Matthew D'Ancona:
'Ukip is not a party but a state of mind. It
recoils not from Europe specifically but from change generally. It
fuses the twitching of the suburban net curtain with the
anti-everything spirit of Screaming Lord Sutch: the party of Monster
Raving Rotarians. The rise of Ukip reflects not Conservative failure
so much as the hectic pace of contemporary life. This is a bad era in
which to live if you like uniformity, continuity and predictability.
'
This statement makes me rather angry,
which either self-identifies me as one of the no-change brigade, or
suggests that D'Ancona's blanket smears are infuriatingly smug.
On the contrary, I would say, first of
all, plus ca change, plus ca meme chose. Generally speaking those who
menace for 'change' are those who suck like leaches from the status
quo. 'Change' as a mantra is unchanging among the movers and shakers,
of whom Ancona is a notable example. This is the same D'Ancona who
was far up the New Labour posterior and is further up the Cameroonian
one. This D'Ancona seems to be a Vicar of Bray minus the challenging
era, needlessly and gratuitously ever-present. In the devil's words
one wishes that he would just F-off.
D'Ancona mistakes imposition for
change. Change, when it is authentic, comes from below. It comes in
waves from the positions of lives coordinating spontaneously.
Imposition imitates change but only superficially and its effects are
like interference rather than waves. It comes sporadically, when
conditions are permissive, imposed by will and vanity.
Change is always happening, and the
challenge for all people of whatever age and place is to adapt to it.
Therefore it helps if you are free from the imposition of fantasists.
Such are political obsessives, currency fanatics, opinion-leader
writers and european politicians.