EU admits energy saving bulbs are inferior one day before ban

The European Empire has admitted, just one day before the ban on proper light bulbs comes into force, that energy saving bulb manufacturers are "exaggerating" their claims about equivalence.

The British government, its Energy Saving Trust quango, the European Empire, bulb manufacturers and environmental extremists have been telling us that the energy saving bulbs will save us money. They usually quote the magic figure of £37 per year invented by the British government's Energy Saving Trust quango based on replacing a 60W incandescent bulb with an 15W energy saving bulb and a 100W incandescent bulb with a 20W energy saving bulb.

The Daily Telegraph has today published the results of its own tests on energy saving bulbs which found that an 11W energy saving bulb which claims to be equivalent to a 60W incandescent bulb, even after a 10 minute warm-up period, produced only 58% of the light given off by the incandescent bulb. It would take a 20W energy saving bulb - almost double the power consumption - to get the same amount of light from an energy saving bulb as you get from a 60W incandescent bulb which will pretty much wipe out any supposed cost saving from replacing your bulbs.

This won't exactly be news to anyone who has experienced the joys of blundering around in half light after changing their proper bulbs to energy saving bulbs but it shows how fundamentally dishonest the European Empire, British government and green lobby is. The European Empire has only today - one day before proper light bulbs are banned - admitted that the claims of equivalence are false, that the energy saving potential from replacing bulbs is false and that the cost savings are a big fat lie. One day before the ban, too late to do anything about it.

Sovereign Independent Newspaper - print and distribute!

The Sovereign Independent Newspaper is now available online.

Any of you visiting Ireland over the next few weeks might want to print it and pass it around!

Cross-posted

Update: the download link might be slow, in which case, download a copy here.

UKIP Shadow Cabinet

Prompted by a discussion on the UKIP private member forum, we thought it would be interesting to see who our readers would put in a UKIP "shadow cabinet". Now before anyone points out the obvious - that UKIP doesn't have enough MPs for a shadow cabinet - the members of the "shadow cabinet" would be spokesmen on the policy areas covered by the Ministry in question and should be MEPs or confirmed PPCs.

To make it easier, the list of Ministries that would need to be covered are listed below complete with their territorial extent so nobody suggests a Scottish or Welsh MEP or PPC for an English Ministry.

Shadow Chancellor - British
Shadow Leader of the House - British
Shadow Attorney General - English & Welsh
Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform - English
Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster - English
Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families - English
Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government - English
Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport; and Olympics - English
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence - British
Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs - English
Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change - English
Shadow Secretary of State for Health - English
Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs - British
Shadow Secretary of State for the Home Department - Mostly English
Shadow Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills - English
Shadow Secretary of State for International Development - British
Shadow Secretary of State for Justice - Mostly English
Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland and Northern Ireland - Scottish and Northern Irish
Shadow Secretary of State for Transport - English
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury - British
Shadow Secretary of State for Wales - Welsh
Shadow Environment, Energy, Food and Rural Affairs Minister - English
Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions - Mostly English
Shadow Housing Minister - English
Spokesperson for Youth and Equality - English
Shadow Defence Minister - British
Chief Whip (Commons) - British
Chief Whip (Lords) - British
Chair of Parliamentary Campaigns team - British
Leader's Chief of Staff - British
Party President - British

Either post your shadow cabinet in the comments or email it to admin@bloggers4ukip.org.uk.

Edit:
Bonus points awarded to anyone who appoints a shadow Minister for England to oversee all those English ministries!

English Parliament Online: UKIP & Devolution

Prompted by the creation of the UKIP 1997 Group, the English Parliament Online has an article and poll on UKIP's devolution policy.

Please do pop over, read the article and cast your vote (you will need to register).

A bit of background ...

The author of the article and poll, Gareth Young, is one of England's foremost English nationalists and an extremely well-respected and well-connected political thinker. The English Parliament Online is not a campaign website, nor was it set up to promote English nationalism. The site was set up as an online forum for the discussion of English issues in the absence of a national parliament for our nation. Although the site is hosted by the Campaign for an English Parliament, there is no executive input from the campaign and the site is completely independent of the campaign (trust me, I did the deal!).

