Yes, but Tories instinctively exhibit party unity when needed. Left wingers have never had that discipline.
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In fact I suspect Reform wonât have that discipline either.
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And apparently make life deliberately difficult for each other, or so it seems.
Why is it ânewsâ that Farage was very right wing at school? Didnât I read this 2 years ago? Still, it probably needs reiterating. Though, I suspect some of his supporters will see this as a positive.
Itâs ironic is it not, that Farage, ( a name of French Hugenot or Arabic origin) had a German wife and now a Belgian girlfriend.
When Reform talk about âforeigners â who do they actually mean? And who will they exclude?
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I think someone famous who was at school with him has recently gone public on some of the things he said⌠Canât remember the details of who it was or what was said though.
Here you goâŚ
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The media have been banging on about illegal immigration for a long time so itâs close to being the number issue people are worried about, Labour under Starmer have pledged to âsmash the boatsâ yet the numbers arriving by boat are going up. Reform are upping the anti with each daft policy and gaining support at the expense of Labour, are their supporters all idiots of course not but looking at what how the government are performing itâs easy to see why Reform are doing so well.
One of the issues with many posts on the UK is a total lack of objectivity which is to be expected as most people live in their French bubble with no real first hand knowledge of how life is in the UK right now. The irony is that France is in a huge political mess yet most again arenât impacted by that either because theyâre retired.
By all means class Reform voters as âidiotsâ but what about the millions who voted far right in France last year, thatâs a lot of French idiots is in not?
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I donât think Reform voters are idiots per se. I do think they have been misled and perhaps do not seek a wide enough range of sources for their view of the world to be able to defend themselves against misinformation.
And that goes for the supporters of the Rassemblement or AfD as well.
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I think it is unhelpful to describe people as idiots when you are trying to persuade them to change their minds.
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Oh come on - how many of you made âstupidâ remarks when you were younger - go on - we all did. It is wrong to see anyone being hounded for remarks made more than 30 or 40 years ago. In the UK a teacher at Marlborough College has committed suicide because of some remark he made years ago - and which someone complained about.
We change our political outlook; we change our friends; we change over the years - so to keep on about Mr Farageâs comments when he was younger shows a bit of desperation from his enemies.
As for Reformâs policies - they Do Have Policies - one of which is cutting public spending - and there are many other common-sense policies but maybe some on here should read about the policies - after all I wouldnât be believed because Iâm a DM and DT reader - but then I also read the guardian, and no longer trust the bbc. Just an ordinary, low income, middle-of-the-roader, who is in despair at the stupidity of the present labour party.
Iâm in the UK at the moment - and seeing first-hand.
And by the way - the new labour âpoliciesâ for dealing with Illegal - and they are Illegal - âvisitorsâ to the UK - is exactly the same as Denmarkâs. Howls of derision on here about labourâs policy -
but not one word of criticism about Denmarkâs policy âŚâŚâŚâŚâŚ.
Bit of hypocrisy there isnât there ?
What a pity nobody has seen Farage pull the wings off a crane fly, or shoot a cat with a water pistol. If his supporters knew about that they would desert him in droves.
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The claim that âmost people live in their French bubble with no real first hand knowledge of how life is in the UK right nowâ, is based on no evidence whatsoever.
It seems to me that the majority of people who post on SF are well aware of what life in the UK is like. We have family and friends in the UK, and seem to have had more political education than the average person in the UK street. And many of us continue to vote in the UK.
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If the best that can be said about him is that he has changed since his lacklustre schooldays, itâs a pretty poor lookout. Barrel scraping really. Especially as he hasnât; as I said before, ghastly then, ghastly now. Heâs the sort of man who always has one hand in his pocket fiddling with his family jewels, repulsive.
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Talking of immigration I thought this was interestingâŚ
https://www.bestforbritain.org/1in4_worried_about_immigration_community
The study based on a YouGov poll and analysis of more than 4,000 people commissioned by Best for Britain, found that while people said immigration was among the top three challenges facing the country, it ranked far lower when people were asked about the issues affecting them and their community. In this context, immigration ranked seventh after the cost of living, health, the economy, crime, housing and the availability of jobs.
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Itâs even more nuanced than that, though. The survey you quote referred to health, âŚ.crime, housing and the availability of jobs. But ALL of those are impacted by the immense numbers of legal/illegal immigrants - everything. There was also a recent survey pointing out that 80 per cent of new housing is needed due to immigration. Health service - because of increasing numbers of unknown - and unplanned - numbers health services are stretched; crime numbers - look at the knife crime, look at sexual assaults - look at court cases - and prison numbers - and thereâs growing evidence that large numbers of crimes are carried out by non-british criminals; as for availability of jobs - certainly the lower paid jobs are now taken by immigrants who do live in HIMO - living cheaply - which isnât possible for someone with a family and mortgage to support. All the concerns you mentioned are inextricably inter-linked with the impact of high immigration - unknown people, inability to plan for unknown numbers - and the result is that all services, all housing, all health, schooling, transport, housing - are struggling with demand due to the result of unknown, unplanned increasing numbers. And surveys do depend very much on âwhoâ is asking the question, and how the questions are framed.
Read the Oxford report - Food on a Plate in 2007; the report found out that supermarkets, electricity, water and sewage companies were catering - at that time - for a population approaching 70 million - in 2007. Government figures are flakey, fudged, and dishonest - because the government no longer has a clue âhow many people live in the UKâ - but the supermarkets and utility companies have a much clearer idea - they know the population numbers they are âcatering forâ.
What âimmense numbersâ? Youâve been reading the Daily Mail again. 
Net migration into the UK in 2024 was 340,000. Thatâs 20% down on the previous year, incidentally.
It represents just 0.49% of the UK population. Less than half of one per cent.
And youâre using what figures - the governmentâs ? The ONS has no real idea; and the UK will no longer carry out itâs 10 year census. And itâs easy to talk about percentages - but itâs âcompound interestâ again - 2per cent of a population of 20 million - or a population heading for at least 80 million. And those numbers do add up, and they do have an impact on services etc etc.
It is a shambles - and because of the accusations of âracismâ or - the leftâs favourite insult - âxenophobiaâ or anti- whatever - the debate - a reasonable, intelligent, sympathetic debate, about those who need help - and others - was shut down.
The 2031 census is slated to go ahead, though there was talk of replacing it with a sort of virtual one using âalternativeâ data sources. For the moment this has been knocked back.
The 2021 census showed the total population to be around 67 million.
In England and Wales there were 10 million people not born here - i in 6. A large number but not a majority.
80% are white.
And the biggest reason for needing new housing stock is that we donât have enough, and havenât had enough for years, because of failure of government policy over at least the last forty odd years, kicked off when Thatcher sold off the council houses and effectively stopped local authorities building more.
Yes, do, because if you go and look at the stats you will find they do not support the idea that crime is risng unchecked and they certainly do not support the idea that all immigrants are criminals.
But, I forgot, you donât believe the stats do you, because you think the ONS is incompetent.
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Whose figures would you prefer to use? Last time I checked Nigel Farage did not have a team of people counting heads, either within the country or at the borders.
No.
0.48% of a population of 69.3 million. Letâs get our facts right.
Also not correct.
The next 10-yearly UK census is scheduled for 2031, right on time since the last one was in 2021 (2022 in Scotland).
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