Are you voting ukip if not why not

[Pea]

The tonsillitis I managed to keep at bay so I could get to the Mansfield game has arrived with a vengeance and I've been up all night.

Feel better soon!



I feel so old, I've gotten into my first proper topic about Politics, whatever next? It'll be days before I'm waddling outside still in m'slippers!!

Nothing like stereotyping an entire demographic Pea, some may call THAT racism. =D

I saw that 'oop 'ere' on local telly and they were at Beverley races, Beverley a small, pretty little town at the edge of the Yorkshire Wolds and between Hull and the seaside. Great place. I had actually planned to go to that race meeting myself and if they had asked me about the immigration issue I would have probably given a more balanced response. A bit like many of the other racegoers no doubt had they been afforded the opportunity. It's just another case of getting a load of white northern men together and getting them to say something that could be construed as racist - which quite frankly could be anything these days.

I do see what you mean, I've worded that pretty awfully, it wasn't meant as a sweeping generalisation. (I couldn't remember the races, it was doing my fruit, so if nothing else, thanks for that). I do appreciate the media will have manipulated the responses, of all those gathered they will have shown us the most extreme, with no real "middle ground" or "balance/rationality" to their responses. Whether or not the people gave them and Beebz cut them out I don't know, but that's the information I was presented with. I wasn't stating that the crowd was all white for any other reason that the news had made a point of it, and the footage that was displayed made that seem like a truth. Nor am I saying that every man in Yorkshire is against there being some kind of ethnic diversity, I was merely meaning to explain what the BBC had portrayed, and the irony of the statements, when seeing the crowd.

I still stand by you all being stern northern blokes though! :na:

At my practice there is my doctor, a thoroughly professional and nice Indian chap whom I trust implicitly (I have to with all the health sh*t I've got! ) and there are also two white women doctors. Personally I don't care what 'colour' my doctor is so long as he helps to get me better. And as for student debt being so high, that's total rubbish. Nobody is forcing anyone to go to University and rack up debt, you could start up your own business for example or find low paid menial employment. I do think the rise in course fees is a f**king joke, especially myself being on the end of lecturers who don't really give a sh*t about their profession but as for all the other associated debt then one doesn't start paying it off until a certain income threshold is reached and even then it's only a splash in the ocean. So I really don't see the issue with this either. It's not as if you leave Uni, go on the dole and then the SLC are bashing your door down for £100 a month.

At the risk of sounding like a scorned student, I somewhat disagree with this. Nobody "forces" us, sure, and with all due respect, that's right on the surface, but in practice, not so much. I can only draw on experiences I know about first hand, so I use my own, and a couple of experiences from my friends, but first, I'll talk about me (because I'm all self important like that =D ).

I come from a family who have never had anybody attend higher education up until I arrived. (Nuclear family at least, I have one cousin who is a few years older who went to uni, but we are the first in our families, and I am the first on either of my parent's sides). I wasn't forced by my parents to go to university. My school was a little different. Again, nobody "forced" me to go to university, but from the age of 14 I was expected to start choosing my G.C.S.E options, and it was constantly reiterated that if I chose the wrong options, I'd not get the grades, I'd make the wrong choice for my A-Levels, and I'd fail those, and then I'd not be able to go to University, and then I'd not get a job (as a working professional) so life would be difficult for me.

I'm estranged from my family, I'm a 21 year old female, with little else to show for my life other than my degree because I'm only just starting out, but I'm proud of that degree. For somebody like me, getting a menial job stacking shelves in Tesco (other supermarkets are available), simply ISN'T an option. No minimum wage job is. How do I live (whilst starting out), with no savings whatsoever for reasons out of my control, how do I afford the deposit for a rental property, what do I do? So yes, I made the choice that I was going to go out and get a degree, and some of that was selfish indulgence making my decision for me (I mean, come on, have you seen what psychiatrists can earn these days?) but it wasn't really a choice I had any say in.

The choice I had was where, how and what I studied. Its a silly argument to suggest that people can get by without degrees now. I've worked on and off since I was fifteen around school, and all I was ever able to do was work cleaning, or at Debenhams and the likes, but I want my life to be about more than that. If I want to have any hope of doing anything, I need a degree, or I simply wont earn enough money.

