Ukip’s Douglas Carswell in bizarre Twitter argument about whether the Sun causes tides
A university professor tried to explain the concept to the Clacton MP but he wasn't having any of it
EVERYONE knows the Moon controls the tides – well, seemingly everyone apart from Ukip MP Douglas Carswell.
His Clacton constituency borders the North Sea so he can see the Moon’s effect whenever he is there.
But this did not stop him from getting into an absurd Twitter spat with a scientist over the issue with Carswell thinking it is all down to the Sun.
Yes, for some reason the 45-year-old must have missed the infant school class where astronomy was explained.
Missing this class led to a bizarre exchange between him and Paul Nightingale – a professor in science policy at the University of Sussex.
Professor Nightingale had used the concept of gravity to call for Britain to sign trade deals with neighbouring countries instead of those far away.
He tweeted: “Want to understand trade? Think gravity: size and distance matter.
“UK-Ireland greater than UK-China.”
But it was the last sentence of his tweet “Jupiter is big but the moon moves tides” that peaked Carswell’s interest and made him decide to argue.
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And as their exchange shows, even though Carswell was proved wrong the Ukipper did not give up.
And proving the theory that if someone says something stupid on Twitter they will get mocked, Carswell has been mocked mercilessly.
For all those fact fans out there, the Sun does have an effect on the Earth’s tides but the Moon’s effect is much bigger because it is closer.
This episode comes after the new Ukip leader Diane James confirmed Vladimir Putin is one of her political heroes.
On an interview on the BBC programme Sunday Politics she named the Russian leader and when pressed also came up with Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill.
Her admiration for the Russian leader prompted a swift reaction on Twitter with people calling it “disturbing” and “beyond extraordinary”.
Andrew Neil’s line of questioning stemmed from a 2015 interview in which Ms James described the Russian president as “a strong leader” who stands up for his country.
Mr Putin has attracted international criticism after the Russian annexation of Crimea, incursion into Ukraine and his support for the brutal Bashar Assad regime in Syria.
But Ms James said in the 2015 interview: “Nigel (Farage) went on record saying if you provoke the Russian bear you get a reaction.
“I admire him from the point of view that he’s standing up for his country. He is very nationalist.
“He is a very strong leader. He is putting Russia first, and he has issues with the way the EU encouraged a change of government in the Ukraine which he felt put at risk a Russian population in that country.”
Ms James won the race to succeed Mr Farage as Ukip leader on Friday, taking the top job with 8,451 votes.