You are right that there are lots of Kippers who are like me - old, thick and with no sense of humour. But it's not a cult, it's the People's Army and we are tearing up the Establishment's lawns.
But the People's Army, contrary to what the Establishment say about us, are attracting lots of young voters.
This is from Sky's political correspondent, Anushka Asthana
"UKIP Confounds Expectations To Win Teen Votes"
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"I was struck by the range of people who told me in May that they were proud to be voting UKIP in the European elections. Among them was a wealthy older couple in Cheshire who had always voted Conservative and a working class "socialist" in Rotherham who had always backed Labour.
It wasn't just men and it wasn't just white people either.
But perhaps most unusual was the 18-year-old I met in Kingston, Surrey, who was ready to put his cross by Nigel Farage's party.
That did throw me a bit.
Personally, I have long been convinced that UKIP's anti-EU, tough on immigration brand would persuade traditional voters of the Left.
It was less easy to predict that it could attract young voters too.
But then there it was again, in Clacton-on-Sea at the by-election last week. First a pair of 17-year-old girls, giggling excitedly, as they told me they would have voted for "Douglas" [Carswell] last week if they had been old enough.
They will be 18 by May, and they will back UKIP if things carry on like this.
When I asked them about the Conservative and Labour parties, they looked a bit confused and said they hadn't heard much about either.
As we finished the interview, I noticed another young man hovering close by who wanted to add his view into the mix. He was 18 and had not only voted for Mr Carswell in the by-election but was already a UKIP member who used "we" when talking about Nigel Farage's party."
news.sky.com/story/1353249/ukip-confounds-expectations-to-win-teen-votes
And this is from the Guardian
"From Ukip to the Green party, the young people looking for an alternative
While the big parties stagnate, once-fringe rivals are attracting more and more members in school or college"
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It is Saturday morning and 14-year-old Jonathan Wood is taking a break from canvassing for Ukip in Rochester High Street. He finished his maths homework late the night before so he could dedicate his weekend to campaigning for Tory defector Mark Reckless.
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Young Labour and Conservative Future still have most members – 20,000 and 15,000 respectively – but as more young people seek an alternative, the presence of the established parties appears to be stagnating. At Bath University, support for Conservative Future collapsed to the point that it was disaffiliated from the student union. “As far as I know, Ukip is the only political society applying to be there,” says Jack Duffin, chairman of the UK Young Independence movement. “Recently we’ve had three students from the University of Exeter contact us, expressing a wish to set up a Young Independence society.”
In a recent poll by Tory peer Lord Ashcroft, just 11% of 18-to-24-year-olds said they would vote for the Conservatives if there were a general election tomorrow, as opposed to 12% for Ukip and 19% for the Greens. In the same poll, the Liberal Democrats came out on a par with the British National party, both securing a meagre 2% of the 18-to-24 vote.
“I was a Liberal Democrat,” admits 21-year-old Ukip Students chairman Joe Jenkins. “I campaigned and told all my friends to vote for the Liberal Democrats because ‘when we go to university it’ll be free’. And then for me to turn around and tell my friends, ‘Oh, sorry, they lied to me too’ – it was ridiculous. I’ll never forgive them for it.” Under his leadership, Young Independence launched Ukip Students this summer and has established 18 societies in universities across the UK, with a particular stronghold at the University of Chester."
www.theguardian.com/society/2014/nov/01/ukip-green-party-young-people-alternative
This is why the Establishment need Brand more than they have ever needed him. They know that Brand won't win over the old, thick and humourless like me, but they are desperately hoping that Brand can stem the tide of young people abandoning Establishment parties and flocking to the People's Army and other parties.
Brand is the Establishment's last hope. If he fails to stop UKIP then the Establishment knows that the People's Army will be tearing up their lawns.
Tune in Thursday night BBC1, don't miss the fun. The old, the thick, the humourless and the young, we've got 'em on the run.