British judge wishes he could deport criminals...but can't.

Law and order out of control? A British judge in a British court wanting to deport six Czechs and a Slovakian has admitted that they cannot be deported, which is of course a product of Britain being inside the European Union along with the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

If the judges in our courts are not able to dish out the punishment they would like to, just how effective can our judiciary be while we remain a member of the European Union? In 2007 it was estimated that around 3,300 criminals from EU member states that commit theft and carry out muggings walk back onto Britain's streets every year.

Oh, and by the way, this isn't a one way street. Countries that are currently inside the EU that have British immigrants in their countries committing crime should be able to depart them back here, but of course they can't either.

EU to open up Britain's benefits system to whole of Europe?

The habitual residency test used by the British government at the moment to assess if EU migrants qualify for jobseeker's dole money, income support, employment support and pension credits is set to be abolished as the EU Commission insist on "equal treatment on basis of nationality".

This is of course absurd. Britain's open border with the whole of the EU has already proven to be an unstable way of doing things, and it is now set to become a far more expensive policy. Potentially anyone who wants to come, even with no intention of working, could come and indulge in open-door benefits tourism. The Coalition's Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan-Smith has sought to resist the EU on this, but will he succeed? I have my doubts. Truly scary.

The nominations are in!

The nominations are in for UKIP's next Leader and there are four contenders: talisman of the Party and the candidate I am supporting Nigel Farage, Deputy Leader and Head of Policy David Campbell Bannerman, economist Tim Congdon and UKIP's first ever black candidate for Leader Winston McKenzie.

All bring good qualities to the race and it will be of a much higher quality than last year's. I expect a lot more media interest this time too, with the first hustings taking place tonight. UKIP's next Leader needs to focus on winning Council seats as a means of building towards that first Westminster MP, and trying to secure UKIP's first foothold in the devolved bodies in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. I reckon Nigel is the man to do it, personally, but whatever happens lets hope the classic UKIP tradition of in-fighting remains in the past.

Paid to lose weight?

The country is facing crippling debt and Britain's deficit requires substantial cuts in the government budget to stabilise the economy in the long run. And some how, we are seriously debating whether people should be paid to lose weight and quit smoking.

It was good to see Fiona McEvoy from The TaxPayers' Alliance on BBC breakfast this morning pointing out just how ludicrous this proposal is. As front line NHS services are at risk, those who choose to do things that potentially harm their body and quality of life are to be rewarded for changing their habits. All will be paid for, of course, by the hard working taxpayer's who are rewarded for living a healthy lifestyle by paying others to do the same.

Practically, this proposal is crackers. It is well known that smokers can relapse very easily. A 28 day period of quitting could mean nothing to the person involved, except for a period during which they stop smoking in order to cash in before resuming. As for being paid for losing weight, will it be by the pound? It is well documented that those who crash diet (presumably in this case for a greater cash reward) will still be engaging in poor dietary habits.

Oh, and please note: the debate is about whether the scheme is extended, not introduced. There are plenty of examples of this type of rubbish going on in Britain. Just look: here, here and here.

The next UKIP Leader needs to exploit the Conservatives' marriage with the LibDems.

Lord Kalms is the former Chairman of Dixons and is a former Tory peer and grandee who donated some £560,000 to the Conservative Party's coffers from 2001 until he was booted out by David Cameron.

He, like Stuart Wheeler, was booted out of the Tory Party after endorsing UKIP at the European Elections, and would be a fine addition to UKIP's group of peers in the House of Lords. The next UKIP Leader needs to convince such credible figures to join the Party and support us not just as a protest vote come European Election time, but as a viable new force in mainstream political life in Britain.

I myself think Nigel Farage would be by far the most effective choice to bring such defections - Wheeler and Kalms warmed to UKIP soon after he became Leader in 2007. But whoever the next UKIP Leader is, the opportunity is there to take advantage of the opportunity a right-wing Party has now that the Tories are in bed with the Liberal Democrats.

Mandelson still on the EU payroll.

Believe it or not, former EU Commissioner Peter Mandelson is still getting between 45% and 60% of his former £103,000 EU salary, as revealed in The Times. Vested interests, perhaps?

