65 years after our grandfathers fought against Nazism, two members of the British Nazi Party have been elected in the North of England.

Admittedly most of the people who voted for them will have been inbred half-wits from small towns in Lancashire and Yorkshire, but it still doesn't make it any easier to take that one of the Euro MEP's for our region will be Nick Griffin.

People who would rather vote on Britain's got talent or Big Brother than in a democratic election should be ashamed of themselves. After all, our right to vote was another thing our forefathers fought on the beaches of Normandy for.

This terrifies me.

I cried this morning. I don't know if it was tears of anger, fear, sorrow or a combination of them.

Those who didn't vote, may aswell have voted BNP to be honest.

[url=http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/the-real-bnp/Profile-of-Nick-Griffin.phpTHIS[/url man is being sent to represent the North West of England in Europe.

[url=http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/page/s/notinmynameNot In My Name[/url

It is scary how they are gaining so much support. I was horrified last week when the people on Burnley voted for a BNP councillor (especially as I live in Lancashire!) and then for them to also get seats in the European Election really is worrying.

How many people have voted for them because they believe in their policies though and how many because they have voted for anyone but the "big 3"? Either way though they are gaining power which they shouldn't be.


And your point about people who don't vote is a sad reflection of society overall today and how little interest people have in politics - there is too much apathy towards it all unfortunately.

I do have and take an interest in Polotics however found myself unable to vote on Thursday due to the fact that I knew so little about the candidates or indeed the European policies of the parties that they represented.

I am abhored that the BNP has gained seats but without the required knowledge of knowing who or what I was voting for I could not make an informed choice.

Our forefathers fought on the beaches of Normandy and in many other countries and places as well to secure our rights and freedom of speech and enable us to live in a society where we have options and choices.

We still have that and whilst you may disagree with other peoples options and choices it is nothing whatever to do with you and none of your business to critisise or judge.

It's people like you that our forefathers fought to keep us from!

Why on earth you should want to bring it up on a RL message board is totally beyond me

i voted for the B.N.P, so what?? altenatives labour er no, tory er no again the list goes on

This is a very good point, however, the BNP getting voted into the European Parliament may turn out to be a good thing.

For far too long, the 3 mainstream parties have gone along with their heads in the sands (well, more like in the troughs, if recent revelations are anything to go by), refusing to actually get on with sorting out the mess that this country has got itself in to over a variety of issues, including immigration.

Since the 70's, turnout at elections as been on the decline and not a single mainstream party as done a jot to tackle this apathy...an apathy which has now got us into the present position of extremist politicians finding themselves voted into positions of power.

Last night's results should serve as a warning to all concerned, that simply sitting back and doing nothing can only be a bad thing...The BNP, and their like, thrive on apathy.

There is debate to be had over immigration and various other subjects, and it is upto mainstream politicians to pull their fingers out and get back to running the country, instead of caring more about which leader can save their jobs at the next election, and which expense they can fiddle next.

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'.