One last piece. I don't know who to vote for. No-one seems to address the problems this country seems to face. One thing I wouldnt do though is call anyone stupid or racist for voting BNP. I'd call them peed off!!!!!

A quick surf of the net reveals that estimates of the financial cost of immigration to each family is betwen £50 - £350 depending on whose figures you choose to use.

To put it in perspective the Bank bailouts have currently cost each family around £20,000 and is probably set to rise still further.

The BNP is a racist party - it's well documented!! It is indeed a bedrock of their manifesto, which - over recent years - they have removed from their own website. They did this so they can maintain a veneer of credibility and respectability. They then 'spin' the message by pushing 'the rights of British people being undermined by outsiders'. They then use the word 'immigrant' as a catch-all term....and people who have not thought it through properly start to do the same. So before you know it people start telling tales about "All these immigrants....coming over here....contributing nothing....getting everything for free.....stealing jobs from locals, etc...", and before you know it usually rational, tolerant people are buying into the idea that the BNP are the only party that are 'listening to our concerns and coming up with solutions' Once people are into this mindset then the BNP are winning - and once they have a foot-hold, who knows where it will lead?? Extremist - usually xenophobic - views tend to carry more credence during times of extreme economic uncertainty - its what lead to the rise of facism in the 1920/30's......and we all know where that lead!!

While I have every sympathy for someone in the construction industry who has found themselves out of work - and hearing that thousands of Eastern European economic migrants have been employed in their place, but unfortunately this is not the fault of the people who taken these jobs. Blame the global capitalist system that deems 'cheapest' as best choice!!
Those who moan about 'these immigrants' who work for less than minimum wage - pushing the indigenous population out of work, etc.....
The minimum wage was brought in to protect the vulnerable, and low -paid. If people are not getting it - then blame the bosses for this illegal practice, and report them.
To say that everytime you go into the town-centre - during the day - it is full of 'immigrants', and somehow use this to prove that none of them work - so must all be on benefits, is a ridiculous argument. Why can these people not be shift workers? 'Letting their kids urinate in the street' - I've got news for you, I've seen plenty of 'locally born' women encourage their kids to do the same!!

Getting back to your original point:

The BNP are a racist party - FACT.
If you vote for this racist party it is for one of two reasons - you are racist, or you are ignorant of the fact that the BNP are a racist party. If this was the case - as it is well documented - you'd have to be pretty stupid to claim that you did not know.
And it is no use to say "well I'm not racist, but i voted BNP because I agree with their policy on XYZ - but I don't agree with all their policies" - if you vote for them, and they get in, you have voted in the full package, not just the bits you agree with!!
Ergo - two types of people vote BNP:
Racists
The stupid, and ignorant.

Do you know what the core value of any party bar the BNP is these days? I'd say they arnt so far apart. I know you can see on websites and so forth but what one says and one does are 2 different things. There is always a new policy coming out for something which even if its godd will still get slagged by everyone else. Politics. Thats the problem. Amateurs trying to run this good country of ours.

I think you can vote for a party if you disagree with its core values. What if you disagree with every parties core values? Not likely. Maybe you have a bee in your bonnet about one such thing. Which may be your point about ignorance. I dont know. I can see why people are leaning towards the BNP. I wouldnt now because I have read ALL there policies and the mission statement not on the website. And took it in eventually. My original point was that you are not racist if you vote BNP. Maybe fed up. Ethnic minorities are now looking at them. Are they racist? I think its because whatever Government has been charge over my lifetime has been an abject failure. At just about everything.

Anyways. Thanks for the debate, its good to disgaree and get things off ones chest. Going to celebrate St Patricks day with a lovely pint of Guinness. Will I celebrate St Georges day? Don't even know when it is.....

All I know is there a far too many people in this country playing the system, immigrant or otherwise and those of us who work hard to earn a living are paying for it all and it takes the pi@s.

I don't know how to resolve it but something needs to change because the country is going to the dogs.

Our country is in a mess for one reason and its all down to the bankers.

Anyone who thinks voting BNP is the answer should watch the TV series a Warning from History.

From a financial standpoint in terms of credit etc maybe but the government are to blame really

I would agree totally but for one thing. Regulation. Gordon Brown seems to harp on about it everyday to the point where I actually turn the TV off when I see his face. Its ultimately his fault for this problem in THIS country. Overseas problems have not helped one iota but its his tax tax tax and spend spend spend policy which has now got us in the muck. It was his failure to put regulations into the banking system and press foreign nations to do the same. It was his tax policy on pensions which forced many investors to look elsewhere. i.e shares and houses. It is all his fault. And I voted for Labour.


But then I haven't much choice and my vote wouldn't matter anyway.

Exactly! Ignorant means lacking knowledge or information of a particular subject. If someone was to vote BNP citing they where unaware of the BNP's core, racist values, they would be displaying breath-taking stupidity, as those facts are well documented.

Anyway - as a first generation immigrant 'Paddy', I'm away now to celebrate my Hibernian culture, with a few pints of the dark stuff, and a couple of glasses of poteen !!

[iSláinte Mhaith!![/i

Quote: frankb "Our country is in a mess for one reason and its all down to the bankers. '" Have you seen this? www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009 ... nction-tax People should be burning down the banks not moaning about immigrants. Pity I can't get to this event, I hope it kicks off big style. www.lasthours.org.uk/wp-content/ ... ontweb.gif

Quote: frankb "Our country is in a mess for one reason and its all down to the bankers. '" Have you seen this? www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009 ... nction-tax People should be burning down the banks not moaning about immigrants. Pity I can't get to this event, I hope it kicks off big style. www.lasthours.org.uk/wp-content/ ... ontweb.gif