Now take one of my friends. They decided from a very young age that they didn't want to attend university. They didn't need it, and, with all due respect to them, they didn't have the aptitude (the national "average" A-Level student takes three, this friend took one). Lovely guy, really brilliant person, but education wasn't for him. What's he spent the last three years doing since leaving school..... he spent the first year bumping along from "menial" job to "menial" job, it wasn't enough for him after six months. He realised that maybe what the teachers had been telling him along was true, he got his ar*e down to SDC and got himself some proper qualifications, he's now at uni studying zoology (or something zoo related at least).

I'd suggest there was a reason that this kid changed his mind, whether that be down to the fact that we expect our young children to decide so early on in life what they want to do and it's just not helpful because they're too young and he grew up one day and understood, or whether that be he hated his jobs so much he needed a change I can't say, but there must be a reason.

So no, nobody forces me to go to university, but there is a great deal of societal pressure placed on school children from a very young age that university is the "right of passage" if you will.

Again, in the same notion, SLC won't come banging on my door expecting I pay them back while the ink is still drying on my degree certificate, but if I've racked up £30,000+ of debt before I'm 25, that's going to have an impact on life. I'm going to want to pay it off, and as quickly as possible. Look at it this way, lets say you live in Torquay, and you see a pet dog that you really fancy, he's £200 from a lady down by the beach. However, you also see the exact same dog (breed, age etc) from another nice lady. She lives in Paignton, but she's willing to sell you her dog for £100, which are you going to choose?

If when I qualify, Australia (or any other country) offer me more money and a better lifestyle than I will be afforded here, I'll bite their bleedin' hand off for it!! Not because I'm a money grabbing swine, but because it's better for me. I get a job, I get to pay off my debts quicker, as soon as I start paying off a handsome chunk of my SL I'll be able to afford and moreover get accepted for a mortgage, I'll be able to buy a new shiny car etc etc. Until that point I'm hamstrung by the debt. People do get rejected for mortgages because of student loans (I know a young couple who had to fight and fight and fight against the bank before they eventually got their home).

It's not so much an argument that just because I have a degree I'm going to bugger off somewhere else, its more an argument that living costs, on top of the loan I need to pay back at some point (even if its pennies a month, it still hangs over my head, as I cant take out any other loans for living until I've made a sizeable contribution to the existing one), on top of the ridiculous hours i'd be expected to work for the NHS, on top of the young family I want to support (hypothetically) just isn't a viable option when other things are available. So if and when I do a bunk, the nation needs somebody to fill my position, we need working professionals.

What happens if my SL wasn't enough to cover my outgoings, and I had to take a separate loan out with a bank, I have to pay that back right away (these days they give you a month after graduation as a grace period).

I agree that immigrants aren't stealing our jobs but the rest of this is generalized rubbish Pea IMO. I know quite a few Polish people and a Lithuanian couple and there are 2 reasons why they are in a more favoured position to get on in Britain IMO based on anecdotal evidence and also from querying things such as housing policy with my local authority.

First of all any immigrant needs somewhere to live when they arrive in Britain so invariably they apply to the local authority for housing. Unlike years gone by when you could put your name down on the housing list and then wait in line until your turn came around, now it is a case of whoever is in the bracket of the highest priority. Therefore an immigrant family arriving here will automatically usurp many British nationals in the housing stakes largely because they do have families to bring with them and for example, a hard working British couples / families say on the minimum wage are being forced to shell out exorbitant private rental prices because they are already here and have to live somewhere. When they apply for local authority housing then they get told that because they already have a suitable home that they are not being considered for housing.

Many immigrant families are simply turning up in Britain, entering emergency housing and then getting set up with subsidised properties all because they are in the 'highest need' bracket. That is perfectly legal and they are fully entitled to do this. Meanwhile, low income British families faced with all the costs and traps of private renting will never be in a position to improve their lot and escape the trap by 'working in a petrol station' or whatever. Whilst their is a housing shortage and a steady stream of EU immigrants then they will ALWAYS be top of the housing list IMO simply because they often arrive with nothing but a family.

Another common scenario is that immigrants arrive here and manage to get low paid work but often there will be several workers sharing a house so that means they have somewhere affordable to live on low wages as the costs are shared and they can build then build their working skills and eventually progress to better paid jobs and obtain their own housing. If the minimum wage was actually reflective of a decent days work then maybe many British workers would be content with doing 'menial' work because they know they could live their lives once again instead of simply existing.

