Bishop of Blackburn urges voters to shun far right parties (From This Is Lancashire)

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Bishop of Blackburn urges voters to shun far right parties

12:01am Friday 25th April 2008

A RELIGIOUS leader has called on voters in this May's local elections to reject political parties that spread racial hatred.

The Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Rev Nicholas Reade, has made the rallying cry against extremism in a letter to the county's Anglican churches, which will be published this weekend.

The Rt Rev Reade urged voters not to be duped by far right parties which he claims have altered their image to hide the fact they are still pedalling racial prejudice.

He said: "I must urge the strongest possible rejection of the divisive policies of far-right political factions.

"They may have fine-tuned their outward image, but their ideas remain the gutter politics of racial hatred.

"The policies which such parties advance provide a blueprint for everything that Christians should renounce: contempt for minorities, ignorant victimisation of differences, and the denial of democracy.

"Their propaganda should be read as a recipe for rejection among Christian voters in Lancashire."

The bishop points to a private member's motion from the Blackburn Diocese in 2005 which led the Church of England's general synod to unanimously call for Christians to reject racist parties.

The motion was passed in response to support for the British National Party in local elections in parts of Lancashire, at that time.

And he added that the diversity of the county was something that should be celebrated.

He said: "Let us celebrate the diversity of our developing society, seeking to encourage candidates committed to policies that benefit those of all ethnicities and cultures."

The comments drew criticism from former BNP local leader Steven Smith, now chairman of the far-right Cliviger-based England First Party - who described himself as having an "open mind" on religion.

He said: "The Bishop is confusing a desire to preserve racial and cultural identity with racial hatred.

"If there is any racial hatred it's come along as a result of the liberal establishment which people like the Bishop of Blackburn support."

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Your Say YourThis Is Lancashire

Maypole, Khyber Kaf says...
9:14am Fri 25 Apr 08

No sane person would vote for any facist or extremist based party but unfortunately some are sick of seeing elected persons supposedly representing certain political parties but in fact only being interested in the welfare of their minority communities or attending gatherings where extremist views/elements of religions are aired

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Jack Ashton, East Midlands says...
10:25am Fri 25 Apr 08

Where does the Rt Rev Nicholas Reade get his information from, a far-left website of some sort? I have recently attended three BNP meetings in the East Midlands and been out with a local party workers leafleting for the local elections and I have found absolutely no evidence of hatred or abuse of residents of minority ethnic origin. BNP members are just ordinary people who believe they have a right to their own country and do not want to see it transformed into some overcrowded, mixed-up, third world transit camp. But we know it's not the fault of the immigrants, it's the fault of the politicians who opened the gates and keep holding them open. The Bishop needs to get out into the real world.

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bert, says...
10:53am Fri 25 Apr 08

I will be along with many friends be supporting the BNP.
I have still got my vote and my own opinions. I have ears and eyes and
for anyone to say this Country is not letting in too many is insane !
Open your eyes and look around it is obvious surely, I suggest a visit to the BNP website for all who are wary, the BNP is not just about immegration, it's Housing, Law and Order, NHS, Education, Employment,green issues,peek oil,and loads more.
I vote BNP and in line with their policies "the right person for the right job regardless of colour race"
ILLEGALS should be sent back to their own countries (regardless of race colour )as they are criminals by definition of illegal,and the remaining immigrants can have a choice to stay and abide by British law and muddle along with the rest of us and be afforded EXACTLY the same as everyone else, or they can have a generous payment to leave Britan and go to another country where their laws and general way of live might be more appealing.

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Brian Cosworth, Banbury, England says...
11:16am Fri 25 Apr 08

The more these awful people demand that we don't vote for the restoration of Great Britain, the more I am going to. The BNP vote will be huge this time round throughout the nation wherever they stand, and no false priest is going to stop that whatever twaddle he might say. We're sick of all these "do-gooders" in their lofty towers preaching their anti white, anti British, hate diatribes. Also we can smell the blood. It won't be long until the traitors of this country will be considering their positions when they realise just how hated they are.

