I have no time for Farage or UKIP, but the one thing in their favour is their potential to split the Conservative vote in the same way as the SDP split the Labour vote in the 1980s.
However, they also now seem to be splitting the Labour vote, and IMHO, that is entirely Labour's fault, thanks to its transformation under Blair. Brown, Mandelson, et al, into Tory Lite. They turned their backs on traditional Labour principles and traditional Labour voters (not that these were ever Blair's principles in the first place - he was an opportunist entryist). And the post-Blair Labour Party is paying the price, and there is not enough time before the next election for it to recover, if it ever was going to recover.
My real beef with UKIP though, is that the Euro sceptic argument is being confined to a bunch of closet racists, when there is a perfectly respectable and non-racist anti-Europe argument to be made. But if you dare to question the EU now, you get tarred with the UKIP brush.
I used to be very pro-Europe, and still am culturally. As a trading agreement between economic peers, fine. I understand why the Common Market and later the EC was founded, and mainly agree, but I now see strongly the dangers of a federalised European state. The Euro was clearly a terrifying mistake, and at least Gordon Brown did one thing correctly, by keeping us out. But we are still stuck with Maastricht and other treaties which I believe work against our economic interests.
I may be wrong, but the annoying thing is now that you can't even discuss or question these things without being lumped in with Farage's rabble or being accused of being a little Englander. If I wanted union with any other nation, it would be with the Scandinavians. They are culturally closer to us than the other European countries, and since our unfortunate series of misunderstandings all those years ago with the Vikings, have been our natural allies. (Sandy Toksvig is not a national treasure for nothing). But actually, I don't want union with any other nation. Stand on our own two feet, retain our independence and freedom of choice - not autarchy, but co-operation with equals.