Nigel Farage and Populism.

 

Nigel Farage

Nigel Farage is a salesman and a very good salesman. He's also a charlatan, a racist, and a showman. Reform UK, is basically a cult that follows a charismatic leader. Politically, Nigel Farage is a Thatcherite and he's said so himself. He's also an English nationalist. Unlike Keir Starmer, Farage can connect with the English people with whom he has a good rapport.

I don't find myself in agreement with Farage very often but he did say recently that all politicians were wankers, adding, "but at least we're honest about it." I think he's spot on but disingenuous.

In my view, right-wing populism both in Britain and the U.S. was inevitable and is a backlash against many things, including what is generically called, 'political correctness'. Many people must feel that they're being treated as Guinee Pigs in a social engineering experiment.

I'm currently reading essays by Christopher Hitchens and came across this, which amused me: "Asked by a lady intellectual to summarize the difference between men and women”, a bishop replied, 'Madam, I cannot conceive'." Somebody should've told Starmer and Sturgeon that a long time ago.

I have never failed to be amazed by how some human beings can come to embrace the most bizarre ideas and grotesque absurdities. It's almost as though they abandon all reason for one passing fad or another. I suppose this explains the interest in conspiracy theories and the success of Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code.