You are right. We do live in a democracy and people should be able to vote for who they want to vote for.

i think the problem is in certain parts of Rochdale, Oldham & Burnley you can't go to certain areas after dark or certain shops or restaurants if you are not a certain colour or of certain origin. The Police are too scared to upset the apple cart after having riots before so the only way that people can see to rid them of this problem is to vote for BNP.

I don't really wanna cause an argument on this but i can see both sides of the coin. If current politicians and Police had the balls to tackle the problems people would not feel the need to vote the extremists in. If this is the right way to tackle this issue i do not know and i'm glad we don't have seem to have this issue in Warrington

There must always be mild restrictions on the freedoms of anything.
Otherwise there would be the freedom to murder (extreme i know).
Freedom to do anything of benefit to society are the only freedoms im interested in.
would you not judge a murderer or a rapist ? i don't know you but i would make a safe assumption that you would, purely because every human judges someone.

Extremist views will always prosper in times of economic and social distress even in such a tolerant country as England.

That does work both ways though and people tend to forget that (not saying you have!) its not always the minorities who cause the trouble or the segregation - there is a minority of people from all origins who will cause trouble but that doesn't change the fact that most can live together side by side without any trouble.

I can understand in a way the rise in popularity for them especially in areas like Burnley after the trouble they had there with the riots but I very much doubt that having the BNP in power will do anything to tackle the issue.

some people are bad some are good (i wish)

The truth is education and economics morality and fairness.

with a good sense of all 4 you'll do well

Great post.

So if somebody took over the Lord Rodney, and stuck a sign up saying 'No Rugby League fans allowed because I think you are lowlife scum' would you accept that because it is his 'option' or 'choice'??...

The low turnout reflects my view that people don't see anyone to actually vote for. I think people are interested in politics and I think Britain is pretty politically aware country in comparison to some others I've seen.

I made a conscious decision not to vote as none of the parties appealed to me. To lay the blame for the BNP getting elected on the people who didn't vote is unfair. The main political parties are the ones to blame as they continue to promote similar agendas which are at odds with the majority of the country. Labour voters in its Northern heartlands will never vote Tory so its either not vote or go for a vile organisation like the BNP. Fair play to them for staying at home rather than taking that option.

I don't think it's time to throw ourselves off the bridge about the BNP winning votes - they actually got less votes than last time. It was the Labour vote not turning out that made the difference.

What's interesting is the way the press broadcast these results. Looking at the headlines you'd think the Tories had tripled their vote. It went up about 1%. Hardly a ringing endorsement.
According to the media UKIP did well apparently as a protest vote because of the expenses scandal - nothing to with people not wanting to be part of a single European state then!

you are very naive if you think the BNP are a viable alternative to any political party, they are racist nazi's who will make the whole country look like idiots in Europe,
ironically the BNP did not get any more votes than 5 years ago it was the lack of votes for labour and the tories that led to this mess.


rant over!

Ask yourself what the problem is with this country and surely enough these should be the first four answers on your lips.....Crime, Immigration, Economy and probably Education.

Then ask yourself what you would do to make the above four things better and then take 40 mins or so to look at each party's policy's and see which policy's agree most with what you said should be done.

Regardless of the BNP being racist, fascist or whatever, there policy's seem quite creditable but let's not kid ourselves the chances of the BNP ever getting elected are slim to none.

I don't see the problem myself.

Quote ="FireWire"After all, our right to vote was another thing our forefathers fought on the beaches of Normandy for.'" Your spot on and just in case you didn't know, there are plenty and i mean plenty of WWII veterans that support the BNP because don't forget our forefathers fought to keep Britain British. bnp.org.uk/2009/06/yet-more-worl ... r-the-bnp/

Quote ="FireWire"After all, our right to vote was another thing our forefathers fought on the beaches of Normandy for.'" Your spot on and just in case you didn't know, there are plenty and i mean plenty of WWII veterans that support the BNP because don't forget our forefathers fought to keep Britain British. bnp.org.uk/2009/06/yet-more-worl ... r-the-bnp/

Whilst neither defending nor criticising, the time I checked the BNP were a perfectly legal political party. They have been elected through a fair process of democracy despite, some would argue, a maelstrom of one eyed, fictitious, malicious press coverage from the liberal elite. The same democratic process that you believe our country sought to defend (although we have talked about this naive view on here before).

On an interesting point, it should be borne in mind, for those interested in 20th century European politics, is that Nazism had it's roots in socialist communism and indeed the term Nazi came from an abbreviation from the "National Socialist German Workers'.

Far left/Far right 2 sides of the same coin

Quote ="Latchford Wolvesfan"Your spot on and just in case you didn't know, there are plenty and i mean plenty of WWII veterans that support the BNP because don't forget our forefathers fought to keep Britain British. bnp.org.uk/2009/06/yet-more-worl ... r-the-bnp/'" i'm losing the will to live! small town England, validating just one BNP member by electing them to europe is a medal of shame worn by us all... grow up and smell the roses.. they smell of hate!

