Griffin storm: BBC passed up the Question Time get-out

I am not going to boycott tonight's Question Time. I expect to see a disorderly, ill-tempered row, with the possibility of scuffles in the audience. I do not expect to see Herr Griffin confounded, just insulted, and I fear that the ratings for his National Socialist party will rise as a result.

The BBC's insistence on giving him an airing in view of the BNPs 2 MEPs is at variance with their obstinate refusal to give the Green Party air time in proportion with our vote. We can be damn certain that the BBC managers would not have stood up for the Greens in the same way they have stood up for the BBC.

The icing on the cake is that they have a perfect get-out clause from their problem. They could have said that they would not let Griffin until he has legalised the BNP's constitution by making membership open to non-whites.

This they have chosen not to do. If we choose, we can infer that there are Nazi sympathisers high up in the BBC.

This, coupled with the equally ugly decision of the BBC not to screen the DEC appeal for Palestinian aid after Israel's psychotic onslaught on Gaza, should make us think long and hard about whether to pay the BBC license fee. The very least we can do is to cancel our Direct Debit, so they have to scrabble around and send us reminders.

The only problem with a license fee strike is that it could bring an end to public service broadcasting, which is exactly what the megacapitalists like Rupert Murdoch want. So, from that point of view, we should continue. From a personal point of view, the only programmes that I really enjoy is Have I got news for You, and the wildlife programme, and overall, I would have a better quality of life if I had no TV at all. Oh and I caught a brilliant programme last night by Becca Wilcox about Who Made me Fat?, which is worthy of a blog all to itself.

So, it hangs by a thread, but I will probably pay my license fee, but maybe a few pence short of the full whack.