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Ruki, says...
11:28am Fri 25 Apr 08

im not sure where to start really but its gotta be somewher to bring you all back to rerality i guess!! im a BRITISH ASIAN, note the british as well as asian. so tell me, i understand ur stance on illegal immigrants but what about the many generations of asians born in this very country? where do u propose we go when we get shouted at 'go back to where you came from' in the middle of the road? not once not twice but so often that we start questionning ourselves, but there is nothing to find as we are British. we may look and act alittle different but there is no denying what it says on our birth certificate, and passports and in many their hearts... 'British'

i am not going to say i know the answers to solve the political climate at the moment but there is one thing i can say with assurance, voting BNP will bring with it as many if not more problems as are currently being experienced by the British public thats all British citizens not just the ones coloured white!

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Help the Aged, Secure home says...
11:48am Fri 25 Apr 08

British Asian?

Why are you not just British?
This is exactly what causes problems.

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Michelin Man, Uranus says...
11:53am Fri 25 Apr 08

Ruki -- I sympathise with some of your points but its a two way thing

I too have been told to go back to where I came from - as white british man walking through Audley. Its more a case of small minded people irrespective of colour. If people don't like living here its a free country unlike many on our planet and so they are free to go to one of their choosing where they may feel more at home

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Fred, Blackburn says...
12:02pm Fri 25 Apr 08

Well said 'Help The Aged' I'm with you. Lets give England back to the people it belongs too. Vote BNP.

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R Jones, Manchester says...
12:07pm Fri 25 Apr 08

There are millions of Asians and Africans in Britain today who's claim to being British is that they have been born here; or haven't, but have a piece of paper saying they're British anyway.
Being born in India or Nigeria wouldn't make me Indian or Nigerian, nor stop me being British - except on paper, if a government decided to make an artificial, purely political decision. And that is meaningless compared to being the product of hundreds or thousands of years of racial and cultural identity that only indigeneous people share, wherever they are in the world.

Third World immigrants here are the victims of the Labour and Conservative parties who invited them into this country without asking native Britons whether they wanted to be flooded with aliens, and gifted them the status of British Citizenship - again without the agreement of the nation. OUR nation.

The British National Party is simply saying what more & more people are daring to say openly : Sorry, but this is OUR land, and we made it what it was. As space and resources in this tiny island become rarer, WE are the ones who have the right to ensure that our children, and our children's children, inherit what they alone have the RIGHT to expect : a home of their own, amongst their own kind.

We're always being told how everyone is equal. Fine. Let unwanted immigrants go back to their own countries of origin, and build them up like we built Britain. I'm sure they can do it.

The BNP has my full support.

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Brian Cosworth, Banbury, England says...
12:07pm Fri 25 Apr 08

For Ruki - Read the BNP manifestos on www.bnp.org.uk - The BNP, on coming to power, will remove Great Britain from the EU, goodbye all Europeans who have come here, a million and more. We'll be sorry to see the Poles go but there are too many of them competing for too many jobs, so go they must. Asylum seekers are just economic migrants who passed through up to 14 countries getting to soft touch Britain, they will all go, and good riddance. Certainly all asians (in fact any foreigner) who were naturalized during or before 1948 have already been accepted by the BNP as "British" and that includes their families born in this country for all time. This might be extended to 1964. I think it is clear that Muslims are not popular. I don't know exactly how the BNP will deal with them, but the homeward bound packages will be huge and very expensive for Great Britain. We don't care if some anti British traitor stamped the word "British" in your passport. It's what's in your heart that is going to swing it. Dealing with the BNP will be dealing directly with the British people. If you are getting abuse now in the street, you will find that will subdue as the heavy burden of Eastern Europeans and asylum seekers is removed. The BNP has had an enormous influence in calming the British people down because the BNP has given them real hope and the real prospect of returning Great Britain to a condition that can be enjoyed by all.

