Sort of like "from tiny acorns mighty oaks do grow", eh, Ebbie?

The thing is, though, if you purport to have a democracy at all, then that entails the risk and displeasure of hearing and putting up with the existence of extremist views that offend you, doesn't it?

There's always a risk that those extemist views may end up dominating a society. One way to prevent that risk is to forcibly shut down all views you regard as "extremist" so that you can control the situation.

But then you have yourself become the very thing you feared. You have become a supporter of a form of extremism and totalitarianism.

Bit of a conundrum, isn't it?

Extremist views generally gain power in a very bad economic situation...or in the wake of some shocking incident that polarizes public opinion.

Some examples of that:

the Great Depression (and other such financial crises of the past)

the Reichstag Fire

the sinking of the Maine in Havana Harbour

the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in 1914

and.....

911

It is at those times of crisis that cooler heads must prevail if an already bad situation is not to be turned into something even worse.

I see little danger of the BNP seizing control of the political process in the UK. I think they could only have hope of doing so if economic conditions in the UK got very, very bad to the point where people were desperate and very afraid. Then perhaps.