And the current government are any better? Sending people off to a war many felt we shouldn't be involved in resulting in people dying and their families being left widowed, childless, fatherless...Not that I'm saying I wish this, because I don't, but if the BNP got in you could follow your girlfriend back to her country...Those parents, wives, children can't follow their loved ones.

I don't support the BNP, but it is the system which we faught to use which voted them in. We have ourselves to blame, us, the common people.

Personally, I don't mind two seats out of how many!? being taken up by someone new, get new blood and new ideas in, even if no one listens I can't see it being a bad thing to have new reason, to clarify that a suggestion is good, or to think a little differently than normal.

Honestly, if these people are so radical, what can they achieve if the rest of the room is against them?

There's an interesting quote from (I think) C.S. Lewis on the subject. "There's nothing worse than a benevolent dictator, because for everything they impose they do so with the complete agreement of their own conscience".

I just saw a clip from the BNP leader saying that the protest today was funded and organised by the labour party, and that the home office ordered the police not to get involved!

I'm certainly not pro-war, and I don't wish to sound unsympathetic to those affected, but premature death is one of the expected side effects of joining the military.
Would a BNP government not have entered the war? Somehow, the thought of Mr Griffin and his band of thugs with access to the military scares me.
I can hear them now - "The opportunity to kill brown people you say? Jolly good."



The problem is that those two seats equal a cash flow of money into the BNPs pockets. Come the next election, the money earned by the two MEPs will be used to increase their presence.
Their presence in the European Parliament legitimises their aims and let's not forget, the people we send represent the nation.
Personally, I don't with fascists to represent my country.
I find their ideology repellent, and wholeheartedly support the use of egg-based weaponry whenever possible in the presence of these people.
The worrying thing is that nearly a million people in this nation at the moment think that the BNP have some good ideas.

Ooh goody a good old soundbite **yawns**
Typical generic anti-establishment rhetoric FTW.

BNP members and that tend to be a bit paranoid, I know one, daft as a wire wool thong for marathon practice.

If Griffin and his ilk ever get any real power remember that, since democracy, free speech, tolerance and open debate will be the first things they remove as obstacles to their aim of creating a “white” Britain.

The BNP’s election success will give encouragement to every racist thug and bigot in the country. If that’s what you want, fine, stick by your abstract principles of democracy and free speech. In the real world, the rise of fascism means racist harassment and attacks in a climate of hate and fear.

Sadly I agree with both of you the best way to tackle extremes is to have a strong middle ground ( Labour, Conservative or Lib Dem ) once these are weakened, as they are currently, then the extremes have a far greater chance of getting started and are then hard to stop ( they get nearly £1m a year from Brussels with those 2 seats ). We have to get the voting public to vote and vote sensibly otherwise we will be in deep trouble.

What an eggsellent way to deal with eggstremist!

In addition,



Indeed, the perfect system theoretically is one where 10 per cent of the population rule over 90 per cent who are slaves. The problem is of course, if you extrapolate that theory to real life, which side do you think everybody wants to be on?

Plato's The Republic deals with this most astutely, debating the pros and cons of a society ruled by philosopher kings.

Here's the rub : the Government have spent the last 8 years or so, telling us how our lives are at threat from 'terrorists'. Sure 'terrorists' exist but not in the manner in which the Government want us to think. I am not about to get into conspiracy theories but if you keep telling people their lives are at risk from Pakistanis or other Muslims, then some people are going to want to not have any of these people in the country, and the BNP offers that chance.

If anyone is to blame for BNP members getting seats, its Labour.

Yep. Labour governments raise people’s hopes then let them down, resulting in a lurch to the right: in the ’60s it manifested in workers’ striking in support of Enoch Powell; in the ’70s we had the National Front and Thatcher; now it’s the BNP.

Quite so. Why is the Euro MP for some obscure Northern wasteland having a press conference outside Parliament in London?

Not that I completely disagree about extremist parties having the chance to be voted into a democratic governing system, how exactly do you propose they are stopped from standing for election?

Who decides who can stand and for what principles?



On the other hand:
This is very much the thinking that gave Adolf Hitler the post of Chancellor after the 1933 German elections

That's exactly the kind of thinking that got widespread Conservative support. It's all bollocks. "Labour" aren't to blame any more than any other "party". The entire western world has been made fearful of terrorism by a variety of governments of differing flavours.

We have got to stop this whole party thing! When the Conservatives presumably win the general, do you think they'll be honest and tell us that the terrorism threat was exaggerated during the last 8 years, for whatever purpose? They'll continue to steer the country in the same direction - as would the Lib Dems.

Just because someone is a racist doesn't mean they don't have valid opinions. I'm up for a government that is representative of it's people. Some people don't like immigrants or are racists or whatever and those people have the right to be represented in government. Some people might be communists and they also have a right to representation. If the system allowed for a cross section of society to be presented, the resulting government might be able to reach compromises on the issues. Instead we have this polarising thing called politics. If some people in this country agree with the BNP and "we" as a country don't like that, we need to look at the causes of those feelings. Not point the finger, or throw eggs.

Simon, my principles are not abstract. The "real world" is a phrase thrown about all the time to justify things that we as a planet should not be so apathetic and accepting of. Just because this is the "real world" should I not strive for the best of everything? Should I give up, because life is not fair, or because in this day and age we can't afford to be idealistic etc?

I don't believe so. It may be fiction, but I will always remember this from Superman.

"They can be a great people, Kal-El, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all... their capacity for good... I have sent them you - my only son." - Jor-El

Idealistic? Perhaps. But definitely something to aspire to. This planet is a wondrous place and I for one wish to enjoy it without infringing other's liberty or having them infringe mine. Whether that be in voting for the government/representative of their choosing, or a plethora of other issues.

I just think that someone who has been convicted of intent to incite racial hatred should not be permitted to be an MP, if you are convicted of child abuse you wouldn't expect to be able to work as a primary school teacher. I think that's a valid view point.

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