Inebriated ramblings of a madman

So I’m sure there are many readers on here who’ve seen Question Time on BBC1 - it’s bound to be a hot topic in the media tomorrow, so I thought it’s best that I get out what I think now, before it’s been coloured by the increasingly biased coverage that has plagued this debate.

Through no point of the ‘debate’ was Nick Griffin allowed to complete any point he had made, and his floor time was significantly less than that occupied by other panel members. The whole thing was not an exercise in political debate at all, but rather in scapegoating and scoring cheap points. Yes, of course some good points were made, but these were almost entirely obscured by the clear witch-burning present in the show.

I feel I should clarify my political stance, so as to avoid being misinterpreted. Firstly, the flow of immigration into the UK needs to be stemmed. This is not, of course, to ban every immigrant from coming to our shores, but rather to preserve jobs in the UK (which are in very high demand at the moment) - especially those in low-paid sectors - which many British unemployed would jump at but simply can’t get access to.

Secondly, we need to know what every party is going to do about the current economic furore; this is a fundamental issue to the next election. Rather than punishing financial advisers for following FSA guidelines (as has happened to a number of Independent Financial Advisers that I know, my own father included) stricter controls need to be put on The Exchequer, The Bank of England and the higher echelons in the banking industry. It is here that the astonishing leak in funds is coming from, as it is from here that the Sub-Prime mortgage market was approved and monitored by the FSA.

Thirdly, we need change. The Labour government has systematically failed to deliver the promises it set out on its original election to office under Blair, and has fallen to wrack and ruin under Brown. Of course, after Thatcher and Major the Tories aren’t faring much better. And the Liberals? Don’t make me laugh.

A coalition of minor parties may be on the cards, but this would cause discord in the Commons, making political decisions so much more difficult because of the lack of unity that would doubtless result from an alliance of such poorly-organised parties and independent candidates from regional elections.

So where does that leave the BNP? And indeed me in relation to the party? Well, I still have no opinion either way, as I have yet to see any compelling evidence.

And what about the BNP’s supposed racial motivation? Well, I can see how their policies could be construed that way, and far be it from me to tell the reader what they should or shouldn’t read into them. Even if they had such a bent, do you think that they would dare try to enforce any of it?

Then there’s the issue of scapegoating. Of course, the Tory and Labour panelists were both very quick to accuse Mr. Griffin of making a scapegoat out of an irrelevant issue. But hang on, what have both governments done about drug users; about Islamic extremists; about “terrorism”; about the E.U.; and now about Nick Griffin and the BNP? From where I’m standing, they have no moral high ground from which to sneer.

“Racists should not be allowed to run for election,” says the Angry Mob. “They endanger everything Democracy is and stands for.”

“No,” say I: “By attempting to deny the Democratic Right of these people to discuss and debate their views in an open forum: by attempting to deny them their Democratic Right to free speech: by ignoring the majority of political issues surrounding candidates in favour of the views of the Tabloid, Powers-That-Be-controlled media; you, yourselves are endangering Democracy - and with it every single value for which our forefathers fought, right back to the signing of Magna Carta and even earlier.”

Now, I would like to clearly reiterate that I do not consider myself a BNP supporter, but for goodness’ sake let’s not turn serious political debate into another episode of Jeremy Kyle. Let’s sit down and hear what everyone has to say, and then judge for ourselves what we think to it. And, most fundamentally, allow everyone else the maximum opportunity to do the same.

That’s all I’ve got to say, save that I believe this is a very dark day for British politics and Democracy as a whole. But not in the way that you might have thought. Go away, think about it and vote on election day. That’s the only way you’ll make your views known in a constructive and mature way.