The Heroic Monorchid Who Could Save Britain
Monorchid means "having only one testicle" by the way. And the hero in question is a man named Nigel Farage, who lost his other one to cancer. In fact, he has survived at least three brushes with death. The other two were being mowed down by a car while inebriated (he likes his drink, does Nigel) and the time while campaigning during the last British general election when the plane in which he was flying got tangled up with an advertisement banner trailing from the rear - with very nearly fatal consequences.
Apart from having more lives than a cat, Farage's main claim to fame is as leader of Britain's soon-to-be-third largest party, Ukip. (That's as in UK independence party). Currently in the polls it's just one percentage point behind Britain's third party, the Liberal Democrats. Given that Ukip was created in opposition to the European Union, and given the strength of feeling in Britain on that score right now, it stands to get a great deal more popular yet.
In my Spectator column this week, I analyze the Ukip phenomenon. Conservatives and libertarians should feel very heartened by its success for - as I note on the new, must-listen Ricochet podcast - Ukip is now the true voice of Tea Party-ish values in Britain. It has been described as the "Conservative party in exile": not unreasonably given the dismally leftwards drift of the nominal Conservative party under Britain's answer to Mitt Romney, David Cameron.
Indeed, perhaps the most surprising thing is that Ukip isn't doing even better. But I can answer that in three letters: BBC.
Imagine a world in which your pretty much your entire broadcast media was dominated by the kind of people who make Keith Olbermann look like Charles Krauthammer. Yep, that's how suffocatingly left-liberal the BBC is - and remember, we've no Fox news or right-wing talk radio here to make everything a bit more fair and balanced.
So it is with Ukip. Policy-wise they're the dream ticket: small state, anti-EU, anti-regulation, low-tax, pro-liberty, pro-traditional-values. Yet thanks to the relentless smearing in the MSM, cheer-led by the BBC, they're still burdened with the unfortunate image of swivel-eyed, eccentric, dangerously right-wing, out-of-touch no hopers.
But Ukip's time may yet have come. Not necessarily as an election winner, but certainly as an ideological king-maker. With Ukip ready to steal the votes of disgruntled Tories, the relentless drift leftwards by Cameron's Conservatives can surely not continue. A lot of this is thanks to the charisma and drive of the rumbustious, amiable, hilariously outspoken Farage.
To see the great man in action do check out this hilarious Youtube footage of him haranguing the nonentity EU president Herman Van Rompuy in the Brussels chamber:
"You have the charisma of a damp rag and the appearance of a bank clerk."
What a man! What cojones!
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Mar '11
Re: The Heroic Monorchid Who Could Save Britain
Shouldn't it be "What cojone"?
Feb '11
Re: The Heroic Monorchid Who Could Save Britain
We know what James Taranto would say.
Jan '11
Re: The Heroic Monorchid Who Could Save Britain
Well, I'm glad there is someone who gives you hope James. But if the political judgement you show on this side of the pond, with your enthusiasm for the likes of Mrs. Palin and Mr. Cain and your gross misassessment of Mitt Romney, parallels the judgement you show in your own country, I'm afraid you might in for a let down. Hopefully you see whats going on there a bit more clearly than you do here.
Feb '11
Re: The Heroic Monorchid Who Could Save Britain
So vote Daniel Hannan out to be replaced by Labour or or the LibDems by voting UKIP?
And I've got to agree with BThompson on your assessment of Romney. He may not be as conservative as I like, but he is certainly no David Cameron.
Oct '10
Re: The Heroic Monorchid Who Could Save Britain
The Western World, Britain and America included, is waiting desperately for someone who is willing to boldly ask the question, "When will we put a stop to the seizure of our greatness by the statists and slogs who now rule?"
Meanwhile, the statists themselves, supported by the slogs, assure the world that the "normalcy" they have created cannot be disrupted by extremist idealogs. Of course that means ANY conservative who would actually oppose their rule. Run as a conservative and you will be destroyed personally if you get any traction... like Palin and now Cain. The formula is solid... trot out every possible blemish as disqualifying. Miss a beat on the GOP quiz show and you're toast. It seams that most nominal conservatives are deathly afraid of getting mud on their skirts.
With UKip, Britain itself is beginning the process of demanding an end to the statist/slog power centre. If the GOP continues to give up on any actual conservatives, we will get our own USip, and begin the process here.
