back to article Pirate Party wins seat in European Parliament

The pro-internet file sharing Pirate Party yesterday scored a big win by securing a seat in the European parliament. It pulled in 7.1 per cent of votes in Sweden, which handed the party one of the country’s 18 seats in the European parliament. "Privacy issues and civil liberties are important to people and they demonstrated …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Results...

    "...took 6.5 per cent of the UK vote. The Pirate Party beat this, with its 7.1 per cent share. We think this tells us something significant, but we're not sure what..."

    That 6.5 % of the UK voting public are arseholes, Whereas 7.1% of Swedes are a bunch of freeloaders?

  2. Andy
    Thumb Down

    BNP - how dare they...

    I'm not a leftie, but the BNP getting a result like this on the commemoration of D-Day is utterly outrageous.

    Shame on all of you who couldn't be arsed to vote.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    BNP

    I'm an accidental immigrant but always vote for the far right in my adopted country and it seems my reasoning for doing so is justified. Said reasoning being that it will give a kick up the backsides of the smug arses of the members of the main political parties. Myabe now they will start to look more seriously at why people didn't vote for them and listen to what the people want.

  4. Lionel Baden

    can you lend us a hand

    only got another 40 barrels to shift

    yup down there in the cellar please

  5. EvilGav

    @ Andy

    The BNP getting a result is terrible, but UKIP even more results is fine ?

    Both want to distance us from Europe, one is more overt in their aims than the other.

    But only one of them is terrible.

    How about the SNP ? They got the same number of seats as the BNP and have been qutie clear in wanting to break up the union that is Great Britain. Any comment on them ?

  6. David Webb

    Ahem

    Being a proud Welshman (apparently Celt isn't the race, its the language) I can say, without a shadow of doubt, that the BNP does not represent me, nor will they ever represent me. Luckily, neither do the Lib Dems!

  7. Karim Bourouba
    Paris Hilton

    @Chris W

    Does this mean you voted for the racist BNP then, only to prove a point against the main political parties? If you did, dont you think that it was a tad silly?

    I understand the need to suffer groups like the BNP, after all we live in a democracy, but I dont see the need to throw away a vote for them. That is, of course, unless you fit their idea of what a British person looks like. After listening to the chap who leads that rabble on Sky news last night it would appear he will figure out who can stay and who can go just by looking at them.

    I am not telling you that a protest vote is wrong, it isnt, but it is a great shame that it goes to muppets like the BNP instead of actual political parties like the Green Party, or UKIP, who actually want to try and make a positive difference.

    Paris, because even she isnt stupid enough to waste a vote on the BNP...

  8. Paul
    Joke

    Will they get their expenses paid

    ... in pieces of eight.

    A-haaaarr

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Racist

    People who vote for BNP are racists, no matter what excuse they come up with.

  10. Dave Ross
    Heart

    Mortifying.

    I am horrified that the British Nazi Party managed to get two seats in Europe. A sad day indeed.

    While I don't mind idiots like this kicking up a fuss, I am stunned that enough British citizens would actually take a bunch of buffons like this seriously enough to vote for them.

    The continued degradation of this country that was started by the Thatcher government and gleefully continued by the Blair one is one of the most mortifying things I have the extreme displeasure to witness.

    Oh, and go Pirate party! :)

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    Pirates 7.1%, BNP 6.5%

    Arr! That be cos BNP is limited to those from a certain racial background with very limited views, whilst piracy knows no such boundaries, ye scurvy knaves! Avast behind! Splice the mainbrace, and prepare for boarders!

    Oh and Chris W? It's because of this attitude that we get people elected who have one "policy" ('keep our post office open', or "no telephone mast next to our school", forex) but who don't have a sodding clue how a council is supposed to run, and then fsck everything else up by being unable to make a sensible decision on anything else. Or even worse, too many people could waste their ballot as a protest vote thinking "oh, I'll just vote for the so-and-so to give the 'big three' a butt-kick" and we end up with a bunch of racist thugs running things. Last time something like that happened was, I believe, somewhere in central Europe around 1936/37...

  12. h4rm0ny
    Paris Hilton

    Lesser evil?

    Well if people are disgusted with the main parties (fair enough) then I suppose I'd rather they vote for a bunch of people wanting people to give them their work for free than for a bunch of racist xenophobes. So Sweden comes out ahead there.