2009 UKIP Party Conference survey

Are you going to the 2009 UKIP Party Conference in Southport this year?

What do you think of the venue? What about the price?

Please complete the Bloggers4UKIP 2009 UKIP Party Conference survey here.

BBC's response to Norwich by-election coverage complaint

In the period before the Norwich by-election, the BBC covered the three main parties - and the Greens, despite its performance in recent elections - but failed to give UKIP any airtime.

As a result, I complained to the BBC and received a pathetic response, as expected.

I then complained about the response. Finally, I received a reply. Unfortunately, but predictably, it was inadequate.

What do you think of it?

Public Meeting: Ashford

The new Ashford branch of UKIP are holding their first public meeting on Tuesday 22nd September at:

The Albion, Albion Place, South Willesborough, Ashford, Kent, TN24 0BU

If you live or work in the Ashford ( Kent) constituency including Kennington, Tenterden, Rolvenden or Willesborough or you know anyone that does please come along on the night.

If anyone wants further info please feel free to email cilracing@hotmail.co.uk

Aer Lingus expect Ryanair takeover bid

Earlier today we reported that Ryanair boss, Micheal O'Leary, has decided to support the EU not-a-constitution less than 12 months after comparing the European Empire to Zimbabwe for refusing to accept the democratic wishes of the Irish people and complaining about EU bureaucracy.

His support for the EU not-a-constitution has attracted criticism on the Irish Times message board but I'm sure he'll be cheered up by the news that Aer Lingus can't compete with low cost airlines and is expecting a takeover offer from Ryanair.

Lucky he changed his mind about the EU not-a-constitution and decided to support the Irish and EU governments otherwise they might not have looked too favourably on any potential takeover when it came in front of their respective competition commissions.

Wait a minute, you don't suppose there was an ulterior motive do you?

SPIRALING COST OF EU MEMBERSHIP A DISGRACE

UKIP MEP Mike Nattrass says it is clear Britain should stop being the victim of the EU rip off after new figures revealed the spiralling cost of EU membership.

The UK’s net contribution to the EU is set to soar from £4.1bn in 2009/10 to £6.4bn next year at a time when Britain is in a deep economic recession and pensioners fear they could be means tested to see of they qualify for a free bus pass.

Mr Nattrass says the figures show more and more money is being given by Britain to the EU which continues to pour our hard earned cash down the drain and these are not the full figures anyway.

The true cost in taking on the burden of EU legislation and controls is estimated at close to £150 bln per year.

“It is time Britain said NO to the EU and no to having our money being wasted by the EU,” said Mr Nattrass.

“Our net contribution will rise at a time when people fear losing their homes, jobs and businesses. The money would be better spent on our hospitals, schools and helping the economy to recover.

“EU membership is costing us dearly and when 70 per cent of our laws are being made by a parliament where Britain has little say you can see that you have lost your country.

“Our decisions should be made in Westminster and not in Brussels. The UKIP objective is for Britain to leave the EU and for laws to be made by British people for British people,” he added.

Ryanair boss supporting EU Contstitution

Michael O'Leary, the boss of Ryanair, is spending half a million euro on promoting a "Yes" vote for the Lisbon Treaty in the Republic of Ireland.

O'Leary says that "Ireland’s future success depends on being at the heart of Europe and our membership of the euro" but doesn't explain why voting no to the EU not-a-constitution means Ireland can't be at the heart of Europe if it wants to be or why it can't remain in the euro.

Brown envelopes all round

He goes on to say that if the Irish vote "No" to Lisbon, "the Irish economy would be run by our incompetent politicians, our inept Civil Service and the greedy public sector trade union bosses who, through social partnership, have in recent years destroyed Ireland’s competitiveness, created an epidemic of useless quangos and feathered the nests of the public sector at the expense of ordinary consumers in Ireland" but doesn't explain how the EU's economic mismanagement and narrow vested interests (the EU hasn't signed its own accounts off because of fraud for 13 years) will be an improvement over how the Irish can run their own country or how the EU not-a-constitution will cut the number of useless quangos that are only in existence because of the EU, not in spite of it.

