IF YOU ARE IN WALSALL ON THE 5th MAY

If by any chance you are whizzing along the M6 on Wednesday 5th May, the day before election day, rather than sitting in the usual traffic snarl-up you may fancy taking a detour at junction 10 and paying a visit to Beechdale Lifelong Learning Centre, Stephenson Square, Beechdale, WS2 7DY where we UKIP campaigners in Walsall will be holding a public meeting at 7.30 pm, all will be welcome to join us .

As well as Walsall North and Walsall South Parliamentarty candidates, Liz Hazell and Derek Bennett, Mike Nattrass, the West Midlands UKIP MEP, who is also the UKIP South Staffordshire Parliamentary candidate, will be there to give a talk about the benefits of voting for UKIP.

Derek Bennett will chair the meeting and Mike and Liz will be giving a talk to those there as well as answering questions. It should prove to be an intereresting night, especially forthose who have not yet made up their minds.

As well as the Parliamentary candidates, Jim Sargent who is the UKIP council election candidate for Birchills Leamore will also be giving a talk about the campaign that he and other Beechdale residents have been fighting to stop the M6 widening and against the monstrous overhead gantries which will overshadow the homes of those living alongside the motorway.

The main problem is that the Government is having to spend £millions on this project so that the M6 can cope from the increasing number of vehicles using the M6, which was originally intended to be relieved by what was originally called the Northern Relief road, now known as the M6 toll, which is the cause of the problem. the M6 toll is far too expensive and most heavy goods traffic and other motorists refuse to use it. UKIP is campaigning for the M6 toll to be taken over and opened up to all traffic rather than for the small numbers who can afford to use it.

So please come along if you can and meet up with the UKIP team in Walsall and hear what Mike Nattrass has to say.

GORDON'S KINNOCK MOMENT

There is definitely something uncanny going on, no sooner than I had blogged about postal votes and the possibility of one of the three party leaders dropping a real gaffe and having a Kinnock moment, than Gordon Brown, still attached to a live microphone, calls a woman who had been asking him a lot of difficult questions a 'bigot' without realising all the worlds press could hear.

Can you believe it, what are the chances of that. This leaves us with the question, how many people with postal votes who have already cast their votes for Gordon Brown and his Labour Party are now wondering if they did the right things and wishing they could change their votes?

For me there can be nothing better than the short walk to the local church hall where a traditional ballot box and friendly polling station officials await. Obviously as the UKIP candidate for Walsall South I will have the great satisfaction of placing my cross against my own name. However, for others who have opted for postal votes they may look on enviously at those of us who have awaited for the full election campaign to conclude before voting. As Harold Wilson said: "A week in politics is a long time".

POSTAL VOTE FRIGHTENER

It's strange how a thought that never crossed your mind before can suddenly come into existence from a chance enounter.

This afternoon while out delivering my general election leaflets in Walsall South, I met a lady outside her home and introduced myself. I explained that unlike the Tory and Labour parachute candidates I have actually lived in Walsall South most of my 62 years and lived locally. This meeting made me realise something I had not thought of before.

At this stage of the election campaign the chances are that forty to fifty per cent of the electorate have already voted, as this lady sheepishly explained she had already done so and obviously not for me. Now imagine that had today's rather easy going postal voting system had been in place in 1992 the chances are that despite Neil Kinnock making an absolute pillock of himself at that now infamous Shefield pre-election rally, he would most probably would have still won.

Up until that Labour Party rally Kinnock had the the election as good as in the bag, then his arrogance took over and he did all that whee-ha business thinking he had already won and the votes evaporated and John Major won through. How many people in those days, who may have used their postal votes and voted for a Kinnock government, had postal votes been so easily available, looked on in horror at what they had voted for knowing it was too late to change their minds. On election day the nation would have seen Kinnock win the general election and an electorate already living in dread at the mistake they made.

We could easily face this scenario today. Cameron and Clegg are the two leaders in this election race, what if one of them has a Kinnock moment or there is a major earth shattering piece of news about one or the other? There will then be a lot of people ruing the day they opted for a postal vote and the fact they did not wait until the full election period was out before voting. This could be a real postal vote frightener, especially for those who have voted for the anti-British Clegg and he lets slip before the 6th May that he intends to take us into the disastrous euro and sign our country away to the EU.

FRIDAY NIGHT IS HUSTINGS NIGHT

How long will it take before some of the people organising elections hustings realise that UKIP is now a well established and important force in British politics?

Just a short time ago, as the UK Independence Party candidate in Walsall South, I joined other Walsall South candidates at a hustings meeting in the Palfrey area of Walsall, it was quite a rough and tumble event. Had it not been for the fact that I had gone to a hustings meeting few days earlier to support Liz Hazell, our UKIP candidate in Walsall North, I would not have known about this particular hustings and not been invited. It was my Tory opponent who mentioned it to me and when I called the organiser to ask why I had not been invited he replied that it was for the three main parties only. I had to point out to him that after the European elections last year UKIP was, in fact, the second largest party by size of vote, fortunately he relented and invited me along.