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Help the Aged, Secure home says...
12:08pm Fri 25 Apr 08

My comment wasn't meant as a plug for any political wing but merely to try and make the point that we are all just British.
My Scottish friends don't call themselves BritScots and my friend who has Polish parents isn't a BritPole.......

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Ruki, says...
12:09pm Fri 25 Apr 08

Help the Aged wrote:
British Asian? Why are you not just British? This is exactly what causes problems.

y should i not acknowledge my family's culture in order to make people like you feel more secure?
i am British Asian.

Michelin Man....
its not about moving to somewhere you feel more comfortable, if the country i was born in is not willing to accept me/us for who we are what chance have we with a stranger country or even the country our grandparents were born in? its mad. and your right it is narrow mindedness in all people not just white.
the PC brigade also dont help. an example... i love learning about different cultures religions etc, i loved xmas time at school as did all my asian friends yet apparently religious festivals should not be celebrated in schools due to cultural sensitivity. according to who? not all the asian children and families i know! not one i questioned had an issue with their children celebrating xmas at school. wouldnt it make more sense to celebrate as many festivals from different religions as we can in RE. i dont mean go mad on budget but acknowledge them. after all its ignorance that causes most tension.

it is things like PC gone wrong that is causing bigger distancing.

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Burnley Taxpayer, Burnley says...
12:10pm Fri 25 Apr 08

Fred wrote:
Well said 'Help The Aged' I'm with you. Lets give England back to the people it belongs too. Vote BNP.

The people it belongs to? Who might they be?
The people who live and work and pay taxes now, or are we talking good old 'true Brits'? maybe the Welsh - they are the descendants of the original celtic tribes that lived in this area.
What nonesense. The BNP are a bunch of racists, and from the look of some of the spelling they are also ignorant in the classical sense of the word.

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Ruki, says...
12:35pm Fri 25 Apr 08

Well said Burnley taxpayer!

Brian you seem to have a very rose tinted view of the BNP i hope not only for your sake that they dont disappoint you. As Burnley taxpayer pointed out they may be sugar coated but the fact is stil true that they are racist!

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Tom, Burnley says...
12:39pm Fri 25 Apr 08

As the BNP are on the far left who could he be talking about?

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Fred 2, Darwen says...
12:54pm Fri 25 Apr 08

Ruki is the statement British Asian not being ever so slightly racist ???
Also 'Burnley Taxpayer' which I very much doubt, if you don't know who Fred 1 is talking about I would suggest your ancestry is not English.

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Andy, Blackburn says...
1:09pm Fri 25 Apr 08

majority of BNP supporters are failures, under achieved and spongers of the welfare system. Who are stuck on the inside looking out at people who are prospering more, and without any answers from mainstream politicians, are falling prey to the racist rhetoric of the far right.

Please dont come out with c*** that BNP have a proper message and proper policies. They ever took a council or took the country, this country will be finished!

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Shabir, Blackburn says...
1:26pm Fri 25 Apr 08

Andy wrote:
majority of BNP supporters are failures, under achieved and spongers of the welfare system. Who are stuck on the inside looking out at people who are prospering more, and without any answers from mainstream politicians, are falling prey to the racist rhetoric of the far right. Please dont come out with c*** that BNP have a proper message and proper policies. They ever took a council or took the country, this country will be finished!

Well said.

BNP are a racist, thuggish bunch who thrive on hate and fear. Hate and Fear that exists within all BNP supporters but are afraid to admit and are on this forum hiding behind the bigotry.

But lets not get worried about the BNP. The BNP do well in local elections because they are by definition made up of nearly 100% weirdos and therefore have an unfair advantage in a straw poll of weirdos.

Minor BNP triumphs in local elections are not something to get terribly worked up about and they are not a bridgehead for them to gain further power. Election to local government provides the average BNP politician with an opportunity to demonstrate to the voting public what a strange, unpleasant and dysfunctional individual they are, and it is an opportunity which few of them cant resist taking.

