Dead Shift

After returning home from a rather dead shift at work, I found I had the energy and the patience to watch (the majority of) Thursday's Question Time, my first full(ish) episode in a very long time. I tried watching it on Thursday, but gave up and switched to the brilliant In Treatment instead.

I have to stand by my assumption that this would be the public trial of Nick Griffin, and he didn't come off well. I also have to concur with Cranmer and Pub Philosopher that it was probably Bonnie Greer who came off best in the programme.

For it certainly wasn't the 'mainstream' politicians. Jack Straw got what he deserved on the issue of immigration, from the other panellists, the audience, and Dimbleby, especially when he bizarrely tried to shift the blame for the rise of the BNP onto Enoch Powell's period as Health Minister in the 1960s. Huhne didn't impress, and Warsi wasn't much better.

But, in the end, will it mean anything? Not a chance. The people who would never vote BNP still won't. The people who would always have voted for the BNP will still do so. And those who have been deliberately dismissed by this Government will still shift their support to Nick Griffin. So those who have now patted themselves on the back, confident that the boos among a TV audience mean that the BNP has now stalled as a political force, are in for a nasty shock. You haven't won anything, or anyone, yet.