He says that Ryanair will be spending €300,000 on "deeply discounted seats" to emphasise the EU's policy on low cost seats but doesn't explain how the EU can have a commitment to low cost air travel whilst imposing most of the taxes and levies that are lumped on top of the cost of a plane ticket.

Now turn back the clock to 19th October 2008 when O'Leary told the Irish Times:

It seems that only in the European Union, Ireland and Zimbabwe you are forced to vote twice, the vote should be respected. It is the only democratic thing to do.

[...]

I am fundamentally anti the mismanagement and corruption in Brussels. I hate the bureaucracy.

O'Leary is a fraud and a hypocrite. His public - and expensive, for the shareholders of Ryanair - support for the EU not-a-constitution is nothing to do with what is right for Ireland or for the Irish people, it is all about what is good for his business. EU enlargement means a bigger European market for Ryanair. Increasing the number of member states in the Shengen area (which the Irish government may join if the EU not-a-constitution gets through) means less money for Ryanair to spend on passport control. And I'd put money on O'Leary being offered all sorts of "incentives" (what most of us would call "bribes") for Ryanair - cheaper departure taxes, lucrative routes, tax breaks - in return for supporting the EU not-a-constitution.

From the horses mouth

"CAMERON DIRECT" MEETING AT STOKE HILL JUNIOR SCHOOL, NR. EXETER ON 8TH MAY 2009

AFFIDAVIT

Question: Mr. Cameron  You have promised the country a Referendum on the Lisbon Treaty when you become Prime Minister. Unlike the Labour Party who reneged on this promise, can we be assured that this is going to happen?

Answer: Yes, I have always said that I will give you a Referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, as long as the Treaty is not in force by the time we get into office.

Question: If the Lisbon Treaty has been ratified by the 27 countries and is in force at that time � what will you do then?

Answer: If the Treaty is in force by the time we get into office it will have already in place a President and other pieces of legislation, therefore we will have to live with that and try and change from within the areas that matter to Britain.


Signed by:
Elizabeth Curzon-Howe


Witnessed by:
Richard Atkinson

EU contributions to rise by 60%

The net contribution paid by the UK to the European Empire is rising by 60% in April to £6.4bn.

This figure isn't the actual cost of EU membership, it's merely the amount on the books with "EU contribution" next to it. The true cost, with the 60% increase in direct contributions, is closer to £900 per person, per year.

The Treasury said it is right that we "share the burden of membership with new accession countries" even though we weren't asked if we wanted them, weren't asked if we wanted to pay for them and certainly can't afford to pay for them.

The Treasury also said:

The prime minister has made clear our belief is that it is right for us to share the burden of membership of the European Union with the new accession countries so that every part of the European Union can look forward to prosperity in the future.

If only that were the case but of course it's not. This is soviet-style socialism we're talking about here, the objective is to bring everyone down to the same level of deprivation and misery. The European Empire is making prosperous countries poorer and destitute countries richer with the aim of getting to whole continent just above the poverty line, too poor to trade with countries outside of the EU and most citizens dependent on the state to feed and clothe them.

The hypocritical Tories have criticised the increased bill, saying that it's not a particularly good idea to be handing over more cash to the EU in the middle of a recession. But the Tories have no solution - they support continued membership of the European Empire and all the costs and harmful directives that are associated with it. David Camoron is committed to keeping the UK as a member of the European Empire in defiance of logic and public opinion.

EU ban on light bulbs starts in 10 days

An EU ban on 100 watt light bulbs and all frosted light bulbs comes into force on the 1st of September.

There has been no publicity, presumably to stop consumers from buying stocks of proper light bulbs before they're banned like they have in Germany where sales of proper light bulbs are up 34% this year.

The Department for the Environment says that there are lots of misconceptions about energy saving light bulbs such as them being dim, taking an age to warm up, giving off a poor quality light and not working with dimmer switches. But they are dim, they do take an age to warm up, they do give off an inferior quality of light and an energy saving bulb that works with a dimmer switch will set you back in excess of £15.

But it's not just the fact that the European Empire is forcing us to buy expensive, inferior light bulbs that will irritate people - the reason why they're so expensive is that the European Empire imposes tariffs on imported energy saving bulbs to stop foreign manufacturers undercutting the German bulb manufacturer, Osram, whilst it slowly turns over its factories to energy saving bulb production.

