The BNP's Party Political Broadcast

I have a confession. I'm not proud of it and many people will poor scorn on me or mock me for thinking so, but i stand by my belief. Not only does the object of my affection give a chance for new sides to the same old stories to be heard but its leader, who i believe to be a great man, does so in a new and refreshing way.

Yes that's right ... I love The One Show, and the man of whom I speak is Adrian Chiles.

Sitting down to watch it the other day I was annoyed to find I first had to sit through a party political broadcast. But no matter I thought, sometimes they can be quite interesting. What'll it be?... David Cameron at home with his kids trying to convince us he's one of us. Gordon Brown perplexing us with the weird chin thing he does when he breathes, or something a bit more budget from one of the others.

No, to my shock this one was from the British National Party (normally i'd link to an online version but i don't want to give them that oxygen).

What is the BNP doing with a party political broadcast? Have they really reached reputable party status?

I know what the argument is, its democracy, you have to allow for all sides to have their say. But let's not get too simplistic, there are still limits and balances. I actually think for instance that Oxford University was right to host Nick Griffin on a debate about free speech. That's because it was in a forum where debate was intentionally being sought amongst people of opposing views, with a sound enough knowledge to see through the sugar coated hatred of Griffin and who had turned up in full knowledge of what they were going to hear.

A Party Political Broadcast however goes out unchallenged, without an immediate counter argument, to everyone in the country without warning, and under the banner of the PPB which gives a sense of authority to the advert.

However what angered me most were the lies and offensive content of the broadcast. These included messages like 'we stand for good Christian values', as a Christian I found it detestable that they could even suggest that this was true. One supposed testimony from a blonde haired lady stated that the BNP merely dares to say what most of us are thinking, uh... no. And the final, almost laughable statement, that the BNP actually had 'a well thought out policy on immigration' ... to stop it. Add in the fact not a single ethnic minority could be seen in the piece and you can see that the far right party are every bit a bad as everyone thinks.

Apparantly they only need a fraction more to get seat on the London Assembly. Let's hope this hasn't swung it for them.