihood:
Self-described right-wingers
Working class Tory voters in 2010
Men over 60 (what is it about men over 60, everywhere in the world?)
Daily Express readers
Daily Mail readers
Up to GCSE- level of education (e.g left school at 15 or 16)
Semi and unskilled men
Sun newspaper readers (owned by that arbiter of good taste, Rupert Murdoch)
Telegraph readers
Skilled manual men
Women over 60
Men aged 50-59
Those with incomes under 20,000 pounds
These are people most affected by the huge wealth gap, by the shipping of jobs to China, by the influx of cheap labour into the UK, and by the economic debacle. The picture is similar in the US and other Western countries. The curious thing is that they regard their natural home as being with the Conservatives, just like their American brothers in arms feel comfortable with the Republican party. And yet it is the conservative politicians and their business backers who have created the poor conditions. How quaint is the mind of Man!
UKIP represents the un-Epicureans – people deeply unhappy with their situation, with little to fall back on in bad times. One has to sympathize. And yet the reality is that Polish plumbers are better trained and have a better work ethic than most Brits. The Conservatives did away with technical training colleges, which were converted into “universities”, teaching things real universities teach better. We should answer Polish technical training with more thorough technical training, but that is unlikely to happen, because it requires what? Higher taxation!