How many people define themselves as working class now though John?  Most people like to think of themselves as middle class (even if they're not) and those working class people who are earning a good wage but still consider themselves working class will not align themselves with the BNP either if their jobs aren't threatened by mass immigration.  (There are certain jobs which are unsuitable for immigrants if those immigrants don't speak English very well so those jobs are relatively safe).   I don't think the BNP will gather many more votes unless they try to do a New Labour and change the Party and if they do then they'll no longer be worth voting for.

Nick Griffin MEP has said in a video on the main page of the BNP website about the Question Time inquisition, "i made some gaffs here and there".

Like calling gay people "rather creepy"? [smiley] He won't win any votes from the community that's for sure. It shows how far attitudes have changed though - when we see Rigsby in Rising Damp his attitude seems very old fashioned. But compare him to Geoffrey Fourmile (George & Mildred) and that snobbish attitude towards the "lower orders" is not only still with us but positively thriving.

newspresenter:

Nick Griffin MEP has said in a video on the main page of the BNP website about the Question Time inquisition, "i made some gaffs here and there".

Wasn't that what they were trying to make him do - he has not got the experience of the like of Jack Straw, who I think made a few himself.

A better panel and audience would have given everyone a better chance of finding out what their true policies are.

I again ask, why didn't anyone address his point about the mistreatment of women under Islam.

"why didn't anyone address his point about the mistreatment of women under Islam". Let's face it nobody on that panel or in that audience was ever going to address that point or any of the other points he had to make. The only reason they tackled the question on immigration was because it was posed by a member of the audience - had Nick Griffin asked the question it would most probably have been dismissed as a "foil for his racist policies" or some other such mainstream party speak.

The real problem though isn't really race or immigration but inequality. Those higher up the socio-economic strata (like the Jack Straws, like the Baronness Warsis, like the Bonnie Greers) don't have to worry about whether someone else will come along and do their job for less so they can afford to sit in judgement and call everyone else racist who doesn't want to end up on the dole because they are undercut by foreigners.

Someone also asked the panel why immigration is allowed to continue when there are so many unemployed. Again another question which was dismissed. It seems it profits business more to employ cheap labour from abroad than to invest in British people. And who gets all the blame - those on the dole (of course!).

rosiet2008:

Like calling gay people "rather creepy"? [smiley] He won't win any votes from the community that's for sure.

He didn't call anyone "rather creepy", he called 2 men kissing that. Chances are if you've mis-heard him, more people did.

That's just semantics talking.  Creepy is as creepy does.  If you say what people do is creepy you are in effect saying they are creepy for choosing to do it.  I know we all have our own prejudices but a long as they're consenting adults and they're not doing anything illegal where's the harm? 

Not semantics - sophistry. 

Educated, articulate middle class white people can live side by side with educated, articulate middle class immigrants because both are economically secure and if either for some reason to lose their job would have more choice open to them as to an alternative.   How many middle of these educated, articulate middle class people live next door to a refuse collector?  None and they will never do so - people may complain about racism from the "far right" but class prejudice is universal.

The only way most working class people would ever find themselves living next door to an educated, articlate middle class person would be if they were to themselves become educated, articulate and middle class or to win the lottery and just watch the house prices fall as the newly wealthy working class "oik" moves into the neighbourhood.  The BNP may not necessarily represent all the views of the working class but they talk of worker share ownership and of profit sharing.  No doubt though like all the other parties they would still support the notion that if people do a hard physical job they are somehow less worthy than someone who when the boss is away spends as much time on the computer doing anything but work but who has the right qualifications, the right accent, the right vowel sounds and most importantly aspirations.

there are too many things wrong with this country now to isolate any one issue.  There will always be a class divide between the rich and poor and the system (Queen, Royal Family) etc., is to blame for alot of this.  People in countries like Australia, everyone is equal because there is no class system.

So if the BNP want to bring this country back to how it was before it needs to work out what we dont want what was here before and then move on to what the country needs now.

rosiet2008:

The real problem though isn't really race or immigration but inequality. Those higher up the socio-economic strata (like the Jack Straws, like the Baronness Warsis, like the Bonnie Greers) don't have to worry about whether someone else will come along and do their job for less so they can afford to sit in judgement and call everyone else racist who doesn't want to end up on the dole because they are undercut by foreigners.

 

I personally do not care for Jack Straw, but in all fairness his roots couldn't be more working class.  Single mother, council estate.  He's proved that if you have the desire and some ability you can move up the socio-economic strata and you don't have to spend your life slating people whose prospects and lifestyle are better than your own. If you don't have ANY ability then you have to accept the fact that you belong at the bottom of the pile.  You're in charge of your own life.  No one else is to blame if you choose to wallow in a stagnant pool.

 

I was quite surprised to read that Nick Griffin won a scholarship to an excellent independent school for the last two years of his school life.  Also that he is a Cambridge graduate and (this rather impresses me) boxed for Cambridge and won two out of his three fights against Oxford.  Now the type of person who condemns the people who make a success of (and are happy with) their lives, will sneer at the fact that this impresses me, but I will say that people who excel at sport are more often than not, determined, competitive and disciplined, and we need that in a leader.                         

 

(I am not a Nick Griffin supporter)

Sorry folks  -  I should not have said 'No one is to blame if  YOU choose to wallow in a stagnant pool'  I should have said 'No one is to blame if WE choose to wallow in a.........