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BNP leader joins Wootton Bassett crowds for repatriation (From Swindon Advertiser)
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BNP leader joins Wootton Bassett crowds for repatriation
3:12pm Tuesday 10th November 2009
BNP leader Nick Griffin was present in Wootton Bassett today to see the bodies of six soldiers pass through the town after their repatriation from Afghanistan to British soil.
Mr Griffin stood on the high street where hearses carrying the soldiers' Union Flag-draped coffins were due to arrive.
Do you think it was right for Nick Griffin to attend the repatriation? Should Gordon Brown have been there?
Have your say below...
Wearing a black coat, adorned with a poppy, the controversial MEP stood with a minder opposite family and friends of the fallen soldiers.
Mr Griffin said: "I wanted to come here today because this is the second worst toll to be coming through and because tomorrow is Remembrance Day. So it's fitting that as many people as possible come here today."
He added: "It's an absolutely tremendous and very moving display."
Mr Griffin said he had a "friendly" reaction from the public to his presence.
"It's been very low key, I've been talking to many people and it's been very friendly," he said.
Your Vote
Do you think Gordon Brown should show his respects for our troops by coming to Wootton Bassett?
59%
41%
When asked for his view on the conflict in Afghanistan after the loss of the five soldiers killed by a rogue Afghan police officer, Mr Griffin said: "This is not the time or the place for political statements - it's for remembrance. I have strong views on Afghanistan but I'm not prepared to discuss them here."
Read the full report on today's repatriations and Nick Griffin's visit in tomorrow's Adver.
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Your Say YourSwindon
forcryingoutloud, Stratton says...
3:46pm Tue 10 Nov 09
Fubar, Swindon says...
3:47pm Tue 10 Nov 09
At least he was there to pay his respects.
Jock Strap, Truss says...
3:48pm Tue 10 Nov 09
Kineasy, Swindon says...
4:08pm Tue 10 Nov 09
Home Boy, Swindon says...
4:12pm Tue 10 Nov 09
politicrat, swindon says...
4:23pm Tue 10 Nov 09
Home Boy wrote:Correction to your statement, no other politician has enough nuts to pay their respects and face the consequences of their actions (votes).
Other political figures have rightly stayed away to allow the families and friends to pay their respects without the media distraction of politicians nearby (the media finally got this message after the farce earlier in the year). Of course Nick Griffen has the right to be there, so does everyone else, but the cinic in me tells me that he's only there to score political points. I just hope the anti-fascists don't rise to the bate and stay away in future.
Mr Griffin unlike all other MPs hase not been involved in either Iraq or Afghanistan deployment.
I dislike most BNP ideas but I have to give him that he is showing up despite the odds, and I have great respect for that, unlike the others weasels hiding behind their armed escort and concrete blocks at Westminster!
Home Boy, Swindon says...
4:28pm Tue 10 Nov 09
.
My opinion is that he was only there for political point scoring. I would imagine that most of the people that attend the repatriations, including the families, would prefer that the politicians stay away.
politicrat, swindon says...
4:48pm Tue 10 Nov 09
Home Boy wrote:Isn't it easier to pay your respects to a stone monuments surrounded by armed police.
That's not a correction, it's your opinion, which of course you are entitled to. . My opinion is that he was only there for political point scoring. I would imagine that most of the people that attend the repatriations, including the families, would prefer that the politicians stay away.
I applaud Mr Griffin for his courage and his humanity for being there amongst the PEOPLE!
The very people that Mr Brown was "celebrating" in his Mauerfall speech but has total contempt at "home" well it is not even his home since he is Scottish, if I may add
Is that you Lovesey, Swindon says...
5:00pm Tue 10 Nov 09
Well done to the residents of Bassett - they are doing a fantastic job.
yeti, swindon says...
5:18pm Tue 10 Nov 09
Home Boy wrote:i think you are spot on.griffin is an opportunist, and this was an opportunity.
Other political figures have rightly stayed away to allow the families and friends to pay their respects without the media distraction of politicians nearby (the media finally got this message after the farce earlier in the year). Of course Nick Griffen has the right to be there, so does everyone else, but the cinic in me tells me that he's only there to score political points. I just hope the anti-fascists don't rise to the bate and stay away in future.
he's got the press regogniton he wanted now.if gordon brown was there then it would take the focus off the victims and their families.and if he didn't go to every one of these repatriations, he would get critism for that too.
Bobfm, South Marston says...
