Any thoughts on Kilroy-Silk leaving UKIP? I know he's been a bit of a w****r at times but it certainly raised the profile of the party, having him as a spokesman. Living on the mainland now, I voted for them in the last European elections. Makes them look so pathetic, saying they're toasting his departure in champagne. In-fighting again. I wonder whether they realise how bad it looks, seeing politicians slagging each other off like that in public. But then, it happens every day in the House of Commons. Though not usually within the same party.

Personally, I think it doesn't help them one bit.

Yes he was loud and perhaps too outspoken for their leadership at times, but he was a well known face and figurehead (leader of the party or not).

Put it this way, I can't name another member of UKIP. But then again I don't live in the UK, but you know what I mean.

I think it will only do their share of the vote harm personally, but , what do I know...

Whoops, your claim to be super intelligent sure took a very big knock there.

Kilroy-Silk is and always was a self-serving cretin. If it wasn't for the whole ego clash thing he and UKIP would be a perfect match.

UKIP are a facile, one issue party. Of course, they'll claim to have whatever other policies beyond the borderline racism that appeals to their supporters who basically fall in the middle ground between the BNP and the Tories. Sure, they're popular, but then The Sun is the UK's most popular daily newspaper...

And I leave you with my final submission:

http://www.ukgameshows.com/index.php/Shafted

"To share, or to shaft>"

Kilroy-Silk raised their profile but later he also seemed to be doing their image more harm than good. They're well rid. Did anyone else think, with his wild-eyed rantings he seemed as mad as a hatter of late? Maybe he should tie up with the Monster Raving Loony Party!

Madness and power? No thank you.

Are the UKIP like the equivalent of Mec Vannin?

You know. Run by idiots, voted for by simpletons and supported by few?

Close, but not quite.

UKIP have an agenda that is relevant, are willing to actually get involved, and are at least trying to doing something positive for the population they claim to support rather than just kvetching from the sidelines and getting in the way of those who might do something useful.

Mec Vallium – if they didn’t exist then they would be created by The Keys in order to prevent someone useful from creating a Manx national party..

Right. I don't know a great deal about politics, only enough to know that I'm probably Right wing, but it's my understanding that the UKIP are basically the Tories with a stricter anti Europe policy?

Kilroy Silk just wants to be on TV. Celebrity reality TV will be his next move.

dwatterson's right, they are wholly a one-issue party.

They are the classic protest party.

If Europe and immigration aren't the keenly fought issues at the next election UKIP will be a non-entity.

Couldn't help chuckling at Kill-Joy Sick's plans to create his new party Veritas.
Latin jargon will certainly clinch the popular vote!

Manx national party? Surely the Keys should be carrying that particular flag? Why the need for more?

BNPlite.

Captain Mainwarings and Daily Mail readers. The sort of people who give their bungalow a name.

Is it true that Phase 3 of 'Branding Isle of Man' will involve David Cretney applying for Big Brother?

Now that I would like to see

Has anyone noticed how Kilroy is increasingly beginning to resemble David Icke.

Yes.

My husband would agree with you, Dave. However, I felt it was important to vote for them - not because I thought they stood a chance of doing well but because I wished to demonstrate to the government that some voters do feel strongly about remaining independent players within Europe rather than being subsumed into it and left without any self-jurisdiction, and also because I don't want the English pound dumped in favour of the euro. Those are my two main gripes about us joining the European Union and I voted my conscience. How many people on the mainland did not bother to turn out and vote at all in those elections? Millions.

Sorry hollandaise, this (the Isle of Man) is the mainland ! You live on the adjacent isle (part of the UK)

any particular reasons?

My main reasons are purely sentimental. I'm English by birth and ancestry, and the English pound has a long and glorious history. My mother worked at the Bank of England before she got married. The twenty pound note is very attractive. In other words, I have a fondness for sterling which cannot be explained in logical terms.

But I also believe it's unfair for Britain to be expected to dump a currency which has an enduring tendency to remain strong against the dollar in favour of a currency invented by a conglomerate of less wealthy countries in order to bolster their flagging economies.

That's why.

