[Turk]

Quote:

The BBC has confirmed it may invite British National Party leader Nick Griffin to appear on a future edition of the Question Time programme.

A spokesman said the BBC was bound by the rules to treat all political parties with "due impartiality".

Talks are being held with other parties, some of whom have previously refused to share a platform with the BNP because of its policies on race.

But the BBC says no parties can dictate who should not be included on the show.

No BNP representatives have yet appeared on the BBC's flagship panel show.

“ Our audiences - and the electorate - will make up their own minds about the different policies offered by elected politicians ”
BBC spokesman
But the corporation has reviewed its position following the far-right party's success in last June's European elections, in which Mr Griffin was one of two BNP candidates to be elected as an MEP

The BBC's chief political adviser, Ric Bailey, said the BNP had now "demonstrated evidence of electoral support at a national level."

He said this would be "reflected" in the amount of coverage the party received on BBC programmes such as Question Time.

Mr Bailey added: "The BBC is obliged to treat all political parties registered with the Electoral Commission and operating within the law with due impartiality."

The corporation issued its statement after the Observer newspaper claimed the BBC had "forced" the Labour Party to consider its policy of not sharing the same platform with the BNP.

The paper said a number of senior Labour figures, including Health Secretary Alan Johnson, had been approached by Question Time and that the party was now reviewing its position.

Mr Bailey said: " We are in talks with the parties on 'Question Time' which could feature Nick Griffin.

"It's worth noting that we often have discussions with people about who else is on the panel, but no parties can dictate who should or shouldn't be included."

He added: "Due impartiality is achieved both by ensuring appropriate scrutiny for each party and by the appearances of a range of politicians across a series of programmes.

"Our audiences - and the electorate - will make up their own minds about the different policies offered by elected politicians."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/u ... 240206.stm

Published: 2009/09/06 00:05:15 GMT

A wake up call to the main parties on the issue of immigration.

[rociano]

Quote:

A wake up call to the main parties on the issue of immigration.

Or maybe a reminder that we live in a country that has 'free speech', something we could wave goodbye to if the likes of the BNP ever came to power.

[Angus Mandela]

Quote:

A wake up call to the main parties on the issue of immigration.

Erm....why?
I reckon they should give him the Chair on 'Have I Got News for You' for a week. That would sort him out.

[rociano]

Quote:

Erm....why?
I reckon they should give him the Chair on 'Have I Got News for You' for a week. That would sort him out.

He wouldn't last 5 minutes, but I'd love to see him try.

[Briar]

The thing about trying to be democratic and allow people the freedom to express their opinions, even daft opinions, is that you have to put up with bores like the bnp and its odious Nick Griffin. You also have to put up with daft people knocking on your door to preach their persoanl brain parasites' garbage at you, like the Mormons, the Evangelists, the Jehova's Witless, the labour party, the conservative party, the animal rights people, double glazing salesmen, and all the rest of them.

If one believes in trusting the public with a right to "free speech", one has to trust them not to be taken in by demogogues and mad preachers. Examine the FACTS: The bnp has had candidates in several general elections and has never been anywhere near winning a seat in the House of Clowns. They do seem to have managed to con enough suckers into supporting them in one or two local elections, enough to have won a few seats on local councils even, but I dont think they have captured the majority on any as yet. Obviously then, they are not attracting enough support to become a danger to anyone. If ever they did one might want to reconsider, but for now i would take the attitude of 'leave them alone and they will do themselves in', by showing themseves up for the idiots they are.

Far greater is the risk to our freedom from the lunatics in power, who are progressively reducing our freedoms and rights to express our opinions even when not offensive!

[rociano]

Quote:

Far greater is the risk to our freedom from the lunatics in power, who are progressively reducing our freedoms and rights to express our opinions even when not offensive!

If you seriously believe the Labour Government is the biggest threat to our freedom, you probably sleep well.

