We are the 89%

摘要

On October 8th Nigel Farage predicted that victory for his uk Independence Party (ukip) in both of the next day's by-elections would be a political Krakatoa. The eruption was only narrowly averted. Douglas Carswell, who had resigned as Conservative mp for Clacton to contest the seat for ukip, became the party's first elected mp. But in Heywood and Middleton, near Manchester, Mr Farage's insurgency fell 618 votes short of replacing the former Labour mp, who had died in office-a stonking achievement, all the same. Westminster and Fleet Street are gripped by ukip's rapid rise. Another Tory defector, MarkReckless, may win a by-election in Kent on November 20th. The two main parties are panicking. Mr Farage's nationalist lot appears to be winning over disaffected, ageing voters from both (though primarily the Tories), especially in backwaters like Clacton. In response, David Cameron has promised Britons a vote on leaving the eu and has dangled goodies-most recently, an inheritance tax cut-before older voters. On October 14th Ed Balls, the Labour shadow chancellor of the exchequer, called for curbs on immigrants' access to benefits.