What an interesting evening it proved to be. About 90% of the audience was Asian and they did not seem to bother about how much noise they were making as the candidates were talking. The Labour candidate is Valerie Vaz, sister of the ex Euro Minister, Keith Vaz. Naturally when I was pointing out how much the EU influences our lives and why the reason we have PFI is down to the EU's growth and stability pact, she was rolling her eyes - what else can you expect from the sister of Keith (let's give our country away) Vaz. Other than that she came across as a nice lady, quite approachable and friendly.

I did my bit for UKIP, sadly it will not be enough to get me elected, but at the end of the night I had a few pats on the back and some praise from people who I would not normally expect to support UKIP. We went home via the Lyndon House Hotel for a quick one and a autopsy. My UKIP crew thought I did well, which was nice of them to say - but they are biased and good friends. My next outing is at another hustings on Wednesday 28th April at St Mary's the Mount Catholic church in Walsall. Usually the hustings there are a little calmer.

DO YOU REALLY WANT TO VOTE LIB DEM?

When out trudging the streets of Walsall South delivering my election leaflets, I came across a chap who told me he was fed up with Labour and the Tories and intended to vote Liberal Democrat - my heart sank.

I once briefly met the Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg, back in the days when he was an MEP. It was at a debate about membership of the EU's euro or keeping our own currency - naturally Clegg, being the rabid Euro fanatic that he is, was speaking against our own currency, the pound sterling.

I had to explain to this chap just how Europhile Captain Clegg is, how he would sign us up to the euro faster than you could say Jean Monnet, how he would sell this country down the river and hand over what little sovereignty we have left. This chap, like many, is no lover of the EU or its euro and suddenly realised the error he was about to make and has now promised his vote for me. How many more are about to vote for Captain Clegg and his army of Lib Dim Euro fundamentalists just on the basis he is not Labour or Tory? They are going to be in for one hell of a shock when they realise the Lib Dims will give them everything they don't want.

For an earlier posting on reasons not to vote Liberal Democrat take a look here.

AN UNIMPORTANT ELECTION

Due to being at a meeting in Dudley I missed the big political debate between Clegg, Cameron and Brown on the telly, but managed to listen to the last half hour on Radio Four as I drove home. On the radio Cameron and Clegg sound remarkably alike, just as the policies of the three political parties this trio lead, have little to distinguish between them due to the fact whichever of them wins the general election on the 6th May will not actually govern tis fair land as their predecessors have willingly given away that privilege over the years since 1973. These three will quite happily continue with that process.

All the pundits and political reporters are claiming hat this election is one of the most important in British history, yet in reality it is of little importance as none of the above will be in charge, that privilege is increasingly going to the EU which now has a massive amount of control over our lives since the signing and ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.

Because of this the only really important political party in this election is UKIP which will correct the injustice of the unelected EU clique from running and ruining Britain. Sadly, the pro-EU BBC and the press, which is generally aligned to one or other of the other three parties, have relegated UKIP to a position of unimportance despite the fact UKIP had a massive vote in the Euro elections last year even beating the vote of the governing Labour Party.

This election is proving to be one of the least important elections in history as nothing will change, other than the fact the EU will continue to take slices of our sovereignty until there is nothing left and the UK becomes fully integrated in an anti-democratic European superstate.

ELECTION LAUGH

Derek Bennett, reading the Torygraph.

Election time is when we all get fed equal doses of irony and hypocrisy. The irony bit for me as a candidate and an activist, with a considerable amount of involvement with the general election now taking place, is that this is the first chance I have had a minute to write about the election because of the time the election is taking up for me.

We now have the mad and hypocritical situation where the leaders of the three so-called main political parties, the Lib, Lab, Con, are dashing here and there espousing how wonderful they are, their wives and their policies and how they will improve our lives, yet none of them will actually be able to change a thing as we are governed from the EU, a major problem none of them want to talk about.

They won’t talk about the very serious problems now hitting the Greek economy created through its mad decision to scrap their sovereign currency and hand over control of their interest rates to the European Central Bank. They won’t talk about the implication to us regarding this as we may be forced to spend £ billions of British taxpayers money trying to help sort out a mess created by the vanity of the Euro fanatics who want to create a new country called Europe. No, they will just prattle on about things which they will have little control over when elected as they will have to ask the EU if it is permissible first.

Having said this, none-the-less I really have to admire the Walsall Conservative Party’s sense of humour, they have just given me the best laugh I have had in ages.

As a resident of Walsall South since my childhood, where I am standing as a UKIP Parliamentary candidate, I have just received an election leaflet from their candidate, Richard Hunt. In it he piously states: “Locals ignored as Labour Parachute Candidate into Walsall South.” This, of course, comes from a Yorkshire born man now living about a two hour drive south of Walsall who, guess what, has been parachuted into the Walsall South Parliamentary constituency by the Conservative Party - talk about an ironic sense of humour!

If the voters of Walsall South really want a local resident to represent them in our constituency then they will have to vote UKIP, of which, of course, I am the candidate.

I have lived in Walsall South since 1961, went to the college in the town, grew up here and in a few years time will retire here – unless elected of course – then I will represent the people I have spent all my life with, a job I will take seriously and will not treat as a laughing matter.