Quote ="Latchford Wolvesfan"Your spot on and just in case you didn't know, there are plenty and i mean plenty of WWII veterans that support the BNP because don't forget our forefathers fought to keep Britain British. bnp.org.uk/2009/06/yet-more-worl ... r-the-bnp/'" i'm losing the will to live! small town England, validating just one BNP member by electing them to europe is a medal of shame worn by us all... grow up and smell the roses.. they smell of hate!

Quote ="Wire_Yed_79"Far left/Far right 2 sides of the same coin'" Not quite as simple as that. Its an orthagonal axis which caters for economic policy - State controlled vs Market forces, and Social Policy - Libertarianism vs Authoritarianism. Do the test here - www.politicalcompass.org/ and see where you come out. I came out near Friedman. Liberal free marketeer.

Quote ="Wire_Yed_79"Far left/Far right 2 sides of the same coin'" Not quite as simple as that. Its an orthagonal axis which caters for economic policy - State controlled vs Market forces, and Social Policy - Libertarianism vs Authoritarianism. Do the test here - www.politicalcompass.org/ and see where you come out. I came out near Friedman. Liberal free marketeer.

Olfactorytastic

Quote ="Wires71"Not quite as simple as that. Its an orthagonal axis which caters for economic policy - State controlled vs Market forces, and Social Policy - Libertarianism vs Authoritarianism. Do the test here - www.politicalcompass.org/ and see where you come out. I came out near Friedman. Liberal free marketeer.'" Economic Left/Right: -6.62 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.13 Somewhere between Ghandi and Nelson Mandela, apparently.

Quote ="Wires71"Not quite as simple as that. Its an orthagonal axis which caters for economic policy - State controlled vs Market forces, and Social Policy - Libertarianism vs Authoritarianism. Do the test here - www.politicalcompass.org/ and see where you come out. I came out near Friedman. Liberal free marketeer.'" Economic Left/Right: -6.62 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.13 Somewhere between Ghandi and Nelson Mandela, apparently.

Quote ="Wires71"Not quite as simple as that. Its an orthagonal axis which caters for economic policy - State controlled vs Market forces, and Social Policy - Libertarianism vs Authoritarianism. Do the test here - www.politicalcompass.org/ and see where you come out. I came out near Friedman. Liberal free marketeer.'" surprisingly: Economic Left/Right: -3.38 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.31

Quote ="Wires71"Not quite as simple as that. Its an orthagonal axis which caters for economic policy - State controlled vs Market forces, and Social Policy - Libertarianism vs Authoritarianism. Do the test here - www.politicalcompass.org/ and see where you come out. I came out near Friedman. Liberal free marketeer.'" surprisingly: Economic Left/Right: -3.38 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.31

lock it!

we live in a democracy so everyone is entitled to freedom of speech whether or not you agree with what they are saying.the protesters who stopped nick griffin entering manchester town hall are just typical of the protesters who appear to protest at whatever there is to protest about!
these people talk about freedom and democracy and then act in the manner that they are supposedly fighting against.
the ukip party always do well in european elections as they did last time but in the following general election they still only polled 2% of the overall vote.
what i find startling is that all the expense money illegally claimed by mp's from all partys looks likely to just be forgotten about.i therefore suggest that we all take a job with a large corporation and break the law in as many ways as possible stealing money that we are not entitled too because you will not be prosecuted for doing so or is this only true when it's the taxpayers money.
yes,it's a fine democracy we live in isn't it.

Surprised people actually went out of their way to vote in the 1st place,especially the biggest gravy train of the lot-The Europeon Union.They are only in it for themselves and could'nt give a toss about anyone else.Have a look in the guardian for the bloke from Stockton Heath,being investigated to the tune of £500,000.

I've only ever voted once (87),but as far as I'm concerned,people can vote for whoever they want,be it the Taliban or the National Front,its their choice.But I can see where the BNP are coming from and if you think times are bad now,just wait till Turkey gets into the EU and they will.

The poster who mentioned our forefathers and what they did is correct.A lot believed in what they were doing was the right thing,but a lot went to both wars,not through choice,but through fear of being shot for cowardice.

Economic Left/Right: -6.12
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.33


even further left and liberal than ghandi, god i feel like a real hippy (man!)

i always view myself as a left wing anarcho liberal punk rocker

Newsflash, there have been O/T threads in the past.

I'm not disagreeing with the right of people to vote for the party they feel best suits them. This, along with freedom of speech is one of the principles of democracy.

I'm just expressing my disappointment that the people of the North of England have voted in a racist political party. The reaction of members other parties walking out upon hearing the results, gives you an inkling that they might not be a run of the mill political organisation.

So 'our forefathers' fought to keep us from tolerant people like me.