Unfortunately it's not a huge leap from speeding fines to politics;

Speeding fines - money - Government revenue - politics.

Or acknowledgement that life is so much more rewarding on an MEP salary with EU special tax rates and expenses.

A) MEPs don't get expenses, they get allowances and every MEP of every party gets exactly the same.

B) Nigel Farage used to be a City trader and earned a damned sight more there than the 70k odd pre-tax you get as an MEP - and probably put in far fewer hours.

The work he carries out as an MEP is hardly demanding

You could say that about every MEP, yet I don't see you complaining about Labour/LibDem/Tory MEPs who are all there just to pick up the money.

as he rarely attends.

The more time you spend in Brussells - the more allowances you receive. You're incentivised to stay out of your constituency and in Belgium, hence why MEPs refer to it as SISO - Sign In and Sod Off.

Farage probably does more travelling, campaigning and actual work than any other MEP we send to that mysterious place. Do you even know the name of any Labour/Tory MEP?

This 'UKIP are just in Brussells for the money' line has been used by the establishment for years, they accused Alex Salmond of the same thing when he was in the House of Commons campaigning for his country to not be part of it.

UKIP voters want Farage in Brussells because frankly he's more use there than in Eastleigh.

The "establishment" won't destroy him: the electorate might.

The electorate gets what it deserves then. If you feel our interests are best served by the LibLabCon - who are all exactly the same party - then you go ahead and vote for them.

can where the other parties lay into his lack of support other than the mayflies he currently attracts.

Why do Ukip's detractors always want to play the man rather than the ball? There's always the snide suggestion that anyone who dares to express doubts about the glorious European Project must be a xenophobic 'fruitcake' ormerrie Englander. Perhaps it's because the list of the EU's tangible achievements is rather small. In fact, since the failure of the Euro, all the Europhiles have left is scaremongering and unfalsifiable claim such as:

"If it weren't for the European Union, there would be another war in Europe"

(Conveniently ignoring all the years following the end of WWII when there wasn't an EU or a war in Europe.

or,

"If we withdraw from the EU, British trade would suffer"

(Conveniently ignoring the fact that most of our trade with Europe is imports. I can't really see France refusing to sell us wine, or the Germans refusing to sell us cars)

Then there's the spurious claim that the British are 'bad' Europeans. How many Poles are there in 'good' European countries like France or Germany? Not many, because they're not permitted to work there The only countries which upheld the principle of free movement of people were Ireland and the UK.

If it weren't for the fruitcakes, we too would be stuck in the quagmire that is the Euro.

Nigel is perhaps so comfortable as an MEP in enemy territory

Not exactly the best advert is he, sitting in a cushy euro seat with nice pay, and not doing much.

If "He has no influence in the EU because the EU is run by unelected people." were true, which is absurd,

It is true. The Commission has the power and no citizen of Europe has voted for any of those people to have those jobs. The 'European Parliament' is a sham as it's the unelected Commission which reserves sole right to propose legislation. President Barroso even boasted that he was 'elected' by the European Council via a secret ballot.

why does Farage take part in it, and claim allowances and expenses from a tainted source?

Why did Alex Salmond sit in Westminster for years while campaigning for Scotland to leave it?

What would you have Farage do instead exactly? Have you never heard of keeping your enemies closer or joining something to bring it down? The European Parliament gives his cause the biggest platform he could get. He gives the anti-EU movement a voice from exactly where the EU don't want it - in their own back yard. They absolutely hate him which must be a good sign.

From there he's been able to start a debate which the LibLabCon don't want to have, he's denied the Tories a majority in 2010, taken his minority party to solid 3rd in the opinion polls and forced a PM to make a speech on Europe for the first time in 40 years. Could he have done that as a councillor in some Surrey backwater or constantly coming third in by-elections?

BTW, his allowances and expenses seem to have remained opaque despite promising to post details on his website. Too busy perhaps?

It doesn't really matter if they're published because every MEP gets the same amount in a lump sum anyway. As I said, the fact he doesn't attend Brussells that often - something you criticise him for - means he's actually missed out on allowances.

Nigel Farage is someone who in the early 90s decided he couldn't vote for anyone on the ballot list so rather than doing nothing - like you - he decided to stand himself, even though it meant giving up a career with a better wage than any MEP. I can always respect someone who got off their a*** and fought for what they believe in, rather than sitting in their armchair and just throwing abuse at everyone else - like you.

People like you will sit in your armchair, slate everybody who says something you find uncomfortable and keep voting for the LibLabCon MEP's to transfer power from Britain to Brussells every single day. I don't want to be asked by my grandson in 60 years time why I did nothing to stop Britain becoming part of a European Superstate with people like Barroso at the top.

