Electionwatch 2010 - 23.4 edition
It's St. George's day, and so of course the BNP chose today to launch their election manifesto. I plan to pick through that, but I think that's going to require alcohol and/or chocolate to fuel me through it, so that will have to wait for a later date (possibly tomorrow). Instead, let's have a look at their election leaflet that also came through the door today (with an added bonus feature of a look at some of the other leaflets we've gotten this week).
So, the BNP leaflet. Bright yellow background, with the logo forefront and then a line of people. 4 war veterans, Winston Churchill and Nick Griffin. Griffin, I've realised, looks like his face is morphing into a Spitting Image puppet. Either that or it's just melting, and either way it's mildly disturbing to look at. And I have no idea why they've co-opted Churchill into their campaign this time around - although a quick look on Wikipedia shows that he seemed to be quite the racist, so maybe that's why. (Nick contends that he was no more racist than anyone else of the time.)
Inside the leaflet we have... Top of the page is a big "Support our Troops/Bring our Troops Home!" header. It's the usual tactic of the BNP at this point, which is unfair because, you know, we all want the troops home, they don't have the monopoly on that here. Interesting side point: three BNP candidates in Swansea are actually standing under that party name instead of the BNP this year (BBC story). Make of that what you will.
After that, we've got the usual bunch of faces, along with their reasons as to "why [they're] all voting British National Party". First guy has a smarmy smile on his face and is talking about "asylum seekers coming here and being sent to the front of the queue". I seem to say this every time I do an anti-BNP post, but that's simply not true. Last time I checked, asylum seekers get something called NASS benefits, which are less than regular benefits and mean they can't work or look for places of their own while their asylum claim is pending. Only if their asylum claim is approved are they allowed to apply for 'regular' benefits, and then they have to go through the same system as the rest of us. And believe me, that's not a speedy process. They do get free health care, but hey, so do the rest of us, so what's the problem? Basically, the BNP here are trying to litter our streets with dying asylum seekers, thus creating a massive environmental problem (although probably creating some more jobs cleaning the streets).
Second face and quote is a guy saying he's voting BNP because the BNP want "British Jobs for British Workers". Great. Shame the BNP have never said how they're going to get the big corporations who are going overseas because it's cheaper and they don't have to pay taxes - which is of course at least part of the reason we're in a bloody recession - to come back and bring those jobs with them. I suspect there will be many, many tax breaks and the like, so many that even the Tories' heads would start spinning at the sight. Also, it's all well and good to want to invest in things like the NHS, but you know what? A lot of our nurses and staff are from other countries! And even with a massive recruiting drive to get new nurses, it's going to take, what, two years for them to be ready to actually work as fully trained nurses. What are we supposed to do in the meantime, have empty wards and cross our fingers?
Third quote is from a woman who talks about the BNP getting us out of the EU and protecting our "Christian values". Now, it just so happens that the BNP have previously said that "Islam is incompatible with modern secular democracy" (BBC website). So which is it, secular democracy or Christian values? I could go on at great length about this, but for the sake of my fingers I'll leave it there for now.
Final quote is from another woman who wants her kids to be taught British history at school. This is a hell of a shock to me, as I seem to remember being taught nothing but British history in school till I got to GCSE level. Hell, all I got taught for the entirety of my history lessons in primary school was the Second World War from the British perspective (and my gods, did that get repetitive by the fourth year). Then again, I'm old, maybe everything's changed since then. But I doubt it. She also says that we shouldn't be "bullied by political correctness" (there goes Nick twitching). "Political correctness", of course, is the new codephrase for "I'm not allowed to insult you for not being like me any more, and I don't like it!"
After that we've got a couple of paragraphs from Simon Darby, the guy who's standing here for the BNP. He doesn't live here, of course, but let's face it, that's not stopped the Labour candidate either so we won't harp on too much about that. Most of his stuff is pretty uninteresting (if you really want to get a look at the guy, you can go find his blog, just google his name and go from there), but he finishes with saying he wants us to demand that "British people have rights too!". Now, I'm British, and I haven't been refused any of my rights yet (and I know them, because I'm annoying like that), so I'm not quite sure what he's talking about here. Perhaps it's another roundabout way of bringing the "political correctness" (sorry, Nick) codephrase in again, in that "rights" here means being able to state we're better than all the non-white people?
Finally, the back page. More pictures of people, every last one of them very white, a brief summary of their "aims" - troops home, no more brown people, and raise the weekly pension to £150 - what? Apparently they're going to get this money from the money the other parties are putting towards dealing with climate change (the BNP don't believe in that, either). When you consider that more and more people are living longer and so we're becoming a nation of pensioners, I predict this money would last about 6 months at most. Not that I don't think that pensions should have an increase - gods know it's hard enough to live on it already - but this is such a ridiculous figure that it would do more to cripple the country than any other financial plan the other parties have.