Another issue is the baffling intricacies of the benefits system and also employers taking the piss. I've known people in the past who have refused work because of the growing trend of zero hours contracts, temporary work and so on. Not because they are work shy but because they could do a months work at say Royal Mail as a temp, let the DSS know and then get told that the work has ended. Then what invariably happens (it has happened to me many years ago) is that once it comes to sorting out the benefits again one has to jump over the moon and back just to get the process started. Then there is a long delay and you get left up sh*t creek without a paddle with no cash until the clueless bureaucrats get round to sorting your claim out. Nobody is willing to do these types of work because of the frequency they get left without income by the numpties in the DSS.

I got a job at Morrisons about 15 years ago and continued claiming my JSA for the first month because I didn't get paid until the end of the month and thought I would be without money for a whole month. Obviously I needed travel to work costs etc. So when I got my first wage packet I informed the DSS that I had started work and wanted to sign off. They said that I had obtained money falsely for the month as I should have let them know as soon as I started work. I argued that I would have been left penniless for a whole month and they assured me that wouldn't have happened.

Anyway, the exact same scenario happened with another job I had and this time I told the DSS that I had started work and they stopped my benefits!!! I had no money for a month and had to borrow it from family. So you see, those who operate the system by and large are completely f**king clueless and they cannot be trusted not to leave you in the sh*t. If you've got a family to feed then it's not worth the risk of taking low paid, non contract work.

I fully understand what you're saying here Andy, and I do agree in some respects. The system is a little skewed, and this is my only argument against immigration, we need to sort ourselves out first. In an ideal world, I'd prefer that we only allowed immigrants in who can somewhat support themselves, perhaps we have a system on a "probationary" period. Immigrants are given a three month grace period in which they can stay in emergency housing, but they need to be actively seeking their own place to stay. Of course, in practice this would never work.

We really need to tackle the issues we have in this country with unemployment, teenage pregnancy, etc etc (the main cohorts of those who need emergency housing but had they made some different, or even better choices in life they wouldn't need it) and give them a bit of a leg up in life. This is where I feel let down by the system. As a student, I receive my SL and nothing else. £3000 a year is not enough to live on. I am a full time student so working isn't a viable option for me, when I can, I do. If I go to the government now and ask for a helping hand I get told to p*ss off. Little Ann-Marie with her seven kids in tow at the grand old age of 17, with several different substance dependencies pretty much has the money duper trucked to her front garden.

Of course, I know I'm demonising those on benefits. I know in the real world not all who claim benefits are the likes of John Turner street, BUT it does get my back up knowing that there are people out their that at the end of the day, one way or another, I'm paying for to abuse the system. If it were up to me, I would set up a scheme were claimants can only claim up to £15,000 in a life time. You have the option to go to school and leave at 16 and use your £15,000 but once its gone, its gone. If you choose to work, your pension scheme is added to the £15,000 and when you retire you have a healthy sum of money. If you dip into the £15, 000 because your boiler blew up and pay day is three weeks away, then fine, but your wages end up replenishing that. Again, of course, this would never happen, because it's not humane to watch people suffer because of a few wrong choices, but it would be interesting to see if it could work, if it would change the thought process in this country.

I'd love to live in a world where we all get what we need, but I know it wont ever happen, and certainly not in my life time, but the government really could do so very much to help make life easier - as you've displayed with your own personal experiences.

I'm not saying we need to let people suffer, I'm not saying I deserve more - I am saying we need to do something about the state this country is in, and currently, the way we are running ourselves.

So nope, UKIP doesn't do it for me, but any party that comes forward with some sort of solution to the current issues modern Britain is facing might just get my vote














Annnnnnd, I've finished

[AustrianAndyGull]

Good stuff Pea and I can tell that was written with passion. You sound a lot like I did at your age and even into my early thirties (I'm 38 now - just!).

My experience of education is that I attended a comprehensive school in the early 90's and anyone without the aptitude for a particular subject would be demoted through the classes until they were put in the bottom class as it were. In many cases, such as my own I failed to keep pace with lessons and after a few weeks of losing the handle on things I just tried to hide it to the point where i was deemed not to have the aptitude. There was no putting your hand up at that time to say, "Sir, I'm really struggling with this - can someone help me?" Not least because you didn't have the necessary assertiveness skills at that age to be confident of telling teachers you have a problem but also because they hadn't the time nor the inclination to help you anyway.

