AM I the only one to find the reported rise of UKIP disturbing? We are living in difficult times and despair with the mainstream political parties' inabilities to make a difference is totally understandable. But do they really have any answers beyond populist measures, quips and sound bites? We have an economy which is far too reliant on dodgy banking and far too much pay going to the top 10% of earners, leaving 90% with less. Increased poverty, food banks; fragmented and privatised public services, centralisation of power increasingly controlled by corporations and globalisation is reducing the quality of life for billions — not to mention active destruction of the environment we need to survive. Along come UKIP, whose policies are focussed on allowing Britons to emigrate but to stop legal immigration, to abolish inheritance tax for the rich, and to abolish all 'green taxes' which are designed to combat the misery of climate change. We have 750,000 young people who feel justifiably pessimistic about their futures, and they are right to be fed up with what they see. Many older people feel the same as many of the world's problems are steadily getting worse with more and more people realising we are not governed properly. UKIP's website seems to offer little on the real issues of the day; they simply use the EU as a scapegoat for far deeper problems — politics for the angry. However, UKIP's ignorance is really exposed by their attitude to climate change. As a GP, I could make a smoker feel better by reassurance that smoking is harmless — they might be relieved and like what I say, even though it is nonsense. UKIP act like a bad doctor, just offering simplistic messages that are easy to digest, but wrong! They say that man made climate change is not real and doesn't need action — if only this were true! It strikes me that UKIP are not a fit party to govern, their MEPs are rarely seen in the European parliament but they take their share of euro expenses nonetheless. Their views on a whole range of issues are not based on the real world. If you want to vote for a party which is not mainstream, but living in the real world — and why not —  then UKIP is not the party for you. There are better alternatives, especially the greens, or even a spoiled vote. Dr Colin Bannon Crapstone