    But yeah, yesterday's results make me ashamed of this country. If you add the UKIP and the BNP results together into a single "rude xenophobes incapable of running anything" category, then their success dwarfs the Lib Dems and the Greens (the latter usually do quite well in Europe, and our Green MEPs are very well respected in Brussels). and comes close to threatening the Conservatives.

    The behaviour of the UKIP MEPs has been disgusting. They've done no work, been disruptive (including standing up and singing the Dad's Army song in a meeting) and generally making the British look like arses.

    Though I disagree with the freeloading ideology of the Pirate Party, at least the people voting for them appear to have been voting /for/ something, not just trying to be disruptive, awkward and racist. And at least the Pirate Party has (I have been told) some more sensible views on government intrusion and police powers.

    Shame on this country. Real shame.

    Paris, because I need /someone/ to put a smile on my face.

  13. jon
    Pirate

    something about pirates pwn vikings?

    shame there were no ninjas

  14. Pat

    what it tells us

    is that the BNP are really a minority party. It doesn't surprise me that 6% of Brits are racists, I'd have thought more. It doesn't surprise me that 7% of Swedes care more about their moviez than the rest of public policy. But these are all pretty small numbers. Trolls, the lot of them.

  15. Winkypop Silver badge
    Pirate

    Pirate Politicians?

    Avast me hearties, just you be waiting until THEY start rorting the old expenses treasure chest!

  16. NB
    Paris Hilton

    @Chris W

    I admire your optimism but the chances of our incumbent labour overlords giving a flying fuck about what we, the people, think are still so low as to be negligible. Despite the massive electoral kick to the gonads that labour have received in the last week and the fact that it is obvious to the entire country that Brown must go, that one-eyed scottish idiot refuses to budge.

    We need a general election now.

    Paris, cos even she'd make a better PM than that fucking clown Brown.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wait, how thick are the BNP?

    "The BNP, which styles itself as the representative of the "Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Danes, Norse and closely related kindred peoples" it says constitute the indigenous peoples of the UK"

    I assume they don't realise that none of those are "indigenous peoples of the UK" :/

  18. Mark Fenton

    BNP not far right...

    ..their agenda is actually far left, but with added racism.

    They want centralised / nationalised pretty much everything - which makes them far left. It is just their racism that folks equate with the right...

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    @ChrisW

    Chris, you may want to look at the history of the Nazi party. It may sound a little familiar.

    http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/year9links/riseofhitler/Hitlertopower.pdf

    Note: It's from a Year Nine publication, so should be ok for you get get the general idea, but you may struggle lifting your knuckles of the floor.

  20. Stuart Henderson
    Stop

    Chris W and all other racists

    Dear Chris W and all other backward racist simpletons,

    Voting for the BNP isn't a protest vote. It simply shows you're a racist and too cowardly to admit it.

    If you want to protest, turn up and spoil your vote or get involved in the bloody process.

    Regards,

    Stu

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Not sure which is more worrying...

    900K BNP voters or 230K Christian Party voters.

    Always remember the Christian Right is rarely Christian and never right.

    AC as I don't want to be nailed to anything.

  22. zedee

    @Dave Ross - use of 'buffon'

    Boris Johnson is an example of a 'buffon'.

    The BNP are actually a bunch of 'cnuts'.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    30% (ish) turnout

    Can we conclude that over 2 thirds of the populace just want the politicians to FOAD ?

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Re : Andy

    "Shame on all of you who couldn't be arsed to vote"

    With the disenfranchisement that had taken place over the last 12 years, and now hearing Browns speach on how he must 'stay on for the good of the party' (what about the good of the people?) I am not surprised that huge numbers didn't vote. It could well be that their apathy prevented an even greater defeat for Labour and more seats for the BNP.

    When we see the distance between Government and governed increasing daily, the feeling that your single vote won't matter, and would probably be ignored anyway, will increase.

    And I didn't vote. I was working. Left home at 06:15 and got back at 21:30.

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    @Andy - Vote for who exactly?

    "Shame on all of you who couldn't be arsed to vote."

    Not really. There's nobody to vote for.

    • Labour - doing a useless job under Brown, yet he's too stubborn to go.

    • Tory - would never ever vote for the Tories and toffs Cameron and Osbourne.

    • Lib Dem - used to be good under Charles Kennedy. Completely lost their way now though. Too many green policies.