The point is only the unelected Commission can propose legislation and once it's become law, there is nothing you or me can do in any general election to change it, unless you vote for a party which will leave the EU. I'm not interested in arguing how the institution works because I want my country out of it, I don't really care how the EU controls our lives, I just care that it does.

No wonder turnout is less than two-thirds in general elections now, our Government controls extremely little so we may as well vote for that penguin for all the difference it makes.

Farage just a noise and is an embarrassment.

The embarassments are the people who invented the Euro and still claim it's a success. People like David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Gordon Brown, Tony Blair and the rest of the political class who have constantly lied to us and given away our democratic control of our country are the real embarassments.

The only abuse here comes from the usual source.

My great-grandfather died for my liberty and freedom, as did many other great men twice in the last century. Our political class have given much of that liberty and freedom away to the EU and although times have changed and it's not the Nazi police or the Soviet gulags, it's still an erosion of democracy which I find disgusting. If you're standing in my way of getting that back then I can have no respect for you as a person, sorry.

Legislation is proposed by the Commission. European Parliament decides, and debates the issues.

Indeed. However, does anyone know who the MEPs are, what they are debating, and what they decide? The answer is no, they don't. Which means that they are not held to account, and in many respects the EU is no more than a junket for many MEP's, and for others it is a power trip. They make laws, and feel self important. In practice many laws are plain stupid (such as requiring cars to carry spare bulbs, even though many can only be replaced by a garage) and others result from horse trading i.e. we pass this law which suits your country, if you pass that law which suits us. There is at present an attempt to destroy the UK banking industry, because we dominate banking in Europe. The accession of Eastern European countries was encouraged by bribing the new entrants, legally of course, in order to make the EU commissioners even more important. We no longer have control of our borders, we do not have ultimate control over our laws, the EU is moving towards political union, it just gets worse.

Farage just a noise and is an embarrassment. When UKIP puts up for Parliament they will be part of the formal political process, or not. The only abuse here comes from the usual source.

Yes, Farage is an embarrassment.

The EU is run by elected MEPs.

No it's not. Only the unelected Commission of Civil Servants can set the agenda, propose the creation and repeal of legislation. The EU has already removed elected leaders in Eurozone countries so I'd argue the EU hates the very notion of democracy.

Because of hypocrisy. He argues against the EU, and yet he is an MEP

So in your world you're only allowed to be an MEP if you 100% agree with the entire project?

He became an MEP to find out what goes on 'over there' where nobody is looking and report back here. He's there to give a voice of opposition. Alex Salmond sat in the Commons for years while campaigning for his country to not be under its rule. There is plenty of historical precident of people joining Parliaments they don't want to be in so can we drop this ridiculous 'hypocrisy' argument please?

Have you never heard of keeping your enemies closer or joining things to bring them down? His MEP status gives him the biggest possible platform for the anti-EU message and brilliantly that platform is where the EU least want it - their own backyard.

and has a dismal voting record, preferring to take the money and not participate fully

Good. I don't want him participating in the project. If he participated then you could accuse him of hypocrisy but thankfully he always votes against the EU or doesn't vote at all. His voters put him there because they want us out of the EU, not because they want Farage to make it work better for us.

I'd say the LibLabCon, who take the money while going out of their way to destroy British democracy, jobs and industry are even more of an insult than someone who just takes the cash and causes us no harm.

His verbally abusing Von Rumpuy was childish.

It was no worse than what you see in the Commons every week.

I don't believe Reds would go UKIP.

Well that depends. Don't forget as recently as 1983, withdrawal from the EEC was in the Labour manifesto. In the 70s they were the opposition to us joining the common market, they said it'd damage jobs and democracy and they were right.

The Labour leadership (much like the Tories) is now so far removed from it's general voting base it's unreal. It's traditional, patriotic working class Labour who see the effects of uncontrolled, mass immigration every day and list it as one of their biggest concerns. The Labour Party left those people behind a long time ago.

No they don't. They implement the decisions of the elected representatives. Or at least that should be the case

It should be but it isn't. Everybody - except the EFD group lead by UKIP - is a total fanatic supporter of the concept of political union and a federal Europe. Everybody agrees. The Commission holds the power, some of whom are former communists from the Soviet regime and none of whom have been elected by the public.

In Westminster, elected people set the agenda and the civil servants carry out their instructions. In Brussels it's the other way around.

Nonsense. So why do Labour lead the polls by a large margin? Why has Dead Millipede stated that Labour got it wrong on immigration?

Labour lead because people want the free money taps turned back on and they think Labour is the only alternative. Interestingly those same polls say the public still trust Osborne more than Balls on the economy, so that huge lead is soft.

Labour did get it wrong on immigration but as EU members no British Government can change those rules so his speech is worthless. Labour left their patriotic working class behind when they signed up to Eastern European expansion and told us we need them because the British working class are useless, feckless and lazy. That's when they left those people behind.