Fostering resentment: why Rotherham council's actions are a gift
to UKIP  Rex Features  These are giddy times for the United
Kingdom Independence Party. Nigel Farage, UKIP's pawky leader,
must wish every week could bring blessings such as those
bestowed upon his merry band of euro-fanatics in the past seven
days.  First, Rotherham's social work department rules that a
UKIP-supporting couple are latent racists of the sort that
cannot be trusted to act as foster parents for troubled, non-
white children. Second, right-wing Conservatives refloat the
idea that the Tories should form some kind of alliance or non-
aggression pact with UKIP at the next general election. The
latter issue grants UKIP a seriousness the party does not merit;
the former a more sympathetic hearing than the party has
hitherto enjoyed. Both are a boon to Mr Farage.  Rotherham
first. The scorn with which the council's decision to prevent
UKIP supporters fostering children is entirely deserved.
Whatever doubts one may have about UKIP's policies