Nick Griffin on BBC Question Time - the verdict, #bbcqt
Well that was quite a mad evening. The BBC Question Time Live Chat on here was the best attended ever for the one that included Nick Griffin.
I do not think Griffin came across well at all. He tied himself up in knots a few times and faced with the quotes of things he had said before ended up all over the place trying to justify and/or distance himself from them. He also seemed to be trying to laugh along when comments were made against him which for me did not work.
However, I am bound to think all of this given how different my politics are from his. I do think though that he will not have come across well generally out there in the country. There was too much evasion and frankly he actually sounded too much like the sort of politician, not answering the questions properly that people are often turned off by.
On the Live Chat there was a feeling that the show was too dominated by him and questions about his policies. I agree with this although it was inevitable I suppose given the build up and hype. Also, I suspect many of the questions submitted by the audience were about this and the purpose of the show is to reflect what the audience want to ask about. I still think the producers should have made sure at least half the programme was dedicated to non-BNP stuff though. As it was only the Jan Moir issue was raised outside of Griffin-centric questions. What about the postal strike? What about Afghanistan?
I still think the BBC were right to have Griffin on and I suspect they will again at some point, after all he is going to be an MEP for 5 years. However next time they should think a little bit more carefully about how they structure it.
Yes, Griffin and his views are widely reviled but to allow the show to become dominated by him in this way makes him and his views seem more important than they really are.
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6 comments:
Mark
I agree with your point about the whole show being dominated by the BNP, it lost quite a lot of what QT should be because of that. A real shame, but hopefully if he's on in the future things should settle and that'll allow him to expose their policies in the round, and have them criticised for what they are.
I agree. The stupid Socialist Workers mob who always muscle in and make a big protest on this sort of thing just can't see that THEY are the ones most responsible for the rise of the BNP. They are the people who should be providing a political voice for the poor at the bottom of society. It's their utter failure to provide a decent political left now that Labour has moved to the right what is regarded in the rest of Europe as centre-right, which has left a gap the BNP has been able to exploit.
The better way of handling this would have been for this to be a normal Question Time, and to leave Griffin with his mouthing flapping open and shut as he is forced to talk normal politics and shows he can't.
The longer the Beeb let the tension over this unresolved issue grow the bigger the confrontations would be, so it looks to me like they left it as long as they could to decide how to handle it while organising the circus to turn them into vital participants in the story.
The next invitation will be the real political crunch - will the BNP decide to contribute and accept the rules of democratic diversity, and will they have anything to contribute on the topical issues presented to them that week?
I feel this could be more explosive, as Griffin would face a choice of splitting the coalition he has built. And as he described, if he moderates his tone he faces reprisals from the more extreme members of his supporter base. So the next occasion will mean the BBC is forcing him to face potential assasination, and that is a real test of character.
It is unfortunate that there are people with the same views as Griffin. They should not be allowed to be in politics.
Nick Griffin 'won' according to ...
http://www.harrietharmansucks.com
Best
Griffin may try and adopt the RAF and the fight against Nazi Germany so easily because the left seems to have forgotten that antifascism is not a pacifist idea.
These German antifascists still seem to know that:
"This is how fascists have to be stopped"
And:
"There are no German bombers in the air"
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