Let the panic buying commence!

EU COMMISSION MONKEY BLUNDER

UKIP MEP Mike Nattrass has today called on the EU Commission to cease using animals in its future advertising after producing an anti smoking ad which features a tethered macaque monkey.

The West Midlands MEP, who has been involved in animal protection for many years including being the first to sign the anti bullfighting ‘Bull’ in the European Parliament, has slapped down a challenge to the Commission to stop using animals in its adverts.

Mr Nattrass, who is also against the use of primates in animal experiments, has spoken out against a commercial for the European Commission’s new anti-smoking campaign HELP which features a macaque monkey on a lead. The monkey is seen sitting on a women’s shoulder tearing up a packet of cigarettes.

But, Mr Nattrass believes the commercial, which has already been pulled from the English and Irish language websites of the HELP campaign, is a disgrace.

“I think the advert is absolutely appalling and I am now calling on the European Commission to do the right thing and ban the use of animals in its future commercials,” Mr Nattrass said.

“I cannot understand why the Commission decided to use an animal in an anti-smoking campaign. It is clearly yet another blunder by the European Commission and it demonstrates yet again why Britain should leave the EU.”

The Captive Animals' Protection Society (CAPS) has also expressed concerns over the advert. Craig Redmond, Campaigns Director for CAPS, said: “Use of primates in this way damages not only the welfare of the individual animals but also has a negative impact on conservation messages designed to protect animals.

“Many leading primate experts, including Dr Jane Goddall and Ian Redmond (Chief Consultant to the UN Great Ape Survival Project) have spoken out against the use of primates in commercials.

“The International Primatological Society also opposes the use of non-human primates as ‘performers’.”

Tories want to try their hand at prohibition

Tory MP, James Brokenshire, has confirmed that David Camoron intends to ban the below-cost sale of alcohol and review "the round the clock availability of very cheap drink". James Brokenshire says "he is right to do so".

A few years ago, the thought of banning sales of cheap booze wouldn't have crossed the mind of 99% or Tories. A few years ago the Tories were the party of individual freedom and low taxation. Not any more. Now they're a party of prohibition, punishment, punitive taxation and the nanny state.

I used to be a binge drinker in my younger days. Except it wasn't called binge drinking then, it was called going to the pub and getting pissed on a regular basis. At one point I was going out 3 or 4 nights a week and drinking an average of about 25 pints a week. My liver is intact, I don't have a criminal record, I've never been involved in a brawl and I've never sexually assaulted someone (although I once pinched a woman's bottom when drunk which would probably get me a night in the cells nowadays). In the end I succumed to the realisation - as most people do - that drinking 25 pints of Caffreys in a week really isn't good for your health or bank balance and stopped.

The point is, it's up to the individual to decide how much they drink and when and if they stop. The more you tell people that something is wrong, the more they will do it. The Americans tried prohibition and it was swiftly repealed when they realised it caused more problems than it solved. If you try and ban alcohol - even partially - people will put in enormous effort to beat the ban and they will always succeed.

The Tories, under David Camoron, have metamorphosed into Blue Labour. Like New Labour, they are neither one thing nor the other. They are authoritarian, environmentalist, control freaks. If, as expected, the Tories win the next general election it won't be the sweeping change we're used to seeing following a change of regime but more a case of "the king is dead, long live the king".

Two months to the 2nd Irish referendum

It is now only two months until the Irish people get their second vote on the EU not-a-Constitution.

The European Empire has given no end of superficial promises to the Irish government, none of which are binding and none of which would come into force - if they ever did - until the next Ascension Treaty in a year or two. They're less promises of opt-outs and more promises of an intention to give an opt-out in the future depending on whether they agree with the opt-out at the time. In other words, utterly worthless because we all know that the European Empire doesn't give up power, it only ever takes more.

Nigel Farage has pledged UKIP's support for the Irish no campaign and many UKIP MEPs and members are planning to go over to the Republic and provide practical support. Our future independence lies in the hands of the Irish at the moment - the EU not-a-Constitution will remove most of what is left of our sovereignty - so it's right to get involved but I wonder if too much involvement might have the opposite effect of making the Irish people see UKIP's involvement as some sort of neo-colonialism, the old imperial masters trying to flex their muscle with their former colony?

