the brilliantly leaping gazelle

Caveat emptor is struck me earlier today as I thought about the Brexit party, because it literally means ‘Let the buyer beware’

Because, as the Daily Telegraph noted, when attempting ti inform its readers of what the Brexit parties policies were,

They don’t have any. The Brexit Party isn’t a party in the traditional sense, and Mr Farage has chosen to emulate the Vote Leave campaign by deliberately steering clear of details.

Adding,

Instead, the campaign focuses on attacking Westminster politicians and on the “betrayal” of the Brexit vote. While Mr Farage hasn’t offered up any solutions to the Brexit conundrum, he has made clear that he is in favour of the hardest Brexit possible.

Before helpfully clearing things up by adding,

He has also promised a “full slate” of policies once the European elections are out of the way. He told a rally in West Yorkshire that they would include “political reform, more help for the regions, scrapping of ludicrous projects like HS2”.

One charitable interpretation of this is that as their single aim is for the want the U.K will hopefully leave the E.U. soon, they don’t have to. However, if they do so well that it triggers a ‘no confidence’ vote in the government, and that in turn triggers a general election, and that in turn uses up time better spent on sorting things, then is it a good use of the vote?

Essentially a vote for the Brexit Party may on the face of it appear to returning democracy to the people, but my concern is that it is anything but. Do I trust him? Not in the slightest! How can possibly trust some who fanny’s about with something as basic as the pronunciation of their surname.  As I noted in 2014,

How do you pronounce garage? Go on – try it out loud, I’m in no hurry. Done it? If you’re anything like me, then your pronunciation of garage will have sounded like how the word porridge sounds. But on the other hand, if you’re Nigel Farage then your surname sounds as if a pirate has hijacked it with the result that Farage becomes Faraaarhhge. Somehow he’s managed to convince every media outlet, every political commentator that his name is not pronounced the way it is spelt.Before I start, here’s your starter for ten? How do you pronounce garage? Go on – try it out loud, I’m in no hurry. Done it? If you’re anything like me, then your pronunciation of garage will have sounded like how the word porridge sounds. But on the other hand, if you’re Nigel Farage then your surname sounds as if a pirate has hijacked it with the result that Farage becomes Faraaarhhge. Somehow he’s managed to convince every media outlet, every political commentator that his name is not pronounced the way it is spelt.

And if if can do that, what else might he be capable of? That’s the thing. No one knows.

Oh, by the way, just because I don’t like him, or what he might do or his potential effect on the body politic, or his lowest common denominator rhetoric, or his view that the N.H.S. should be privatised it doesn’t mean that somehow my antipathy toward him extends to those who reluctantly voted for the Brexit party out of a deeply held personal conviction that the result of the referendum was being betrayed, then I don’t hate you.

I hate you more than that! (And you know who you are!)