5:39pm Tue 10 Nov 09
Griffin's presence can never be seen as non political. He is a nationally recognised figure. Any more than if Brown, Cameron or Clegg were to come.
The people of Wootton Bassett have made it clear they do not welcome the media coverage. If a top politician were to come there would by necessity be total disruption of what is a sombre event.
I for one would not like to see this.
who dat?, Swindon says...
5:39pm Tue 10 Nov 09
What respects ? The man is a total fraud!
Scott Thunes, Near Swindon says...
5:58pm Tue 10 Nov 09
Bobfm, South Marston says...
6:06pm Tue 10 Nov 09
If this conflict is to continue then the rest of the European NATO countries have got to contribute.
Brown visiting our fallen troops would not be welcomed.
express_a_view, Wootton Bassett says...
6:28pm Tue 10 Nov 09
Grimwald, Swindon says...
6:29pm Tue 10 Nov 09
express_a_view, Wootton Bassett says...
6:35pm Tue 10 Nov 09
Scott Thunes, Near Swindon says...
6:45pm Tue 10 Nov 09
express_a_view wrote:Hear hear.
Grimwald you delude yourself. Griffin is the one who does not want a free country. Well at least not free for anyone who has a different complexion to him. I am proud to object to him on those grounds alone.
Grimwald, Swindon says...
6:47pm Tue 10 Nov 09
politicrat, swindon says...
6:53pm Tue 10 Nov 09
express_a_view wrote:I think you are the one being deluded here, can you please tell me? who and which party started the dismantlement of the UK (name it devolution if you like)?
Grimwald you delude yourself. Griffin is the one who does not want a free country. Well at least not free for anyone who has a different complexion to him. I am proud to object to him on those grounds alone.
Please tell me again, who, which party has signed away major sections of British sovereignty to Brussels?
Again, please tell me who has allowed snooping rights, anti terror Laws (call it civil rights reduction)?
If you want a free country you better wake up soon! because as far as I am concerned you are sleep walking into a a Liebour Police State. The worst bit is that you don't even know what you are talking about, you see BNP and here you are crying wolf, you are just another amongst many millions that have been intoxicated by decades of media and Labour propaganda, try to think for yourself and try to keep your eyes and ears opened. Yes BNP might not be right, but so are other Parties look what is happening, can you trust them for telling you the Truth? why do you think they fear the BNP or smaller parties so much? for their idelogies or for breaking the wall of silence? you are so naive, you must be so young.
grumper, chiseldon says...
7:10pm Tue 10 Nov 09
Scott Thunes wrote:I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
express_a_view wrote: Grimwald you delude yourself. Griffin is the one who does not want a free country. Well at least not free for anyone who has a different complexion to him. I am proud to object to him on those grounds alone.Hear hear.
Voltaire, (Attributed); originated in "The Friends of Voltaire", 1906, by S. G. Tallentyre (Evelyn Beatrice Hall)
We all have the right to say what we wish, and we should all fight to defend it, even if you do not like what you hear!
express_a_view, Wootton Bassett says...
7:10pm Tue 10 Nov 09
takemetothehospital, Swindon says...
7:20pm Tue 10 Nov 09
smaug000, swindon says...
7:56pm Tue 10 Nov 09
There is a time and a place for the media this is not it.
Scott Thunes, Near Swindon says...
8:03pm Tue 10 Nov 09
Grimwald wrote:I've been twice. I do not go now as it has turned into a media circus and should be left for the families of those lost and the residents of Wootton Bassett.
and how times have express a view and Scott Thunes been there then?
Yes, we are in a democracy and I too believe in free speech, and will defend the right of those with unpalatable (to me) views to express those views. It still remains that Griffin and the BNP are fascists whose vile ignorant hate-fulled racism should be spurned by the British population.
Marcus Cicero, Haydon Wick says...
11:47pm Tue 10 Nov 09
politicrat wrote:I dont care either way if he,s there or not.
Home Boy wrote: That's not a correction, it's your opinion, which of course you are entitled to. . My opinion is that he was only there for political point scoring. I would imagine that most of the people that attend the repatriations, including the families, would prefer that the politicians stay away.Isn't it easier to pay your respects to a stone monuments surrounded by armed police. I applaud Mr Griffin for his courage and his humanity for being there amongst the PEOPLE! The very people that Mr Brown was "celebrating" in his Mauerfall speech but has total contempt at "home" well it is not even his home since he is Scottish, if I may add
But I was thinking of voting for the BNP as I am so saddend by the Labour and Consevative and bleeding heart Liberals.