We know who the imperialists are because we are a eurosceptic nation, we know the European Empire costs us huge sums of money and we have a successful eurosceptic movement in UKIP but the Irish don't have any of that. Billions of pounds of German, Dutch and English money has been ploughed into the Republic of Ireland in the last couple of decades giving the false impression of a sustainable economic growth thanks to the European Empire - in reality it's been a short term (relatively speaking) financial injection into the Irish economy as the Irish will find out when more money gets diverted to the virtually third world Eastern European member states.

So my advice to those UKIP members and supporters or any other eurosceptics that are planning to descend on the Republic of Ireland or flood the Irish media in protest at the EU not-a-Constitution is to go ahead and do so but make sure that you make it clear that we are not telling them what to do, merely asking for the urgent assistance of our closest neighbour in staving off the threat of the EU's soviet-style imperialism.

UKIP for an English Parliament

Back in July I wrote a fairly lengthy post on why UKIP's devolution policy is wrong. The relatively few comments it attracted belies the number of UKIP members and sympathisers that hold the same views - I received many more comments away from the blog and through the UKIP members' forum.

This prompted me to look at setting up a group within UKIP for members who support devolution and disagree with UKIP's policy of abolishing devolution and setting up grand committees of dual mandate British MPs to do the job.

I am pleased to announce that, along with Maidstone branch chairman, John Botting, enough UKIP members have pledged their support for the group to make it worth the effort of applying to the National Executive Council (NEC) for official recognition.

Don't let the title of this post mislead you though, this group - the UKIP 1997 Group - isn't just about an English Parliament. The aim of the group is to influence UKIP's policy on devolution so that the party supports devolved government in all four home nations on an equal basis.

For more information on the UKIP 1997 Group, click here. There is also a Facebook group related to the UKIP 1997 Group.

Edit:
Just to clarify, the UKIP 1997 Group is not a Bloggers4UKIP project.

PATRICK CORMACK ACCUSED OF WHINING BY UKIP MEP

UKIP MEP Mike Nattrass has today branded South Staffordshire MP Sir Patrick Cormack ‘a whiner’ for claiming being a Member of Parliament is an ‘extremely expensive business’.

Mr Nattrass, who last month announced he was to stand at the General Election as UKIP’s prospective parliamentary candidate in South Staffordshire, believes Sir Patrick Cormack has shot himself in the foot by claiming being an MP hits the wallet hard.

The UKIP MEP says the South Staffordshire MP’s comments shows the Tories are in complete disarray over the ongoing MPs expenses saga.

“Sir Patrick Cormack’s whines over MPs expenses must be compounding the Tories woes,” said Mr Nattrass.

“Following Alan Duncan’s (the Shadow Leader of the Commons) crass comment that MPs are forced to live ‘on rations’, Sir Patrick Cormack’s comments could not come at a worse time for the Tories who are a complete mess.

“At a time of deep economic recession when people are really suffering to hear MPs making such comments rubs salt into the wound.

“Either MPs do the job because they have a passion for their country or they should give up and let someone else have a shot.

“MPs should get on with the job of looking after the interests of their country and constituents as they should come first,” he added.

The View From ‘Fort UKIP’

David Challice writes about his experience from the Norwich North By-Election.

The taxi drivers soon christened it “Tingle Town”, due to all the VOTE GLENN TINGLE posters springing up in one part of Norwich last July.

To set the scene, Ian Gibson was the popular and independently-minded Labour MP for Norwich North. But when caught in the expenses scandal his own party turned on him, and so Gibson jumped ship, forcing a by-election. After our success at the EU elections, UKIP needed to fight this one.

Glenn Tingle, 46, was born in Norwich. Apart from time spent away as an Army medic, he has always worked locally as a civil engineer. Glenn was a great candidate for UKIP. Clean, presentable, intelligent, confident, but firm on the local issues that mattered… immigration in particular.

He provided UKIP with the three-bedroomed house he was in the process of selling, which became our campaign office (or ‘Fort UKIP’). My job was to organise the office and keep the wheels of the bandwagon on the move.