    • Green - eco lefties who have fallen for global warming propaganda. No thanks

    • UKIP - too right wing. Nothing against being in Europe.

    • BNP - bunch of racists

    and then you have the tiny parties that aren't worth bothering with.

    Now Andy, who was I supposed to vote for in that bunch?

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Re: BNP

    Chris W: "I'm an accidental immigrant but always vote for the far right in my adopted country and it seems my reasoning for doing so is justified. Said reasoning being that it will give a kick up the backsides of the smug arses of the members of the main political parties. Myabe now they will start to look more seriously at why people didn't vote for them and listen to what the people want."

    Given that immigrants of whatever nature are generally the unrepresented in any country, unless they've acquired citizenship and can actually vote to change the policies of the nation, it's hard to see how supporting parties that are hostile to immigrants is in any way a smart idea. If you can get a chance to influence immigration policy and make it somewhat more humane - many non-immigrants have no real idea about such matters, since they only know what they read in the papers or see on the television - voting for bigots is like taking a bullet in the foot, not only for those who have to suffer the inept, unaccountable and often degrading immigration and employment bureaucracy, but also for everyone else in society who, after all, have to live together with their new co-residents without one party or the other feeling like they're being mistreated, marginalised or victimised.

    Although one might wish that Labour and friends might consider the election of high-profile racists as a "wake-up call" or "a kick up the backsides", one should bear in mind that swathes of the political establishment (as well as many of the Britards) still regard a vote for the Liberal Democrats as a "protest vote", so the most you'll get from the ruling elite is what you've already been hearing: the Cage of the Britards has been shaken and stupid has voted for stupid. And they'd be right because even though their contempt for democracy has been demonstrated repeatedly, voting for a party merely to spite some other parties, without actually bothering to choose a party (or person) who might make a constructive difference, shows an even greater contempt for democracy than simply spoiling the ballot paper with a doodle of a penis.

    Given that a couple of Britard xenophobes will now be off to Brussels to vote away on all sorts of stuff on behalf of people following your supposedly "justified" reasoning, we can see votes on such reasoning for what they are: the Tactical Vote of the Britards. It's like a genie offering three wishes, but instead of being grateful, the average Britard, displeased at the supposedly meagre offer, takes a crap in the magic lamp with a stupid grin on his/her face, only to see the offer withdrawn. Remember that when your racist representatives are riding roughshod over your actual wishes and ideals.

  27. DutchOven

    Am I missing something?

    The BNP are big fans of "Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Danes, Norse and closely related kindred peoples". (They didn't mention picts, though did they?)

    ...but let's get this straight. If you violently invade a country and hang around for 1000 or more years then the BNP think you're a "nice" foreigner. If on the other hand, you have something positive to give to society but your parents were invited here 40 years ago, they want you out?

    ...and the fact that we all started out in Africa and share the majority of genes with every other human being on the planet counts as nothing. We are all humans, regardless of everything else. Race, colour, creed, parentage, religion, the place you happen to have been born; they're all artificial subdivisions. It's idiots like the BNP that make me ashamed to be British - they actually make me feel like leaving these islands - and I will if they ever manage to gain any serious power.

    I wonder how the BNP stand on emmigration? I mean they're a little bit down on foreigners coming here, do they feel just as strongly on behalf of foreign nations when British workers go overseas? I doubt it very much (which speaks volumes about double-standards and nimbyism, doesn't it?)

  28. Matt D

    Buffon?

    I think you mean 'buffoon', zedee. Buffon is the Italian national goalkeeper, a task for which I feel Mr. Johnson would not be ideally suited.

  29. DJ
    Joke

    FSM

    Now that there are more pirates, does this mean the end to global warming?

    http://www.seanbonner.com/blog/archives/piratesarecool.jpg

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Well...

    ...if we choose to see a silver lining it's that whilst labour lost 7% of vote share the tories only increased their share by 1% so perhaps we could just view this 7% as protest votes (unfortunately resulting in loony MEPs), rather than a genuine Labour-Tory swing.

    Now all labour needs to do is get their arses in gear and remember who they work for and who their core supporters are!

  31. Simon Painter
    Stop

    calm down, it's only an EU election

    The BNP are a fringe party and serve no purpose other than to help guage the complex political barometer of UK politics. They had fewer votes than last time they stood in the EU elections and only got in because people now know that they can use these insignificant polls to register their protest vote or abstention. We are not being over run by facists and the next five years of EU politics will be very similar to the last five so let's all just calm down a little.

