Well it's a manifesto that will not be tested. Parts I agree with, other parts I don't. Which is which is immaterial because of the reason first stated. As a rabid opponent of the European federalist superstate, I have sympathy which UKIP's main theme, but they are a bit of a flaky group. Their main achievement right now is to have seriously rattled the cages of the mainstream parties. Hence the sudden rush by all the major parties to comment on immigration issues once UKIP had dared to raise the issue. Hence also the sudden increase in smear stories about how right wing/fascist they may be.
We are burdened with parties led by forgetables who are certainly not leaders. We are further encumbered by parties which are becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate. None could even loosely be described as radical, and radical thinking is needed now more than ever. UKIP is as flawed as they come, but at least Farage has gumption, conviction, and a simple way of getting his point over. And boy does he tell it like it is. Also, I could actually understand the simple language of their defence manifesto, so a big thumbs up for that. Clearly not written by the usual defence specialists as it's way too short of jargon and acronyms to be a credible military document. They also appear to genuinely care about the defence of the country and that is somehow quaintly old-fashioned.
All in all, I think our political process needs the prodding that it gets from UKIP in those spots where our leaders are most loath to be prodded. But the reality is, when the chips are down, we will once more be blessed with grey men speaking lots, saying little and achieving less.
Keep shaking the tree Nigel!
LF