I lived in ‘Fort UKIP’ for most of the campaign, along with Michael Heaver (Chairman of Young Independence) and other YI members…. an interesting gap in generations. I can report that the correct etiquette after consuming home-delivered pizza is to leave the box and its remnants on the floor. Cans of Coke must be half-finished then deposited randomly about the house. At times it was like a cross between “The Young Ones” and “Butterflies” (for those old enough to remember) but we all got along very well, with a real spirit of camaraderie, apart from when I confiscated John Tennant’s football and sent him to bed with no supper, (Only joking. He had some pizza).

This really was a team effort, with lots of volunteers coming to help, and others sending donations large and small. On Glenn’s behalf, thanks to you all. We arranged b&b at a nearby golf club owned by a UKIP sympathiser, and leafleteers were grateful for the sauna and hot-tub after trudging the streets all day.

There were visits from many MEPs such as Nigel Farage, Paul Nuttall, Gerard Batten and Marta Andreasen, including local MEPs, Stuart Agnew and David Campbell Bannerman. But many thanks to all the MEPs for contributing their time at what was a hectic period in Brussels.

There were many huge billboards erected across the city, and Vote Tingle posters on BT phone kiosks. It all added to the public impression of a Party taking this election seriously. Nick Hogan (Save the Pub campaign) also visited the city, along with Hogan’s Heroes, three young ladies who certainly attracted attention among the younger generation of voters. Hats off to them, I say!

We delivered five types of leaflet, approx 230,000 in total, but by the third week the good people of Norwich were totally saturated by political leaflets from all parties. The Tories poured vast sums into the campaign, wheeling out stars such as Cameron and Hague. As for Chris Ostrowski, the Labour candidate (parachuted in from London), he had the resigned look of a man being led to the scaffold. When he went down with suspected swine flu, it was almost predictable... A man usually gets kicked when already lying on the ground. The question for us was: “When the Labour vote collapses, where will it go?” Labour supporters were our main target.

John Youles and Lawrence Webb (London Regional Organiser) worked tirelessly to prepare canvassing sheets, and they deserve special thanks for their efforts because it was a massive and very important job.

We had fun, too. The purple-and-yellow UKIP London taxi was employed to counter Tory leader David Cameron. While he was knocking on doors in leafy suburbia, the UKIP taxi loud-speaker was warning people further along: “There is a strange man coming up the street. He is after your vote. On no account open the door to him. Vote UKIP”

On another occasion Peter Mandelson was intercepted by a team of Ukippers who pointedly asked: “Lord Mandelson… who’s in charge of the country while you’re here in Norwich?” He was also quizzed about why the British people had been denied a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. The noble Lord made his excuses and left.

The BBC showed blatant and unforgivable bias during the campaign, giving the Greens official “4th Party Status” and lumping us in with ‘Others’. On the Monday before polling, BBC Look East held a Question Time-style debate “with the four main parties”. UKIP were shut out, despite the best efforts of Press Officer, Stuart Gulleford.

The Greens wore a smug look, flattered by all the media attention; a jaunty spring to their step. They even toured the city in a double-decker bus which ran on recycled cooking oil, soon dubbed “the Chip Fat express” in the local newspaper. They misjudged that one and became a laughing stock. Even by Green logic, that bus was pumping out greenhouse gases faster than a field of Aberdeen Angus.

And then came election day and the final count. The Tories won. Despite the BBC bias, we came fourth, beating the Greens (which left them stunned) and achieving our best ever result in a by-election. Predictably the BBC barely mentioned it. With a fairer media coverage I’m totally convinced we would have come third, gaining the extra 800 votes needed to beat the Lib Dems.

On the same day Peter Reeve (Glenn’s Agent) won two council seats in Ramsey. Congratulations to him and his team, and thanks for his hard work in Norwich as well! If you didn’t come to the Norwich North by-election, you missed out on something very special. So please try to make the next one. I’m sure you won’t regret it.

David Challice - Administration Manager and Chief Washer-Up at Fort UKIP.

UKIP WEST MIDLANDS CELEBRATION DINNER

Enjoying the event, from left to right: Nikki Sinclaire MEP, UKIP leader Nigel Farage MEP, Jill Seymour & Mike Natrass MEP.

