SO, IF I SLAPPED YOU HARD ACROSS THE FACE ...WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

“Surely, you can’t be serious, Mike?” I hear you say, well I am serious, in fact, in terms of party politics and what is about to happen in the upcoming election, it is probably the most serious question there has ever been.  You see we have already seen how blindingly dangerous Nationalistic politics can be with Scotland’s result in the referendum earlier this year.  The funny thing is that many people in England who were pro-union AND pro-UKIP seem to be incapable of seeing that the argument they were rejecting in Scotland is actually the one they are accepting for the UK.

Let’s start at the beginning with the referendum from the perspective of outside and inside.  Inside Scotland it was all Braveheart-esque speeches over how the Union, or more specifically, England, was holding back Scotland and was responsible for all Scotland’s woes, Scotland would have various economic advantages going alone and would keep the pound.

Outside Scotland, these Braveheart-esque speeches were driving a wedge in the union causing anti-Scottish sentiment south of the border, where many of Scotland’s customers existed, south of the border, where, if the currency went down in value because of Scottish independence, due to economic union, Scotland’s currency would go down in value, etc etc.

For those people outside of the immediate geographic range of Alex Samond's speeches, the economic arguments against an independent Scotland where obvious, but you could not debate with the YES camp in such a logical way, and if you did you were accused of holding them back like an angry teenage son/daughter (trust me, I had these debates at the time, it was like trying to debate with a scatter cushion).

The reality that the YES camp did not get was, if we, one of Scotland’s biggest customers, suffered economically, it would, as buyers of Scottish products (and also as Scotland’s largest tourism contributor) have a significant negative impact on their economy.

BUT MORE THAN THAT ...with the SLAP IN THE FACE that Alex Salmond was delivering with his speeches he was actually creating an environment where the people in the rest of the union would not WANT to associate in business with Scotland.  

To succeed in business you don’t be disrespectful to your customer’s, Gerald Rattner's, rules of business 101.   

Or as Bill Clinton so eloquently put it...

If you SLAP YOUR CUSTOMER’S IN THE FACE they will act in kind to you.  It’s a no-brainer.  

Now, let’s get back to UKIP’s wonderful nationalistic fantasy picture for the UK.  

UKIP like the Scottish Nationalist lay all of our countries woes at the door of the EU and without the EU Boy’s club we would all be better off financially and this would have only a wonderful impact on the UK economy.

Sound familiar?

Why no-one else seems to notice this and not me I do not know but the same SLAP IN THE FACE that Scotland were attempting to deliver to the rest of the union, that most people in England thought was a bad idea, UKIP are trying to convince voters in (largely) England, that this is great idea to deliver to the EU and we will come away unscathed.

THERE ...IS ...NO ...WAY ...WE ...CAN ...SLAP ...THE ...OTHER ...EUROPEAN ...LEADERS ...ACROSS ...THE ...FACE ...AND ...NOT ...HAVE ...IT ...IMPACT ...ON ...OUR ...BUSINESSES ...AND ...ECONOMY.

And as I mentioned earlier, this is without taking into account what the exiting of the UK from the EU is likely to have on European allies own economies, because, they are also customer’s of the UK.  Even if the SLAP IN THE FACE that the exit would deliver doesn’t piss them off when the third largest economy in Europe leaves the club does in anyone in UKIP honestly think that this will have no impact on the remaining European economies?  Yes, we are not tied to Europe in the same economic what that the rest of the Union is tied to Scotland, but to make out that we share no connection with the rest of Europe is naive at best and negligent at worst, especially when you bear in mind the other thing UKIP do not want people to know...

...That many people across the rest of Europe feel the way we do about the federalisation of Europe.

In the last European elections there was a dramatic swing to the right as more and more people reacted against further integration and removal of sovereign rights from home nations.  In fact the European Parliament has probably never been more unpopular among the people of Europe with only the people of Brussels really having any kind of support for the institution seeing as, well, you know, they probably work there.

So what’s brought me writing all this out now?

Well two things, obviously with the election round the corner and  no-one else even even has the gumption to look outside of these borders of ours to consider the effects but also because of the much-criticised channel 4 programme “UKIP:  THE FIRST 100 DAYS” which didn’t so much miss the mark as aim in the completely opposite direction and shoot an arrow into it’s own leg.

For many what they think they know about UKIP and the current political system is wrong.  No doubt there are many of my working brethren out there who think their workers rights are enshrined in British law, however, laws can change, except that these laws can’t be, at least not in the UK.  They’re enshrined in European law, currently laws on Maternity leave, Paternity leave, holiday entitlement and minimum wage are all protected by our inclusion within the EU.

Some of these rights may well be under threat when UKIP come to power.

Don’t believe me?

This is from the UKIP website...

We would review all legislation and regulations from the EU (3,600 new laws since 2010) and remove those which hamper British prosperity and competitiveness.

AND COMPETITIVENESS?  So wonderfully vague, what could it possibly mean, what could stop us competing with the rest of the world.  Nigel and his party’s race to the bottom starts here, something which the rest of the UK seems, sadly, oblivious of.

So, as I said, with this show it would have given Channel 4 to look at the logical arguments why such a shift in policy could have massive repercussions for the UK, for our customers, across Europe and then, most likely, the rest of the country for the next 10 years or more.  Instead they approached the show in sensationalist "UKIP are racist" stereotypical way, which, as we have already seen from the popular press, just entrenches their support, making them feel that they, as UKIP, supporters, are also being accused of being racist by a faceless PC Media machine.

If Nigel and his party do make it into Downing Street come May, on their own or as part of a coalition, then the combination of the media's inaction and inability to logically discuss the likely impact and ramifications for such a change in the political landscape, plus the current political establishment's collusion with special interests resulting in a lack of understanding of reality down among the dead men will undoubtably where the blame lies for such a catastrophic decision.

Shame neither of these two groups will see it that way.

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