Say no to hate

I am depressed and I am angry. The BNP has won two seats in the European Parliament. I am furious that this vile, racist party will represent the people of Britain. But of course it does not purport to represent the people of Britain. In this, at least, it is honest. It represents "the indigenous British" whoever they are - I doubt there one family in the whole of the UK whose blood has not mingled over the generations with that of Angles, Vikings, Normans, Huegenouts, Irish, Caribbean or any of the successive waves of immigrants who have come to this country in search of the better life. The party's whole rationale is based on a lie. So how did it manage to win two seats? Well, like other parties of hate, it has exploited fear and ignorance to win votes. It has also taken great advantage out of the expenses scandal and of the turmoil in the Labour Party. Finally the three main parties failed to respond effectively enough to the threat posed by the BNP. They have persistently adopted the "let's not give them the oxygen of publicity" (or "ignore them and they will go away") approach which plainly hasn't worked. They should be out there, rebutting the lies, condemning the policies and shining a light on the truth of this ugly party - we all should.