"Nick Griffin was bullied. David Dimbleby was a disgrace. Members of the public have been persuaded by BNP policies". These were some of the views expressed on Radio 5 immediately after Question Time. The majority view was that Nick Griffin came off badly in the debate. He gave confused answers and his bigotry was exposed.
Other criticisms of the programme were that too much time was taken up with the BNP but compare this with criticisms that their policies were not discussed. I was interested to hear a little more on policy on the radio. The BNP councillor is a Leeds fan and felt the example of foreign footballers playing for Leeds was an extreme example of immigration policy. When pressed on the issue, because football is a business like any other, he was willing to concede that footballers could come over for five years as long as they went back. I'm not sure where five years comes from but can we now presume that five years applies to architects, doctors, entertainers and cleaners?
So did the BNP come off well or were they exposed as racists? I think that BNP supporters have a further vehicle to support their views. They'll claim that they must be a mainstream party because they have been on Question Time. However, the fact that discussion totally avoided pressing issues such as the economy, on which the BNP has nothing to say, shows how far from the mainstream the BNP actually is; and those who oppose the BNP have more ammunition to attack their non-mainstream racist policies. With all the exposure in the world there will still be racists around so they will vote for the party with racist policies.
Change the world
Other criticisms of the programme were that too much time was taken up with the BNP but compare this with criticisms that their policies were not discussed. I was interested to hear a little more on policy on the radio. The BNP councillor is a Leeds fan and felt the example of foreign footballers playing for Leeds was an extreme example of immigration policy. When pressed on the issue, because football is a business like any other, he was willing to concede that footballers could come over for five years as long as they went back. I'm not sure where five years comes from but can we now presume that five years applies to architects, doctors, entertainers and cleaners?
So did the BNP come off well or were they exposed as racists? I think that BNP supporters have a further vehicle to support their views. They'll claim that they must be a mainstream party because they have been on Question Time. However, the fact that discussion totally avoided pressing issues such as the economy, on which the BNP has nothing to say, shows how far from the mainstream the BNP actually is; and those who oppose the BNP have more ammunition to attack their non-mainstream racist policies. With all the exposure in the world there will still be racists around so they will vote for the party with racist policies.
Change the world
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