You have been warned...

I didn't know this, but apparently the fascists are taking over Europe.

No, it is not 1922 or 1933 all over again, but the Spectator magazine headline this Saturday was The fascists are coming and then, on the same day, when I went to Tesco for my weekly shopping, people were giving out leaflets about the “Hope-not-Hate” campaign that is aiming to inform the electorate about the threat of the BNP at the next European election.

Both the leaflet and the Spectator were quite serious about the issue and, in their opinion, the BNP will transform the British society into a bunch of thugs and racists. So, instead of understanding the reasons why an extremist party is growing in popularity, they are just calling the people voting for them racists, and that's the end of the story.

I am, first of all, personally of the idea that everybody should make up their minds independently about what each party stands for and afterwards decide who to vote for. Instead The Hope-not-Hate campaign is the one that Leftie groups who, having nothing to propose themselves, prefer to tell you who you should not vote for. Their behaviour is more fascist than the BNP's itself and shows a complete lack of respect towards the electorate. It is like saying: "You dumb idiot, vote for anybody, but not for this party, they are the baddies, and if you vote for them, you are a baddie too".

People, let’s remember, always vote for a party or a leader for a reason. People don’t vote for BNP because they are racist or the Respect party because they are stoned. They vote for the party that they think matches their needs better, especially the ones that matter more to them, for example, immigration and crime. The BNP also receives a protest vote from a part of the electorate angry at the main parties, whose members are not talking about these issues but instead are pocketing thousands of pounds from the taxpayers by claiming second houses on their expenses.

The problem with the main parties is that they have lost any ideology: what is the difference between Labour, Lib Dem and Conservative? They copy each other policies trying to get the "middle ground" but in doing so have lost their identities. The BNP card is always an excellent trick the main parties have been using many times. They are basically saying, “We are not good at much, but if you don’t vote for us, the BNP gets the votes, so stick with us”.

It looks like this time more and more people have had enough, and this election could be a good wake up call, especially for the Conservatives.