My first reaction to the election of British National Party MEPs was to feel profoundly angry and ashamed. Angry because mainstream politics has to fail badly for men such as Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons to win votes. Ashamed because innocent people will be frightened and this country’s reputation as a tolerant, liberal democracy tarnished by their election.  

Proportional representation must shoulder some of the blame, except that there are, of course, better systems of proportional voting that do not offer disproportionate opportunities to extremists. If only the EU had the good sense to adopt one of them. But while I cannot change the electoral system on my own, I can use the power of the internet to draw attention to who these BNP MEPs really are and what they believe. The political biographies of Messrs Griffin and Brons  undermine their facile claims to oppose racism.  These men are lifelong fascists. The profiles I have linked to are from the Hope not Hate website created by the campaigning anti-fascist magazine Searchlight which has researched and opposed racism ansd fascism since 1962. Searchlight is an excellent resource for journalists and academics seeking to understand and oppose extreme right wing political groups wherever they raise their vile, racist heads.  .