[J_Coe]

I'm all for it, the media rebuilt the BNP by giving it constant publicity, now people support it because "they are the brave ones who say what we're thinking" or "stand up against immigration" and that's because the only things they hear about the BNP are usually debates over whether they're racist (even though it's clearly apparent they are) and their anti-immigration stance. Few people actually know what the BNP stand for, believe in and/or propose. Put Nick Griffin on an open debate with some very intellectual minds and a respectful and mature audience and he'll get picked apart and his ridiculous views ousted in full public view. Maybe then will people start to learn about the BNP's stance on rape, mixed race families and, ALL non-white citizens of the U.K.

Probably preferable to have a majority white panellist and audience, not through any racism but because to have white intellectuals pick apart of a white racist shows a united front against racism. The worst thing they can do is have a muslim panellist. They may be very intelligent, very brilliant but the sad reality is some idiotic individuals will see any academic confrontation between the two as "muslims" and "the defender" and it may even serve to further his cause, lest we forget Nick Griffin, for all of his vices, is no fool and will know how to play it.

[PeteBrant]

Quote:

Nick Griffin, for all of his vices, is no fool ....

He is a bit to be fair. He can't go for very long without saying something horribly racist and exposing himself as the thick racist twunt he is. Whhat was the other weeks gem? Ah yes, that's it, "There's no such thing as a Black Welshman"

I say let him on. My 14 year old could take him to pieces in a debate, Question time panellists would have a field day.

[scooby]

I can't wait for this one, this is the only way to deal with the BNP, bring them out into the daylight and let the electorate see what they really are, i only hope that the big three parties send in some real political heavyweights and totally humilliate the BNP and expose their true colours.

[Davisad]

I agree with scooby. Nick Griffin should be publicly destroyed with words. I hope that the audience has a good class-balance, seeing as the BNP tend to target working-class areas which are traditional Labour areas. If the 'typical BNP voter' stands up against them, it will be a victory for all of us.

[political_animal]

Whilst I agree that Griffin is indeed a thick racist twunt, you all seem to be jumping to the conclusion that BNP voters must be more intelligent then him and vote for them just as a protest, or because they may support some small aspect of their policies. However, I think it needs to be stated that there is a group of people in this country who are happily racist and who vote for the BNP because they want a racist party in power, to clear out all the non-whites.

Whilst I like the idea of taking the BNP to task and showing them up for the fools they are, there is a risk that it will merely lend succour to racist people across the country and allow the BNP to grow. Are we really that confident that politicians of the mainstream political parties are of such substance that they can crush any BNP representative? The fact of the matter, is that any debate will have to be met on the terms of the BNP. It is no good merely saying 'the BNP are racist, don't vote for them', as that has clearly not changed the votes of around 1 million people at the Euro election. Whilst I am not suggesting the BNP are anywhere near being in a position to take power, there is a fine line to tread between the desire to show up and crush a racist party and allowing them the chance to recruit more supporters.

[skydog1]

"The BBC is obliged to treat all political parties registered with the Electoral Commission and operating within the law with due impartiality."

That's the only relevant part of the debate.

[Jape]

skydog1 is right of course, they have every right to be on QT, I've been actively supporting open debate with the BNP for years as opposed to Big 3 faces denouncing them as evil on Sky News, forgetting they themselves aren't exactly popular either.

Simple fact is beyond controversial issues such as Immigration, Political Correctness and Englishness their manifesto is, to steal a Labour phrase, a suicide note. Abolishing special status for the disabled, watering down rape laws, returing Anglicanism to promenance in state schools etc. Then there's bits that are the kind of thing you hear 'common sense' blokes say down the pub without really thinking about it. National Service is my favourite example, beyond my own libertarian principles regarding volunteerism, NS was abolished because it cost vasts amounts of cash and retarded the young job market, all in all it was a terrible drain on the British economy, and the post-war boom only took off after its abolition in the late 1950s. Also giving everyone in the UK an assault rifle? Murder would certainly go up and if the Swiss, who already have a relatively stable, established system of this style, is anything to go by, London would be competing with LA, Rio and Jo'burg for murder capital.

So yeah anyway, put the BNP on, debate is healthy and lets be honest, a BNP speech is not going to convince anyone to be a 'racialist', such bigotry pretty deep rooted.