A clamor for straight answers

The noise, indignation and the hubris from the three major parties directed at UKIP after their remarkable win at the recent local elections has been a marvel to watch. This country has many problems, not least the attitude of the population towards people in power and influence. There is little confidence not only in the politicians who are supposed to give leadership but also in the statistics and the misrepresentation of the facts that we feel or know to be otherwise.

One of the skills of a politician is to avoid answering difficult questions, they are amazing as they weave their way around the hurdles thrust in their way and we become more and more dis-heartened by the sight !!  It has been said that there isn't the thickness of cigarette paper between the three main parties as they have, over the last ten to fifteen years directed their efforts to woo middle England a much smaller target than that represented by the population as a whole.  It is this amorphous mass that feels its-self out in the cold and not at all represented by the political class.

There is nothing worse than feeling undervalued and ignored and the rise of UKIP  is a "backlash" for years of taking huge sections of society for granted because they were not part of the "swing vote" phenomena.
"First past the post" means that the strategic vote wins the day and you get nothing by coming second.
 
The mind set of the current political class seems to indicate that, apart from minor alterations we have to continue as before since the real power now lies with the markets because of our indebtedness. 
Week in week out we hear the same old platitudes in the colossal talking shop of Parliament and the media interview.

One benefit to UKIPs arrival has been the the introduction of "simplicity" to the answers that the spokes persons for UKIP  bring to the debate when they now join the established politicians questioned by the media.
An example which indicates the point. "Why tax people on the minimum wage and then offer a benefit to top up what has been taken in tax"?  A simple proposition but it stopped the usual participants by its simplicity and common sense.

One has the feeling that the politicians who have been in a rut, trotting out the usual prescribed answers which the party uses to control opinion, are in for a surprise as the society clamor for straight answers.