Sinister Foreigners

For a political party that claims to hate the EU and rails against immigration, UKIP seems to have a strange liking for foreigners and their money.  I don't just mean all that money its MEPs get from the EU for not actually representing their constituents in the European Parliament, (despite being elected to do so), or the fact that UKIP leader Nigel Farage is not only facilitating immigration, but giving British jobs to foreigners by marrying a German woman and paying her to be his PA.  No, I'm talking about those foreigners who happily bang the drum for UKIP and even help finance this loathsome band of bigots.  Step forward Greek businessman Demetri Marchessini, a major UKIP donor.  OK, he's US educated and London-based these days, but Hell, he was born in Greece and has a Greek name, so he's a foreigner. Sorry, did that sound a bit bigoted?  Well, I'm just following the UKIP line.  And the Marchessini line, for that matter.  This delightful 'gentleman' is the individual who is happy to publicly declare that there is no such thing as marital rape and that women shouldn't be allowed to wear trousers.  He's written a whole book on the latter subject, apparently his aversion to women in trousers has something to do with it being unflattering to their 'big bottoms'.  Some of us appreciate the broader behind, of course, whereas this lunatic clearly doesn't like women at all.  Remember, he's helping to fund UKIP.

But it isn't just foreign donors like Marchessini who should give us all cause for concern.  Even if they aren't giving money, there are plenty more of these foreign nutters out there cheer leading for them.  Take, for instance, one Alexander Nekrassov, prolific tweeter and frequent media whore, (you can find him airing his views on a variety of TV and radio outlets at any one time), who describes himself as a former Russian government and presidential advisor.  Believe me, once you've sampled his crackpot rantings you will no longer have any doubts as to why Russia is in such a shitty state.  I first encountered him as the owner of an alleged satire site called 'Stirring Trouble Internationally', which, in common with most right-wing 'satire' sites, simply purveyed the usual bile and reactionary garbage you'd hear at the average UKIP meeting.  Despite his attempts to convince everyone that the site was a 'big player', it was eventually forced to try and become subscription only, before vanishing completely.  Presumably because nobody was reading it.  Anyway, reading his Twitter feed, you'll find that all that crazy crap on his now defunct site wasn't satire - he really believes it.  Nekrassov is, without doubt, one of the most ignorant people I have ever had the misfortune to encounter.  According to him, the reason for the decline of the UK is because we're in thrall to atheistic, politically correct socialists with no sense of humour.  Oh, and Darwin was wrong so they should stop teaching evolution in schools.  You see, if only we believed in God, everything would be OK.   Oh, and he bangs the drum for UKIP a lot.

His every utterance reveals that he is even more ignorant than you at first feared.  Personally, I find it terrifying that such an ignorant person was ever employed as an advisor to any government and that the BBC (an organisation he regularly denigrates) allows him to put forth his uninformed views on Question Time, BBC News 24 and Radio Five Live (just a few of his recent appearances).   But the wider question is one of why we allow these expatriates to come here and try to influence our political process?  Isn't that the sort of thing that UKIP, for instance, is meant to be against?  After all, if you don't want the EU 'dictating' to the UK, then surely having wealthy Greek and Russian reactionaries trying to influence voters is just as bad?  I mean, if they don't like it here, they can always bugger off back to where they came from, can't they?  Or is it only poor Muslims, Poles and black people that we want sent back to 'bongo bongo land'?