Edited on Nov 10, 2011 at 7:19amMay '10
Re: The Heroic Monorchid Who Could Save Britain
I wish to echo my admiration for Mr. Farage. It is encouraging to see UKIP's gains, and the addition of figures like Alexander Hesketh to their ranks. It helps to see that there is still a remnant of sanity elsewhere in the English-speaking world. Mr. Farage's pugnacity is icing on the cake. Praying for my country and the people of the West.
Apr '11
Re: The Heroic Monorchid Who Could Save Britain
When you begin a post with this sentence
"Monorchid means 'having only one testicle' by the way."
You are pretty much guaranteed that people will read the whole thing.
Aug '10
Re: The Heroic Monorchid Who Could Save Britain
Charlotte: When you begin a post with this sentence
"Monorchid means 'having only one testicle' by the way."
You are pretty much guaranteed that people will read the whole thing.
Oh my yes. Though if you're having a bad day, the very word "monorchid" can take a while to get past.
Maybe it's just the flu, but at first, I just couldn't get that word to stop dancing around before my vision. Was it "monochord", "motorchild", "monarchid"...?
And I grew up on Hooked on Phonics.
Anyhow, once I got it, I was reminded once again that some of the most stunning and feminine blooms on Planet Earth are named after a man's testicle.
Edited on Nov 10, 2011 at 7:59amApr '11
Re: The Heroic Monorchid Who Could Save Britain
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Oh my yes. Though if you're having a bad day, the very word "monorchid" can take a while to get past.
Maybe it's just the flu, but at first, I just couldn't get that word to stop dancing around before my vision. Was it "monochord", "motorchild" (like that even makes sense), "monarchid" (which, I suppose would be a monarch-like life-form)...?
And I grew up on Hooked on Phonics.
Anyhow, once I got it, I was reminded once again that some of the most stunning and feminine blooms on Planet Earth are named after a man's testicle. · Nov 10 at 7:55am
Midge, I kept reading it as "monocle."
Aug '10
Re: The Heroic Monorchid Who Could Save Britain
Charlotte
Midge, I kept reading it as "monocle." · Nov 10 at 7:58am
At least that makes more sense than "motorchild". I think.
Aug '10
Re: The Heroic Monorchid Who Could Save Britain
I guess to an Englishman, Tea Party is an utterly inapproriate analogy.
After hearing your podcast comment on Cameron and the Blair's Heir statement, this post is brilliant. Hopefully coalitions can be useful, certainly aren't worth anything in the system we have.
Belgians, what a wonderful legacy. From Leopold II to Marc Doutroux- charming..
Re: The Heroic Monorchid Who Could Save Britain
Hang On: So vote Daniel Hannan out to be replaced by Labour or or the LibDems by voting UKIP?
And I've got to agree with BThompson on your assessment of Romney. He may not be as conservative as I like, but he is certainly no David Cameron. · Nov 10 at 7:03am
Dan Hannan is an MEP - Member of the European Parliament - not the British parliament which is separate. As for the idea that natural conservatives HAVE to vote Conservative because otherwise Labour will get in: you have encapsulated the Cameron political calculation beautifully. Unfortunately I'm not as sophisticated as you. I hold the old fashioned view that Conservatives should act like conservatives and that if not they should be punished at the ballot box.
May '10
Re: The Heroic Monorchid Who Could Save Britain
Our problem, as I suspect UK has the same problem, is educating the voting public. This is extremely difficult when the academes and media sock puppets are so solidly against you. (last nights CNBC debate was a prime example of how even those reporters who should know economics better still go through scads of Chap-Stik kissing up to their liberal media colleagues by pummeling conservatives.)
I fear only a calamitous Euro collapse will get Mr. and Mrs. UK/USA to turn off American/British Idol, Ice Road Truckers, and Jersey Shore, and see how the promises of free lunch have left the cupboard bare.
Jun '10
Re: The Heroic Monorchid Who Could Save Britain
How does UKIP keep from getting associated with the BNP? Seems like that must be a routine game-play for any in the opposition.
Re: The Heroic Monorchid Who Could Save Britain
James Delingpole
I hold the old fashioned view that Conservatives should act like conservatives and that if not they should be punished at the ballot box. · Nov 10 at 8:55am
Amen. Tactical voting has its place, but only so far as "the Buckley rule," i.e., vote for the most electable conservative. But that assumes the candidate in question qualifies as a "conservative." The ultimate goal is not to have a Republican (or Tory) majority, the goal is to have smaller government, lower taxes, and more individual liberty. Whether a Romney administration will advance those goals is perhaps open to debate, but it certainly appears that Cameron's government has not.
