22nd October 2009 and the BNP are invited on to Newsnight, is this right, or do you have strong views against it?

BNP Website

I have my views and I will post them later, but I must admit anyone who calls the Republic of Ireland, Eire in today's day and age is a nonsense, to begin with.

They're a legally constituted political party and they should appear on Newsnight. Members of all the other small parties have appeared at one time or another. Let Griffin be subjected to the same questioning that everyone else is. Mind you, I shan't be voting for them any time soon.

As an aside I've just been Googling the BNP and it turns out, according to Wiki, that the National Front were the first party to propose that discrimination on the grounds of sexuality should be made a criminal offence in their 1983 election manifesto. How bizarre.

Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only weapon against bad ideas is better ideas.

~Alfred Whitney Griswold, New York Times, 24 February 1959

One advantage of having it publicised is to prevent the movement from going underground. A lot of the BNP members are just ignorant people who genuinely believe that their policies on preventing the problems that the UK has with immigration, for example, are aimed purely at protecting UK citizens without any racial undertone whatsoever.

That's what they do, they take whatever the current hot potato is at that time and manipulate it to their own ends. It wasn't that long ago that they where in bed with the Muslims in order to promote a family orientated style of living, this was a time when the electorate where considered at the dramatically changing family values in the UK. Now that the Muslim vote will no longer work for them they have completely reversed their opinion and are now jumping on the anti-muslim sentiment bandwagon. So many of their members just don't see that and so a program such as news night might just open their eyes a little more.

I for one will be looking forward to watching this. No doubt Nick Griffin et al will be thinking that it's a great opportunity for them to spread their hatred but their narrow minded little minds can make them forget that most of us can see through their smokescreens, besides there is no way that the BBC and the newsnight presenters will allow the program to end with the BNP 'winning'.

Give enough rope...

Pauline Hanson of Australia was of simmilar politics. I believe she created her own downfall....thankfully, but also inevitably because her ideology just didn't stack up against close scrutiny or logic.

22nd October 2009 and the BNP are invited on to Newsnight, is this right, or do you have strong views against it?

BNP Website

I have my views and I will post them later, but I must admit anyone who calls the Republic of Ireland, Eire in today's day and age is a nonsense, to begin with.

I've just clicked....sorry. In that other thread I connected you to Hibernia....but you're not Scottish. Sorry.

Give enough rope...

I think that you just summed up my entire post in three words.

Give enough rope...

Pauline Hanson of Australia was of simmilar politics. I believe she created her own downfall....thankfully, but also inevitably because her ideology just didn't stack up against close scrutiny or logic.

She had a problem with people who could count as well.

I've just clicked....sorry. In that other thread I connected you to Hibernia....but you're not Scottish. Sorry.

I don't think you have clicked and I am certainly not Scottish.

Hibernia is the the Latin name for Ireland, although you may have related Hibernian to Scotland, which is the original Irish Catholic football team and instead of being rivals with Protestant Rangers, they are rivals with the Edinburgh Protestant team, Hearts.

There you go, completely off topic as is my want, but I thought interesting nonetheless

Interesting indeed. I learn something new every day.

Interesting indeed. I learn something new every day.

Are you presently in Aukland? If so, no idea of time difference but try and catch Newsnight on some kind of news channel, or of course Youtube etc, just seen some clips on the News, it should be interesting.

Griffins dilemma is the media coverage against being made to look incompetent and seriously racist, I wonder which comes out on top?

Yep, Auckland. I just caught a bit of it half an hour ago on Al Jazeera News...unfortunately the angle of the story was the protestors outside the Beeb, so not much on the content of Griffins words.

A BBC spokesman defending their stance on allowing him to appear.

It mentioned the political dilemna of free speech vs restrictions on offensive speech.

What was that thread where people were debating "freedom"?

Friday morning here. Auckland is one of the first cities to see the sun each day....GMT + 12.

It was a rather disappointing programme, it was more like a lynch mob than a debate, even Dimbleby was biased in his chairmanship.

The programme spent almost its entirety on attacking Griffin, instead of debating a range of subjects, which is the normal format.

Are there any YouTube clips of the program?

