Griffin exposed… but does it matter?

A slightly off topic rant today in that it’s not particularly about Nottingham (although with the English Defence League planning to come to the city soon and with a significant number of BNP supporters in the county, perhaps not so off topic as it seems…).

Griffin: Calls from his own party for his resignation following his Question Time performance won't make much difference to voters.

I know the world and his dog have now commented on BNP leader Nick Griffin’s appearance on Question Time and most agree that he was exposed not just as a fascist and a racist but also as being pretty inarticulate and stupid. However, opinion still seems to be divided on whether or not he should have been allowed to appear and whether or not his performance was good for the BNP.

What strikes me about all this debate is that it’s based on the presumption that the British people will analyse the facts behind such things as immigration into the UK and the BNP’s political manifesto, examine the philosophy that underpins it, listen to the various arguments being put forward and make a considered judgement as to whether voting for them or not is in the best interests of the country.

Rubbish. The truth is that there are a significant number of people in this country who are racist, selfish and stupid. There are also people who are cruel, violent and vicious (often the same people). These people don’t care about Nick Griffin’s performance on Question Time. They just like the idea of sending black people ‘back where they came from’, of persecuting gay people, spending millions of pounds strengthening the armed forces and forcing us all to celebrate St George’s Day. They don’t inhabit a world of reasoned political argument. They come from a place of superficial political posturing, scapegoating, ignorance, bullying, paranoia and fear.

It is these people (with the significant addition of a large number of ill-informed, disillusioned and disgruntled voters who fall for the BNP’s appeal to patriotism and Christianity), who will continue to vote for the BNP for as long as it exists and for as long as they are searching – as most voters seem to do – for a party that will make their lives better for them.

That’s not to say that those of us who see the BNP for what it is (the majority of the population, thank God) shouldn’t continue to oppose them wherever and whenever we can. But expecting Nick Griffin’s sad and embarrassing performance on Question Time to make much difference to those who might vote for these insidious, fascists next year, is, I think, a little naive and over-optimistic.

Back from the brink at Brinsley

I was pleased to see that the voters of Brinsley didn’t repeat the mistake of electing a BNP councillor in the by-election on Thursday.

OK, so they voted for the Tory but at least that’s an improvement on a racist, xenophobe.

In fact, I think the BNP has shot it’s bolt now. Sure, it will still pick up some votes from the uninformed few who really do think that all of the nation’s problems can be solved by deporting anyone who’s not white, banning mixed marriages and making it compulsory to celebrate St. George’s Day but, now the protest vote band-wagon generated by the expenses scandal, has left town, I think we can expect a general election to return the Conservatives to power as the party that represents the acceptable (well, almost…) face of right-wing British politics.

That may not be good but it’s better than the BNP. But then anything’s better…

Brown, BNP and Brinsley

The Brinsley by-election takes place tomorrow (Thursday) and, leaving aside the Tory candidate’s pronouncements which, unsurprisingly, revolve around money as usual (specifically a potential rise in the parish precept), the statements by two of the other candidates perhaps show most what is at stake in this small North Notts ward.

BNP candidate, Nina Brown, lists protecting the green belt and tackling crime and anti-social behaviour as her priorities. Predictable, populist and presumably to be achieved by repatriating all those Eastern European criminals and not allowing black people to picnic on any grass in the area.

On the other hand, Ed Jacobs, the Labour Candidate said: “As Labour’s candidate, I want to fight for something new: a kind of politics which concentrates not what on divides us, but on using the talents of the people of Brinsley and beyond.”

I think that means the talents of all the people of Brinsley, Ms Brown, not just those who can prove they have had Anglo-Saxon ancestors for the last 20 generations.

BNP’s national shame

Like some of my Nottingham colleagues whose blogs are focused on the city, I sometimes go ‘off topic’ when the situation seems to demand it. I’m doing that today to offer my heartfelt congratulations to the Royal British Legion for telling BNP leader Nick Griffin to stop wearing a poppy.

Nick Griffin with poppy

The Legion have accused Griffin of trying to politicise “one of the nation’s most treasured and beloved symbols” by wearing a poppy whilst campaigning in the Euro elections. Apparently they had written to Griffin last month asking him not to use the symbol and appealing to his ’sense of honour’ (!!!). He ignored this request and so now the Legion has demanded that the BNP stop using the armed forces to further their political agenda.

This move follows criticism of the BNP by the Churchill family after the party used images of Winston Churchill in its campaign. Churchill’s grandson described the BNP as “monstrous” and said its use of Churchill was “offensive and disgusting”.

Apart from my total opposition to all the BNP stands for, I have a personal reason for wanting to echo the objections of both the British Legion and the Churchill family. Two of my uncles served in the forces in the Second World War and my father served just after. My uncles are dead but my dad still sells poppies every year in memory of his fallen comrades. All three of them would be aghast at the thought of a fascist like Griffin using either Churchill or the poppy to support his racist, hate-filled ambitions.

That’s exactly what they fought against so valiantly 65 years ago.

City retains its pride in Euro elections

Nottingham is quite rightly proud of its multi-cultural population and the degree of cohesion that exists in its communities. The city houses people from many countries of the world and is now home to third and fourth generation familes from Asia, the Caribbean and many other places. It has also made recent immigrants from Eastern Europe and Africa welcome. If you visit places like Hyson Green, you can see the effects of this with shops and businesses springing up representing a multitude of nationalities but without any of the obvious friction or animosity that other cities seem to experience.

International tastes in Hyson Green

So it was perhaps not surprising but nevertheless very comforting, to see that the pernicious message of the BNP was resisted in the Euro elections and they only managed to get just over 4000 votes in the city (with the Greens getting 130 votes more). The fact that the Labour party came first and UKIP lost ground are also testament to the continuing nature of Nottingham as a city with a ’social democratic’ base.

Turnout in the city was just over 29%, (against the whole East Midlands figure of 37%), which is a cause for concern but probably represents people’s growing disillusionment with politics in general following the expenses scandal and their confusion and apathy over Europe.

So, with the lowest turnout ever, not particularly a good weekend for democracy across Europe but a result that the city of Nottingham can take some comfort from.