Re: The Heroic Monorchid Who Could Save Britain
Adam Freedman
James Delingpole
I hold the old fashioned view that Conservatives should act like conservatives and that if not they should be punished at the ballot box. · Nov 10 at 8:55am
Amen. Tactical voting has its place, but only so far as "the Buckley rule," i.e., vote for the most electable conservative. But that assumes the candidate in question qualifies as a "conservative." The ultimate goal is not to have a Republican (or Tory) majority, the goal is to have smaller government, lower taxes, and more individual liberty. Whether a Romney administration will advance those goals is perhaps open to debate, but it certainly appears that Cameron's government has not. · Nov 10 at 9:14am
I'm definitely giving you a "like" there, Adam
Feb '11
Re: The Heroic Monorchid Who Could Save Britain
James Delingpole
Adam Freedman
James Delingpole
I hold the old fashioned view that Conservatives should act like conservatives and that if not they should be punished at the ballot box. · Nov 10 at 8:55am
I'm definitely giving you a "like" there, Adam · Nov 10 at 9:58am
That's why you have intraparty fights. I agree with your opinions about Cameron, but elect the types of Conservative MPs who will vote him out of the leadership. You will wind up with a Labour landslide similar to 1964 in the US or to the demise of the Conservative Party in Canada and will be paying for it for decades if you go rogue. Britain still isn't in the position it was in the late 1970s under Labour when I lived there. Rolling black outs, no garbage collection, rats running everywhere, a real 3rd world mess. Don't know if you're old enough to remember it. I have no doubt that Labour can take you back there.
And I know Hanan is an MEP, but my impression was the UKIP first arose to contest MEP slots.
Mar '11
Re: The Heroic Monorchid Who Could Save Britain
I'd agree with Mr Delingpole that neither Mr Cameron nor Mr Romney are true conservatives, but they are maybe the best we are gonna get, for now. Syphilitic camel rule always applies.
Ideally, Mr Hannan should give up his MEP seat (he always seems to be talking to an empty chamber, with numbers rather than people at the other seats). Then he could turn the Conservative party into a true conservative party, Euro-skeptic, and there would be no need for UKIP (as I mentioned in a previous post, the last time I voted in England was for UKIP).
Mr Farage is a great debater, but usually gets the same treatment on the BBC that Mr Delingpole and Mr Murray do - as members of the lunatic right fringe. It would be nice to think that the silent majority in the UK agrees with them, but I'm not sure - the BBC is all-pervasive, as Mr Delingpole notes.
UKIP and the Tea Party are indeed very similar - they are both poised to take over if the Republicans and Conservatives fail (which they both may do).
Jul '11
Re: The Heroic Monorchid Who Could Save Britain
I enjoy watching the man even if he gets a little testi. It's nice to see him mix it up with the liberals instead of taking his ball and going home.
There is not a vas deferens between the UKIP and the TP so there is hope for the UK.
Side note from bad humor. Monorchid folks have normal sex and reproductive lives. Just follow testosterone levels and if psychologically discomforting then get a prosthetic which most choose not to have.
Aug '10
Re: The Heroic Monorchid Who Could Save Britain
(The Spectator never sent a validation post to my email address, so I'm posting the comment here.)
______________________________________________
The British people have seen their national sovereignty increasingly and systematically surrendered to the control of bureaucrats in Brussels, and David Cameron's intransigent determination to prevent a vote on whether or not this capitulation should continue, combined with his crudely ham-fisted efforts in demanding that his members vote against the proposed referendum, may well prove far more destructive to the Tory party than anyone has yet realized.
Unlike many of the unwelcome changes that have taken place in Britain, this was an unmistakable, in-your-face act of denying the people their democratic rights, and they saw and recognized it as never before, in a very real and very graphic manner.
I cannot begin to imagine what has possessed Mr. Cameron, as he is either in an alarmingly delusional state of denial or inexplicably intent on hanging himself, but regardless of his motivation I do know that the voting public can only be pushed so far-- and I'm convinced he's gone a long way toward pushing them into the waiting and welcoming arms of UKIP.