On February 20th this year UKIP in the West Midlands held a dinner at the Tally Ho Conference Centre in Edgbaston, Birmingham, for a fund raising event. It was so successful and extremely well attended that the West Midlands UKIP Committee has decided to hold another one on Friday 25th September, 2009.

This is following the enormous victory in the European elections and by way of a celebration for our success of getting two UKIP MEP’s elected and to thank our UKIP activists for all the hard work they have put in and for all that they helped to achieve.

This time the UKIP Party Chairman, Paul Nuttall, will be joining those present. The Tickets will be £25 each and numbered. So, to ensure you won't be disappointed due to what will be a high demand for tickets, we recommend you book as soon as possible.

Please make cheques payable to: “UKIP West Midlands” and send to: UKIP, c/o Holly Cottage, 30 The Fields, Kynnersley, Telford, Shropshire, TF6 6ED.

PLEASE ENSURE YOU PROVIDE YOUR ADDRESS FOR TICKET TO BE FORWARDED - ALSO IF YOU WISH TO OPT FOR THE VEGETARIAN MEAL.

If you need to know anymore contact Derek Bennett: ukip-derek@hotmail.co.uk or telephone: 07813 153897.

DON’T FORGET, THE DINNER DATE IS FRIDAY 25th SEPTEMBER 2009, IT WILL BE AN EVENT NOT TO BE MISSED.

Party Chairman to Face Questions From Members

On Wednesday the 12th of August UKIP will be opening the chatroom section of www.ukip.org.uk and the Party Chairman Paul Nuttall will be taking part in a live question-and-answer session from 8pm to 10pm.

For the first hour, Paul will be taking pre-written questions and, if time permits, holding a brief discussion on each of those issues. This will hopefully ensure that he can get through a substantial number of questions, and make sure that everyone gets a chance to ask their question. Please submit questions in the 'Questions for the Party Chairman' thread on the General Discussions board.

In the second hour, members will be able to ask 'live' unscripted questions and there will be more of a round-table discussion to allow members to make suggestions for the Chairman's attention.

Dont miss out , Make sure you are registered on the partys members forum. If you haven't already done so click here

Media Coverage of the Irish Referendum ( Mark II)

... I don't think that it requires a great deal of imagination (or healthy cynicism?) to infer what the implications of this rather 'low-key' announcement will entail...?

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0806/1224252080503.html

New Branch in Forest of Dean and West Gloucestershire

The UK Independence Party has set up a new branch to cover the Forest of Dean and West Gloucestershire. This follows the Party’s success in the recent elections for the European Parliament where it scored 22% of the vote in the South West.

The Inaugural Meeting was addressed by William, Earl of Dartmouth, the newly elected M.E.P. for the South West, at the Courtfield Arms Hotel in Lower Lydbrook. Lord Dartmouth thanked Forest members for the excellent results for UKIP highlighting the increase in vote over the 2004 election.

He gave his initial impressions of working in the EU where voting was dominated by the two largest groups, the European Peoples’ Party and the European Socialists. He remarked on the undemocratic nature of the EU in which more than 80,000 votes were needed to elect a UK MEP but only 60,000 were needed to elect a Maltese MEP. He noted that of the hundreds of political parties formed in the UK since the Second World War only two had made any lasting impact. Only UKIP could claim majority support for its policies.

There followed a question and answer session. There was mention of the need to publicise the extent of EU influence on UK law and for a cost-benefit analysis of EU membership and possible alternatives. Aswell as to push UKIPs domestic policies. Mr Danny Winter of Blakeney was elected as Chairman of the new Branch along with a new Committee. The new Branch’s first priority will be to select a Prospective Parliamentary Candidate to contest the forthcoming General Election.

If you can help, Mr Winter can be contacted on 07950 042625 or by e-mail at JulieDannyWinter@aol.com

NEW UKIP BRANCH IN COVENTRY

Following on from the recent success for UKIP in the European elections, a number of UKIP activists in Coventry have been inspired to set up a branch in the city.

