October 28: BNP's indigenous Britons are a myth
Those seeking to expose BNP leader Nick Griffin as a British Nazi on the BBC's Question Time programme will have been disappointed.
The charge of German Nazism was a red herring, which Griffin managed to evade with claims about his father's role in the Second World War. Meanwhile, Griffin's fascism went largely undetected by audience and panel alike.
Griffin places "indigenous" Britons at the forefront of BNP propaganda, for mythic nationalism is the thread linking Nazism, the BNP and every fascist movement in between.
Forget the Romans, forget the Norman Conquest and forget the centuries of migration making Britain such a successful trading and multi-ethnic culture: The fiction of a British "race" unchanging between the Ice Age and the HMS Windrush marks the BNP as a party political manifestation of fascist ideology.
For a decade now, Griffin's so-called "modernisation" of the BNP has been predicated on deceiving voters, cynically manipulating real political issues, such as immigration, and developing two languages: One for its activists, another for the doorsteps.
It was this forked-tongued rhetoric that enabled Nick Griffin to veil his party's fascist ideology in the June 2009 elections; and it seems, yet again on Question Time.
The BNP's "Language and Concepts Discipline Manual" stresses that, "when addressing a specific audience, arguments for our policies should always be couched in language calculated to be relevant to their interests."
Such open goals appear to have been missed in the charged atmosphere of the already-infamous Question Time. Perhaps this was always going to be the case in a programme that, by its very nature, is given over to emotive soundbites rather than in-depth analysis. But even this might have been placed on a surer footing by hanging out the BNP's dirty policies for public view.
Make no mistake: This is a revolutionary party, and one that would effect its immigration policies with real "rivers of blood" in our towns and cities.
Dr Matthew Feldman,
Senior Lecturer in History, The University of Northampton.
Like a lamb to the slaughter
IN a democratic society there have been politicians and prominent people who have had a rough passage on the BBC's Question Time. There may be many people who were pleased that Nick Griffin had a tough time on the same programme.
However, I am sure Nick Griffin knew he was not in for an easy ride, but I don’t think he was prepared or realised he would be a “lamb to the slaughter”.
Is this really democracy at work? Whatever you think of Nick Griffin, to be confronted by many protesters baying for his blood and some managing to get into Broadcasting House, must have been frightening.
When he got to the recording studio, he was faced with a handpicked hostile audience and with a very few of his supporters at the back.
Add to this four biased panel members, or five if you include David Dimbleby, who had difficulty in being impartial throughout the programme.
Question Time is usually a debate around the news of the week, but here it was basically a personal attack on Nick Griffin.
When he was allowed to respond to questions, as with most politicians he avoided the question, but when asked about the “holocaust” he said he had changed his mind and did not know why he had denied it in the first place.
We all say and do things which we later regret and change our views. Some Labour politicians, including senior members, were “card-carrying communists”, which presumably they regret now.
A question I would like answered is, while Tony Blair said immigration was good for the British economy, can someone explain why we are behind France and Germany in coming out of recession?
Mr Griffin was also asked a question about Islam and he emphasised in his answer that he disliked the way Muslim women were treated.
Why is it that any prominent person who criticises Islamic ideology or supports debate has to have police protection – e.g. the Dutch MP Mr Wilders?
I personally do not think the BNP is the answer to the problems this country faces, but if the main political parties don’t wake up and listen to the concerns of the people of the UK and give us a choice rather than seeming to all be the same, the minority parties including the BNP will gain.
Peter Minney,
Irondale Close, Northampton.
A thin veneer of respectability
No-one watching the BBC’s recent Question Time programme could fail to have noted the complete lack of intellectual depth demonstrated by Nick Griffin, the BNP leader. He revealed himself to be a manipulative, sly, and consistently evasive individual.
He tried to cloak his fascist and racist inclinations with a thin veneer of respectability by advocating policies designed to appeal to the legitimate concerns of many British people.
He commented on the EU and the dangers of uncontrolled and unlimited immigration. However, he was unable to mask his party’s racist agenda while doing so.
Many people are frustrated at not being given an opportunity to have any say on such important issues. The BNP’s recent successes are a direct result of the Government’s failure to consult the electorate about them.
However, anyone with such concerns can do far better than to waste their votes on a party led by such a demonstratively untrustworthy and, let’s be frank, somewhat deranged individual.
The United Kingdom Independence Party shares most people’s concerns. However, our policies are neither racist nor extremist. UKIP is the only such party that is prepared to tell people the whole truth on these controversial subjects.
We have no hidden agenda. We simply wish to ensure all British citizens are kept fully informed on the implications of such controversial matters and given an opportunity to vote on them.
So a vote for UKIP at the next General Election is the surest way of ensuring your voice is heard loud and clear.
Jim MacArthur,
UKIP Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Northampton North.
Sound madman’s Derngate torture
WITH friends we attended Derngate for the Legendary Gypsy Queens and Kings. It promised a good evening’s entertainment.
The band, loaded with a range of big instruments, set about it with gusto. The singers did their best and the girl sang and danced too.
This was all fine in its way, the trouble was they had a maniac in charge of the sound. Everything was turned up to create a wall of noise which crashed into everyone and reduced everything to a wild cacophony, with every number sounding like the last.
It was torture . . . we have asked for our money back! The seats aren’t cheap. For the first time ever we left at the interval.
John Wright,
North Western Avenue, Kingsthorpe, Northampton.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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