UKIP probably spent a lot of money retaining someone of Kilroy-Silk's calibre. All that electricity, paper toweling, cleaning spray and regular replacement of UV tubes must have eaten well into their budget.

... but in the end did they decide to share, OR TO SHAFT?

Though, of course, a 'strong' £ is very bad news for exporters. And frequent currency fluctuations are bad news for industry in general.

As for a romantic attachment to the £ - well the £ has been a decimal currency since 1971. So the penny was long since replaced by an English cent, in all but name.

hollandaise: Coincidentally - my Grandfather was at the Bank of England all his working life. I suppose that there is a good chance that they would have known each other

Very possibly. Though since 'before she married' is now forty odd years ago and she married young, I don't imagine she did much more than sit in the typing pool. He may have ogled her in passing though! I can't ask her, sadly, as she's dead now.

As far as currencies are concerned in general, there's only one thing which really bothers me about the whole exchange situation. Whenever I get any payments from the States, it's invariably a cheque drawn on a U.S. bank. Which takes 4 - 6 weeks to be credited to my Isle of Man bank account. This drives me mad!

That is mainly because the US cheque clearing system is so inefficient. I understand that it can take weeks even between US banks if the banks concerned are in different states.

If the amounts aren't vast your bank may have a choice of how they present the cheque. (The terms are Negoation and Collection though I can't remember which way round it is) Basically one method allows them to credit your account with the funds then send them for payment, however there is a chance that the cheques could bounce after you've spent the money.

Alternatively, I'd look at getting the funds sent as an international payment, this will cost you (or the remitter) more but at least you'll have your money in a few days.

Thanks, Declan. The amounts are not vast. Do you work for a bank, by any chance?

I worked for a company for a while ago and many of the payments to us were in $US, we ended up having an account just for the $US as it just cost us too much changing it to £'s to then often back again to pay some of our bills in $.

Maybe you should open a $ account - see if you can do that with your "local" bank.

LOL!

That sounds like a perfect description of our present government, with & without recent resignations!

Can't say I'm a supporter of Mec Vannin, but at least they care more about the nation than fleecing the public money to line their own pockets.

Especially whilst the US$ is so weak relative to sterling and the Euro. Sit on the cash for a few years and hope that the US$ recovers. Especially if the cash isn't needed immediately.

I've been seriously thinking about sticking a few quid into US$ to wait for the exchange rate to shift. I had a little account in Euros over the past few years. I did rather well on exchange rates as the US$ dropped ever lower (though the interest rate earned was minimal). It was a tiny investment but it made a little profit (cf sterling) when I traded it back for £s. Right now the US$ looks like a good long term investment. One day the US will come through the current uncertainty. Unless Japan and the rest of SE Asia calls in the debts. Which is unlikely since they need to continue to underpin their US markets (and much US debt is owned in Japan SE Asia).

Right now - £1 buys roughly 1.4 Euros or roughly 1.9 US$.

Personally I'm in favour of Britain adopting the Euro. I would ask anyone who opposes British Euro membership to come up with any good reasons for their opposition.

I used to do an awful lot of travelling a few years ago, when the Euro was introduced it was a godsend for me.

It was an absolute pain in the ar*e travelling within Europe having to carry small amounts of the various currencies for taxi/bus fares, food etc.

I think the UK was wise not to adopt the Euro at the same time as the rest of Europe, but it can't be too far away - I also think it would be good for us to adopt it in the not too distant future.

Some argue against British adoption of the Euro based on the idea that different countries (governments or central banks) should be able to set different interest rates in order to control money supply according to the states of the local economies.

This is a spurious argument - since one could equally argue that Douglas, East Kilbride, Liverpool and different parts of London should also have different interest rates. According to local economic conditions.

When national control of interest rates is surrendered (an automatic condition of Euro membership) - then the only national or sub national method of controlling money supply is via taxation. This is one of the good arguments for federalism - ie the devolution of tax raising to small local areas.

Manx interest rates are currently set in London.

Kilroy Launches 'Veritas' Party


oh behave

Personally I'm not in favour of giving anyone the opportunity to puff their ego however one excellent reason for staying out of the Euro is the current strength of the UK economy compared to that of it's neighbours. Of course, forecasts can be produced that will propound this and that course is the better one but at the end of the day they are only that - just forecasts.

