SOMETIMES I laugh out loud when newspapers and political parties attempt to use statistics. They can't stop themselves. For instance, a researcher will have an idea or hypothesis then methodically test it and that will produce statistics. These statistics then help the researcher decide whether the original idea was correct. Statistics should shape ideas and not the other way round.  You can't have an immovable political doctrine and then pick and choose statistics that seem to justify it. You'll only end up providing half the truth or creating a half lie!

UKIP are no exceptions. They are banging away at it without shame and always getting it wrong. I'm not a statistician. If you want to look at statistics, be my guest. There are thousands of them. Take a look at employment levels. If nothing else, they show that there are no fixed number of jobs in the UK. Unemployment can go down as well as up. Do immigrants take our jobs? Or do they create them by employing British born people, buying from UK suppliers and spending their money here. I'm sure there is a statistical way of showing that if immigrants left they would take jobs with them. That is little consolation, however, if you've just lost your job.

Which brings me on to my point. Statistics, however, isn't the main radical right wing weapon. It is fear! They want us to see ourselves as victims of a terrible social injustice and then provide us with solutions. Immigration is just one example. Being dismissed and unheard by mainstream politicians is another!  But what is that actually making us? Radical Islamic clerics use the same concept. Make individuals feel like victims and they turn into bullies! We are becoming bullies, unable to see the inhumanity in what we are thinking because it seems justifiable.  Every form of ethnic violence you could ever think of started like this.  It's true that illegal immigrants shouldn't be here. But they are human beings too. They have possibly been the victims of liars and profiteers who traffic lost souls across continents in appalling conditions. The illegals are not necessarily the ones to blame or bully.

UKIP actually believe they are not racist. Well if I go out and earn money I don't expect anyone to tell me what clothes I should wear or where I can spend or send my money. UKIP seems to think that integration for Muslims involves this kind of conformity to "British" ways.  Is this racism?  They may say they are not racist. It doesn't mean they are not.

I don't mind if you don't think like me. But please think! Democracy is not about getting your own way. It's about having you voice heard. If 1 per cent of the electorate turn out then that 1 per cent will decide who represents you. Do you want to be represented by the radical right wing? Abstaining is not a good enough protest. Eventually mainstream politics will fumble into a compromise and get its act together on immigration. But in the meantime we must reconsider our values. We are not bullies. We are standing for something special and important in this world.

– Gordon Elsmore, Bream.