Finally, the BNP's election slogan for this year appears to be, "GET EVEN - vote British National Party". Get even with whom? I have my List, does this mean I can get started on that? Serously, who do the BNP want to "get even" with, and should I be scared?
And now, a brief break while I go play computer games with Nick to calm down.
So, the BNP leaflet. Bright yellow background, with the logo forefront and then a line of people. 4 war veterans, Winston Churchill and Nick Griffin. Griffin, I've realised, looks like his face is morphing into a Spitting Image puppet. Either that or it's just melting, and either way it's mildly disturbing to look at. And I have no idea why they've co-opted Churchill into their campaign this time around - although a quick look on Wikipedia shows that he seemed to be quite the racist, so maybe that's why. (Nick contends that he was no more racist than anyone else of the time.)
Inside the leaflet we have... Top of the page is a big "Support our Troops/Bring our Troops Home!" header. It's the usual tactic of the BNP at this point, which is unfair because, you know, we all want the troops home, they don't have the monopoly on that here. Interesting side point: three BNP candidates in Swansea are actually standing under that party name instead of the BNP this year (BBC story). Make of that what you will.
After that, we've got the usual bunch of faces, along with their reasons as to "why [they're] all voting British National Party". First guy has a smarmy smile on his face and is talking about "asylum seekers coming here and being sent to the front of the queue". I seem to say this every time I do an anti-BNP post, but that's simply not true. Last time I checked, asylum seekers get something called NASS benefits, which are less than regular benefits and mean they can't work or look for places of their own while their asylum claim is pending. Only if their asylum claim is approved are they allowed to apply for 'regular' benefits, and then they have to go through the same system as the rest of us. And believe me, that's not a speedy process. They do get free health care, but hey, so do the rest of us, so what's the problem? Basically, the BNP here are trying to litter our streets with dying asylum seekers, thus creating a massive environmental problem (although probably creating some more jobs cleaning the streets).
Second face and quote is a guy saying he's voting BNP because the BNP want "British Jobs for British Workers". Great. Shame the BNP have never said how they're going to get the big corporations who are going overseas because it's cheaper and they don't have to pay taxes - which is of course at least part of the reason we're in a bloody recession - to come back and bring those jobs with them. I suspect there will be many, many tax breaks and the like, so many that even the Tories' heads would start spinning at the sight. Also, it's all well and good to want to invest in things like the NHS, but you know what? A lot of our nurses and staff are from other countries! And even with a massive recruiting drive to get new nurses, it's going to take, what, two years for them to be ready to actually work as fully trained nurses. What are we supposed to do in the meantime, have empty wards and cross our fingers?
Third quote is from a woman who talks about the BNP getting us out of the EU and protecting our "Christian values". Now, it just so happens that the BNP have previously said that "Islam is incompatible with modern secular democracy" (BBC website). So which is it, secular democracy or Christian values? I could go on at great length about this, but for the sake of my fingers I'll leave it there for now.
Final quote is from another woman who wants her kids to be taught British history at school. This is a hell of a shock to me, as I seem to remember being taught nothing but British history in school till I got to GCSE level. Hell, all I got taught for the entirety of my history lessons in primary school was the Second World War from the British perspective (and my gods, did that get repetitive by the fourth year). Then again, I'm old, maybe everything's changed since then. But I doubt it. She also says that we shouldn't be "bullied by political correctness" (there goes Nick twitching). "Political correctness", of course, is the new codephrase for "I'm not allowed to insult you for not being like me any more, and I don't like it!"
After that we've got a couple of paragraphs from Simon Darby, the guy who's standing here for the BNP. He doesn't live here, of course, but let's face it, that's not stopped the Labour candidate either so we won't harp on too much about that. Most of his stuff is pretty uninteresting (if you really want to get a look at the guy, you can go find his blog, just google his name and go from there), but he finishes with saying he wants us to demand that "British people have rights too!". Now, I'm British, and I haven't been refused any of my rights yet (and I know them, because I'm annoying like that), so I'm not quite sure what he's talking about here. Perhaps it's another roundabout way of bringing the "political correctness" (sorry, Nick) codephrase in again, in that "rights" here means being able to state we're better than all the non-white people?
Finally, the back page. More pictures of people, every last one of them very white, a brief summary of their "aims" - troops home, no more brown people, and raise the weekly pension to £150 - what? Apparently they're going to get this money from the money the other parties are putting towards dealing with climate change (the BNP don't believe in that, either). When you consider that more and more people are living longer and so we're becoming a nation of pensioners, I predict this money would last about 6 months at most. Not that I don't think that pensions should have an increase - gods know it's hard enough to live on it already - but this is such a ridiculous figure that it would do more to cripple the country than any other financial plan the other parties have.
Finally, the BNP's election slogan for this year appears to be, "GET EVEN - vote British National Party". Get even with whom? I have my List, does this mean I can get started on that? Serously, who do the BNP want to "get even" with, and should I be scared?
And now, a brief break while I go play computer games with Nick to calm down.