Agree with you entirely, Frank. Except for one important point that I raised right at the start of this overlong thread. The number of people voting for the BNP didn't increase, it decreased. The problem is that people stayed away from the polling stations in droves and the votes for the other parties decreased even more. They got in as a result of increased abstention, not increased votes. Now, I'm a bit of a fan of the old anarchist motto, "Don't vote, it only encourages them," but the downside of this is it assists some quite unpleasant specimens to slither out from under the stones. A few more votes for the Green Party (one of the only vaguely socialist parties in the UK) then we'd have a very different story in the north west of England.

Happy birthday, by the way. I always enjoy your posts.