And it will not just be Nick Griffin who will be in the hot seat. I can see Hazel Blears, Hutton, Hodge all being grilled. The one who should really be strung up is out hunting peace in the middle east.

At that point Old Labour died and New Labour was born.

Old Labour was far left, whilst New Labour was Fabianist.

After the miners strike New Labour ideologues decided that immigrants were more reliable as their voter base and then sought to swamp the country with their new pet voters when in power, whilst keeping the Tory right happy with cheap workers to undercut UK workers.

Now of course the New Labour ethnic friendly elite who are hostile to the old far left are using the non-unionised immigrant workers to weaken the grip of the old far left unions as they seek to globalise the UK economy.

So immigration is a win / win for both New Labour and Tories.

Excellent point. Ironically it typifies the condescending attitude of the middle class media – the WWC are racist and therefore represented by the BNP.

However, racism aside, the BNP is the only party that has embraced rather than shunned the WWC and been prepared to raise issues like housing or the impact of immigration.

The true scandal is that the mainstream political class never gave a toss, frankly – to the right it was all about economics, to the left post-imperial guilt, and personally I can’t help thinking there was an underlying class hatred there too: in 1945, the WWC which lest we forget won WW2, voted for a proper (and possibly the last) socialist government which in five years created the NHS, Welfare State and damn-near nationalised half the country.

They were just an inch away from creating a truly equitable country – by banning private education and taxing the rich till their pips squeaked – so we couldn’t have that, could we.

It seems to me that the wealthy mobilised their battalions and (albeit subconsciously) took control of the left, through the Labour Party and the media. So while Jeremy looked after the family finances in the City, Jemima did her best to shift the left from socialism to single-issueism on the Grauniad, marginalising the WWC to the extent that the only people prepared to speak out for their interests are a bunch of racist twats. Unfeasible? Never underestimate the survival instinct of the British ruling class.

Blair in the guise of New Labour not only deserted the working class (including WWC) but was embarassed by it. And in time turned on it.

Of course the BBC knew this beforehand. I would hazard a guess that their intention was to give the impression of an inclusive discussion by including the BNP but with insufficient time for exposition or criticism, thus generating much heat but not much light. Or in other words a lot of publicity for their White Series without giving the BNP a platform. The BBC was successful.

After a long career with the BBC Jon Gaunt moved to Talksport and I would hazard a guess that the BBC will promote him as the authentic voice of the White Working Class as he supports Multiculturalism despite his living in the country and educating his children privately, thus largely insulating himself and his children from the downside of Multiculturalism.

What a coincidence, just made that point to Sunny on another thread about sneering at villagers.

I was disturbed by that tatoo image too, as though the assumption had been made that the WWC could only be defined by opposition to the encroaching other.

I hope some time is spent on the rural working class, whose culture in many areas has been comprehensively trashed by overwhelmingly white, middle-class afluent incomers (including a high proportion of media types).

I would also add to your name checks people like Peter Hain, Lee Jasper, Ken Livingstone lest we forget how we, together, manage to pull the country from the brink.

good post. totally agree!

Griffin and the BNP were brought on for nothing more than cheap controversy. Right-wing bias at the BBC? It may be wise to give “White season” a miss.

But in this day and age, they are hardly the cause of race tensions that still exist in this country. They merely exploit it.

Not only is the packaging of these films dumbed down – the provacative tatooing of a white face with ‘foreign scribbles till it turns black’ undermining the anti-racist patriotism of Billy Bragg’s version of Jerusalem. But there also seems a concerted worldview among some in the media that ‘white working classness is synonymous with racism.’

This is untrue and Jon Gaunt is totally right – the BNP has been persistently rejected by the white working class in Britain. Only in its fantasies do the far right represent anything more than a guilty protest vote to a fraction of the white working class.
(and yes, its tragic they should appear tobe growing under a ‘Labour’ government but that’s another story)

If as some deluded white middle class people seem to believe – the white working class are all more racist than middle class types, and can be represented by “Ronnie and Reggie loving eastenders who moved to essex/spain to get away from ethnics” – then how come it was largely white working class solidarity with middle class lefties and ethnic minorities in the 1970s trade union movement that helped the Anti-Nazi League and Rock against Racism fight fascists off the streets?

It would be impossible for anyone let alone middle class media types to enjoy the diversity of the great metropolis, if every working class person – white or non-white- was a racist and went around London inciting fear in others – the days when most picklers were young or just a glint in the chutney jar when there were plenty of places where National Front newpaper sellers were as common as Big Issue salesman and Chuggers, are long over.

And we have the white working classes tendancy to muddle on and be tolerant – to thank for this – not self satisfied media types.The annoying thing about some of the season’s packaging is that the Beeb seems to be going backwards – it was only five or so years ago that the Windrush documentary series highlighted how white Londoners helped resist racists in places like Lewisham in the 1970s. (and Gary Bushell, the ‘gaunty’ of his day, was happy to be interviwed to express pride in fighting the NF)

This is what comes from the social isoloation of middle class media professionals – whose faults can be amplified with each succeeding generation as London prices ensure only those who can afford to intern can climb the ladder..