Mandy isn't alone though. All former members of the European Commission are entitled up this pay off for three years after they leave office as an EU Commission in order to "ease" their return to the job market. Around 17 other former Commissioners are still getting EU money pumped into their bank accounts.

The EU really is a leech on the back of British taxpayer's to fund the lavish lives of Mandelson and Co.

Even UKIP?

I do remember hearing it at the time but double-checked and yes, Chris Huhne the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change did mention UKIP his speech at the Liberal Democrats' Conference:

"At the next election, the people of Britain can vote Liberal Democrat, Conservative or Labour ... Green, Nationalist, or even UKIP."


Even UKIP hey? Who would do such a thing? Voting UKIP fortunately isn't as rare a thing to do as Chrus Huhne seems to believe - 920,334 people opted to do so a few months back...

English College bans face coverings.

A College in Lancashire has banned face coverings from its new premises, including motorcycle helmets and the burka. Good. With France having banned the burka, and other countries looking set to follow, it must be made clear that the banning of the burka in public areas is not a knock on Islam or Muslims, but for practical and security reasons.

Hoodies and motorcycle helmets are rightfully banned (officially or unofficially) from being worn in many public places now, and burkas should be as well. Treating people differently based on their religious beliefs causes division and resentment and must be tackled.

Will Monckton run?

Punters obviously think Christopher Monckton is a decent shot at becoming the next UKIP Leader. Despite not even have announced if he intends to stand, he is joint-second favourite to win the leadership race.

It would seem that Monckton is seen as a big UKIP figure by those outside of the Party, with Guido Fawkes having hedged his bets with the world famous global warming sceptic.

Even if he doesn't run, the confidence placed in him in the betting market seems to indicate that his endorsement could hold weight. With Gerard Batten having this morning stood down and backed Tim Congdon, what will the UKIP Deputy Leader's next move be?

EU membership is only going to get more expensive.

EU statistician EuroStat has revealed that the cost of pensions for technocrats is set to make EU membership more and more expensive in the future.

By 2040 the UK's contribution to the pensions of those working for the EU will rise to £350 million a year, with the 100 best paid getting a pension of around £130,000 a year.

Our membership of the European Union is cleanly only going to get more and more expensive in the future. At a time of government cuts, surely such a projected increase is unfathomable? The Treasury is apparently "concerned", but what the hell are they actually going to do about it to ensure the EU's strain on taxpayers doesn't increase?

Monckton provokes massive response from climate scientists in America.

No matter what you think of UKIP Deputy Leader Christopher Monckton's views, he never fails to provoke a response from those who stand diametrically opposed to him on the subject of climate change/global warming. After being invited to the US Congress to put forward his arguments to the House of Representatives' Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming in May, a 48-page rebuttal written by climate scientists has taken on some of Monckton's arguments head on, describing them as "profoundly wrong".

I doubt Monckton will take the criticism lying down. Seconds out, ding ding, round two-hundred and seventy six?

Jeffrey Titford: a true UKIP statesman.

The problem with politics on the "fringes" is that there is often in-fighting. Few know this better than the members of UKIP, where constant petty rows and arguments have hamstrung the Party for many years. Hopefully that is now all in the past as UKIP evolves into a more professional, ambitious, youthful Party. But one can't help but thank those who have helped the Party get where it is now, and have stepped up time and time again. Step forward, Jeffrey Titford.

One of the UKIP's first trio of MEPs back in '99, Jeffrey Titford is a former Chairman and Leader of the Party. When you look through the past press releases of UKIP in-fighting, despite being a constantly prominent force within the Party, Titford rarely if ever spoke out and never made the Party look bad. Now he has stepped forward in our time of need once again, agreeing to be Interim Leader in UKIP's most recent time of need. Eloquent and on the money, Titford pushed UKIP's ambition and chance of securing representation in Westminster at Conference. And even better, he spoke in support of our comprehensive manifesto instead of preaching to the converted on the EU as many tend to.

A true gentleman, Jeffrey has personally always been an absolute gent and given me nothing but encouragement, viewing young talent in the Party not with suspicion and apprehension but lending his full support to the Party's youth movement. He seems to recognise that without Young Independence being successful, UKIP's future is bleak as its membership at large gets older.