So another one slips through the net as it were thanks to the system and appalling teaching methods. I went to Uni at age 28 for 3 years having passed just 2 GCSE's at school, both in English which then didn't include an examination. I was the first in my family to go to Uni too and I negated the formal qualifications entry by applying as a mature student and given I had many years experience in a related animal based role through employment, that helped me to get on the course. The course had some tough science disciplines it being a BSc and also maths elements too such as applied statistics and all that shit which to me is bloody pointless. Anyway, just proves that if I can do it then most people can.

What it also proves is that people put too much emphasis on qualifications these days IMO. I'll tell my daughter when she goes to school not to worry too much about her GCSE's. If she fails then she can always do them at nightschool at a later date like I did. It's no big deal. What is more important IMO is teaching kids at school to be confident, self sufficient, savvy, be exceptional effective communicators and to be themselves and not conform to all this 'must pass this test' bullshit.

I've got 15 years experience in my chosen field but it's generally low paid although rewarding, I have umpteen related qualifications too but what I DON'T have are the confident, effective, assertive communication skills necessary to take the next step up. In life you are expected to traverse it having dealings with other human beings every day and in an array of different contexts and circumstances and you are somehow just expected to know what to do, say and how to behave in all of these. Some people are adept at this and it is usually the people that can who are totally flummoxed as to why the people that can't, can't.

Then you get the usual stuff from them about how life is dog eat dog and survival of the fittest and all that. A crucial life skill that appears to be innate in one person and which has to be learned by another is not a subject to be taking the piss out of others for which is what happens often. The manager of Tesco's in Hull for example might have had a solid, comfortable and nurturing upbringing whilst Barry who has been working for 10 years on grocery for minimum wage at the same store and who is very intelligent had a more challenging upbringing. If you grow up around dependable and confident people then you learn these qualities almost by default but if not then these self propelling skills don't even trouble you until you realise that there is a reason why after 10 years, one man is still doing the same menial low paid job.

That is why managers of businesses manage, not necessarily because they have the brains and qualifications but because they are confident and effective communicators and that gets them by. What about people who maybe have the skills and qualifications but who lack these attributes? They may also lack self esteem and confidence too. They could still do a much better job than a lot of others in job positions they are wanting but because they lack the higher end of social skills then it's low wages I'm afraid.

Not everyone is the same. I can't sing so will never be able to appear on Xfactor (thank GOD!) and be in the running to make a fortune. I can't play snooker so will never be able to make money that way, I can't fly an aeroplane so that's out, I can't perform open heart surgery either. Not everyone can be a manager of an organisation, they may have the knowledge and could make a really good go of it but unless the skills I've been mentioning are there then forget it. As with positions of greater responsibility the wages increase so I think that there are thousands and thousands of really clever, hard working and savvy low paid workers out there who are being held back by their own psychology.

So if I were you, I'd advise you to follow your dream but to remember that passing exams is not the be all and end all. If you have endeavour, drive, determination and confidence and you can talk a good game then there will always be decent work out there. Schools should be teaching kids about self confidence and to have respect for themselves, to trust themselves, to communicate effectively, to understand human behaviour too because these are essential tools that they will need to break free from poverty AND negative lifestyles. It is just as important as passing exams IMO.

I take your point about you not wanting to do menial jobs for minimum wage. Many would say you are being picky and workshy but I disagree. It's all about the system again and how it traps people into poverty IMO and I'm qualified to speak about this as I've been fortunate enough to have had help from the Government when I've needed it but it has felt to me like it is easier for them just to chuck free money at folk rather than dealing with the real issues that trap some into poverty.

For example, if I rented a house with my partner and child and I went out to work on the minimum wage whilst my partner stayed at home looking after the little one then I'd obviously be eligible for child tax credit and speaking from personal experience it's about £300 ish a month extra all in which is help from the Government for piss all. I appreciate that, it was our decision to have a family and although help and support (not necessarily financial) would be welcomed, ultimately it is our decision.

Ok, so all in the family takes home around £1150 per month. Take out travel to work costs, food, full council tax, bills, rip off rent from wanker landlords and you'd be left with not so much as a brass farthing. You exist rather than live.

So what if I go on benefits? I get housing benefit, council tax benefit, free prescriptions which for me is over £30 a month, free dental care, free transport, and I'm instantly better off for doing the sum of **** all. Obviously a moral person would want to go out to work regardless because it gives them a sense of purpose and they feel a valued member of society but then you work out that it's madness to get up at 7am, battle with the traffic to drop the kid at school, do a hard days work (many min wage jobs are bloody heavy going too) battle the traffic back again and pick the kid up and get home knackered so you can flake out on the settee with your treat for the week, a four pack of Stones Bitter.

