Thank goodness this week is almost over. I found the entire Nick Griffin saga almost unbearable. Watching decent people furiously arguing on Facebook, Twitter and in the real world about whether the BBC was right to allow him on Question Time was so upsetting. Because it was all too easy to forget what we had in common: a loathing for the man and his politics.
That said, one of my favourite remarks on the saga came on Facebook. Commenting on Griffin’s nervous tic, my friend Jonathan Sacerdoti observed that “it looked like he was chewing his own face off”. Now that would be required viewing!
The other best statement came on Question Time itself, in the shape of Joel Weiner’s confrontation of Nick Griffin over his Holocaust denial. “How could you,” he asked. It was a straightforward, moving, brave and eloquent intervention. In this interview, Weiner says he was sickened by Griffin’s statement of support for Israel. “I thought [it] was disgusting,” he said. “I don’t want my culture and my people to be associated with him. I’m annoyed with myself because I should have told him that in my comment.”
He shouldn’t be annoyed with himself. He was a beacon of light on a dark evening.
