Infamous BNP leader Nick Griffin has finally appeared on Question Time amidst all the protestors. Well, it wasn’t so much “Question Time” as “Condemn Time”.

First of all let me say that I have no time for the BNP as a party, their so-called policies lack any sort of substance and you often only have to look at members to see the so-called minds behind the name. However it can be said that the programme was nothing short of a circus, which depended on cheap sensationalism and shock tactics to gain viewers. Knives were clearly at the ready from the outset. Any notion of a political debate disappeared within the first five minutes and I, unfortunately, almost felt sorry for the man.

All this commotion began in fact several hours before the airing of the programme when a section of the protesters started rushing the BBC’s entrance in a feeble attempt to somehow get on television. All this undoubtedly makes the fascist party look like angels and gives Griffin the added publicity that he craves.

I dare say that if a political debate had taken place Griffin would have fallen short of the other candidates. Surely this would have been a more effective way to discredit him than the nasty piece of television we were exposed to. I actually turned the programme off after about half an hour as the intentions of the BBC became unquestionably clear.

No doubt the organisation will be jumping with joy at the ratings of the show, which attracted over eight million viewers, three times their average figure. This is hardly surprising considering the BBC’s blatant promotion of the programme in the days leading up to the broadcast.

They say any publicity is good publicity. It seems that, thanks largely to the efforts of the BBC, the saying is true in this instance.