The upshot is, if we take personal responsibility out of the equation that there is no incentive to go out to work because the minimum wage just isn't enough to live on when compared to benefits. It is not financially viable. So you can stay at home all day, the more proactive would perhaps work on their cv, look for better paid jobs, go and volunteer somewhere to get different skill sets, go on a course or they could just watch daytime tv all day and eat monster munch.

The minimum wage should be such that there is a sufficient amount of money left over at the end of the month to 'enjoy' life a bit once all financial loose ends have been tied up. Not a vast amount but enough to make it worthwhile. Otherwise there is no incentive to come off benefits or may make people go on benefits and pack in work.

The other thing about the scenario I gave as my family as an example is the huge inadequacies with the tax credits system. I gave a fairly accurate figure of £300 ish a month income from tax credits based on personal experience. Now if my partner wanted to go out and get a minimum wage job so that both of us work then the tax credits stop. Fair enough. But when you consider that once travel to work costs and prescriptions (which would now have to be paid for ) and other bits and bobs are taken into account then you are only likely to be better off by another £150 ish a month I reckon and that is with both parents working, arranging the absolute nightmare of childcare, especially at weekends, you may even need 2 cars if the jobs are not commutable by public transport. Is it really worth all that stress and hassle for an extra £150 a month?

So you see, it is the system that makes it easier for people to remain in benefits and then minimum wage culture is trapping them there. As I said earlier on this thread, the systems are all wrong. Take for example tax credits. Now these are worked out on what a person earned the previous tax year although money is also reduced on someone gaining employment too. So if I took a temporary job for 6 months then the following year when I may not be in employment and need the help the most, I will get next to nothing due because of the 6 months I worked in the previous tax year. Therefore if you are on tax credits, first of all a temporary job is just not an option as you will be financially worse off a year down the line and also if you take a job and it goes tits up or you have to leave it for whatever reason you not only lose out currently but also the year after too. It's a totally bizarre formula they have for working it out but the story is the same, it makes people fear being without money and traps them into remaining in the benefits system because of the way it is worked out and because the minimum wage is a total joke.

Anyway, when I said I was like you when I was younger Pea, I don't mean I was a female =D but I too wanted to get out of this country because I hated it. It was depressing, dirty, congested, swarming with total morons, full of dickheads on the roads, run by toff clowns and you always seemed to get penalised for working hard and trying to get on in life. The thing is though, most other countries are the same. I used to find it bizarre how Polish people who came here for a better life and presumably to integrate into British society would open up Polish supermarkets here and create communities. Why if they want to be part of Britain? Then you see Spain and the Brits do exactly the same thing. Everyone is just the same, every country is just the same with good points and bad points, nice people and total idiots, beautiful places and squalid hovels like Rotherham. I dare say that Australia has many more problems than you'd realise.

So don't fuss about anybody else Pea, or those creaming benefits - there is nothing you or anybody can do about it. You'll drive yourself mad, get angry, frustrated and think what's the point? Just focus on yourself, what YOU want to achieve and focus on those things you can control. If it's out of your control then just let it be. I can argue all day about how the system has let me down but I am responsible for the choices I make not the system. The system just makes it near impossible for decent hard working folk who haven't been blessed with the total package to get on in life.

I hope you get where you need to be Pea but just bear in mind that sometimes that place isn't a destination, it's a state of mind.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Anyway, none of this has anything to do with voting UKIP so i'll get the thread back on track and say that UKIP are an easy target just because they are prepared to discuss immigration. As soon as immigration is mentioned by anyone then you are a racist. That's how it is. I don't know whether UKIP are racist or not but they are politicians so there is a good chance 90% of them are dishonest and so shouldn't be voted for.

[Gullscorer]

Definitely voting UKIP: I want us out of the EU as soon as possible. Independence will be more advantageous to us in every way.

What's confirmed it for me is the news that the EU has now banned Indian Mangoes, ostensibly for fear of fruit flies! As if we don't already have fruit flies.. Absolutely outrageous...!!

More to come from me later, no time now, but I had to post this..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27311917

[arcadia]

I can remember when we were not in the EU there were jobs we made products in factories along came the government and told us that the factories would get more work if we join the EU the reverse happened and nearly all our factories closed the working class were hit again.

