BNP on QT: The morning after
Well, all in all, the affair was not as bad as it could have been. Nick Griffin didn't do a very good job, and his interlocutors did. However, the BNP have managed to completely dominate the news agenda this morning, with the covers of all the papers and a large proportion of the radio news. I haven't checked the blogosphere, but I'm sure it's buzzing. Whether all of that matters in places like Pendle and Charnwood and Barnsely and Thurrock, who knows; I doubt it.
Griffin tried to portray himself as a victim of the liberal elite, and the altered format of the show, turned into a kind of kangaroo court, should have helped that, except the other contestants (I know that's not their proper title, but you know what I mean) on the show behaved pretty well and he came across like a bit of a nutter.
I'm not sure why the BBC gave so much air time to his views on Islam this morning. That was one part of the show where he seemed more coherent. Playing him at length and not playing Baroness Warsi's response gave him quite a platform.
More links: Melanie Phillips - I think she is actually right in most of what she says, except that all of the mainstream parties compete to demonstrate their anti-immigration credentials, and are not averse to stigmatising Muslims from time to time. Also in the Mail, writing in advance of the show, Richard Littlejohn's not bad (update: but see qualifications in the comments below). Nick Lowles was posting on all of Griffin's lies during the show. I'm now working my way through this huge load of links.
Related: Symon Hill on the white working class (via Jim)
Griffin tried to portray himself as a victim of the liberal elite, and the altered format of the show, turned into a kind of kangaroo court, should have helped that, except the other contestants (I know that's not their proper title, but you know what I mean) on the show behaved pretty well and he came across like a bit of a nutter.
I'm not sure why the BBC gave so much air time to his views on Islam this morning. That was one part of the show where he seemed more coherent. Playing him at length and not playing Baroness Warsi's response gave him quite a platform.
More links: Melanie Phillips - I think she is actually right in most of what she says, except that all of the mainstream parties compete to demonstrate their anti-immigration credentials, and are not averse to stigmatising Muslims from time to time. Also in the Mail, writing in advance of the show, Richard Littlejohn's not bad (update: but see qualifications in the comments below). Nick Lowles was posting on all of Griffin's lies during the show. I'm now working my way through this huge load of links.
Related: Symon Hill on the white working class (via Jim)
Comments
What happens, for instance, when Griffin reminds Straw that it's Gordon Brown banging the 'British Jobs for British Workers' drum and a Labour government now boasting about repatriating illegal immigrants?
[...] Griffin's goons have been able to goose-step their way on to territory vacated by mainstream politicians, who collectively regard the patriotic white working class as bigoted peasants and smear anyone who raises genuine concerns about immigration, however moderately, as a 'racist'.
I didn't actually read the third bit of the column, about the Bolivian, and he is completely wrong on that.
So, yes, while his hatred of the BNP sounds impressive, it does ring hollow.