Mary Reid

A BNP leaflet was delivered in parts of Hook last weekend. I have been trying to decide whether to ignore it or to comment on it. I now think that by speaking out we may do something to stop its influence here before it takes hold.

The problem is that the BNP is a legal political party, in spite of its origins in the National Front and other neo-Nazi movements. It is now, very perniciously, trying to position itself as a middle-of-the-road 'common sense' party.

Nothing could be more misleading.

The leaflet very cleverly lists a whole lot of 'motherhood and apple pie' issues that most of us will agree with. "Lower tax for working families", "investment in British business", "more police on our streets", "protect our beautiful countryside", "stop the energy price rip off" - you can't disagree with any of that. It claims to be a 'family organisation'.

But tucked away among those issues are some policies which derive from the BNP's underlying racism. This is expressed as "making sure that British people are put first". But, of course, in this context, 'British' is code for 'white'.

For example, under "celebrating our British culture" it says

Rather than wasting money on melas and other minority events the BNP will promote OUR culture, like St George's Day celebrations.

In other words, anyone belonging to a minority - including many British citizens - are not truly British according to the BNP. Of course, if you asked them, the BNP would not count the Welsh, Scots or Irish as minorities - they can no doubt carry on celebrating their own festivals - but anyone with a non-white skin or a 'foreign' name must belong to a minority in their eyes.

The BNP's argument doesn't stand up. It promotes a notion of 'British culture' as if there is an identifiable, homogeneous culture which all (white) Britons share.  This shows a complete contempt for the extraordinary history of the British Isles.

The British people are made up of the richest ethnic mix that you can find anywhere in the world. From the Roman invasion two thousand years ago right up to the present day, this land has absorbed people of many cultures and racial types.

This is evidenced in two very striking ways. First, have a look round any gathering and notice people's hair. Black, brown, red or blond; wavy, curly or straight; what do these tell us about the physical makeup of us all? Most of us carry within our genes the memories of many other lands.

Second, English is not only an almost universal language, but it also has one of the biggest vocabularies.  English has lots of clusters of words that mean almost the same, for example, pig, swine and pork or house, abode, dwelling, domicile and habitation.  These words derive from different languages and were absorbed into English at different periods. They permit great subtlety in the use of language, because each synonym takes on a slightly different connotation.

This multi-lingual vocabulary was Shakespeare's key resource, and we have given it back to the world. It is a living demonstration of the glorious cosmopolitan heritage of our country.

Back to the BNP leaflet, which exploits the very language that owes so much to so many cultures. Here are some other examples:

A better NHS with British nurses: the BNP would invest more money on the NHS, cut waiting lists and make sure that British nurses were employed for a fair wage.

Presumably the overseas nurses that the NHS relies on should be paid an unfair wage? If not, why pick out British nurses?

The BNP don't 'hate' anyone, we just want to make sure that our own people aren't turned into second class citizens.

Every BNP supporter I have ever met has started by saying something highly objectionable about ethnic minorities, so the first claim is clearly false. But even ignoring that, where is this threat to create second-class citizens?  'Our own people' is obviously another code for 'white'.

It's wrong that immigrants who've never paid a penny into our system can come to soft touch Britain and go to the front of the queue.

'Immigrants' is, of course, code for 'non-white'. Where would the NHS be without overseas workers? What about the teachers we welcomed into London a few years ago to balance the shortfall? How much do they contribute to UK taxation? And what is this queue for?

I could go on, but I'm just itching to put the leaflet through the shredder, which is where it belongs.