The fact is that the BNP are able to poll in the mid-single digits because 5%-10% of the population of Great Britain are fascists. Sorry, but they are. Not necessarily by intellectual self-identification, but certainly by temperament. Always have been, always will be.

Something that Catherine Fieschi said who has done research on the far right and the BNP in Britain is quite appropriate here:

Look around Europe and the lessons are clear: do not panic, do not use them. Panic and publicity generate credibility - they are the oxygen of the far right And talking tough about immigration, or worse still adopting the far right's vocabulary, will only play into their hands. Strategy lessons aside, there is something slightly ridiculous in endowing a 3,000-member organisation and seven useless councillors with such power.

[quote][bold]Andy[/bold] wrote: majority of BNP supporters are failures, under achieved and spongers of the welfare system. Who are stuck on the inside looking out at people who are prospering more, and without any answers from mainstream politicians, are falling prey to the racist rhetoric of the far right. Please dont come out with c*** that BNP have a proper message and proper policies. They ever took a council or took the country, this country will be finished![/quote] Well said. BNP are a racist, thuggish bunch who thrive on hate and fear. Hate and Fear that exists within all BNP supporters but are afraid to admit and are on this forum hiding behind the bigotry. But lets not get worried about the BNP. The BNP do well in local elections because they are by definition made up of nearly 100% weirdos and therefore have an unfair advantage in a straw poll of weirdos. Minor BNP triumphs in local elections are not something to get terribly worked up about and they are not a bridgehead for them to gain further power. Election to local government provides the average BNP politician with an opportunity to demonstrate to the voting public what a strange, unpleasant and dysfunctional individual they are, and it is an opportunity which few of them cant resist taking. The fact is that the BNP are able to poll in the mid-single digits because 5%-10% of the population of Great Britain are fascists. Sorry, but they are. Not necessarily by intellectual self-identification, but certainly by temperament. Always have been, always will be. Something that Catherine Fieschi said who has done research on the far right and the BNP in Britain is quite appropriate here: Look around Europe and the lessons are clear: do not panic, do not use them. Panic and publicity generate credibility - they are the oxygen of the far right And talking tough about immigration, or worse still adopting the far right's vocabulary, will only play into their hands. Strategy lessons aside, there is something slightly ridiculous in endowing a 3,000-member organisation and seven useless councillors with such power.

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Only 1 solution, blackburn says...
1:32pm Fri 25 Apr 08

There is obviously only 1 solution in Blackburn with Darwen. Vote Labour, as the Libs, Torys and BNP are in kahoots.

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tony winchester, leigh says...
2:09pm Fri 25 Apr 08

If members of the clergy wish to make political innuendos they should register as a candidate and take part ,
What with that Bishop the other week is it any wonder congrgations are falling and the church is in such alarming mess at the moment ,
they even changed the blasphemy laws now how bad is that .

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Jon, Northumberland says...
4:45pm Fri 25 Apr 08

"diversity of the county was something that should be celebrated."

Well I have to say I visited Blackburn a few years ago and I couldn't see much to celebrate about.

What democratic mandate did the politicians have to change Blackburn beyond recognition from only 60 years ago?

I honestly felt like a foreigner in my own country when I was there and was glad to get back home. I have sympathy for people living there who never wanted or were asked if they wanted their town changed so much.

The Bishop must preach to an empty church.

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Jon, Northumberland says...
6:40pm Fri 25 Apr 08

Joseph, the Bishop of Durham said a similar thing up here. He was droning on about the BNP being Neo nazis, which is odd because in the local elections last year there was 2 ww2 veterans who stood for their party. One in South Tyneside, who was in RAF Bomber Command and the other in Gateshead who was a young sailor during the D-Day landings.

Funnily enough, because of the 40th anniversary of Enoch Powells speech their was a few repeats in the media and one of the things in his speech was that he said 'bishops cower under the bedsheets while immigration changes the country', or words to that effect. Seems like 40 years later nothing changes.