    The mainstream parties could do with looking at the coherent parts of the BNP manifesto though, the lucid parts actually appeal to many of middle england and a party could gain a lot of votes if it could address the fears of middle england without dipping too far into abject racism (the Daily Mail reader, for example).

    That aside, to put it in perspective the Monster Raving Looney have held more seats than the BNP ever have.

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Who the BNP represent

    "Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Danes, Norse and closely related kindred peoples" - basically white people. Racist fuckwit BNP scum

  33. Ash
    Pirate

    @AC (30%)

    No, we can conclude that 2/3 were watching re-runs of the Britain's Got Talent final.

    I've said it once, I'll say it again, we live in the United Kingdom of Great Apathy.

  34. Matt
    Alert

    Should be interesting.

    With so many independants winning seats in brussels it should be an interesting few years ahead.

    And yes I did vote. Though unfortunately the BNP still didn't win in my area. Maybe next time.

    Interesting to see that people seem to think that saying Britain for the british makes you racist.... So all the illegals and criminals that come are free to stay? They can rob you blind and you don't care? Around my way it is always racist crimes against white people, yet nothing is ever done.

    Hopefully the BNP will do better in the general election, if labour will dare call it before the last possible moment that is.

    NOT AC, as I'm not afraid of the false accusations and insults

  35. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    huzzah

    30% (ish) turnout

    By Anonymous Coward Posted Monday 8th June 2009 11:09 GMT

    Can we conclude that over 2 thirds of the populace just want the politicians to FOAD ?

    ------------------------------------------

    Bingo! If you turn up and write "none of the lying, cheating, self-interested sacks of shite" on the ballot paper they don't count it.

    Ballot papers need a "protest vote" or "vote of no confidence" checkbox that basically states that none of these feckers represent your position and you think they'd be better put to use as organ donors or glue.

  36. Karim Bourouba
    Paris Hilton

    @Pat

    No, it tells us that 6% of the 34%(ish) who bothered to turn out for the elections thought that voting for the BNP was a good idea at the time.

    It's funny to listen to the news from this morning and last night. Apparently Labour got the blame for this as well. Now, personally I dont see how someone who has been voting for the Labour party for the last n amount of years starts voting for a far right racist party. Dont see how the swing from left to right can take place unless the BNP is actively going out and lying to people.

    Which they probably are.

    Last night the goon in charge of them commented that the BNP MEP's will be donating 10% of their wages to community causes and to a traditional christian christmas. Of course, I would imagine that the community causes will be things like marches, shaving heads, burning books, fearing other religions, fearing immigrants, making the public fear other things (like Europe, the single currency etc) and getting angry with anyone who appears to disagree with them.

    I still maintain that people should be able to vote for who they want, but I think those who voted BNP as a protest should feel ashamed for wasting their vote. Especially when they could have voted for the Pirate Party ( or the Roman Party, Ave).

    Paris, because she cant spell BNP.

  37. Simon Painter

    @Mark Fenton

    That's not far left, that's facism.

    I hear that wikipedia is quite good for looking up complicated things that you don't understand.

  38. This post has been deleted by its author

  39. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Karim Bourouba and others

    >If you did, dont you think that it was a tad silly?

    No, and I’ll explain why. Most people will blindly vote for the party of their fathers, note I said most. Hence we have safe seats, seats which could be won by the flower pot men if they were selected by the party members. Because of these voters a minority party will never gain overnight popularity. There was a reference by an AC to 1936/37. Hitler became leader of the NSDAP in 1921, between then and when he became chancellor in 1933 they were numerous elections. The incumbents had 12 years to take notice of the way things were going and take action, obviously they didn’t but that’s democracy for you.

    Let’s take a look at the modern day incuments and see what they have been saying about the BNP wins. “Beyond the pale”, horrific, dismayed, “a disgrace” amongst other things. What are they really saying? Democracy is a disgrace. Democracy should be voting for us. Or perhaps, their real thoughts, it’s a disgrace that we’ve been shown up to be the sponging bastards that we are and people are displeased with us. See the diference here between the disgrace that is them being sponging bastards and the one that is them being found out. They have no shame and like the sociopaths they are they truly believe that to be on the gravy train they are now riding is their God given right and we the voters shouldn’t have the nerve to question them, examine what they or doing or heaven forbid vote for someone else.

