BNP in Bognor: the case for and against

This is the first time in my life I have the need to do reply to any article in the Observer. But I am absolutely disgusted and fed up by Cllr Cosgrove's comments with regards to the BNP.

I do not class myself as fascist. I am 43 years of age and, to be truthful, have been loyal to Conservative Party from the age of 18.

I have worked and followed the ideals of the Conservative Party. I work, buying my own house, I am in a married family unit, and have never claimed from anything from this country. But have worked hard for everything I have.

Talking to the people of Bognor, I know they have come to the end of their tether. When are politicians going to listen to ordinary working- class people?

This once-beautiful nation '“ what has happened to us?

We are not only just the dumping ground for most of Europe, but they expect us carry on and be happy about it. Well, to tell you the truth, we are not happy and we are no longer going to put up with it.

Goodness me, the things we have to put up with. We are taxed at every quarter. We are now expected to work longer and when we are old and frail, we will be expected to sell our properties and leave nothing to our children.

I thought foreign nationals migrating into Britain was to boost the economy. Can you tell me how?

What about the effect on the National Health, schools, GPs, police force, benefit agencies?

Don't tell me all these people are contributing to our nation. I have seen immigrants outside the benefits agencies.

What about being afraid to walk the streets? Bognor used to be a place I was proud to live in.

I am sick of just putting up with it. I have young children '“ what will be their future?

I am one person who will be putting my name down to support the BNP Party.

Mrs Tracy Shepherd, Bognor Regis

I never expected to read a headline like last week's '˜BNP makes an entrance into town'.

Nick Griffin was quoted as saying the four initial BNP candidates would be followed by many more. Did precedents enable him to speak so confidently?

A book I found in Bognor library reference section entitled '˜Blackshirts in Bognor' (J A Booker, 1999: ISBN 0 9515253 1) records how the British Union of Fascists organised summer camps in West Sussex from 1933 to 1938.

Most were held in Pagham in 1933, 1935 and 1936 '“ two at Pryor's Farm, Rose Green, near the main entrance to Aldwick Bay Estate; in 1934 in West Wittering; and in 1937 the largest camp in Selsey, with a capacity of 1,200 Blackshirt supporters from all over the country who crowded the beach on the Whitsun bank holiday.

Active Blackshirt branches with considerable influence in local politics grew in Chichester, Bognor, Littlehampton, Worthing, Burgess Hill, Horsham, Petworth and Selsey until the banning of the movement in June 1940 during the war.

No relation to the present situation? I wish.

I can only share the shock I felt at this account of what actually happened in Bognor.

Angela MacTavish,

Pagham Road, Bognor Regis

The news about the BNP making '˜an entrance in town' in last week's Observer, together with the news it will be fielding candidates in the May local elections, makes most unwelcome reading.

However, the good news for the residents of Orchard and Pevensey wards is that they do not have to vote for them.

Thelma Percy,

Normanton Avenue, Bognor Regis

I would like to say how pleased I was to see Nick Griffin on the front page of the Observer.

I attended my first BNP meeting and found Mr Griffin to be a very intelligent and passionate politician. All the people I met at the meeting were ordinary local folk who are totally dissatisfied with the way our country is currently run.

Mr Griffin and his party are the only worthwhile alternative to the successive Conservative and Labour governments who fail to listen to their electorate once they have got into power.

I wish Nick Griffin and his party every success.

Geoff Rogers,

Servotechnic Limited, Bognor Regis

Once again the Con/Lib/Lab council of Arun is supporting yet another recipe of how to spend tens of thousands of pounds of hard-pressed council tax payers' money, this time on a dish called The Expanding Communities Conference '“ How to Support the Integration of Immigrants.

The main ingredient is provided by Ms Spencer, chairwoman of the unelected Arun Local Strategic Partnership, with Cllr Brown waiting on, and consists of not only ensuring we retain immigrants already here, but attracting even more.

Enough to give most residents of Bognor a severe bout of indigestion no doubt.

Is it any wonder the British National Party seems to be gaining support?

They appear to be the only party prepared to put the interests of the British people first rather than making them feel like second-class citizens in their own town and country.

M Witchell, Bognor Regis

Trust a BNP supporter to try to shift attention from history. As for there being Jewish councillors among the 55 they have up and down the country, if I knew them I'd be advising them to read their history books a lot more.

The BNP has latched on to EU immigration because it is another means of gaining sympathy for their xenophobic views.

I am sure we will be told about Asian support for the BNP, but can we forget their hatred for non-whites in their previous drives for support? Now we must suppose the BNP is whiter-than-white on this score?

It is perfectly proper for me to remind people about the debt we all owe that generation, and all decent and fair-minded people know how much we owe to the Poles especially.

And if their citizens wish to avail themselves of the right to travel to find work here, that is a consequence of the democratic decision by the British people to remain in the EU/EEC taken in the referendum under a Labour government, by a 2-1 majority.

What the BNP cannot deny is that migrant workers could not find work here unless there were vacant jobs. For them to say British people are being denied these jobs is daft '“ they wouldn't take them.

The very tone of their literature, with its emphasis on targeting certain minority groups, shows this leopard has not changed its spots.

I repeat what I said to the BNP: stand if you dare '“ if you dare to get the rejection you deserve from the electorate.

Mr Moore asks what councillors like me have done to improve Bognor. People who read this newspaper will be aware. I will return the question to him: what has he done to improve this town?

Plenty of people tell us what should be done, but these are the real armchair critics.

All I can say is that if the people of Pevensey ward want their representative from May 4 to be someone else, I shall still be actively working for the town through the Fun Bus, the Hotham Arts Centre, etc.

Jan Cosgrove,

Longford Road, Bognor Regis