This article is about the history of Nottingham.
After the Roman departure at around 410 AD, independent Brythonic kingdoms emerged everywhere in Britain. The Nottinghamshire area was briefly covered by the kingdom of Elmet from late 5th century to the beginning of the 7th century.
In Anglo-Saxon times, around 600 AD, the site formed part of the Kingdom of Mercia, where it was known as "Tigguo Cobauc" meaning "a place of cave dwellings", until falling under the rule of a Saxon chieftain named Snot, whereby it was dubbed "Snotingaham" literally, "the homestead of Snot's people" (Inga = the people of; Ham = homestead). Snot brought together his people in an area where the historic Lace Market in the City can now be found.
Nottingham was captured in 867 by Danish Vikings and later became one of the Five Burghs - or fortified towns - of The Danelaw.
In the 11th century, Nottingham Castle was constructed on a sandstone outcrop by the River Trent. The Anglo-Saxon settlement developed into the English Borough of Nottingham and housed a Town Hall and Courts. A settlement also developed around the castle on the hill opposite and was the French borough supporting the Normans in the Castle. Eventually, the space between was built on as the town grew and the Old Market Square became the focus of Nottingham several centuries later.
One of the first banks in England outside London was established around 1688. Smith's Bank was in Market Square.
The Nottingham Canal opens in 1796. The price of coal in Nottingham is halved.
Nottingham was the first place in Britain to install high pressure constant supply mains water in 1831. This system was deployed by engineer Thomas Hawksley and the Trent Waterworks Company.
The Midland Counties Railway opened the first railway service between Nottingham and Derby on 4 June 1839.
During the Industrial Revolution, much of Nottingham's prosperity was founded on the textile industry; in particular, Nottingham was an internationally important centre of lace manufacture. However, the rapid and poorly planned growth left Nottingham with the reputation of having the worst slums in the British Empire outside India. Residents of these slums rioted in 1831, in protest against the Duke of Newcastle's opposition to the Reform Act 1832, setting fire to his residence, Nottingham Castle. Businesses in other sectors founded in 19th century Nottingham included the Raleigh Bicycle Company and Boots the Chemist.
Nottingham was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, and at that time consisted of the parishes of Nottingham St Mary, Nottingham St Nicholas and Nottingham St Peter. It was expanded in 1877 by adding the parishes of Basford, Brewhouse Yard, Bulwell, Radford, Sneinton, Standard Hill and parts of the parishes of West Bridgford, Carlton, Wilford (North Wilford).
The first incinerators for waste disposal were built in Nottingham by Manlove, Alliott & Co. Ltd. in 1874 to a design patented by Albert Fryer. They were originally known as Destructors.
The first horse drawn tramcars are operated by the Nottingham and District Tramways Company Limited in 1878.
In 1889 Nottingham became a county borough under the Local Government Act 1888. City status was awarded as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of Queen Victoria, being signified in a letter from the Prime Minister the Marquess of Salisbury to the Mayor, dated 18 June 1897.
The Great Central Railway opened Nottingham Victoria railway station in 1899.
Nottingham Council House was rebuilt between 1927 and 1929 to designs by Thomas Cecil Howitt.
The legend of Robin Hood first arose in the Middle Ages. Robin Hood is said to have lived in Sherwood Forest, which extended from the north of Nottingham to the north side of Doncaster, Yorkshire. Although Robin Hood is generally associated with Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, some authors (eg Phillips & Keatman, 1995) argue that he came from Yorkshire. Hood's main adversary was the Sheriff of Nottingham. Today the office of Sheriff of Nottingham is a ceremonial position with no real jurisdiction. Whilst the accuracy of the legend is questionable, particularly the finer points, it has had a major impact on Nottingham, with Robin Hood imagery a popular choice for local businesses and many modern tourist attractions exploiting the legend. The Robin Hood Statue in Nottingham is within walking distance from the Old Market Square.
Before the industrial revolution, the cave network was substantially expanded and became home to a large proportion of the poorer populace, particularly those involved in the tanning industry. The majority of the caves were thought to have been used for storage by the 18th century and were still inhabited until around 1924 when the last family (the Shore family) moved out of the caves in Ilkeston road; they came into use again as air raid shelters during World War II. A section of the cave network under the Broadmarsh shopping centre is now open as a tourist attraction, and some parts are still used as pub cellars.
Another section of the caves, under the castle, is still in regular use as the indoor rifle range of the Nottingham Rifle Club. In addition, Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem Inn, a pub that claims to be the oldest in Britain, is partly built into the cave system below the castle and still retains access from the beer cellars to the castle through the cave inside castle rock. Although the pub's building only dates from the 16th or 17th century, the caves themselves may date to the 11th century and could have been the site of the brewhouse for the castle.
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Coordinates | 53°11′21″N23°5′45″N |
|---|---|
| Name | Scorzayzee |
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Dean Palinczuk |
| Alias | Scorzayzee, Scorz, Scorzilla The Gorilla, Rupert Brown |
| Born | 25 December 1979 |
| Origin | Nottingham, England |
| Genre | Hip hop |
| Occupation | musician, singer, songwriter, record producer |
| Years active | 1998–present |
| Label | Low LifeOut Da Ville |
| Associated acts | Out Da Ville, Cappo, Lee Ramsey, Karizma, Skinnyman, P Brothers, Apocraphe, Troy Scalpels, Tempa, C-Mone. |
| Url | http://www.myspace.com/scorzayzee1stof2trksfinaldestination |
Dean Palinczuk, better known as Scorzayzee or a slew of aliases including Scorz and Scorzilla The Gorilla, is an English rapper.
