vimothy
yurp
motherfucker
Actually, this is hardly a swear word.
motherfucker
How large do you think this section of the population was?
I cannot in all my 34 years ever remember hearing an american of any gender refer to a man as a "cunt," only heard it used to refer insultingly to women. And that often.
Couple of points - the wiki page attributes the collapse to Thatcher and the (collapse of?) ANL but also John Tyndall bankrupting the party by standing 303 candidates, many with no accompanying electioneering.
My understanding is that the BNP is in a much healthier position now than the NF was in the late 70s - for example they are beating mainstream parties in local elections as a matter of routine, and have a small but significant number of local councillors
Interesting -- weird that Thatcher can be a (neo) liberal and an anti-liberal at the same time!
What do you think is the cause of the rise of the BNP (beyond the obvious)? I guess that mainstream parties just ignore this type of thing and this demographic...
Interesting -- weird that Thatcher can be a (neo) liberal and an anti-liberal at the same time!
God, it'd be a bit easier if they just gave you the totals. As a percentage of the total vote, how much did the NF get overall? And the same question, re the BNP.
I think the Tory party has always had a weird division between outright libertarians and bigots basically. And of course opportunists who play to both camps...
I think BNP are doing so well because the mainstream parties have been pandering to middle england / middle class votes and this has created a vacuum. And the BNP have filled that vacumm by going out to people who don't feel their problems are being addressed by mainstream politicians...
Meanwhile the left have been more concerned with the problems of people in Iraq and Palestine...
In last May’s local elections the BNP polled 14.7% in the 742 wards it contested across the country. The highest average regional vote was in the Eastern region where the party achieved 19% of the vote in the 65 wards contested. The lowest regional vote was 11.1% in the South West, where the BNP fielded 34 candidates. If even its lowest regional average was replicated in London then the BNP would be on the verge of winning three seats on the Assembly.
The BNP is hopeful of success. In the 2006 local elections the party polled 41% in the wards it contested in Barking and Dagenham. It gained councillors in Havering and Redbridge, and overall it averaged 25% of the vote in the 27 wards it contested.
Come on, surely it's not that hard to grasp that you can be economically liberal and socially illiberal, is it?
Hmm, I'm not sure about that. I mean, you might well be right, but I feel uneasy about such broad generalisations. It reminds me of the kind of discourse that currently surrounds McCain's economic policies on mainstream econ blogs. "Faith based economics" etc. You know the kind of thing -- my enemy is either a tool or a liar, but my camp are naturally very different.
(Full disclosure: I have never voted Conservative and don't intend to start now. However, I would do so if I thought that it was worth it).
Sounds true to me. How can you reach angry white working class people who think that they should get first dibs on council houses and more benefits?
[Sorry -- that's probably a generalisation as well...]
The National Front are still active, it seems. The BNP are doing much better, though.
It probably is a generalisation but you only have to look at the pro and anti- euro tories to see that there is a fair bit of variation in views there.
Well the traditional left (like 30 years ago? longer?) would have got around this by emphasising class over race, and organising collective campaigns to improve the housing situation for working class people as whole.
Things are so fucked up now I don't really know where to start,
God, it'd be a bit easier if they just gave you the totals. As a percentage of the total vote, how much did the NF get overall? And the same question, re the BNP.
The NF won more votes than the Liberals in the 1975 (I think) local elections in the places where they stood.
Re rise of BNP, they've taken enormous care to moderate their thug image (although they can never quite lose it) and curb their wilder policies. They no longer propose forced repatriation of all non-whites and the days when their leaders do TV interviews surrounded by pics of Hitler (as Tyndall did) are long gone.