Saturday 24 October 2009

A Genuinely Farsical Week in British Politics

There are times when you just stand there and watch things go by with such amazement because you really cannnot fathom how unbelievably stupid some people are. This week was one of those weeks. My housemates literally had to ask me to leave the room as I screamed obscenities at the television screen. Not at Mr Griffin, I might add, but at Jack Straw, the crowd who submitted the questions and ultimately the BBC for allowing what should have been a pedestrian broadcasting of Question Time to turn into a witch hunt towards one single person on the panel.

No I did not have a problem with Nick Griffin becoming a member on the panel, nor did I (naively) particularly think that there would be THAT much of a fuss about it. I thought people would have been sensible to let it pass as a mere blip on the BBC ratings scale, and then we'd return to Croydon or Northampton - or whevever it is next week without so much of a whisper of the three letters 'BNP'. But no. This did not happen.

Nick Griffin isn't stupid. He didn't walk into a total bear-trap in which he was caught completely off guard. He knew what was going to happen. He knew if he could find one aspect in the broadcasting that was even vaguely biased he could exploit it EVEN further to keep his name and his party's name in the media and political agenda and the BBC which appears, at the moment to be run by GAP year interns, laid it out on a platter for him.

Look at the media storm now. It's still continuing as Griffin accuses the BBC, in his own words, of changing the format of the show therefore keeping his smarmy wonky-eyed face on the first few pages of every newspaper. This is something they are definitely guilty of and should have predicted this would happen. And as the storm continues, Nick Griffin's going to ride it all of the way.

Was it the BBC's fault for allowing him on the show? Of course not Peter Hain! - be quiet. The man is an elected Member of the European Parliament. The man has a mandate from the people to make decisions in the European Parliament on behalf of them. To not allow him on the show would be not only undemocratic, but would contravene everything the BBC stands for.

Griffin knew there would be tension on his arrival at the BBC studios, and boy was he right. He loved every second, and every single one of those white-middle class students as well as the Unite Against Fascism can hold themselves responsible for that. Well done for protesting against something you don't really understand. Ironically there were more cameras than protesters. Try and save the world a little better next week, or at least read up a little first.

Sky high viewing figures will indicate why I'm so unbelievably frustrated with the media's knee-jerk reaction to Griffin's ordination to the well-esteemed Question Time panel which seems to be full of the same faces every week. Why did Griffin's appearance even need that much attention. To get people who aren't even remotely interested in politics to watch a politics show with such animosity takes a PR stunt of epic proportions which, in this case, was handled by a few select members of the British government. Well done.

So lets analyse the results of Nick Griffin's appearance on Question Time. A YouGov poll suggests that 22% of people questioned would 'seriously consider' voting BNP in the General Election. Quite a high number which, I would suggest, wouldn't actually be the case if an election come along tomorrow but it's definitely a large proverbial kick up the arse to New Labour's immigration policy.

Peter Hain says that "The BBC has handed the BNP the gift of the century on a plate and now we see the consequences.", and he is very very wrong in this assertion.


To the Gordon Browns and Alan Johnsons of this world: This is YOUR mess.