    A seat or two for the greens or lib-dems wouldn't evoke such emotions and a protest vote for them wouldn't be worth the trip to the polls.

    So if it makes them sit up and think or even realise that they may just well have to sit up and beg then for now I feel a protest vote for the far right is not wasted.

    It seems that since my starting this missive and finishing it there have been a few other comments.

    NB: 10:58 – We can only live in hope

    AC 11:00 and Stuart Henderson, thankyou for your comment I’m sure everyone was impressed by your thought provoking contributions.

    Finally, based on past historic events, even though only one, the politicians have a tad over ten years to improve their act.

  40. Joe Montana
    Flame

    The AC got it right...

    As someone else stated, there wasn't really much choice as to who to vote for in the UK... All of the parties are either corrupt and self serving (labour, conservatives, libdems), or too extreme in one way or another (bnp, ukip, green, christian)...

    Is it any surprise that only 20% of those eligible to vote actually bothered to do so?

    Those who support parties like the bnp will go out and vote at every chance, and they will also gain a lot of votes from people who are casting a protest vote due to being disgruntled with the other parties... The percentage of die hard supporters of the minority parties goes up significantly when there is such a low voter turnout.

    If we had a pirate party i would have considered voting for them, copyright laws are ridiculous these days, they are constantly being extended while modern technological advancements should make them shorter (software becomes obsolete quickly for instance, by the time copyright expires it will be completely useless, and audio/video technologies are constantly improving)...

    As for the UKIP MEPs being disrupting, that's exactly what they were supposed to do... They are an anti europe party sitting in the european parliament, their entire philosophy is anti europe and the people voting for them know that. Are you really surprised that an anti europe party would seek to disrupt the european parliament? If you truly believe in democracy, then you have to respect that a percentage of the population voted for this behaviour.

  41. Shakje

    @Chris W

    And while we wait for the next European election we can watch the BNP spend your money on racist propaganda and Nazi youth camps? Good job Chris! Highfive!

  42. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    BNP and Politics..

    I might not like what they say but I will defend thier right to say it..

    IT is corrcet that the BNP are in the political arena rather than the terror arena like the IRA used to be and the Animal rights people still do.

    If you dont like democracy move!

    I support having the BNP on the ballot (although I would not vote for them!)

  43. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Racist thugs...

    I had no idea that Reg reading geeks were such a bunch of wet, whiny, vegetarian hand ringers. I'm genuinely surprised.

    I like many others voted BNP not because I'd like to see racist thugs in control, but because I see no better way to let our ruling elite know that I've had enough of their PC, H&S, Equal Opportunities, multi-cultural nonsense.

    Oh and the Pirate Party campaigned predominantly on civil liberties issues, not just rights for freetards.

  44. Andrew Norton
    Pirate

    oh dear

    It's amazing, the people that go 'oh the Pirate Party is just a bunch of freeloaders' - shows they've not bothered to read the platform.

    Why did the Pirate Party get such support from the Pirate Bay decision? Might have something to do with judge corruption (biased judge), police corruption (chief cop also worked for Warner while he was suppoed to be investigating TPB), and that such a harsh sentence (a year in jail is a lot in Sweden) was passed for running a website with NO proven damage (and as yet, they've only ever claimed, with no proof, that p2p damages sales - every study says otherwise), and lets not forget where this started - A raid pushed for by a foreign government, after illegal intervention by the justice minister.

    In short, the PirateBay case gave them massive support, because it symbolised the corruption in the current government, just like the expenses scandal. Essentially, that the government does what business wants, regardless of the facts, or the people, and IPRED and ACTA only make it clearer.

    There are 3 main areas of policy for the Pirate Parties.

    1) Government accountability and transparancy.

    2) Increase in Personal Privacy

    3) reform of the Copyright, Patent and Trademark systems.

    You'd be surprised just how much those 3 basic points cover, including through secondary effects. Making the government accountable, means less waste, which means a smaller budget. Ditto with things like ID cards, or databases (and cut down on the surveillance society as well).

