A Credible Threat?

The BNP are like one of those nasty, spiteful individuals many of us have had to work with at one time or another. Despised for their attitude and/or behaviour but tolerated for many reasons, not least of which is the desire to avoid being seen as a bigot. A situation which many of them are very, very good at manipulating to their own advantage.

Despite this, the BNP's public profile is probably higher now than it has ever been at any time in the past, as is their support amongst the general public.

However few, if any, of these people are genuine racists and/or fascists and most wouldn't willingly be found dead in the same room as these vermin under normal circumstances.

Unfortunately with MPs, asylum seekers and illegal immigrants openly abusing the system - often with blatantly fraudulent claims - and little or no realistic prospect of legal redress, most now feel the need for drastic action.

Most are well aware of what the BNP stand for but see this simply as a protest vote that will have little real effect on the lives of 'ordinary' people yet will send a powerful warning message to the mainstream parties. One elderly gentleman put it quite simply as, "You haven't left us much choice."

The Church of England also decided to weight in against them in the form of a joint statement by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York urging voters not to let their anger be exploited.

This is not the first time John Sentamu has spoken out in connection with politics and he has been described as having a liking for "grand gestures", while Rowan Williams has demonstrated on many occasions that his arrogance knows no bounds. An excellent example of this can be can be found <here>.

Naturally such a controversial statement only served to inflame matters, giving the BNP more ammunition and driving many people who see this as inappropriate interference in temporal affairs or who simply want the church and/or religion in general out of their lives, to consider voting BNP in protest.

It's interesting to note that while the Tory and Lib-Dem leaders both support the separation of church and state, only Nick Clegg has actually said so in public. Gordo as we all know has a rather different viewpoint and has been known to become quite abusive towards anyone who disagrees with him on the matter.


It's easy to draw a parallel between the current political crisis and the Nazi's election successes in 1933. However the anti-semitic cultural bias which existed in Germany at the time, and still exists in many parts of that country even now, has no direct or indirect equivalent here. We 'Englanders' are a fairly tolerant lot even where vermin like the BNP are concerned.


However a poll published by the Times yesterday clearly shows that despite the BNP's "striking advances", all their efforts to present the BNP as such a terrible threat still amount to little more than running around, waving their hands in the air and screaming "The BNP are coming! The BNP are coming!"