Of the academic pretence of UKIP leaders

Of the academic pretence of UKIP leaders.. The Henry Bolton qualification claim story runs on. It fascinates me that a party of UKIPs nature should even pretend that they matter. UKIP spends it's time rubbishing institutions that provide critical education or thought. It values qualifications that are "practical" and do not challenge the status quo. I notice that Bolton's claims were in having degrees in " Military Studies" from Sandhurst and "Leadershiip" from somewhere else. Note the word Sandhurst is crucial it implies the establishment, convention and behaviour...in fact it's the opposite of every decision and judgement he has made. It reveals psychologically that while he hates leftie academics he still craves for conventional qualifications. At the heart of the Farage and skipper crusade was a dislike of the specialist, of the well read and of those who don't have simple answers for complex issues. They dislike those who change their mind and those who are tentative and know that questions are a process and not a cop out. Bolton craves acceptance and yet knows that he does not come up to scratch but desperately wants to.

Those of us who read and study do course after course not because we wish to impress or be accepted. We do it because we are thirsty for knowledge and tbat we want to challenge our prejudices.blind spots and our ignorance. We like to talk debate think critically and challenge. It matters to us not a jot what letters it gives us what status it provides. In the end the race is with ourselves in an attempt to live a life that is examined in all its forms and meanings. We know that ignorance in ourselves is a barier to self knowledge. We can challenge ourselves and lift the knowledge of humanity as a whole.

I can't help feeling that the bluekipper approach is a selfish one that is just about work and power and a rather useless attempt to boost a fragility of identity and self. I hear in Radio 4 that a Killer Whale has been taught to copy human speech . It a rather like that for the right..education and knowledge are the pretence of self while the killer whale lurks within. At the Penrhos bus stop I meet Alfie the Labrador I take a picture of him as he sits. And I suspect that Alfie knows he is being admired but he has no concept of a photograph rather like the bluekippers who have no real understanding of education; learning and hunger for knowledge. I am told that Alfie has a Phd in advanced nasal awareness and empathy. I trust Alfie's practical skills infinitely more than the academic claims of Bolton and Nuttal. However I will give Farage the chameleon's skill of blending in and being all things in all environments...yep he always was as cold as a Lizard and as ambitious as Lucifer.