It was a rather disappointing programme, it was more like a lynch mob than a debate, even Dimbleby was biased in his chairmanship.

The programme spent almost its entirety on attacking Griffin, instead of debating a range of subjects, which is the normal format.

They obviously were not sly enough to "give him enough rope". Perhaps they were afraid to give him free reign.

Al Jazeera reported that he was a holocaust denier?

It was a rather disappointing programme, it was more like a lynch mob than a debate, even Dimbleby was biased in his chairmanship.

The programme spent almost its entirety on attacking Griffin, instead of debating a range of subjects, which is the normal format.

The Beeb did point out today that all questions asked on QT are all from the audience and the panel doesn't know what they're going to be beforehand. Maybe the questions that the audience handed in last night were all about Griffin?

Over 10.5 Million viewers watched the show, more than Strictly Come Dancing and the highest figures recorded for a 2230 slot ever.

Some seem to think he made a fool of himself, others like Moss ( and himself ) that he was hard done by. Either way a great majority of the UK is now thinking about him and his party.

Infamy, a very dangerous thing indeed, I prefer anonymity for my nutcases.

They say that any publicity is good publicity, but I have never accepted that.

People who think the same way as he does are now aware of the existence of his party.

Arch conservative parties always run on fear... migrants will get your jobs, your taxes will be spent on the lazy, homosexuals will teach your children in schools. You'd be amazed how that sucks people in.

But then again, maybe you wouldn't.

People who think the same way as he does are now aware of the existence of his party.

I would have thought that people who think the same way as him have known about his party for a long time. It's the people who don't necessarily agree with all of his points of view but who are dissallusioned with all the other parties are the one's who's attention he has got.

As for my view. It's a democratic society and if people want to vote for him, that's their choice and I believe his voice should be heard. It's only when publicly questioned will his real agenda and policies be known to all.

Griffin should be allowed to speak freely on TV, or anywhere for that matter, but he should be made to inhale helium at the same time in order to detract credibility from what he says.

Griffin should be allowed to speak freely on TV, or anywhere for that matter, but he should be made to inhale helium at the same time in order to detract credibility from what he says.

What are you afraid of? As a leader of a legitimate political party he, and his colleagues should be afforded the right to a free and unhindered address to the British public. To do otherwise gives him the oxygenic boost of suppression which will do him far more favours than a free debate. Would you prefer he be silenced such that the conspiracy theorists can have their field day? Let him speak free and unfettered and let the British public make their minds up who they would prefer to run the country. If he, and the BNP, should garner sufficient votes to have an impact on parliament then that speaks with a deafening volume of the alienation of a section of the British public. At the very least this current wave of publicity should act as a wake up call to the other political parties that there is this level of dissent on certain issues within the public and to ignore it invites conflict.

What are you afraid of?

Thick people. I'm afraid of thick people. I fully realise he only has to open his mouth for most reasonable people to know immediately what a shitlicking neo-fascist cunthead he is. This way he gets his free speech and even thick people who will never understand the real issues will laugh and point at him and say he's a <deleted>.

What are you afraid of?

Thick people. I'm afraid of thick people. I fully realise he only has to open his mouth for most reasonable people to know immediately what a shitlicking neo-fascist cunthead he is. This way he gets his free speech and even thick people who will never understand the real issues will laugh and point at him and say he's a <deleted>.

Yeah. Thick people can be scary because they can't be reasoned with.

This is the main problem with democracy: the ignorant masses get to decide things because they outnumber the intelligentsia.

Are you trying to change the subject to Thaksin and his supporters?

Haha....I'll say nothing about Thai politics because I don't live there and so I don't really know.

Have a look around General and Thai News; you'll see that not knowing is no barrier to commenting on the current political situation there.

This is the main problem with democracy: the ignorant masses get to decide things because they outnumber the intelligentsia.

Yeah, everyone gets 'to decide things' in a democracy. That's exactly how it works.

This is the main problem with democracy: the ignorant masses get to decide things because they outnumber the intelligentsia.

Yeah, everyone gets 'to decide things' in a democracy. That's exactly how it works.

In theory, yeah. Not everyone, the majority. Elected officials have the mandate of the people.

Look at the democracy of the EU!!!