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[American]

And third, they should start talking about immigration. The Government should – though almost certainly won't – declare an amnesty for the unlawful migrants who have lived in Britain for many years and helped it thrive. Then it should assess how many non-EU incomers post-recession Britain needs and set its (already stringent) points system accordingly.

Yes, that would be completely fair to those of us who have done it the correct way....

[Bazzanotsogreat]

Even in recession, Boston's unemployment rate is 3 per cent, compared with the national average of about 8 per cent. Its retail sales, down by 2.1 per cent, are out-performing the rest of Britain by 6 per cent, and its fusty streets have been transformed by new shops and restaurants. Yet myth, fear and prejudice always trump reality, which is why the BNP is on the rise....

And third, they should start talking about immigration. The Government should – though almost certainly won't – declare an amnesty for the unlawful migrants who have lived in Britain for many years and helped it thrive. Then it should assess how many non-EU incomers post-recession Britain needs and set its (already stringent) points system accordingly.

Government should champion the transformation wrought by incomers and uphold the British tradition of welcoming, from the Huguenots onwards, those fleeing persecution. It should applaud Europe's open borders while stressing that EU migrants, many of whom do not stay long, have boosted the economy. In 2008-9, new arrivals paid 37 per cent more in taxes than they cost in welfare payments and public services.

Migrants are not the enemy of community cohesion. That role is occupied by the far Right, aided and abetted by Goldman Sachs bankers and other City parasites whose profiteering condemns less well-off people of every race, colour and creed to fears for their own and their children's futures.

Are you sure you read the article fully 'drog?

I do agree with it.

All this from an ex-pat- the Irony

To reiterate, an immigrant needs to earn £27,000 per annum before they are a + to the economy. What % of such peoples fall into this category? From a personal perspective, can you please explain to me why immigrants/asylum seekers will often travel through 8 EU nations ( many of them with comparable or higher GDP’s) before trying to enter the UK?

I think you will find that most of the common man’s objections to migrants/immigrants is to sizable minority of those people who will neither accept nor abide to Western democracy and British law.

Back the BNP- this move by the BBC is excellent. It is what most people in the UK have wanted for a while- the opportunity to listen to what the BNP have to say and to hopefully show themselves up as the limited clan they really are.

[Tom]

Within 5 minutes on Question Time Griffin shows himself to be a tool of the highest order, Jack Straw brought up some great points, his response? My dad fought in WW2 and your Dad was in jail.

Pathetic

[Ewood Spark]

The political slugs who vote for this swivel-eyed (ex!)Holocaust denier will be crawling back under their stones after his shambolic performance so far this evening.

[Tom]

His homophobic comments wont go down well either.

On another note I liked the seemingly random drunk guy in the audience

[DP]

Oh dear. Early Christmas present? For the other parties maybe...

[DE.]

Griffin had a mare there... he's said and done far too much that has been documented in the past for him to simply pass it off as "propaganda" or "misquotation". Greer treated him with total contempt how the hell did a party with a leader like that get 1M votes?

Straw didn't do well either.

[Tom]

Straw did well at the start then rambled hen questioned on his own parties flaws

[RibbleValleyRover]

I don't like the BNP, don't like Nick Griffin, but I have to say that this was a total set up by the BBC.

Question Time is all about debating the week’s events, the Postal strike would have been an ideal topic. Instead it was just a biased gang attack on Griffin, the audience and panel were not balanced. If they wanted to just do topics based on BNP policy then they should have scrapped the panel and had a one on one interview.

From watching it I came to the same conclusion and beliefs that I had before the program, their political ideology doesn't agree with mine.

I think the BBC has come out of this really badly…

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

I haven't yet watched it but by all accounts he was ripped apart - good stuff. I have heard he attacked the BBC whilst he was on a BBC show. If true, 'lol'.

[DE.]

I don't like the BNP, don't like Nick Griffin, but I have to say that this was a total set up by the BBC.

Question Time is all about debating the week’s events, the Postal strike would have been an ideal topic. Instead it was just a biased gang attack on Griffin, the audience and panel were not balanced. If they wanted to just do topics based on BNP policy then they should have scrapped the panel and had a one on one interview.

From watching it I came to the same conclusion and beliefs that I had before the program, their political ideology doesn't agree with mine.

I think the BBC has come out of this really badly…

Agreed... the polticians seemed to enjoy playing the "good guys" for once by heroically pointing out how evil the BNP are. Made me laugh how at one point Dimbleby said he didn't want the show to be all about the BNP that's exactly what you and the BBC wanted.

[Tom]

Heard some laughable comments elsewhere about it being '5 on 1' never mind the fact that it was also 5 on 1 for Straw or the Tory woman or the Lib dem.

Other criticisms were that the audience was heavily agaisnt him, in reality the vast majority of us in this country are against him so it was a fair cross section I'd say.