Every member of UKIP, everyone in politics, should look at Jeffrey Titford as a shining light of decency. He is a very rare breed of politician and gentleman indeed and will keep the Party in good shape until a new Leader has been selected.

EU wants to end UK rebate, while giving hundreds of millions to China.

I think everyone driving the European Union at the top would agree that Britain's membership of the EU has been very beneficial to their budget to the tune of many, many billions.

That hasn't stopped the EU's Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski from coming out today against the UK rebate, in effect wanting the UK to hand over another many more billions by scrapping the rebate.

Oh, and this comes at a time when the EU plans to give that very weak economy China £187m in public funds. Brazil are down for £52m, with the UK's contribution coming to £33m.

We'll keep the rebate, thanks. The rest of our money back would be good too, while we're at it.

Healthcare professionals come out against the EU directive.

The 48 hour Working Time Directive has been heavily criticised by the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal  College of Physicians in The Times. It really is sad the effect the EU is having on the National Health Service, with John Black who is the President of the Royal College of Surgeons, saying that that directive has led to a "less safe service". Black describes the matter as "urgent", providing with the directive causing an "unsafe service" and helping to speed up a "falling standards" in healthcare.

Quite disturbing and one wonders where those relentless Labour Party defenders of the NHS are? Why will they vigorously defend the NHS from Tory cuts but not from a meddling European Union when our top professionals are so alarmed?

Green MP: Tories against PR to stop UKIP.

Though most UKIP members have very little time for the Green Party's Leader and Member of Parliament for Brighton Pavillion, she has wrote a very good piece today on the whole issue of proportional  representation referendum that is set to take place next year. Speaking in favour of an amendment which would give voters a great choice of potential voting systems in the referendum, Caroline Lucas says:

"The Conservatives don't want to change the current system, and are allowing the referendum to shore up the coalition in the hope that the country will vote No. To them, AV is more acceptable than a genuinely proportional system because it minimises the risk of Ukip winning any seats at their expense."


Say what you want about Caroline Lucas, but she is bang on on this one. UKIP supporters should back the Party's official line of rejecting AV and pursuing AV+. First Past The Post is a severely outdated system and is being used by scared politicians to stop UKIP MPs from becoming a very real reality.

The UKIP leadership candidates: what we know so far.

Having returned from another fantastic UKIP Conference, an extremely interesting leadership race is set to begin. The front runners at this stage are David Campbell Bannerman, Tim Congdon, Gerard Batten and Nigel Farage, three of whom seem to have vaguely set out their stalls at Conference and in the media.

First up there is Nigel Farage. His core platform seems to centre around pushing simple, well-delivered messages in the media, a big effort to reverse the trend of UKIP's falling membership and interestingly, a reform of the candidate selection process in UKIP. It will be interesting to seen what policy areas Farage wishes to concentrate on outside of the EU message. He has urged a renewed effort at local election level, so perhaps the localism agenda will be heavily pushed under Farage's leadership.

David Campbell Bannerman's Positive Vision campaign is focusing, as the name suggests, on UKIP being more positive, as well as things like strongly making the case for AV+ rather than AV or First Past The Post in next year's referendum. DCB was keen to urge a more professional approach, going as far to say that if the Party had been more professional it would already have MPs in the Commons. His slightly controversial speech also included the pledge to stop "individuals placing their own political legacies first" and for "more statesmanship and less showmanship", in what was viewed by many as a clear swipe at Farage.

Gerard Batten's main platform seems to be to make UKIP more radical, something which requires specifics to really be judged properly. Batten refused to talk about his leadership campaign during his speech to Conference, insisting instead that he would set out his stall at the "appropriate time and place". One suspects Batten will, as he did during his leadership candidate last year, push his candidacy as one which strongly rejects the notion of any cross-Party dealings. Tim Congdon, similarly, spoke at Conference but did not give much of a clue as to what his campaign will consist of. I have been told that he has some heavyweight backers though and so he should be taken seriously as a candidate.


Also known to be standing are Winston Mckenzie and Jason Smith. This is shaping up to be a very interesting contest which should have a variety of ideas thrown into the mix by a fairly diverse range of candidates.