Yes, they do. Sadly MEPs have [LIFTED] all to do with Westminster or General Elections.

If the Green Party can get an MP elected then so can UKIP, and until they do Farage can do one, frankly.

I'd much rather than than the American president style guff we had last time that turned out to be no indicator of anything at all in the end. However deciding the list of topics the debates would be on would be.. interesting. If the public got to pick which ones they were on, I suspect they'd be pretty uncomfortable for a lot of politicians.

I'm trying to avoid dealing with Farage specifically because he and his party kind of aren't the point, they're just an example. There has to be a way of allowing people to campaign that is both a) representative of how the political landscape is but b) also allows for some degree of change and discovery among the electorate. If we just say 'Labour, the Tories and the Libs get to be on TV because they're the most popular parties' nothing will ever change, ever. It's just a feedback loop. There has to be a way for the greens, the SWP, UKIP and whoever else to be brought to the public attention even if what they say is patent cobblers because that's the only way people are going to be able to tell that what they say is patent cobblers.

Given we're stuck with FPTP for the forseeable future (thanks Nick), we at least need something that gives smaller parties - of all points on the political spectrum - a chance to be heard. Or we haven't really got 'democracy', we've got a political carve up that serves them much better than us.

Though UKIP and the Greens are not single issue parties. They both have a range of policies but the media barely mention them.

They all throw together some other stuff, but the BNP does that too without becoming anything other than a single issue party. Each of these parties is formed out of a special interest group who are only committed to one core ideal. The more they morph into regular parties with wider platforms, the less they can focus on the only issue they were formed to to anything about.

The same thing has happened at least 3 times before. The original Tories were all about economic protectionism and maintaining social hierarchies (they would not have liked Thatcher). The original Liberals were avid free traders, and Labour was an offshoot of union politics. none of them has stuck to its original principles because those were too narrow to define a party of government (as opposed to a simplistic party of protest).

UKIP and the Greens have a very long way to go before that is true of either. UKIP would have to grow up and quit complaining so much about Europe. The Greens would have to sacrifice some of their commitments to the environment. Neither can do that, so their purpose is to be on the fringes.

You make it sound like not getting on TV means they can't participate in democracy at all.
If we need need that badly to effect change, and if the standard of the modern voter is so [LIFTED] that we can only do it with the help of TV. Then give up, we're [LIFTED].

I agree that Farage is someone who really should be doing his job - but all he seems to do is barrack the other MEPs and cause mischief. Hardly bringing the office he holds any virtues - but that, I expect, is his plan.

The thing is, though, because he IS an MEP (as are a couple of other UKIP members - apparently, there are 12 of them), and he has that level of power, he gets afforded more air time that the Greens due to numbers. I expect 12 MEPs > 1 MP. Also, Farage is, sadly, more entertaining and can play to a camera well. Caroline Lucas can’t, and while she’s certainly able to put her point across, she’s not the side show barker that Farage is (give him a cane and a boater, I say). And that, folks, is what gets you noticed.