Brexit: Bloody Hell

The results are in. Britain will leave the European Union. 

Pretty much my reaction.

EU Referendum: "Changing Our Culture"?

UKIP Are Awful (5th May)

Well, well. Sisters, misters, brothers, and mothers...we're almost there. I've not got a particular bee in my bonnet today; instead I'll be reflecting on the the UKIP General Election campaign, seeing as we're now only a few days away from the end.

UKIP Are Awful (1st May)

Hilarious news came out recently that UKIP have asked the police to investigate the BBC over comments made on a satirical panel show. It seems that they literally can't take a joke, and want actual policeman to take actual time out of their day solving actual crimes to look at a sarcastic remark made on a BBC comedy show. 

UKIP Are Awful (30th April)

Hello again, and welcome again to the cesspit of moral and ethical death that is UKIP Are Awful. Yesterday, "Man Of The People ©" Nigel Farage launched what was tastefully referred to as the Christian Manifesto. Because, yes white people, Christianity is under attack! I mean, there are no actual limitations and restrictions on worship, but still! PANIC!

"But how will I be able to watch Songs of Praise if the Communist Muslims at the BBC take it off the air?!"

Attempting to right a wrong that doesn't actually exist, UKIP launched a mini-manifesto specifically of policies aimed at Christians. Now a cynical person might call this pandering, but Nige knows better. He laments: "Sadly, I think UKIP is the only major political party left in Britain that still cherishes our Judaeo-Christian heritage". Of course, at this early stage we already see what the true aim of the manifesto is all about. Judeo-Christian? Because he wants to celebrate the Jewish contribution to British society and acknowledge the active and complicit anti-semitism targeted at the Jewish community going back centuries? Of bloody course not. The whole point of the manifesto seems to be "Don't worry, we'll stand up to the Muzzies!"

A most unfortunate coincidence.

Of course, it's not just Muslims who threaten Britain's future; there are also the homosexuals. "Traditional Christian views of marriage and family life have come under attack of late" Nige thunders, seemingly unaware that Christians are still perfectly free to marry in as Christianly a manner as they wish. Again, we return to the awkward truth that Christians and Christian views aren't being unfairly persecuted in Britain, merely that wider society itself is caring less and less about outdated religious dogma. The implicit message when defending 'traditional' marriage is actually "Don't worry, we'll stand up to the gays!", though presumably UKIPers reserve some of their ire for single parents also. After all, how dare we move away from "traditional Christian views of marriage", which presumably covers stoning wives who aren't virgins, or forcing unmarried rape victims to marry their rapist.

The issue of gay marriage is one that UKIP ties itself in knots over. Of course, they were actively opposed to the change in law which allowed for gay marriage: 

But then, in the very next sentence they go on to say:

No "buts", you were doing so well!

Which is basically their way of telling bigots/potential UKIP voters: "Look, we don't like gays getting married, and we're clear on that. You can trust us. We're 100% against it. But, seeing as it's 2015 and most of the British public don't have a problem with two loving adults being married, we can't really reverse it".

In perhaps the most obviously disgusting bit of small-mindedness in the entire document, UKIP go on to promise an extension of "reasonable accommodation" for those "expressing a religious conscience in the workplace".

Now, here UKIP have obviously been paying attention to the fabulously successful and totally uncontroversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act. They're basically saying that if you happen to be, say, a Christian, and you happen to, for example, be asked to bake a cake for a gay person, you could, theoretically, tell them to get out and never come back because their lifestyle is an ungodly abomination. Hooray! Of course legally allowing such discrimination would never stand up in British or European courts, which perhaps explains why the outline for such legislation is so atomically thin.

Look, here's the rub. Yes, a majority of people in Britain are technically Christians. But the current number is down 12% since the last census (over a space of ten years!), whilst those reporting no religion saw a 10% increase. And those are just results that people have self-reported; an older source shows that only 1 in 10 British people actually go to Church every week. The number now is likely to be even lower. The overwhelming fact is this: Britain is no longer currently a Christian nation. And that's a good thing. We're more diverse, rational, and scientifically literate than we have been at any time in our history. You can't tell the hetrosexual members of the Great British public that gay marriage is a threat because it harms Christian values, when many actual voters know one or two gay people and actually think they're decent human beings who deserve the same rights.

OH THE HUMANITY! WON'T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

There are many sad things that come to mind when reading this manifesto. Perhaps the saddest thing is, they almost got it right! Right there near the start of their policy pledges:

Indeed they are. And that's why Christianity shouldn't specifically be promoted above all other beliefs (or non-beliefs). 

UKIP Are Awful (18th April)

With the UK General Election just a few short weeks away, there's been more and more press coverage of the UK Independence Party, and their leader Nigel Farage.

He looks exactly what you'd expect a man named Nigel would look like.

Now I don't want to waste all my ammunition on Nige and UKIP; after all, I anticipate that there will be many more editions of UKIP Are Awful before the election on 7th May. However, for the uninitiated...