It’s probably a good thing that the BBC managed to resist the enticing prospect of offering me a job, because I’d be fucking vexed right now.
Some Corporation news exec has decided that it’s a good idea to invite BNP fuhrer Nick ‘Glass Eye’ Griffin on to Question Time.
This is apparently in keeping with the BBC’s ‘impartial’ position. According to a BBC spokeswoman, “By winning representation in the European parliament, the BNP has demonstrated evidence of electoral support at a national level. This will be reflected in the amount of coverage it receives on BBC programmes such as Question Time.”
Now, there is a long tradition of denying a platform to the far right in the UK. Credit due to Health Secretary Alan Johnson who has gone on record to say that he will not share a platform with the fascists. He’s drifted far, but he hasn’t totally forgotten his roots.
You see, this no platform tradition has been wavering, even amongst the those on the left who you would expect to be its strongest advocates. My soon to be classmate Tom Jackson is one such wavering socialist. He claims that the no platform policy needs a ‘rethink’. “The BNP have no [sic] achieved some level of success, suggesting that the previous tactic of relegating it to the sidestream of British politics is not working,” says Tom. He reckons that the best way to counter the BNP is to give other politicians the opportunity to argue against them on the telly, concluding: “I believe the best way to defeat the BNP is not to act like fascists ourselves, but to challenge them in free debate.”
Permit me to disagree. Continue reading →
Filed under Politics
Tagged as BBC, BNP, media, Politics