tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3789119.post3279279165752855414..comments2023-06-30T13:19:10.315+01:00Comments on Yorkshire Soul: Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02692673546597344281noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3789119.post-74485132729831175452009-06-10T10:39:56.888+01:002009-06-10T10:39:56.888+01:00I'm not even sure it was a knee-jerk reaction,...I'm not even sure it was a knee-jerk reaction, the BNP gains were more to do with apathy and the collapse of the Labour vote than any serious gains by the BNP, although I do find it worrying that large numbers of people do vote for extremism.Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02692673546597344281noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3789119.post-21702969270388112882009-06-09T14:39:56.045+01:002009-06-09T14:39:56.045+01:00From the outside looking in: the election wins of ...From the outside looking in: the election wins of the BNP might not be such a bad thing. <br /><br />While the BNP certainly didn't pick up enough seats to do too much damage, their pet issues will probably get some attention and some moderate reforms of your immigration policy couldn't be a bad thing given what i've read. Once the major parties start taking moderate action on the BNP's issue, the BNP will probably cease to exist.<br /><br />This vote was a knee-jerk reaction to all of the major things going on right now, I wouldnt look at it as a trend.Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14929772172264856367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3789119.post-66262732230788641082009-06-09T13:42:48.226+01:002009-06-09T13:42:48.226+01:00Will thre be as much call for electoral reform and...Will thre be as much call for electoral reform and the introduction of PR now that the BNP have used it to gain seats/public funding?<br /><br />I'd rather have Somali neighbours than IRA supporters, after all unless you're a ship captain you haven't got as much to fear from the former unlike the pub bombers.Toxichttp://www.toxic-web.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3789119.post-25330685602480067762009-06-09T09:08:26.822+01:002009-06-09T09:08:26.822+01:00Whilst I am unlikely ever to vote BNP I can unders...Whilst I am unlikely ever to vote BNP I can understand why some people do. In some areas it is not the fear of being "overtaken" but that it has happened. Admittedly in small pockets. Take the area of London that I live nearby. Hanwell was a working class area traditionally, during the 1960s/70s it became an Irish neighbourhood, well known for it's pubs openly supporting the IRA by raising funds. People rubbed along pretty well. In the last 5 years or maybe 10 max, it has become a large Somali community. Virtually every new shop that opens is Somali, walking through the streets all you hear is a foreign language being spoken. They reckon Hanwell now has the largest Somali population outside Africa. Now, if you have lived there all your life but now find yourself living in an area which is predominatley Somali, or any other ethnic group, you are going to be open to hearing someone talking about how "they are taking over" and wouldn't it be nice to go back to being a British area again.<br /><br />If people tried to imagine what it would be like to have their home area becoming 80% "foreign", not supporting local traders and groups but starting their own they might have some idea how it feels to live that reality.<br /><br />To stop the BNP one of the major parties has got to look at the immigration position and at least talk about it, but they can't, because they know they will be accused of racism, usually by people who live in a nice white suburb or town. And no matter how many people run around saying, "don't vote for the BNP, they are evil and racist" until they are opposed properly with reasoned argument they will continue to have pockets of support.<br /><br />Sorry about the length of the comment. :)Kennamatichttp://www.uptheworks.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3789119.post-86533944859670289812009-06-08T21:41:54.327+01:002009-06-08T21:41:54.327+01:00I think it's deeply, deeply sad that the BNP w...I think it's deeply, deeply sad that the BNP won election to a European legislature the day after the 65th anniversary of D-Day, a day that changed the world forever and, amidst the death and the horror, made it a better place. <br /><br />How sad, how embarrassing, for us, men and women of the North, to elect a racist, fascist party. <br /><br />What would our grandparents think?<br /><br />Disgrace, utter disgrace. The only consolation is that, despite how the BNP dress it up, they haven't made gains, it's just that the Labour vote has collapsed.rich (them apples)https://www.blogger.com/profile/16700939962860096485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3789119.post-63751510041400768212009-06-08T20:43:52.601+01:002009-06-08T20:43:52.601+01:00I didn't vote for the first time since I becam...I didn't vote for the first time since I became eligible. Not though apathy rather forgetfulness.<br /><br />It is the little thing like St George's day celebrations that stick in the mind as stupid, unreasonable and gives the BNP their hook into people. The irony is it's not immigrants who are largely responsible for stupid rulings like that given the paucity of their presence among elected officials.<br /><br />PPaddynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3789119.post-86767230195426221012009-06-08T17:38:34.476+01:002009-06-08T17:38:34.476+01:00With you on that one YS. Strangely, unless almost ...With you on that one YS. Strangely, unless almost everybody I know is deceiving me, I only know on one person who didn't vote and he got a good ribbing through Facebook. So where are all these apathetic none voters?<br /><br />At this time of all you would have thought that anybody able bodied would have been motivated to get to the polling stations. It's the only way we can have an effect on the appalling state of politics in our country at the moment. <br /><br />But it seems not. <br /><br />The thing is they will still be talking politics in the bar, with no concept that they have given away any right to an opinion.Tonyhttp://www.metacraft.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3789119.post-47085354689559070832009-06-08T16:37:06.800+01:002009-06-08T16:37:06.800+01:00"If you didn't vote, then don't talk ..."If you didn't vote, then don't talk politics to me, you made yourself voiceless" Hear hear. My dad and his brother were in the Danish resistance, my mum was a Red Cross volunteer in the blitz (in London). The more they told me about the war the more I couldn't understand how people had let the fascists gain so much power in the first place. Now I know. This stinks.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com