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i Editor's Letter: 100 days to stop Ukip?

 

Oliver Duff
Tuesday 11 February 2014 01:00 GMT
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Support for Ukip has risen to one in five voters ahead of May’s European elections. Labour lead the Conservatives. Nick Clegg, meanwhile, has nothing to lose – the Lib Dems are only just ahead of the Greens. And today the Deputy Prime Minister spells out the stakes, writing in i that he, David Cameron and Ed Miliband have just 100 days to stop Ukip from establishing itself as a major player in British politics. Nigel Farage intends to target East Anglia, Lincolnshire, Kent, Sussex and Hampshire.

Some of you will disagree with Mr Clegg’s opinion, but we try to run a plurality of comment (including from Mr Farage) and to leave you to make up your own mind.

The European elections often have a soporific effect on us – a pitiful one in four people says they are certain to vote this year. Mr Clegg’s fear, shared by some others at Westminster, is that the turnout will be so low that Mr Farage could sneak a win, nudging us closer to Europe’s fire doors.

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To Coventry tonight, for the 2014 iQuiz final. After winning campus heats, 19 student teams will spar for the UK quiz crown – and the prize of two weeks touring Europe with Topdeck Travel. “Team Hosenbugler” will have travelled furthest, 260 miles from Glasgow to Coventry’s Herbert Art Gallery.

We will publish all of the questions, set by i’s quizmaster Simon O’Hagan, in Thursday’s paper, with a match report. Expect six rounds: In the News, History, People, Music, Europe, and a Picture Round. Si’s advice: don’t drink too much – hopefully this won’t be too much of an issue for those of you playing at home or work – and lateral thinking will help. He tries to set questions that contain a clue to the answer. “Plus,” he says, “you’d be glad to have gained that bit of knowledge, which to me is part of what makes a good quiz question.”

i@independent.co.uk

Twitter: @olyduff

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