After a successful and well attended meeting in the Biggin Hall Hotel on Monday 3rd August 2009, the branch was successfully set up and local UKIP activists, Martin Judge and Aaron Davies were elected as the main branch officers. Martin is the new Coventry branch chairman and Aaron has become the joint treasurer and secretary. The next branch meeting has been set for Monday 21st September, once again in the Biggin Hall Hotel which is close to the city centre and is ideal for members to get to.

Martin Judge said "we already have a number of plans for the branch and are really looking forward to getting going". Aaron Davies, who is a new member of UKIP, said "we are hoping to make our first full meeting in September a joint planning meeting and a social gathering for the members to get to know each other".

West Midlands UKIP representatives, Jill Seymour and Derek Bennett were present to help with procedures, questions, and the new branch set up. Jill Seymour, who from September will be fully active in her new roll as a UKIP organiser in the area, was delighted with the progress made in Coventry which is in the part of the West Midlands she will be covering in her new roll for the party.

Derek Bennett, who assisted with the paperwork and had liaised with the local members was especially pleased with progress as the new branch has already got two fully approved Parliamentary candidates who are: Joanne Asselman and Mark Taylor (pictured).

He said: “Coventry has three Parliamentary constituencies and having two candidates ready and waiting gives a great boost to the new branch, the added bonus is both are high quality candidates and are a real asset to the party,”. all we need now is a third candidate for the final constituency to have full representation in Coventry”

The new branch has now been registered as an official UKIP branch and UKIP will be ready to fight a full campaign in the City when Gordon Brown finally has the guts to call the long overdue general election.

Company Pension Funds run up huge Deficits

The pension funds of Britain's top one hundred companies, each have on average a deficit of a billion pounds in July 2009.

These huge deficits will eventually cause many company pension schemes to close down.

Compare this to 1997, when all company pension schemes were in massive surplus.

Gordon Brown the then Chancellor, increased tax on pension funds by £5 billion a year.

With this high taxation policy over the following ten years, he proceeded to tax many company pension schemes out of existance.

This destruction of company pension schemes by New Labour, is a vicious attack on the living standards of the working class.

Only UKIP promises to restore the tax paid by company pension funds, back to the pre-1997 levels.

UKIP will put company pension fund taxation back to the time before Gordon Brown's big tax increases.

British Fish for British Fishermen

Almost all the best fishing grounds in the European Union, are in what used to be called British territorial waters.

But when we entered the so call Common Market in 1972, we passed full control of our fisheries over to Europe.

This move gradually destroyed the British fishing industry.

Quota hopping was made legal. Meaning that foreign boats could register in Britain, and then claim part of the fishing quota reserved for British fishing boats.

Much of the North Sea has now been over fished, pushing many popular types of fish to the brink of extinction.

The only was to preserve fish stocks, and rebuild the British fishing industry is to take back control of our territorial waters from the European Union.

If UKIP stands for anything, it must stand for "British Fish for British Fishermen."

Great timing

The European Empire's Working Time Directive limiting the amount of hours a person is allowed to work, regardless of whether they want to work longer hours or not, has come fully into force for junior doctors.

The argument for the Working Time Directive is that it gives workers important rights to prevent exploitation by employers. This isn't the case. The Working Time Directive, like most directives from the European Empire, contains obligations, not rights.

If the Working Time Directive was about giving rights to workers then it would give workers the legal right to refuse to work more than 48 hours a week but allow them to choose to do so if that is what they want to do. If it was about rights, it wouldn't make criminals out of workers that decide not to exercise their "rights".

The introduction of the Working Time Directive's enforced "rights" for junior doctors has a serious impact on the NHS. NHS Employers says that it could cost the NHS between and £143m and £293m and the lost hours will be the equivalent of up to 5,400 doctors. As NHS Employers operates only in England, presumably these disastrous figures only relate to England the the true cost of the directive's implementation in the UK's hostpials is currently unreported.

The strain on the NHS from swine flu is immense at the moment and when the seasonal flu starts its annual winter purge of the sick and elderly population, the NHS will come under even more pressure. This latest imposition from the European Empire couldn't have come at a worse time but then our imperial overlords are so far detatched from reality that it simply wouldn't occur to them that they're driving our health services to bankruptcy and severaly hindering their ability to serve the population.