The circumstance of Farage's pomp

Enoch Powell, writing in a biography of Joseph Chamberlain, once said "All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of human affairs."

'Well, he should know' might be the response, but his observation was about those at the top, and as the dark night closes in around the Prime Minister, Theresa May, and the wolves circle, pace and drool around her, the truth of his statement looks as though it's about to be demonstrated once more.

So why is it that Nigel Farage has never experienced this? He seems repeatedly to escape, Houdini-like, any sticky situations, slimy accusations and boardroom coups, and slither away unscathed when his ideas and efforts (if not his bank balance) come to nought. How does he do it? Easy, he isn't actually a politician and he doesn't live a politician's life. He mixes politics with his outlook on the world, but so does everyone else. Everyone is the England manager when the game is on. Except that we're not - we just have opinions. He is just his opinions, all packaged and distributed to a social media feed near you, accompanied by a pint and a smoke and slight whiff of superiority.

When I was younger, I had strong opinions about political issues. I expressed those opinions in a young person's way. I am less expressive now, I think, in part because I can see that simply expressing an opinion or judgement without a thought-through alternative doesn't make anything change. I was also held back in those days by the thought that those in charge were of another, more senior, generation and they must have more knowledge than me. Deference to and respect for one's elders is something that many of us are taught when very young and, as in Japan, is occasionally a cultural marker and mainstay of social cohesion. On its own, no bad thing and as I get older, I mind this less and less, though it has limitations when deference is taken to extremes. The old and young must respect and care for each other.

I feel no such need for restraint when it comes to Farage because he and I are of the same generation, and almost the same age. I see through him, and I know that he knows nothing about the world that I cannot also have found out by this age.

As he and I are equals in this aspect, at least, I'm calling bullshit. Farage's populism, his motives, intentions and message are bullshit. He has no plan, has created no policy except negation and denial and rules a personality party that has no manifesto, This is not a person we should look up to, or hold up as example of an adult speaking with wisdom. Especially when claims to be speaking in our names.

Recently, the 2014 clip of the Question Time encounter with Farage and Russell Brand summing up the reality of his game has started doing the rounds once more, and it's worth a look (https://youtu.be/o7idh5BmsWk). The killer line: "This man is not a cartoon character. He ain't Del Boy, he ain't Arthur Daley, he's a pound shop Enoch Powell, and we gotta watch 'im."

A career political life and career cannot end in failure if it never was one. That's his illusion, and trick. And it's a dangerous one if voted for.