Personally, I think the best towns in the UK I've visited are the ones that ARENT very multicultural but traditional- that are similar to how our grandparents would remember them, but thats just my personal opinion, I know your not really allowed an opinion these days but there you go.

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jesse, says...
3:19am Sat 26 Apr 08

I took a look at the BNPs website, they are not racist and they make good points about the fact that the asian and afro-carib communities can organise to protect their interests, but the british people cannot.

THIS is racism.

I may not vote BNP this time but I may very well do so in the future, and what right does a clergyman have to tell me to do otherwise?

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Jesse, says...
3:24am Sat 26 Apr 08

Ruki wrote:
Well said Burnley taxpayer! Brian you seem to have a very rose tinted view of the BNP i hope not only for your sake that they dont disappoint you. As Burnley taxpayer pointed out they may be sugar coated but the fact is stil true that they are racist!

They stand up for the native people of britain, just as other community groups stand up for BME groups.

If that is racist then all the groups that represent BME communities are also racist.

But somehow I doubt you will be calling them racist.

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Joseph, Blackburn says...
11:49am Sat 26 Apr 08

Jon wrote:
Joseph, the Bishop of Durham said a similar thing up here. He was droning on about the BNP being Neo nazis, which is odd because in the local elections last year there was 2 ww2 veterans who stood for their party. One in South Tyneside, who was in RAF Bomber Command and the other in Gateshead who was a young sailor during the D-Day landings.

Funnily enough, because of the 40th anniversary of Enoch Powells speech their was a few repeats in the media and one of the things in his speech was that he said \'bishops cower under the bedsheets while immigration changes the country\', or words to that effect. Seems like 40 years later nothing changes.

Personally, I think the best towns in the UK I\'ve visited are the ones that ARENT very multicultural but traditional- that are similar to how our grandparents would remember them, but thats just my personal opinion, I know your not really allowed an opinion these days but there you go.

I agree with you. I am from Blackburn and I have lived around a bit. I love walking around Stratford Upon Avon because I feel like I am in England but when I go to Blackburn, it's a sh1t hole! Every corner you turn around there is an immigrant who wants a big slice out of our cake for nothing! The current Government can't possibly be thinking that they will be running this Country after the next election. If the BNP get a good campaign going and do it properly, they might suprise a few people but I don't think they will get into power. I think Conservatives will get in next time and I think they will do as bad a job as Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Mass immigration has been Labours downfall. They also promised us a better health service but they have just added more to the burden. They really have delivered nothing to the the people who come from here but the people who don't come from here are laughing all the way to the bank! The amount of people who lost their lives during the second world War did it in vain because the Government has let in a load of people who want this Country to be an Islamic State while they live on free hand outs and constantly break they law from drug dealing to tax evasion.

[quote][bold]Jon[/bold] wrote: Joseph, the Bishop of Durham said a similar thing up here. He was droning on about the BNP being Neo nazis, which is odd because in the local elections last year there was 2 ww2 veterans who stood for their party. One in South Tyneside, who was in RAF Bomber Command and the other in Gateshead who was a young sailor during the D-Day landings. Funnily enough, because of the 40th anniversary of Enoch Powells speech their was a few repeats in the media and one of the things in his speech was that he said \'bishops cower under the bedsheets while immigration changes the country\', or words to that effect. Seems like 40 years later nothing changes. Personally, I think the best towns in the UK I\'ve visited are the ones that ARENT very multicultural but traditional- that are similar to how our grandparents would remember them, but thats just my personal opinion, I know your not really allowed an opinion these days but there you go. [/quote] I agree with you. I am from Blackburn and I have lived around a bit. I love walking around Stratford Upon Avon because I feel like I am in England but when I go to Blackburn, it's a sh1t hole! Every corner you turn around there is an immigrant who wants a big slice out of our cake for nothing! The current Government can't possibly be thinking that they will be running this Country after the next election. If the BNP get a good campaign going and do it properly, they might suprise a few people but I don't think they will get into power. I think Conservatives will get in next time and I think they will do as bad a job as Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Mass immigration has been Labours downfall. They also promised us a better health service but they have just added more to the burden. They really have delivered nothing to the the people who come from here but the people who don't come from here are laughing all the way to the bank! The amount of people who lost their lives during the second world War did it in vain because the Government has let in a load of people who want this Country to be an Islamic State while they live on free hand outs and constantly break they law from drug dealing to tax evasion.

