is my glass half full...

...or is it emptily reflecting the malevolent sneer of Griffin and the rest of his doing-their-best-to-not-mention-the-thinly-veiled-racist-antidemocratic-thuggery cronies. What do I see when I go out? Do I see one in every ten as a Nazi? Do I see them as ill educated fools, easily taken in by (what I think are) blatantly unconvincing lies? Or do I see 9 in every ten as decent people who may be daft/ young/ memory inhibited enough to vote Tory but know that the BNP = Fascism and are in fact more than bright enough to realise that a vote for the BNP is a vote for tyranny, violence and discrimination; that it spits in the face of all those that fought against it in Spain and during World War 2.

As today has worn on I have got over my initial response: "everyone is a self serving, deluded racist" and have been much more generous: "some people are just plain stupid". Griffin and Brons are vile liars. Their NF credentials and their on (and much more off) the record statements are clear but they are forced to present themselves as something they are not. It's like me saying I support A*****l in order to get a cup final ticket: Embarrassing betrayal. But they do it in the full knowledge that it may get them votes. It's an acknowledgement that their true feelings are unpalatable and make them unelectable. It's an admission of how out of touch they are.

By the way, if this sounds vitriolic it's lucky I'm writing now and not this morning or late last night.

It's a damn shame that I feel like there has been enough of a change to re-ignite my anger. It's a long time since I was involved in things like CND and the Anti-Nazi League and thought that those days were gone but I will join Unite Against Fascism (even though they seem to have a thing about capital letters) and I will protest the extensive and often apparently sypmathetic coverage the BNP get in the national media. Suddenly the ridiculuousness of 'Hurrah for the Blackshirts' headline (Daily Mail in 1934) looks like it could be emulated.

Having said all that, and without getting at all complacent: they only won two seats. Factor in the voting patterns of extremist parties and the current crisis in confidence in mainstream politicians and it actuall seems pretty crap. You also have to remember that the BNP was top on most voting cards and, let's face it, we all have better things to do than read to the bottom of a long boring list and, anyway, what difference does it make? they said they're for our boys so why should I not believe them? etc. etc.

Articles like Hundal's in today's Guardian actually give me a lot of hope It's clearly set out and compelling. Amongst the points he raises is this:

"The BNP is not increasing its votes. In both Yorkshire and the north-west, its total number of votes fell from 2004. This absolutely does not mean that more people are being seduced by the BNP's propaganda. It means that Labour's share of the vote collapsed and went to other parties, thereby helping the BNP under a proportional system. If the party makes a comeback then there's no reason why the BNP will continue to get its MEPs elected."

(by the way Garry Aronsson, Griffin's running mate in these elections lists as a hobby "devising slow and terrible ways of paying back the Guardian-reading c****s who have betrayed the British people into poverty and slavery. I AM NOT JOKING." see here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/may/31/bnp-european-elections-facebook-expose - dodgy foreign sounding name that I think-it's in my little black book).

Another point raised elsewhere is the impact of so many people writing panicky articles about the BNP when they're still so bloody peripheral and pathetic so I'll shut up now.