[philipl]

All this from an ex-pat- the Irony

To reiterate, an immigrant needs to earn £27,000 per annum before they are a + to the economy. What % of such peoples fall into this category? From a personal perspective, can you please explain to me why immigrants/asylum seekers will often travel through 8 EU nations ( many of them with comparable or higher GDP’s) before trying to enter the UK?

I think you will find that most of the common man’s objections to migrants/immigrants is to sizable minority of those people who will neither accept nor abide to Western democracy and British law.

Back the BNP- this move by the BBC is excellent. It is what most people in the UK have wanted for a while- the opportunity to listen to what the BNP have to say and to hopefully show themselves up as the limited clan they really are.

I am sure the Daily Telegraph welcome the correction to the facts they printed.

Of course, you might be wrong- you usually are.

[Paul]

I don't like the BNP, don't like Nick Griffin, but I have to say that this was a total set up by the BBC.

Question Time is all about debating the week's events, the Postal strike would have been an ideal topic. Instead it was just a biased gang attack on Griffin, the audience and panel were not balanced. If they wanted to just do topics based on BNP policy then they should have scrapped the panel and had a one on one interview.

From watching it I came to the same conclusion and beliefs that I had before the program, their political ideology doesn't agree with mine.

I think the BBC has come out of this really badly…

I'm pleased to read this because I'd beeen struggling to find the right words to sum up my views. Completely agree with this post. Griffin proved himself to be what the vast majority know him to be, that was his choice but it was wrong of the BBC to set him up in this manner. I'd alwasy presumed Griffin to be a reasonably intelligent individual but last night clearly demonstrated his intellectual capacity is very limited.

[RovertheHill]

The guy wanted to go on Question Time and as it was the first time it was obvious from the get-go that all the focus would be on the public questioning him. After all, they've never had the opportunity before. Anyone thinking otherwise is naive. It was no more a biased gang attack or set up than it was when the labour guys got hammered on the Iraq war and MP's in general got hammered on expenses. In democracies such as ours you have the right to a public platform and equally you have to take what comes with that. If you can't convince people then you don't get votes. Simple as that.

His comments about indigenous are laughable, especially in this country. How far do you have to go back to prove you are indigenous? Parents? Grand-parents? Great-grandparents? 500 years? Sounds a lot like a certain Aryan test 70 years ago in Germany.

I'm just thankful that the guy proved himself to be a complete buffoon with the charisma and politic skill of a gnat. Still, that won't stop equally short-sighted buffoons voting for him but it may deter some people who were thinking it may be a sensible protest vote...

[American]

I am sure the Daily Telegraph welcome the correction to the facts they printed.

Of course, you might be wrong- you usually are.

I don't see him correcting any facts, just asking for clarification on how they are spun. No answer to that, I see.

[Manchester Blue]

I'd alwasy presumed Griffin to be a reasonably intelligent individual but last night clearly demonstrated his intellectual capacity is very limited.

Exactly what I said this morning i was genuinely surprised. I was a bit worried that he'd put on a very good performance and manage to evade most of the questions on race etc while focussing on immigration. Whilst he tried this he was quite clearly out of his depth it was a bit embarassing at times. His attempts to avoid the holocaust questions were particularly daft and just made him look silly as did his Ku Klux Klan stuff.

Of course it was a hatchet job but what would anyone expect. It was the major issue of the show dominating for weeks in the build up so why would they talke about other things. He was invited on and accepted and he knew what to expect. Can't have any complaints, he clearly thought he'd perform better than that.

[LeChuck]

Griffin came out of that terribly. He had a platform there to put forward serious arguments against immigration, but didn't mention a single one. Did he even quote a single figure? Instead he resorted to claiming tour guides in the Lake District had been cancelled because only white people were attending them. What a joke.

I was actually hoping he would have some serious political points which would have drawn Straw into a hard debate, but it didn't happen. From Straw's point of view it was probably for the best as he came off very badly when answering whether Griffin was only there because of Labour's failure to control immigration.

I'm going to defend the BBC slightly, it was always going to be a witch hunt, it was completely unavoidable. Even when they put a few non-race questions in at the end, the panel kept twisting the issue into a race debate (the Gately question quickly moved to talking about minorities again, for example).

I think the worst thing they did was but Bonnie whoever on it...what was she there for? She kept trying to reference Griffin's education for some reason. As he attended Cambridge that seemed an odd thing to do, but she made a few snide remarks in a slightly pathetic attempt to gain superiority. She, along with a few members of the audience (e.g. the guy who addressed him as 'Dick' instead 'Nick'), really had no need people to lower themselves that petty level, there was more than enough ammunition they could have used to 'score points' on him if they wished.

[thenodrog]

I don't like the BNP, don't like Nick Griffin, but I have to say that this was a total set up by the BBC.

Question Time is all about debating the week’s events, the Postal strike would have been an ideal topic. Instead it was just a biased gang attack on Griffin, the audience and panel were not balanced. If they wanted to just do topics based on BNP policy then they should have scrapped the panel and had a one on one interview.

From watching it I came to the same conclusion and beliefs that I had before the program, their political ideology doesn't agree with mine.