If it's not broken then don't fix it.

-

Better to join from a position of relative strength, no ?

I'm not convinced that comparing economies on a country by country basis provides a reliable snapshot. Country - by - country is only one of various, ultimately arbitrary, ways of making comparisons between the relative strengths and weaknesses of different economies.

For example, not all regions of the UK share similar economic conditions. Parts of the UK probably have more in common with the poorer parts of the Euro - Zone, for example. The logical conclusion of the keep - Sterling argument, IMO, is that different regions and cities, within say the UK (and the islands), should have different interest rates. Effectively abolishing Sterling and introducing different currencies in Aberdeen, Liverpool, Plymouth, Ramsey etc.

Maybe we should be comparing regions and cities throughout the EU when we look at averages. Or perhaps looking at the relative strengths and weaknesses of different areas of business within geographical regions.

I don't believe that joining (or not) the Euro should be about anything other than our ultimate inevitable destination. Timing would be a different matter. My belief is that Sterling will certainly cease to exist and we should be planning for how that happens. The Euro isn't going to be abolished. Its long term stability comes from its existence as a viable alternative to the US$ - in terms of the amount of business which it represents. (And the current strength of Sterling vs the US$, for example, is exactly because the US$ is weak compared to the Euro. It has very little to do with any relative strength in the UK economy - as if the UK economy was really one thing). US$ weakness affects anyone trying to do business in the US. However, the greater part of UK export trade is with EU partner countries (our neighbours) and with people dealing in Euros. Which is a good reason for adopting the Euro, IMO.

But I'm prepared to be corrected.

I havn't read all the posts on this topic so sorry if im repeating someone else and I know Im only 16 so my opinion probably dosent matter anyway but I think Kilroy is just the man needed in the political state Britian is in at the minute.

The whole of Britian is so caught up in saying and doing the right things that it is going completely downhill. Whatever you say nowadays is either sexist/racist/homophobic. And if your too nice, you get called a Hippy!

Britian needs someone like this man to stand up and say "Were becoming to soft" Because Britian is and its only going to end up in a state it wont get out of. He will just get labeled another Nazi, just like the BNP did. But if thats what is gonna have to happen then so be it but something needs to be done.

I'm not sure Great Britian needs more people like you, plan b. People who can't spell the name of their OWN COUNTRY!

(And before any Manxies leap on my head, bleating endlessly about nationality, you know what I mean, so put a sock in it.)

It's Great Britain. GREAT BRITAIN.



The rest of what you were saying was okay though.

I disagree.

Kilroy is flaky. He broke from the UK Independence Party, which he only just joined, because even they figured that he is a self serving idiot.

It's a great pity that middle of the road, pro EU, Tories have become so marginalised within the Conservative Party.

The rest of this post is was a rant (!) :

Aren't rants great? The best thing about ranting on here is that you've got a captive audience. Well, assuming you ignore the existence of the scroll button.

You still button scroll?

Maybe, but it wasn't wrong. Shame you edited it!

Oh Rog what a card you are.

One thing is for sure Mec Vannin isn't a right wing neo-fascist party - say like Zionists?

Maybe that's why all the MV knockers don't like Mec Vannin, because it's not far right?

Still Rog why on earth do I let a myopics like you rouse me? You really are best left alone in your midden.

LOL.....You got to hand it to him..He certainly gave it to em in Europe....Good lad

I wouldn't give Kilroy-Silk the time of day. He represent all that is wrong with the world.

http://www.vanitasparty.com/

Superb - my sentiments exactly!

Ahhh, the master of the obvious.

Well teejay or Magneto or whatever alias you are using this week MV knockers don't like Mec Vannin not because it isn't far right but because it is an ineffectual waste of space.

I can't speak for rog but frankly I don't care what "rouses" you other than it might be useful to tease you with. However I do recall that the spring contents of the midden was so rich that it encouraged growth like no other fertiliser. Fertile not being a word you could possibly associate with the current thinking of Mec Vannin.