Nigel Farage is the best leader on show he says it how it is no other does. I wish he would join the Tories but tone things down a bit but for the EU vote there is only one party for me UKIP

[PhilGull]

I won't be voting UKIP because as others have said, I too am not racist. It's not party members who are being outed as crazy racist, homophobic bufoons, it's the people actually standing for election as MEPs and councillors, no ways will I ever be voting for one of them.

As you have asked I will be voting for the Green party, the largest political movement represented in the EU. The only party I have seen who want to discuss all the issues regarding our relationship with the rest of Europe, a party which agrees that the current European political structure is a mess and does need reform but is wanting to do that from the inside.

[Dave]

I'm not a racist, anyone who knows me personally will vouch for that, I would never vote for an openly racist party. I am voting UKIP. People should not allow themselves to fooled by the established parties and the scaremongering media.

UKIP is not a racist party, it is no more racist than any other, and will not work along side or cooperate with the far right French party( who's name I couldn't spell if , I tried)

Sorry just to add, pulling out Europe will not cost jobs, scaremongering, European/international companies collectively have millions invested in this country, they are not going spend further millions, to cut their noses of to spite their collective faces' and pull out of this country, we as nation would then be free to do our own international trade deals, something we can't do now.

And it would also stop things like this from happening; where I work we have a largely Polish cleaning team, nothing against any of them, they do the jobs no British person will do, so fair play on that, one of the Polish cleaners has recently moved here, with her two kids after splitting with her husband back in Poland, doesn't like her cleaning job or the hours, so has quit, she has been given automatic access to a council house in Exeter. If I quit my job tomorrow I couldn't even get a dole cheque, despite paying NI since 1985.

[Gullscorer]

Election dirty tricks? http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/UKIP-ac ... story.html

[Colorado Gull]

I won't be voting UKIP because as others have said, I too am not racist. It's not party members who are being outed as crazy racist, homophobic bufoons, it's the people actually standing for election as MEPs and councillors, no ways will I ever be voting for one of them.

As you have asked I will be voting for the Green party, the largest political movement represented in the EU. The only party I have seen who want to discuss all the issues regarding our relationship with the rest of Europe, a party which agrees that the current European political structure is a mess and does need reform but is wanting to do that from the inside.

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[Gullscorer]

I have already checked out the green party. They appear to be, for the most part, an undemocratic extreme Marxist-Feminist pro-EU authoritarian group with their own narrow doctrinaire agenda. Like all such groups, they latch on to a cause or topic in the public arena and either exaggerate problems or present predicaments where none exist in order to further their own particular ideologies. I too am probably exaggerating a little here; hopefully it will prompt people to carry out their own research; if they come to a different or more moderate view, that's their choice.

But, for me, true freedom, independence, and democracy will only be found outside the EU, and that means voting for UKIP. Powerful vested interests have already been attempting to vilify the party and misrepresent what it stands for, and are now making a blatant and transparent attempt to split the UKIP vote on the ballot papers.

More to come from me on this; as soon as I find a little more spare time I shall list the reasons (most of which have already been posted on the Politics and UKIP threads) why the EU is so bad for us and why there's everything to be gained by the UK going it alone, a.s.a.p...

[Gullscorer]

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[Pea]

Well, because I'm a child, and we're posting Nick Farage videos I thought I'd get in on the action



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Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe!!

[Gullscorer]

HeHe...HaHa...!! :~D
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[Gullscorer]

If Matt decides to vote UKIP he might be known as Faragilover.. =D

[Gullscorer]

UKIP's opponents grasping at straws: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27399841

Comment by Chris Mason, Political correspondent, BBC News:

So why does the resignation of a 21-year-old UKIP member warrant an authored piece in the Guardian and generate national headlines?
Would the same happen if a similar figure gave up on the Conservatives, Labour or the Liberal Democrats?
To be frank, it probably wouldn't. But UKIP is the new kid at the political disco, with water bombs in his (or her) pockets.
Not just that, the party's popularity is rising and so, therefore, is the scrutiny it is under.
The single most toxic accusation that can be levelled at the party is racism. Nigel Farage knows that. He held a special event last week, surrounded by supporters from ethnic minorities, to say it was rubbish.
Sanya-Jeet Thandi's direct contradiction of this is why her article has grabbed attention.