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.

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.

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

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...

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...

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...

5) You Can Cure Homosexuality.

Mavis Dee sums it up quite succinctly.

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

This conversation happened just this week.

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.

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.

”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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