22 October 2009
The Face of the Week!
Like him or loathe him this man made stunning headlines this week, all with the express help of the BBC. If you hadnt heard of him before well you certainly know him now. Yes its BNP Leader Nick Griffin. Both him and his party are currently the talk of the town, the talk of every town everywhere. They are on the frontpage of every newspaper today friday and on every radio and tv news bulletin. So was it right to give them such a platform??
Just in case you, dear reader, have been on Mars for the past few days, Nick Griffin was on Question Time last night. Question Time is the BBC's flagship political debate programme. A programme that is very effective because it has a lighter touch, has an easily assimilated and easily digested menu, and has a track record that interests the public. It is not a hard edged dour political programme, but each week serves up easy on the eye political nibbles.
So a dangerous venue to allow free rein to someone like Nick Griffin. Well, you might thinkso....
The idea has been extremely controversial all week. Government Ministers tried to block his appearance, hundreds of demonstrators lined the streets hoping to block his appearance. But all to no avail..the BBC and the programme went ahead.
But the actual programme itself was bizarre. It was a frenzied bunfight. Everybody who spoke, no matter what the topic, had a massive swipe at Nick Griffin...oh isnt it so easy to jump on a rolling bandwagon! with everyone baying at once in harmony, how it induces a warm and satisfying inner glow! The LibDem, Conservative, and Labourite panellists were all agreeing with each other in a kind of cosy Daddie's Relish way, so much so that it was almost sickening. All the panellists knowing full well that they had to follow a certain line or their popularity was doomed, and their re-election prospects would be most certainly doomed in tandem, and all the while the audience was shouting like a baying mob, each one making sure they were onboard that rolling bandwagon.
So it's value as a political programme was pointless, but it's value as a novelty item was priceless.
Nick Griffin condemned homosexuals, condemned Muslims, defended the Ku Klux Klan, so he did not disappoint those wanting shocks. All the criticism aimed at him he shrugged off with a pleasant smile and a chuckle, obviously well aware in advance that this was the reception he was going to get.
Personally I was against him appearing on the show. The publicity he received both prior to the show, coupled with the performance he gave on the show, will most definitely have increased his vote. Yes everyone was hostile towards him but his airtime was of immense value from an advertising point of view. Everybody knows Nick Griffin now! Paul Boland
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