Say it loud, say it proud: UKIP are a party for reactionary xenophobes

Sometimes what doesn’t occasion interest or drama or controversy is more interesting – or at least more telling – than what does. So perhaps it is a tribute to the extent to which Nigel Farage and UKIP are now entrenched in the body politic that Farage’s speech to the party’s latest conference appears, as best I can tell, to have been treated as just another routine appearance by just another politician. Move along now, not a lot to see here. Not much news, not many dead.

That is, the reaction has been There he goes again. We know Farage’s thing these days and it no longer shocks or even, I fancy, entertains. So when the mask slips no-one is surprised any more. Because the mask is no disguise at all. It is just the same as the face behind it.

Even so, Farage’s comments last week merit some attention. They reveal a party hopelessly, proudly, out of touch with modern Britain (and modern England especially).