I think the BBC has come out of this really badly…

A good summary and all very true. Griffin came out of it very badly imo. He was frequently questioned, involved and accused but then allowed no time to answer and explain his stance before he was either interrupted or shouted down, to quote Lee Harvey Oswald he was 'just a patsy'.

Also disgraced were the chasing pack of the Beeb, Dimbleby, the carefully selected West London audience and the other parties in that order. I don't think Dimbleby will be too comfortable when reviewing his performance and his programme this morning. His crown has slipped a touch.

Current political issues were by and large ignored in the witch hunt despite that being the raison d' etre for the show for countless years. I thought the Govt had banned blood sports with packs of dogs but apparently not. Andrew Neild summed it up afterwards by saying that the producers of question time had badly misjudged. They had gone over the top on the BNP and ganged up and bullied Griffiths and that as everybody knows we all hate bullies.

The only comment on BBC local news this morning from a representative of Jack Straws constituency of Blackburn was a pretty, smiling and well spoken girl....... in a hijab! How odd when according to Jack last night Blackburn is only 30% of immigrant descent! Whatever happened to the democratic principle of government by the majority? It seems the Beeb's bias does not begin and end on Match of the Day does it?

Oh and why do we have an MP who cannot manage to pronounce either the words 'YES' or 'NO' even when that is the only option?

All very predictable but it will have done the BNP no harm whatsoever, if they have a decent strategist they will use the obvious animosity of the southern based witch hunt to create a North / South issue in order to strengthen in the North. And as for losing the support of their own supporters...... I cannot imagine the rank and file of that lot would be into watching question time at all. Something called 'Blade' on the other side would be more their cup of tea. The downside of 'one man one vote' unfortunately.

[thenodrog]

Of course, you might be wrong- you usually are.

The mboard's best example ever of The Pot calling the Kettle Sooty arse.

Admin....... Do we still have mboard gold? Philips metamorphosing into Jim!

[Flopsy]

The audience was fine, Griffin came across as a total tool, with limited intelligence and a completely unproffessional preparation for the show - I mean if those are the best answers to questions a 3 year old would expect to come up, then you have no business being in politics.

Moving on to the pre show hooha. Its a damn poor show when the anti-facists come across as more intollerant, bigoted, hysterical facists than the facists.

Did anyone hear Andy Slaughter MP on 5live yesterday lunchtime? i was impressed that the BBC interviewer didnt slap him to calm him down.

And a note for Peter Hain, if you want to prevent the BNP getting more publicity, stop going on about them like an overhysterical drama queen, you efftard

[thenodrog]

I think the worst thing they did was but Bonnie whoever on it...what was she there for? She kept trying to reference Griffin's education for some reason. As he attended Cambridge that seemed an odd thing to do, but she made a few snide remarks in a slightly pathetic attempt to gain superiority.

Wasn't she just there to turn her back on him and frequently open her gob in pretend shock. As you say her reason for being on that panel is a mystery other than to imitate that all seeing, riddle giving Oracle woman from off the Matrix.

[DE.]

Wasn't she just there to turn her back on him and frequently open her gob in pretend shock. As you say her reason for being on that panel is a mystery other than to imitate that all seeing, riddle giving Oracle woman from off the Matrix.

One of the first things she said at the start was "I don't know anything about politics" I found her contempt for Griffin humorous but she added nothing to the debate.... at one point started going on about the ice age and Dimbleby had to shut her up

[philipl]

You enjoy throwing empty barbs 'drog.

Any economist knows that immigration is a positive economic driver in most circumstances. The fact that there is a strongly net positive contribution made by newly arrived immigrants to the Exchequer is only disputed by those who haven't looked at the figures.

Mary Riddel is hardly a bleeding hear leftist and the Daily Telegaph is not exactly where one goes to read "politically correct" comment.

With regards to the BBC "setting up" Nick Griffin, he/the British public set him up by getting him elected as an MEP. It sounds like Griffin flunked something he really should have been better prepared for- what happened in Question Time was hardly unsurprising. Did he really expect there not to be questions about Klu Klux Klan, holocaust denial or forced repatriation? He mishandled everyone of them.

Never mind that his views are unpallatable, as a politician he was kack which is enormously good news for Britain. He is no Gerry Adams or Geert Wilders or even Jean-Marie Le Pen with a turn of phrase, quick mind or the common touch. He is just an extremely unpleasant second class intellect with pretensions beyond his capability.

[Mattyblue]

This non football board is renowned for it's holier than thou pontificating.

'The vast majority of people abhor the BNP etc etc' this complacent attitude is why the party is growing at such a rate.

Get off this msg board and you will find a VERY sizeable constituency that feel the BNP does stand up for them. Labour as a party of the working class is a sick joke!

We are nearing 3million unemployed yet immigration continues unabated? When this was raised by the guy at the back and the black fella at the front it was dismissed out of hand. The liberal dogmas of the elite have caused this situation.