Douglas Carswell And Ukip's Best Science Fails

4) Not realising the Sun heats the Earth.

On Tuesday, #AskCarswell trended on Twitter courtesy of a very large and very public gaffe by Douglas Carswell.

Ukip’s only MP became embroiled in a spat with a professor over what causes the tides and came off more than just a little bruised from the encounter.

Want 2 understand trade? Think gravity: size & distance matter. UK-Ireland greater than UK-China

"Jupiter is big but the moon moves tides"

— Paul Nightingale (@Nightingale_P) September 18, 2016

And so it continued in that vein (tap here for the full conversation).

As such, this would seem like the perfect time to have a look at some of the other times Ukip completely failed at science.

So, let’s start with the all-time classic...

1) Gay Marriage Causes Flooding.

Doug Armand via Getty Images

No, no, a thousand times no.

In 2014 the then UKIP Councillor for Henley on Thames in Oxfordshire, David Silvester, wrote a rather odd letter to a local newspaper.

You are reading that correctly, he is indeed blaming floods in the UK on gay marriage.

2) Hats That Make You Run Faster.

CHRIS RADBURNPA ARCHIVE

Douglas Carswell again.

Ukip’s only MP disregarded all known laws of physics earlier this year, by claiming the colour of his hat makes him run faster.

Curious. An early morning run wearing a red @vote_leave cap seems to go much further and faster than one wearing a black @vote_leave cap

— Douglas Carswell MP (@DouglasCarswell) May 11, 2016

The UKIP MP’s claims - which have yet to be independently verified by science - left some a bit baffled.

@DouglasCarswell That does sounds bit barmy Douglas.

— Barry Sheerman (@BarrySheerman) May 11, 2016

@BarrySheerman humour, Barry. They have it on Twitter these days ...

— Douglas Carswell MP (@DouglasCarswell) May 11, 2016

Erm... yeah. Humour. Right....

3) Self-Defeating Theories On The Function Of The Chin.

Ian Forsyth via Getty Images

Carswell again.

In an interview for Huffington Post UK last September, he said: “When you’re in politics, let me put it this way, you have to take a lot on the chin and fortunately I’ve got a very big chin.”

Only, Carswell is renowned for blocking people on twitter for making even the slightest suggestion of something critical of the MP.

For example...

@ChrisDYork following your nasty little piece, I've blocked you!

— Douglas Carswell MP (@DouglasCarswell) May 11, 2016

@_themushroom George - you've posted a string of snide nasty tweets. Blocked. Good bye

— Douglas Carswell MP (@DouglasCarswell) March 17, 2016

@PoliticsScot yawn. Blocked

— Douglas Carswell MP (@DouglasCarswell) September 11, 2015

Hmm....

4) Not Realising The Sun Heats The Earth.

This is Roger Helmer...

Matt Cardy via Getty Images

Roger Helmer is an MEP who categorically does not believe in climate change.

His evidence? This...

Temperates drop during a short solar eclipse. It's the Sun that drives the climate!

— Roger Helmer (@RogerHelmerMEP) March 20, 2015

Helmer may have been joking but when you look at some of the other things he has claimed (see points 5 and 6), it becomes a little less clear.

Here’s a taster...

Calais was British until 1558. Maybe it's time to take it back.

— Roger Helmer (@RogerHelmerMEP) July 30, 2015

5) You Can Cure Homosexuality.

Why is it OK for a surgeon to perform a sex-change operation, but not OK for a psychiatrist to try to "turn" a consenting homosexual?

— Roger Helmer (@RogerHelmerMEP) January 16, 2011

Mavis Dee sums it up quite succinctly.

@RogerHelmerMEP @junayed_ I've completely lost the ability to determine which are real and which are parody UKIP comments.

— MD (@MavisDee) April 6, 2015

6) Greenhouse Gases Aren’t A Threat To The Planet.

This conversation happened just this week.

Bjorn Lomborg: "Renewables mean paying for power three times over. First for the power. Then renewable subsidies. Then back-up subsidies".

— Roger Helmer (@RogerHelmerMEP) September 18, 2016

@RogerHelmerMEP let's carry on polluting then? There are bigger things at stake, you just can't see them. It's not just about money helmer.

— Banjo Monkey (@banjomonkey44) September 18, 2016

@banjomonkey44 CO2 is not a pollutant. It's a harmless trace gas which is essential to life on Earth.

— Roger Helmer (@RogerHelmerMEP) September 19, 2016

@RogerHelmerMEP harmless? Try breathing in a room full of it and see how long you last

— Banjo Monkey (@banjomonkey44) September 19, 2016

@banjomonkey44 Try breathing under water. You'll drown. But that doesn't make water toxic. Or a pollutant.

— Roger Helmer (@RogerHelmerMEP) September 20, 2016

Sigh...

7) Immigrants Cause Traffic Jams.

A Ukip listicle wouldn’t be complete without...

Matt Dunham/AP

The ex-leader himself.

In December 2014, Farage was late for a meeting in Wales. His excuse? Immigrants clogging the roads.

Can't make it up: Tory minister says immigration strains roads and no one bats an eyelid. I say it and Mail & Telegraph fake outrage.

— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) December 7, 2014

He told BBC Sunday Politics Wales: “It took me six hours and 15 minutes in the car to get here. It should have taken three and half to four.

“That has nothing to do with professionalism. What is does have to do with is a country in which the population is going through the roof, chiefly because of open door immigration and the fact the M4 is not as navigable as it used to be.

.@Nigel_Farage If even the Mail and Telegraph are accusing you of being a massive racist, maybe you ought to have a think.

— David Whitley (@mrdavidwhitley) December 7, 2014

”In all these years in UKIP that’s probably about the third event out of a thousand that I haven’t made in time.”

Labour was first to criticise Farage’s audacious excuse, calling it “absurd”.

“Remarks like these are what makes Farage so dangerous,” said then-Shadow Welsh secretary Owen Smith. “It is clearly absurd to suggest heavy traffic on the M4 is caused by immigration, but through the laughter at his silly comments you can hear Ukip’s dog-whistle politics of division.”

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