gc, I agree, there is too much use of the word but you knew what I meant. Your arguments are weakened by your fixation on the words, not the gist. Bottom line, UKIP in its present form is unelectable. Faff about with the words in that sentence all you like but it's still true.

sg, there are 'extremes' of every political direction, including the middle. Please read the gist not the individual words in isolation and stop being triggered like a Millennial. I'm not antagonistic towards the UKIP or Brexit Party concepts, I just think that they aren't professional enough to become a viable party. Much though I despise most MPs, being a prominent one is a particular skill. Most get by in obscurity but a new party doesn't have that opportunity. Carswell and Suzanne Evans might not have been ideal UKIP candidates for core UKIP members but they were very good in front of a camera. They had their finger on what would sell to a wider public. Farage could do it too but he couldn't be every role in the party. That he fell out with Douglas and Suzanne was a good example of why UKIP were doomed to be no more than a single issue party.

Yes, the Tory Party is right of centre. Many of its MPs are less/not right wing. UKIP is 'not credible' because they can't get enough voters. You're correct that UKIP have some right and left policies. It has moved leftward since Farage (a right winger) departed. That lack of clear position makes it harder for potential followers from supporting them. Would a right wing UKIP voter want to be in a party with strong left wing policies, and the reverse? As someone who lives in a northern market town, I can tell you that we're as varied of opinion as people from anywhere else. There ARE key areas where people want a party, any party to work on - eg our failing justice system, security, migration, taxing businesses fairly, reduced aid budget, better education system, etc.

I hate spell correctors. It's Guri.

Parties always follow the will of finance.
For example conservatism is a absurdity in a capitalist system .
You have Jacob Rees Mogg pretending to be a old landed conservative but in reality is a usual mercantile suspect.
The British system is simply not democratic.
Sticking a ballot box democracy on to a centralised financial oligarchy changes nothing.
You will bend to their will regardless .
Most likely because of your sheer stupidity.
I am thinking of people voting for the Thatcher monetarist radicals because they had a posh voice so they must be conservative .... dull lazy middle class eyes make for good sheep.

Mark Hodgson

I have been following events in Venezuela as closely as I can by reading the regional press and viewing video clips, and checking as best I can on water levels in the Guru reservoir that powers most of the country's electricity. I noted that at Guaido's demo there were riot police present, but in relatively small numbers, and they weren't being in any way aggressive. That was a very interesting contrast with the CRS in Paris, but it also suggested that their loyalty to Maduro is limited. Guaido is of course an elected politician in his own right, whatever the manipulated presidential election might have thrown up were it free and fair. Maduro's demo did seem to be slightly larger from the video, although Spanish language reporting described it as smaller. His claims about the power failure included "electromagnetic attacks on the transmission lines" which may impress campesinos in the barrios, but is basically BS. Satellite imagery shows that water levels are low at Guru, which is partly seasonal ahead of the rainy season, but is also likely due to over use in trying to keep the lights on when thermal power stations break down and don't restart for lack of spares and maintenance. It may be that the level has fallen below the intakes for the hydro plant, in which case the power is not coming back on in a hurry whoever is president. But it will turn the people and the army against Maduro, who must be praying for rain.