The BBC should be congratulated for inviting the ultra-right-wing British National Party leader Nick Griffin to appear on tonight’s Question Time programme. It is right that broadcasters should allow him to appear on grounds of impartiality.

The BNP’s views may be odious and disgusting, but the British people have a right to debate the issues in an open and public arena. At least these days, the difference between the BNP and the mainstream political class is that they actually do speak their minds. Compare this to the actions of the Labour government… the same government who have tried to trample of peoples’ basic human rights and open question the views of those other than their own. The same government whose immigration policies leave many people fleeing countries where they face genuine persecution virtually destitute, unable to access any benefits. Many are caught more are locked up in detention centres and forced to live in appalling conditions, and then deported without any real feeling or compassion. The same government who have verbally and physically attacked Muslim peoples since 9/11, and which have accelerated since 7/7….and the likes of MP Peter Hain, who unsuccessfully tried to get the BNP banned from our TV screens, dares to call himself an anti-racist!

It’s very convenient that the government has tried to divert the news agenda away from the political problems caused by the damaging two-day strikes at the Royal Mail. On Question Time tonight, cabinet minister Jack Straw should be the person put on trial, not Nick Griffin.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently announced that around 500 more British troops will become like lambs to the slaughter in Afghanistan, bring the total to around 9,500.

He also paid tribute to the 37 soldiers who were killed since July. The current total of troops killed since the war began in 2001 is around 221. While most of the public attention on the war focused on why the soldiers were given inadequate uniforms or forced to ride in unsuitable vehicles, very few commentators are asking difficult questions over whether our soldiers should have been deployed there in the first place.

Very few people actually know what is happening out there. The politicians don’t know…. the high-ranking officers don’t know…. not even the front-line soldiers know. The goalposts have constantly been shifted from one extreme (“We’re here to stop the Taliban”) to another (“We’re here to prevent terrorism”). The absence of political leadership on the war has lead to many civilians being killed needlessly, and many soldiers losing their lives, causing anger and resentment among their families and discomfort to those in the Westminster bubble. Nobody wants to take responsibility for this problem because every sector of the political establishment are spending too much time blaming each other.

This is a huge scandal which ranks alongside the on-going row over politicians’ expenses…. and it’s one which desperately needs a solution. But this one would have to wait until after the general election.

What is going on with our much-maligned postal service at the moment? The on-going dispute at the Royal Mail is threatening to turn very nasty indeed, particularly with the busy Christmas seasonal period coming up.

Postal workers from the CWU union have voted by a majority in favour of strike action over worsening job security and working conditions. What began as a series of separate local disputes has now turned into a big one… a national stoppage, even for 24 hours, would be bad news for people who rely on the postal service for delivery of letters, cheques and even notification of vital appointments.

This dispute will also cause political problems, mainly for the Labour government. They are trying to distance themselves from a situation in which they have caused in the first place, particularly, in using EU law to allow commercial companies to cherry-pick the best parts of the service while forcing Royal Mail’s management to pursue a policy of stamp price rises, service cuts and job losses. Their botched plans for a wholesale sell-off of the Royal Mail has been postponed for the future (The Conservatives will almost certainly put these plans in practice when they get elected next year, in a different form).

When you lose your job, fail to keep an appointment for an operation in hospital, or even see your small business go under because your letters fail to arrive on time, you know who’s to blame for this sorry state of affairs.