When a forthright message comes from a non-political, trusted, respected opinion-former, people rightly sit up and take notice. Someone from outside the immediate political sphere, but with the knowledge and foresight that perhaps can shackle those who have been elected, really can wake people up. I say this – first – because politicians from all sides are presumed, often rightly, to have an agenda that suits their purpose. As a member and deputy leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), for example, I do appreciate and accept that there are those who occasionally will disagree with me, or downright think that whatever I’m saying is purely down to party politics. It’s not, though. I haven’t put my heart and soul into UKIP without meaning or belief. I absolutely believe in what I say, and do. And I absolutely believe in a better Britain. And a better Britain can only come about when the entire country – all of us, to borrow a phrase from a certain Chancellor of the Exchequer, in it “together” – thinks largely as one. So I found the words of Trevor Phillips, the former head of the Commission for Racial Equality, and also the Equality and