23 July, 2010

The Monarchy and the Right

The cancelling of the invitation to Nick Griffin, head of the Right Wing British National Party, to attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace was utter folly. We aren't supposed to say that Her Majesty has screwed up so I'll say she was ill advised (everyone else in public and private life has to take responsibility for decisions made in their name).

Griffin, who is an elected politician, albeit under the bogus 'proportional' system, now looks as if he, and the hundreds of thousands of people who voted for his party, have been undemocratically victimised by the Queen, who could easily have ignored him once she had a sausage roll in her hand..

The way to deal with Griffin is to engage him on the issues of the day: how would he reduce the deficit, what is the right amount to spend on schools or the National Health Service? If we do that he will be found out by the electorate. If her Majesty refuses to engage with elected representatives of the people she looks worse than him.

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