BDF, cricklade says...
12:04am Wed 11 Nov 09
politicrat, swindon says...
12:13am Wed 11 Nov 09
express_a_view wrote:1- the talibans never bombed the UK or the US!!! no afghan terrorist was ever caught in terror attacks and the West was very much supporting them when it suited against the Soviets. Now how many Pakistanis and Saudis participate, participated and will participate in Terror? Think!
Actually polticrat I am well into middle age and had the experience of visiting Auschwitz. Hence my disdain for those who act as apologists for someone who denies the holocaust. Additionally, it also accounts for my immense respect and gratitude for those brave people who fight for freedom - regardless of whether that threat to freedom stems from Nazis or the Taliban.
2- The Nazis, is this how you see all germans in 1945? you are such an idiot, Germans were as oppressed by Nazism as we are here in the UK by labour. And to go straight to my point, we should have feared Stalin more than Hitler, if we had joined cause with the Wehrmacht we wouldn't have had 50 years of Nuclear Armageddon.
you have been to Auschiwitz, good for you, have you ever visited a Russian Gulag, a Khmer death camp? ever been to a Palestinian "refugee" camp?
your simplistic view of the world is not only remarkable but because you have the right to vote, it makes me doubt about the future of Democracy.
I am worried about extremism but what worries me most is ignorance!
Marcus Cicero, Haydon Wick says...
12:45am Wed 11 Nov 09
After all even if you or others enlightend me I still wont be able to vote on anything european, it,s leaders or what ever they do in my name.
Stazi britain is not the place I spent my life working for.
When a foreigner gets better housing, more state benifits and many, many other benifits over and above what our pensioners and citizens would get, I will vote for anyone to get change.
If thats the ukip or bnp or green party I dont care but the laboour and conservatives are out.
Marcus Cicero, Haydon Wick says...
12:53am Wed 11 Nov 09
I,m ashamed to live in STAZI england. We should be throwing rocks at these bast*rds for doing this to these gentlmen. One of whom if he hadnt gone to war for us at that time, we would all be speaking GERMAN.
A 94-year-old war hero today pledged to hand back his medals after the Government refused to give him his winter fuel allowance.
A grandfather was arrested at dawn and held in a police cell for six hours for using a single swear-word in front of a council official.
Thomas Catcheside, 67, had his fingerprints and DNA taken, before being issued with an £80 fixed-penalty notice.
His arrest followed a dispute with a council official about 'dangerously slippery' communal stairs in his block of flats in Cambridge.
Marcus Cicero, Haydon Wick says...
1:10am Wed 11 Nov 09
Lord Taylor of Blackburn ran up the bill over seven years. The former council leader has by far one of the best attendance records at the House of Lords - turning up on average 148 days a year.
A Labour peer faces a possible police investigation for fraud after she claimed £100,000 in expenses for a flat she appears never to have lived in.
Baroness Uddin received the money by claiming that the apparently deserted flat in Maidstone, Kent, was her 'main home'.
This meant the Baroness, Britain's first female Muslim peer, was able to claim nearly £30,000 a year towards the cost of staying at a separate London address while she attended Parliament.
Omar Mapara, chief executive of Spitalfields Housing Association, said the association’s legal team was investigating the case in relation to any possible breach of her tenancy agreement, but would not comment further.
The baroness, who was made the first Muslim life peer by Tony Blair in 1998, last asked a question in the House of Lords on 5 February.
She asked: ‘My Lords, does my noble friend accept that our policy on homeless families impacts greatly on those who are waiting on the list?
‘Is she aware that about 25,000 families are on the waiting list in east London? What does her department intend to do about the new housing to be built on the Olympic site to address the need for family housing?’
Baroness Uddin, a tenant of Spitalfields Housing Association in Wapping, claimed £29,675 in overnight subsistence allowances in 2007/08 for stays at the London property. She named her main residence as a flat in Maidstone, Kent.
But the baroness has reportedly been living in her social home as her main place of residence. Neighbours of her flat in Maidstone have said it was unoccupied.
Do you know any lords or peers of the realm(sic) that live in social housing and claim expecess for it.
Do you know anyone (25,000 people on waiting list)who needs a better home.
Lets look at Swindon Councils leaders and find out how much they cost us and do they claim expencess and live in council houses.
majoc, swindon says...
2:03am Wed 11 Nov 09
Bobfm, South Marston says...
8:02am Wed 11 Nov 09
I think the posts illustrate exactly why politicians should stay away.
politicrat, swindon says...