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Joseph, Blackburn says...
1:00am Sun 27 Apr 08

the eyeballs in the sky wrote:
Just as important though would the silly person who just happens to be Bishop of Blackburn please stop telling people who to vote for.
He would be respected more if he spoke about racial attacks on white people by Asians (Muslims)and trying to stop the grooming of white girls for prostitution by Asian males (Muslims)

A long time ago, I contacted the LET about these problems and they have done very little. They started a campaign as they too knew there was a problem. The problem is getting worse. A gang of Asians where caught the other week with a female child ( white ) in their car ( they have been charged with child abduction ) There is even an article on the BNP website about it. I might speak to the Sun and News of the World and see what they have to say about this. In some ways, the grooming of young white girls for prostitution ( some younger than 16 ) has gone un-noticed in Blackburn. I know the police know about it but they don't really have the resources to tackle it and stamp it out!

Something needs doing, I call upon the Councillers of Blackburn ( the ones that are not corrupt and claiming benefits ) to sort this problem out or I will start a big campaign to name and shame the Asian men. I will start up a website and publish the names and addresses of these filthy child molesters and drug dealers!!!

I am serious!!!

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the eyeballs in the sky, Manchester says...
12:13pm Sun 27 Apr 08

Good on you Joseph, when the B.N.P brought this problem of the 'grooming'of young white girls to the countrys attention about 5 years ago they were charged (and later aquitted) of promoting racial hatred.
When the media realised this was actually going on (in Keighly in West Yorkshire) it was conveniently swept under the carpet.
I was born and will always be a Christian.
but unfortuneately the only two men of the cloth that I have come to respect are people who were not even born in this country.Step foreward the Archbishop of York (African) and the bishop in Kent (Asian).
These men spoke up for Christian values and have recieved death threats from some of the colonisers of this country.
Incidentally just so you don't get the wrong idea about me.
All ex Ghurka soldiers and their dependants should be allowed to settle in this country (only God
knows why they would want to come) and full British army pensions for all of them.

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the eyeballs in the sky, Manchester says...
5:10pm Mon 28 Apr 08

Here's another bit of evil for you Bishop.
A 16 year old white lad stopped to ask directions in Bradford at the weekend. The three occupants of the car got out and set about the lad, they stripped the lad of all his clothes,battered him black and blue and then set two vicious dogs on him biting him all over.
This was reported in Mondays Daily Mirror but of course they didn't mention the ethnicity of the attackers.
Well if you hadn't guessed by now they were Asian (Muslims).
What a surprise! Let's hear you speak about this evil Bishop of Blackburn and you try to tell us not to vote for the B.N.P.
It's a good me and thousands like me take no notice of idiots like you.

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Ruki, says...
1:03pm Wed 30 Apr 08

Fred 2 wrote:
Ruki is the statement British Asian not being ever so slightly racist ??? Also 'Burnley Taxpayer' which I very much doubt, if you don't know who Fred 1 is talking about I would suggest your ancestry is not English.

ummm no.

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the eyeballs in the sky, Manchester. says...
3:46pm Wed 30 Apr 08

ummmm Ruki,yes I would suggest your ancestry is not British, just like the Muslims who set about the young lad in Bradford.
Trouble is just like their dogs they can only have a go at someone in packs.

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RACE DEBATE: Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Rev Nicholas Reade

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