    Just remember, take 30 years off the filesharing debate, and you'd have the same arguments about VCRs, and we have seen how that 'killed' the movie industry as they claimed it would. Cable TV didn't kill the networks, again it was claimed it would, and radio didn't kill the music companies. There's a pattern, and if you think all of a sudden the film/music industry execs are telling the truth, why have they YET to provide any proof of their claims?

    Andrew Norton

    Pirate Party International

  45. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    Got arr vote..

    shame they weren't on my ballot.

  46. fajensen
    Flame

    Boycott the UK ??

    So, when will the "Boycott Britain" campaign be running - like they did with Austria?

  47. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    RAGE!!!

    People should vote how they choose, but people who don't vote shouldn't bitch about their leaders or the results of elections. That said I hate the BNP, they are racist scum, anyone who claims they are not should probably answer the question "Why can't black or asian people join the party?".

    As for the Pirate Party, if they are formed out of the Pirate Bay (as I understand they are) they also have links to the far right (Karl Lundstrom). And they have almost no policies other than "everyone should get everything, like, for free, man." There are far mor important issues to be addressed at a European level than they or the BNP can hope to address.

    I'm livid.

  48. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    What's wrong with Tories?

    An AC above says he won't vote for them because of inverted snobbery, well that's creditable and rational isn't it? Sound like a disenfranchised Labour supporter.

    Average state salary higher than average private sector salary, more than 30% of people employed by the state, state pensions guaranteed but private sector pensions decimated ... unsustainable policy at the best of times, complete madness in these times.

    The Tories will prolly get in again like the did in 1979 and have to clear up mess of a profligate Labour government, again. "Cuts cuts cuts" cry the socialist bleeding hearts, but isn't that how one balances a budget? Like a spendaholic with maxed out credit cards this country spends more than it can afford, and if we're not going to go completely down the pan we need to reduce government spending.

    But the people who have the backbone to actually do this are labelled 'nasty'. Whoever cuts the most gets my vote, Im fed up of paying for it all.

  49. Juillen
    Flame

    The elasticity of society.

    Everyone seems to forget that most people don't actually really like 'issues'. They want a peaceful life.

    Over here in sunny Bristol we had two 'issues' in rapid succession. One was a Radio presenter that asked a taxi company not to send someone round in a turban as it unnerved her daughter (but why it unnerved her daughter was not gone into).

    The second was a council member that said "in her culture there was a word for the behaviour" of another council member. A 'Coconut'. Black on the outside, white on the inside; a traitor to roots.

    One of these lost her job. The other, nobody batted an eyelid about. Guess which one?

    Well, it was the Radio presenter that lost her job to the mob. The blatant racism by a member of the council was ignored, because in her own words "she can't be racist, because she's black".

    If both had lost their jobs over it, there would be no issue (upholding the same standard). If neither had lost their jobs, again, no real issue.

    However, there's a big 'positive discrimination' thing going on. However, there is no such thing as positive discrimination. All you're doing by 'positively discriminating' for a minority is to discriminate against the majority.

    This is the crux of the matter, methinks. What isn't really an issue (not many consider anyone of any creed or colour less able than any other; social integration is largely there) is made one by political pressure groups. These keep saying that minority groupls need special concessions (why? They're equal, and I know a good many 'ethnic' people who resent these concessions, as it makes people think they can only do their job because of quotas when they're perfectly capable of competing on a level playing field).

    This environment (along with the almost witch hunt fervour that people keep screaming 'racism' over anything that may possibly be shoehorned into that catefoty.. Though sometimes even shoehorning doesn't make it that way when viewed rationally) creates a very high profile 'issue' that is blasted out to the general public, whether it's relevant or not. The premise is that "you're racist unless you try very hard to prove that you're not".

    Honestly, I think people are just fed up, and are just voting to say "Enough. This is now an issue that we think you've taken too far."

    Me, I'm middle of the road, and wish that people would just treat people as people without labelling them to make it easy to brush them off and put them in a category of "less than me, and therefore irrelevant what they say". Every time you scream 'racist' at someone, you're pulling the elastic a little further on someone, which makes their reaction that much stronger when they express it. Most people aren't racist.

    Oh, and the radio presenter that was fired? Her close circle of friends numbered the top people in the local race relations groups who were of all races. All of them testified that she was not racist. However, she's still branded racist by the mob. What does that tell you about the mob?

  50. michael
    Pirate

    @Joe Montana

    we do

    http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/

    they are just not yet setup for thses elections at the next they will be getting my vote

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