Forum Topic

NYT - Farage is the most dangerous man in Britain

Opinion by Richard Seymour published on 28 May 2019He’s the most effective demagogue in a generation. Now he sets the agenda.https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/28/opinion/nigel-farage-brexit.html?fbclid=IwAR1nbVFWAm9i1Ga7EPwwKeq8lD-EkNFmCnDyQb5NKWanK0Is2aIcDHywHFA

Ivonne Holliday ● 2722d8 Comments

Farage is not dangerous, he's a political genius.

Sue Hammond ● 2722d

You know Sue, I will disagree with you on this, which is absolutely fine.It did surprise me that the New York Times had an opinion column on this.  I found it interesting that Farage was called a demagogue.You call him a genius.  I have called him before an opportunist - and mentioned That famous poster that really annoys you, well, all of us for different reasons.Have you read the article by any chance?

Ivonne Holliday ● 2722d

The list of people we meed to allow in from overseas is increasing because we don't have the people with the education, training, expertise and experience here.

Philippa Bond ● 2721d

Farage is a political entrepreneur. He has a basic idea to disrupt the status quo for personal gain but doesn't have the planning ability to take that idea forward - look at the rise and fall of UKIP. He's surrounded himself with like minded people who regard him as a hero because if his marketing skills.  What he doesn't have is is right hand person to do the strategic thinking and planning to take his idea forward and formulate the policies a party must have on a broader front - health, social services, transport, etc. He reminds me on the sort of broker who does a fantastic deal to earn him or her (although it's normally a him that does this type of deal) loads of commission  then leaves the back office administration to work out the details (often to sort out the mess) of how to settle/complete the transaction which often leads to very little, if any, profit for the organisation. Perhaps politicians should come with warnings like one gets on financial services products (where ibe can make losses as well as gains), or toxic ones like cigarettes?

Michael Ixer ● 2721d

I agree Philippa but why post this in a thread about Farage?  If you think Farage is 100% against immigration you are totally wrong. He advocates a policy of sensible controlled immigration, but he is definitely against uncontrolled immigration. I listen to him on LBC a lot and have heard him say this many times. However he also says that immigration from the EU countries should not take priority over immigrants from the rest of the world. A fruit picker from France is no better than one from Albania. If a doctor from Australia or India has the same qualifications as one from Germany why should we have to give prority to the German? The message is that there should be equal opportunities for all, so what is wrong with that? The EU is not the be all and end all.

Sue Hammond ● 2721d

Spot on Sue.The UK currently discriminates against non EU countries and Farage wants to even that up and make it the same for every country. If you have the relevant skills in an area where there is a skills shortage you are welcome. Same policy as Australia.

Paul Game ● 2721d

@MichaelFarage has been campaigning for 25 years for the U.K. to leave the EU so to imply he's a political opportunist is beyond me. "- look at the rise and fall of UKIP."The rise of UKIP came about because his mission to get the country out of the EU resonated with millions of like-minded people. The fall of UKIP started after the referendum and Farage distanced himself from the party, saying his work was done. UKIP then started its downward spiral when the present leader Batten invited Tommy Robinson to be an advisor to the party. At that point Farage resigned and severed all involvement with UKIP because he was disgusted at the direction the party was going. UKIP is now finished in my opinion.

Sue Hammond ● 2721d

@Sue. Just to clarify, my use of the term "entrepreneur" wasn't meant to be derogatory in any way - which is why I chose it, although I'd agree it may not translate very well between business and political environments. I'm quite impressed with the way he built up his following and then his astuteness at forcing the Tories into a referendum when they had a weak leader. I might disagree with and dislike him but I wouldn't like to make the mistake of not appreciating his strengths. However, I think your comments made about him walking away as UKIP leader and then resigning after it fell into disarray rather emphasises my point that he didn't have a longer term strategy? He may have learnt from that; we won't really know until the next general election. Drawing another business analogy, if you look at companies like Google and Facebook, these were started by single minded, clever techies but once they started becoming successful they employed senior, experienced people to look after activities such as finance, sales, HR, acquisitions, etc where existing staff and owners didn't have that expertise. They needed to do that to survive against established companies trying  to encroach on their territory and deal with regulatory issues. It's not a perfect analogy, but he looks to take stock of what he's good at and surround himself with people who complement those skills he doesn't have? Not sure he'll get that from Widdecombe and co ...

Michael Ixer ● 2721d