Scott Dickson

Undergraduate at the University of Edinburgh, a frequent contributor to the Student newspaper, and has a weekly show on Freshair, the university's student radio station

As a political party in Scotland, UKIP are a nonentity. This is a fact that should have made Nigel Farage's recent visit to Edinburgh an event of minimal importance, rather than the fracas it turned into.

Nash Riggins

American journalism student and politics geek based in Scotland

I don't say this often, but it's high time that British politics take a page out of Hollywood's playbook: if you don't like something, make a brief - but scathing - offering of condemnation, and then never speak of it again.

Grant Feller

Writer, Editor, Media Consultant, Pretend Cowboy, www.gf-media.co.uk

I wonder whether the people who have created a monster ever come to regret it? It's a question as relevant to UKIP's Nigel Farage as it is to one of o...

John Bunzl

Businessman with a simple and powerful new vision for global governance

Why all the fuss about Europe when UKIP's rise isn't because of an over-bearing Europe, but because of globalisation? No one seems to have noticed that UKIP is not an isolated phenomenon. Right-wing, isolationist political parties are on the rise throughout Europe and elsewhere.

Bob Morgan

Former Met Police, Liberal Democrat Councillor and Campaigner, Community Development Officer

Ordinary immigrants coming into the UK did not invent numerous devious ways of lending and re-lending useless loans to get rich people even richer which we now know led to the banking collapse and the near ruining of our economy - but you would think they did the way people are piling in.

Harry Cooper

A Brussels-based Brit

I never thought I'd say this, but I think the rise of Ukip is overall a very positive development in British politics. Why? Because the British people see in Mr Farage a person who understands them. In Ukip they see a movement that stands apart from the fossils in Westminster. And for the first time since 1997 when Blair swept into power, there is a sense that things could be different...The problem is that the political parties that dominate British politics all end up saying roughly the same thing. There might be rhetorical differences, but ultimately they are singing from the same hymn sheet.

Kaushik Ray

Development finance lawyer, global urban nomad, GQ columnist and self-confessed Eurovision obsessive

There's something peculiar about the UK's relationship with Europe. It's like an arranged marriage - seems a good idea on paper (interests aligned, status consolidated, families united). But then you get to know them. And sometimes love doesn't grow like they all said it would.

Oana Romocea

Communications Specialist and Researcher in Migration and Media Studies

It is baffling how immigration has changed the game in British politics these days. There are more fundamentally important issues facing British society, most notably a stalled economy that has the country on the edge of a triple-dip recession. Yet, the immigration threat, and the supposed ills it has unleashed on Britain, has gripped the public imagination.

Andrew Smith

London based Scot, occasional blogger and author of the not altogether bad novel 'A Quarter Life Crisis'

In sticking to steadfast opposition Miliband won't necessarily look strong and defiant, to many he will look weak and scared. There is a substantial demand for a referendum, and has been for some time.

William Davie

Second-year journalism student at the University of Gloucestershire

Considering that the best UKIP can claim is a some local councillors and a smattering of MEPs, while the Greens have councillors, two London Assembly Members, some MEPs and a Member of Parliament, how come Farage gets so much more coverage?

Natalie Bennett

Green Party leader

Wednesday's Queen's Speech was both a disgrace and disappointment - a failure on both the grounds of what it contained, and what it didn't. What it did contain was a disgraceful pandering to the Ukip vote, in its financially toothless, but socially damaging, provisions on immigration.

Alan Wager

Political anorak of uncertain colours

Now the 'send in the clowns' shtick has gone stale, it's now time to send in the 'political has-beens'. If either Michael Portillo or Alan Johnson remained on the front-line of British politics, their respective parties would be far more likely to win the next general election.

Nick Abbot

LBC 97.3 talk show host, DJ and writer.

The route to electoral success Ukip used was to paint the picture of imaginary or exaggerated problems and depict themselves as the only party to fix them. The EU drains the country of £53m a day, said their manifesto. Throwing around huge figures without any context is a guaranteed way to rally the irate. The fact is that it is not £53m a day.

Emily Stacey

Golf enthusiast and freelance writer

For the time being, there is no doubt that Nigel Farage is optimistic about Ukip's chances of becoming a leading party in Westminster.

Harry Cooper

A Brussels-based Brit

Sadly we live in a world when politicians rarely look outside the bubble in which they are trapped. You can't blame them really. If they say sorry, their rivals say 'you have failed'. If they admit fault, the ideologues of their respective parties start baying for blood. In a world where your position is only as secure as the amount of time you have spent climbing the greasy pole to political success, little wonder that they feel they can't be honest.

Bonnie Greer

American-born, London-based playwright, author and novelist

Labour actually didn't do all that well. Plus the electorate just aren't that convinced by Miliband/Balls. And I'm being polite here. The bottom line that Ukip voters have delivered today to the Big Three is: the people are tired.