8:25am Wed 11 Nov 09
Bobfm wrote:Maybe it is not appropriate, but dont be fooled this isn't political slanging.
To be frank I think the way this thread has descended into a Political slanging match is quite appalling, predictable but appalling. I think the posts illustrate exactly why politicians should stay away.
It is exactly how Democracy should be working, Unfortunately, people are very angry and highly disappointed and have been for some time in this country and having failed to be consulted on too many occasions (despite promises), I see this post as a healthy reflection of public mood and debate.
You call it political slanging, I call it freedom of speech and Democratic debate, the very pillars of Democracy that we have spent so many years defending and that our boys continues to "defend" in Afghanistan.
stfcpaul, Old Town says...
9:04am Wed 11 Nov 09
Scott Thunes wrote:There is every chance Nick Griffin's father was involved in this defeat as he was in the forces. Sort of pours water on your fire really.
Griffin should have stayed away. The British Army and it's allies defeated his type in 1939-45.
PeeveD, Swindon says...
9:42am Wed 11 Nov 09
Bobfm wrote:So says the man who when he declared an interest in being a politician could turn the opening of a toy shop into an anti Euro debate!
To be frank I think the way this thread has descended into a Political slanging match is quite appalling, predictable but appalling. I think the posts illustrate exactly why politicians should stay away.
jammis, London says...
11:41am Wed 11 Nov 09
Secondly, for those who feel the BNP have a place in the politcal landscape, tread carefully. It's easy to whip up fear and hatred but another matter to actually solve our country's many problems.
On the single issue of immigration, the BNP have caused some people to rally behind them, others to cry out in despair.
I agree we need a better checking system, points for people who want to work here, and a way of tracking those who come and go, but the BNP's model is more akin to a dipotic ruler. Shipping them all out. But who are 'they'?
1st generation immigrants, 2nd generation, 3rd generation?
I asked the BNP what would happen to my wife, a Japanese national, and my children, born here and part of my family, a British family going back to the 17th century. In short, they would be 'paid' to board a boat home. So my children have to return home to Japan, a country foreign to them. My wife has to leave after paying her taxes into the UK coffers for x-amount of years.
Nick Griffin had the right to pay his respects, but it didn't mean he should have, no matter how quietly he went about it.
Bobfm, South Marston says...
12:26pm Wed 11 Nov 09
Of coursed stalker number 2 reappears as if like magic.
Steve Halden, Swindon says...
1:32pm Wed 11 Nov 09
X2li, swindon says...
2:10pm Wed 11 Nov 09
Scott Thunes, Near Swindon says...
5:00pm Wed 11 Nov 09
stfcpaul wrote:No it doesn't.
Scott Thunes wrote: Griffin should have stayed away. The British Army and it's allies defeated his type in 1939-45.There is every chance Nick Griffin's father was involved in this defeat as he was in the forces. Sort of pours water on your fire really.
His father is ex-RAF and was expelled from the Tory Party for assisting with BNP business:
http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Edgar_Griff
in
stfcpaul, Old Town says...
6:00pm Wed 11 Nov 09
Scott Thunes wrote:Ex-RAF & the bodies were flown back to RAF Lyneham. Its only spin making more of it than showing a mark of respect. For once Wikipedia is 95% accurate, did you know you can edit and add things to Wikipedia yourself!
stfcpaul wrote:No it doesn't. His father is ex-RAF and was expelled from the Tory Party for assisting with BNP business: http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Edgar_Griff inScott Thunes wrote: Griffin should have stayed away. The British Army and it's allies defeated his type in 1939-45.There is every chance Nick Griffin's father was involved in this defeat as he was in the forces. Sort of pours water on your fire really.
HarryPotter, Swindon says...
8:36pm Wed 11 Nov 09
loeylamoo, Haydon Wick says...
9:54pm Wed 11 Nov 09
How can we all say we are free democratic people when we stand back to watch certain beliefs throw stones and insults at our boys for trying to improve the world yet we are happy to persecute one man for let's be honest voicing opinions most of us have been thinking at one point or another
I feel most of us these days live in fear of saying the wrong thing political correctness is not democratic
as to wether this man attended for political gain that's for his concionse
This country is eating itself from the inside and needs realistic people from ALL sides to stand I just hope he will serve as a trailblazer for more free frank speach not the usual do-gooder filtered rubbish that we here every day
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redwilts, cricklade says...
3:34pm Tue 10 Nov 09