SECRETS & FLYS

West Midlands UKIP MEP Mike Nattrass has rounded on plans by the EU to monitor airline passengers conversations and considers they are plane crazy and would lead to soaring air travel ticket prices.

The extremely active MEP, who is a member of the EU’s Transport & Tourism Committee, has criticised moves by interfering Brussels’ bureaucrats which could lead to the installation of hidden microphones on aeroplanes.

Civil liberties champion Privacy International has this week expressed strong opposition to the plans which will see Brussels funding research at Reading University looking into how passengers’ actions and behaviour can be monitored on board aircraft.

Cameras, microphones and other technology could be used to detect behaviour deemed to be suspicious but Mr Nattrass said there was a distinct danger that people’s privacy would be lost as a result of the European Union project.

He said: “Terrorism should be tackled and I am all for robust security on aircraft and at airports but I believe installing hidden microphones or cameras would create a Big Brother style situation on planes where passengers’ conversations are listened into.

“The airlines will be forced to pay for this surveillance equipment to be installed. This cost would then be passed on to passengers’ through increased ticket prices.

“Again, this is another example of EU interference which would cost the airline operators dearly and passenger privacy would also be sacrificed.

“It would be uncomfortable travelling by air knowing all actions and conversations are being monitored, so I presume the EU prefer people to travel by car to avoid the mile high club. " he said.

AIN’T MISBEHAVIN", SORT OF

Campaigning pensioners, Joan Martin and the late, much missed, Pam Barden.

The Daily Mail on Saturday 3rd April 2010 had an interesting article within it about the increasing number of pensioners falling foul of the law. Not that pensioners have taken up bank robbing, shoplifting or mugging, there are other reasons for this phenomenon.

Years ago, when someone retired they were expected to vanish into a world of aged poverty where the highlights of the day were a short chat with a bored shop assistant or making half a pint of beer last for an hour or two in the local pub, but not these days as modern pensioners get up to all sorts of things, not least joining protest movements and campaigning groups.

Today's pensioners are those baby boomers of the late forties and early fifties who have managed to take early retirement, they are the children of the swinging sixties who dropped out and did their own thing - the rules were not made for them and the pop groups they followed such as the rolling stones, are still swinging and making today's bland teenage offerings look rather tame and boring.

Although this group of rebels dropped out during the sixties, by the time the seventies came around they were making their mark in the world in business or building their careers, they still had a rebellious streak about them which gave them an edge in the business world. However, being the children of the forties and early fifties they had a certain moral code of the pre-war era drummed into them by their parents, teachers and authorities which, despite their youthful rebellious period, they have taken into their later years with them - hence the problems they face with our politically correct and liberal legal system and politicised police.

When these people see a group of yobs terrorising their neighbourhood, or when they see things they know to be wrong, they do not hesitate to tackle the problem head on - which puts them in trouble with the law. In this day and age we are not supposed to face up to yobish behaviour in case we offend the sensitivities or human rights of the yobs - if we do it is us that end up in the clink with our fingerprints and DNO being put onto the national data-base for all time - the yobs go free to continue blighting our lives.

Pensioners in recent years have landed themselves in trouble for standing up against the might of the authorities whose job it is, supposedly, to serve the public. We have seen little old ladies who protest against being ripped-off by council taxes being sent to prison or pensioners who still think they live in a free country being prosecuted for hate crimes for simply saying what they think. We now live in a scary place where we have to live in fear of what we say and do, even if it was something that was done by all a few years ago.

Pensioners enjoying life today, according to the Daily Mail, have been criminalised and fined for rollerblading through Southport, stopping yobs throwing bricks at ducks on a canal and one was CS gassed by the police when in a dispute with his neighbours over rubbish.

One Walsall pensioner, Cyril Randal who lives close to me, was accused of throwing chewing gum out of his car window and sent a fine through the post for an offence he did not only not commit, but was actually impossible for him to commit as his car window was jammed shut at the time due to a problem with it. The local authorities were so contemptible of the law and their duty to those who they are supposed to serve changed the facts when Cyril called them to point out a number of errors in their accusation against him. They had written down on the summons the wrong locations and colour of the car he was driving. When he pointed this out they had the audacity to thank him for correcting this as they would not have been able to take the case any further with the wrong facts. I am pleased to say that Cyril is made of stronger stuff and stood his ground against these town hall tyrants by taking it to court rather than meekly paying a fine. In the end won his case when the authorities gave up and made the feeble excuse that they had taken Cyril's health and age into account. I still see Cyril quite often and he is as fit as a fiddle and would give quite a few younger chaps a run for their money.

In this last week we have reached the hight of state funded persecution of its citizens when the news hit that a normally respectable older woman, who sold a goldfish to a minor, had been the victim in a sting operation worthy of a multi million pound drugs bust. She is now not only £1000 the poorer after paying her fine, but has a criminal record and has been tagged. Sadly the state is not concerned about the mayhem created by hooligans, they are more interested in arresting the oldigans who dare stand up to them who ain't misbehavin', well sort of.