A misguided attempt to gag the BNP?

[sp1814]

Peter Hain has warned that the BBC could face legal action over it's invitation to Nick Griffin to appear on 'Question Time' because at the moment it's constitution renders the party illegal under current race relations laws:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8313680.stm

Is this misguided on Mr Hain's part? Even if constitutionally they ARE breaking the law...they haven't actually been prosecuted yet, so technically, they're in the clear, aren't they???

[Gromit]

This is definitely an own goal.

The British people are moderate by nature and do not like extremists of any persuasion. The BNP haven't really been put under any scrutiny, and this was an ideal place to do that. Their appearance would shown them for what they are, and the fair minded viewers will have not been impressed.

If Hain gets his way, it just looks like the Labour Party are scared, and that will please Mr Griffin.

[sp1814]

Gromit

I agree...everything should be done to ensure that the BNP get their airtime, so people can hear what they have to say, and make up their own minds.

The worst thing that could happen is a repeat of the ludicrous Tory gagging of Sinn Fein in the 80s.

[VHG]

Hain (and the main parties) need to realise the BNP are not going to go away.

I was in central Birmingham yesterday shopping. Went into C**phone Wa**house near the Bull Ring as they have a laptop on offer at the moment.

As I was looking at the laptop I glanced round the shop I was rather shocked.

I noticed all 4 people serving were Asian. I also noticed the 15 other customers in the shop were either Asian, Black, or Chinese. I was the only "white" person in the shop.

Now I dont know about anyone else, but I dont want to be a minority in my own city (or country).

As long as the 3 main parties continue to ignore the immigration issue then the BNP will continue to get votes.

See this article on the BBC web site (or see Panorama tonight) you will see immigration it IS a big issue, whether Hain likes it or not.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_8303000/8303229.stm

[anotheoldgit]

Panorama - Undercover: Hate on the Doorstep

We see many programmes put out by the BBC or Channel 4 depicting the alleged treatment that many ethnic minorities have to endure from the whites, but we never see programmes put on showing what effect immigration has had on the indigenous population, and how it has altered their way of life.

Whites have to witness their race accused and criticised, sometimes in the most abominable way, without any chance of redress whatsoever, and yet we never see ethnic minorities shown in a bad light. It would be inconceivable to see a programme on black gangs and of the many inner city areas where it is unsafe for a white person to enter, why is this?

It is just the same with both extremes of the political; spectrum, the "Far Left" seem quite acceptable but this is not so regarding the "Far Right".

[sp1814]

VHG

Hang on a second...didn't you post something very similar a few months ago when you wrote that you had to go to a hospital and you looked up and you realised your were the only white person there?

Yes!!! It WAS you, wasn't it?

Sorry, but that has REALLY cracked me up - it's like a Little Britain sketch..."I looked up Edna, and everyone was Indian...arrrrggh!"

I shouldn't take the mickey - but really, if you go to predominantly Asian areas to go shopping, what can you expect.

Here's another one - Brixton is fully of blacks, Wembley is full Sikhs, but Aberdeen, Herfordshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Paisley, Bournemouth, Dublin, Morpeth and Edinburgh are all largely white. In fact, there are thousands of places in the UK you can live and not see a foreign face from one month to the next.

However, there are areas of the country where immigrants have congregated due to lower rents. Pockets grow like this because traditional white residents move out from the inner cities, and about a generation later, the original immigrants (once they've made a bit of money) also move out to the suburbs.

I'm surprised you've not noticed immigrants before. I've seen black and Asian faces for over 40 years. Doesn't bother me!

[sp1814]

anotheoldgit

'BNP Wives' which was on a few nights ago set out exactly what the white indigenous population thinks about immigration.

It made interesting viewing.

[anotheoldgit]

Must have missed that one, but from it's very title I bet it wasn't screened to put the BNP in a more favourable light?

What I would like to see is a more balanced view from the media, on the problematic subject of immigration, it can only be fair can't it?

[sp1814]

AOG

It was extremely fair...there was no commentary - it was just wives of BNP members explaining their views. It wasn't even edited in a way to editorialise the content.

They didn't explain themselves very well.

[anotheoldgit]

//" I just feel sorry for their kids having to live in such an atmosphere of intolerance, some of it's surely bound to rub off?"//

Is that why there are so many protesters on the roof of the Houses of Parliament, tearing down fences of power stations and generally disrupting peaceful protests.

Are these the kids of the far left?

[rov1200]

All the protestations by Hain, Jack Straw and Alan Johnston make you think Labour is trying to cover up for their past open doors policy. They realise its too late to shut the gate after being swamped by immigrants. They also realise there is no simple way of extraditing them without appearing being fascist themselves,

If on the other hand they feel no such guilt maybe they should all be examined on reality TV.

[sp1814]

I actually felt a bit sorry for a lot of the people in the BNP Wives documentary. They looked unhappy but it wasn't just immigration - their lives were horrible...they lived in incredibly bad accomodation, they had unruly kids and they didn't seem to have any kind of 'future plan'. No university, no hope of better career prospects...just manual work, beer, fags, tattooes and an astonishingly large amount of bad language.

I count myself extremely lucky that I had a mother who said she'd disown me if I didn't do well at school (I'm fairly sure she wasn't joking either).

[Iggle Piggle]

What the BNP need to do is register as a religion, then when anyone tries to shut them up they can call on the Human Rights Act - freedom of religion.

Don't Labour realise if they had more backbone the BNP would not have so much support, so it's their own fault !

[andy-hughes]

I watched the BNP Wives programme and it fell neatrly into the 'Give Them Enough Rope ... ' scenario. For this reason, the BNP should be given a platform as the legitimate politifal party that they are.

The BBC is impartial by charter, and cannot simply decide it doesn't like someone's views and use that as a means of censorship.

I am sure it will be very interesting to hear Nick Griffin try and make his party's views sound in any way sane or sensible to a cross-section of the British public.

As I have stated before - I am white British by an accident of birth, and have done nothing conciously to protect any 'rights' anyone may think I have to live here surrounded by similar individuals. We all share the planet, and our cultures can co-exist quite nicely if no-one stirs up myths and stupidity.