At the heart of any organisational change is the truism that the greatest challenges are presented to the business, charity or indeed Political Party when it is undergoing a period of rapid growth (or facing major reductions in scale). Over the weekend one news headline was an item that UKIP candidates had been identified for 602 constituencies and of these 596 were deemed by the Daily Mail to be credible. I have rarely read the Daily Mail and I have no political interest in UKIP, I have however campaigned in a political contest against a UKIP candidate who I found to be very open about the processes he was undertaking just to maintain the UKIP ‘franchise’. In the case of UKIP, the attempt to find 650 candidates when their prospect for realistic success in any more than a handful of locations is zero is a mistake on a huge scale. If the number of UKIP MPs grew from the existing two, to any more than 5 or 6 this would be a huge success in terms of the impact on the Parliament. However if the media are arguing that the cost of entry into the Political market is to find 650 people willing to stand as candidates, then whatever one thinks about UKIP, this is proof that the electoral process is grossly unfairly weighted in favour of the two major parties, and frankly we are the losers. For UKIP to be measured against 54 constituencies for which they cannot currently find a candidate is simply ridiculous. One of the most pleasurable experiences I have ever had in the context of travelling on motorways was a recent visit to Tebay Services on the M6 as I headed North to the Isle of Harris and then again South at the end of my Holiday. Because I was on holiday I was not blogging, but I did comment about the visits on Facebook and Twitter and it was clear that many of my friends and twitter followers have shared that same sense of pleasure. If Tebay Services were MPs they would form about 5% of Parliament, but they would challenge the culture of the other 95% in a manner that would create a significant benefit to all of us. On similar lines I am aware of charities and businesses that are expected to ‘scale up’ if they are to benefit from opportunities to win Government tenders. The problem in these cases is not the failure of the businesses or charities to scale up, it is the failure of the Government to understand that one size does not fit all, and diversity is good for all of us. On a personal level I don’t want to see UKIP succeed as I find their culture and objectives repellent. However I also don’t want to see either Labour or Conservative Parties continuing to dominate an environment that is in desperate need of radical change. My own MP is a member of the Green Party and she offers something vital in the mix of our Parliament, in the same way that Tebay Services do to our Motorway Services. My personal hope is that at the end of May we have some first rate Independent MPs, a few Greens, a small number of UKIP and a complete challenge to the culture of Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem Parties. I don’t want to see a Parliament full of one size fits all MPs. I have seen that before and it doesn’t work!