Last night's Question Time has caused a bit of a stir. I was always in favour of the BBC giving the British National Party a platform. It seemed to me a great opportunity to fully expose the abhorrent underlying aims of the party, while at the same time bringing to the fore issues that so obviously need to be addressed in contemporary Britain. But I'm afraid the programme failed to deliver.
Jack Straw was a disgrace, as were the liberal drip Chris Huhne and the awful Tory Baroness Warsi, failed MP, and, insultingly introduced as the most powerful Muslim woman in Britain. The BNP's hideous leader Nick Griffin was exposed in the first 10 minutes. Not hard to do - anyone with an ounce of intelligence could achieve that. Bonnie Greer, the fourth member of the panel, has more than a few ounces of intelligence to spare. She was superb, cutting down Griffin with scathing charm and sassy wit.
Sadly, Greer was shunted into a siding for much of the programme, being called upon only for enlightening soundbites, as it descended into a tasteless game of "who can be the most anti-racist" between the aforementioned trio. Such political one-upmanship around the issue of racism was awful to watch. There was no intelligent discussion and real issues were not debated.
Griffin and his core racist beliefs are vile, on that point there is no debate, but the fact is, some of his policies resonate, to varying degrees, with growing elements of the low-income working class. They should have been addressed. When he questions why soldiers have to pay to watch TV in hospital and why the NHS is now a lumbering, semi-privatised bureaucracy with inadequate care structures, that strikes a chord. When he says that education has been dumbed down and many graduates cannot even spell, some people nod their heads in agreement. When he tells the disaffected unemployed that he will rebuild British manufacturing, he gets approval, however grudging it might be at first. The audience missed the opportunity, in nailing Griffin, to also pin down Straw and demand answers, as did Warsi and Huhne, who have no answers themselves.
As for the audience, which was obviously stacked by the BBC and fell straight into pantomime mode, everyone was so riled up on the anti-racism bandwagon that a great opportunity was missed. Griffin's policies can be pulled to pieces with ease but within his lies there are some truths, so why weren't those real issues discussed and thrown at Straw. Answers should have been demanded. Griffin was roasted but the main political parties were let off scott free.
The only bright spot was Bonnie Greer.
As I watched, I could not help wondering if things would have been different if the show had been filmed in say Blackburn, Bristol, Doncaster or Sunderland. I was therefore not surprised today as I heard Griffin complain to Sky News: "That was not a genuine Question Time; that was a lynch mob.
"That audience was taken from a city that is no longer British ... That was not my country any more. Why not come down and do it in Thurrock, do it in Stoke, do it in Burnley? Do it somewhere where there are still significant numbers of English and British people [living], and they haven't been ethnically cleansed from their own country."
Of course the slant he takes is his own warped vision of reality and I for one, as an Englishman with roots most likely leading back to the ancient celtic inhabitants of these isles, find his use of the term "ethnically cleansed" to be thoroughly repulsive. To my mind and eyes, all human beings are equal. However, there is no doubt that in the places he cites and more, there are a growing number of disaffected individuals that feel neglected by the ruling political class.
I do not have the answers but what I do know is that concerns regarding rising poverty and depleted public services are mixing with fears about unemployment and identity in a rapidly changing society. These fears, however irrational they may seem to the political class, are real fears to those who experience them and can feed xenophobia, which in turn gives rise to extreme elements. If the governemt does not address these issuse, it does not matter how much of the moral high ground politicians take or how much of a deranged racist idiot they make Griffin look, there will be a price to pay somewhere down the road.
Jack Straw was a disgrace, as were the liberal drip Chris Huhne and the awful Tory Baroness Warsi, failed MP, and, insultingly introduced as the most powerful Muslim woman in Britain. The BNP's hideous leader Nick Griffin was exposed in the first 10 minutes. Not hard to do - anyone with an ounce of intelligence could achieve that. Bonnie Greer, the fourth member of the panel, has more than a few ounces of intelligence to spare. She was superb, cutting down Griffin with scathing charm and sassy wit.
Sadly, Greer was shunted into a siding for much of the programme, being called upon only for enlightening soundbites, as it descended into a tasteless game of "who can be the most anti-racist" between the aforementioned trio. Such political one-upmanship around the issue of racism was awful to watch. There was no intelligent discussion and real issues were not debated.
Griffin and his core racist beliefs are vile, on that point there is no debate, but the fact is, some of his policies resonate, to varying degrees, with growing elements of the low-income working class. They should have been addressed. When he questions why soldiers have to pay to watch TV in hospital and why the NHS is now a lumbering, semi-privatised bureaucracy with inadequate care structures, that strikes a chord. When he says that education has been dumbed down and many graduates cannot even spell, some people nod their heads in agreement. When he tells the disaffected unemployed that he will rebuild British manufacturing, he gets approval, however grudging it might be at first. The audience missed the opportunity, in nailing Griffin, to also pin down Straw and demand answers, as did Warsi and Huhne, who have no answers themselves.
As for the audience, which was obviously stacked by the BBC and fell straight into pantomime mode, everyone was so riled up on the anti-racism bandwagon that a great opportunity was missed. Griffin's policies can be pulled to pieces with ease but within his lies there are some truths, so why weren't those real issues discussed and thrown at Straw. Answers should have been demanded. Griffin was roasted but the main political parties were let off scott free.
The only bright spot was Bonnie Greer.
As I watched, I could not help wondering if things would have been different if the show had been filmed in say Blackburn, Bristol, Doncaster or Sunderland. I was therefore not surprised today as I heard Griffin complain to Sky News: "That was not a genuine Question Time; that was a lynch mob.
"That audience was taken from a city that is no longer British ... That was not my country any more. Why not come down and do it in Thurrock, do it in Stoke, do it in Burnley? Do it somewhere where there are still significant numbers of English and British people [living], and they haven't been ethnically cleansed from their own country."
Of course the slant he takes is his own warped vision of reality and I for one, as an Englishman with roots most likely leading back to the ancient celtic inhabitants of these isles, find his use of the term "ethnically cleansed" to be thoroughly repulsive. To my mind and eyes, all human beings are equal. However, there is no doubt that in the places he cites and more, there are a growing number of disaffected individuals that feel neglected by the ruling political class.
I do not have the answers but what I do know is that concerns regarding rising poverty and depleted public services are mixing with fears about unemployment and identity in a rapidly changing society. These fears, however irrational they may seem to the political class, are real fears to those who experience them and can feed xenophobia, which in turn gives rise to extreme elements. If the governemt does not address these issuse, it does not matter how much of the moral high ground politicians take or how much of a deranged racist idiot they make Griffin look, there will be a price to pay somewhere down the road.
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