Known for his multi-syllabic style and political view points he caused controversy in 2003 with his P-Brothers produced cut 'Great Britain' - a scathing response to the Iraqi war and hypocrisy amongst the country's elite. Many believe this to be his masterpiece. This was an anti-establishment rant against the Queen, Tony Blair, the B.N.P., Freemasons and a few other people he threw into the equation. It gained him plenty of attention, getting picked up by Radio 1, 1xtra and even more hysterically the Daily Telegraph.
The lyrics to `Great Britain' seem particularly poignant in this age of war and terror. It was a rally cry, a call to arms from a voice of dissatisfied British youth. The song ultimately questions how a country's system of government can act so directly in opposition to the wishes of so may of those it represents.
It was something of a surprise therefore, when following his greatest success yet, Scorzayzee decided to call it a day and retire from rapping after this song. Rumours about his conversion to Islam, knocks on the door from federal officers and plenty more hype did nothing to calm the storm.
The track gained a surprise amount of love from major radio stations and the Hip-Hop fraternity and even got played on Radio 1.
In 2004 it was rumoured Scorzayzee had retired from making music due to converting to islam, although there were also rumours he had received threats from certain right wing pressure groups such as the B.N.P.
However, in a recent interview Scorzayzee had this to say:
"If I hear a beat and I get an idea again I'll write another tune and put it out. But at the moment I've just got nothing that I want to say. I don't want to talk for the sake of it. I don't want to just make tunes for the sake of it, I want to do something special. All I know is that if I do anything else, it's got to be worth coming back from retirement to say it."
As of June 2007, rumours are rife over a Scorzayzee comeback, with the appearance of a myspace page.
Scorzayzee also recently made his acting debut, a career he is said to be interested in following.
In December 2009 the site www.YHBNews.com reported Scorzayzee had released his mixtape and new single 'Luv me' was receiving airplay.
Big Things
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Coordinates | 53°11′21″N23°5′45″N |
|---|---|
| Name | Nick Griffin |
| Honorific-suffix | MEP |
| Caption | Griffin addressing a BNP press conference in Manchester in June 2009 |
| Alt | A three-quarter length shot of a suited man standing with a glass of beer in his right hand, in front of a large hoarding displaying a montage of photographs, and the BNP logo |
| Office | Chairman of theBritish National Party |
| Predecessor | John Tyndall |
| Successor | Incumbent |
| Term start | September 1999 |
| Constituency mp2 | North West England |
| Parliament2 | European |
| Term start2 | 14 July 2009 |
| Birth date | March 01, 1959 |
| Birth place | Barnet, Hertfordshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Spouse | Jackie Griffin(1985-present) |
| Party | British National Party |
| Relations | Edgar Griffin (father) |
| Children | 4 |
| Residence | Llanerfyl, Powys, Wales |
| Religion | Anglican |
| Website | http://www.nickgriffinmep.eu/ |
Griffin was born in Barnet, and was educated in Suffolk. He joined the National Front at the age of fifteen, and became a political worker for the party following his graduation from Cambridge University. In 1980 he became a member of its governing body, and later wrote articles for several right-wing magazines. He was the National Front's candidate for the seat of Croydon North West in 1981 and 1983 before leaving in 1989. In 1995, he joined the BNP, and in 1999 became its leader. He stood as the party's candidate in several elections, and was elected as a member of the European Parliament for North West England in the 2009 European Elections.
In 1998, Griffin was convicted of distributing material likely to incite racial hatred, for which he received a suspended prison sentence. In 2005, he was acquitted of separate charges of inciting racial hatred. He has been criticised for many of his comments on political, social, ethical, and religious matters, though since becoming leader of the BNP he has sought to distance himself from some of his previously-held positions, which include Holocaust denial. In recent years, where Griffin has been invited to participate in public debates or political discussions, the events have proven controversial, and have often resulted in protests and cancellations.
Griffin read Mein Kampf when he was fourteen, and "found all but one chapter extremely boring." He joined the National Front in 1974, while he was still fourteen, though he had to pretend he was fifteen, Griffin has denied any such relationship.
In 1977 Griffin went to Downing College, Cambridge, where he studied history, then law. He boxed three times against Oxford in the annual Varsity match, winning twice and losing once. In an interview with The Independent, he said he gave it up because of a hand injury. He is a fan of Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe, and an admirer of Amir Khan.
Membership of the National Front declined significantly following the election of the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher. As a result the party became more radicalised, and a dissatisfied Griffin, along with fellow NF activists Derek Holland and Patrick Harrington, began to embrace the ideals of Italian fascist Roberto Fiore (Fiore had arrived in the UK in 1980). By 1983 the group had broken away to form the NF Political Soldier faction, which advocated a revival of country "values" and a return to feudalism with the establishment of nationalist communes. Writing for Bulldog in 1985, Griffin praised the black separatist Louis Farrakhan, but his comments were unpopular with some members of the party. He also attempted to form alliances with Libya's Colonel Gadaffi and Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, and praised the efforts of Welsh nationalist movement Meibion Glyndŵr.
Following a disagreement with Harrington (who subsequently formed the Third Way), and objections over the direction the party was headed, in 1989 Griffin left the National Front. Along with Holland and Fiore, but left the organisation in 1990. since when he has worn a glass eye. The accident left him unable to work, and owing to other financial problems he subsequently declared bankruptcy (the accident occurred in France, where he later lost money in a failed business project). For several years thereafter, he abstained from politics and was supported financially by his parents. He later stewarded a public Holocaust denial meeting hosted by David Irving.
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Tyndall founded the BNP in 1982, but his "brutal, streetfighting background" and admiration for Hitler and the Nazis had prevented his cause from acquiring any political respectability. In his 1999 leadership campaign Griffin embarked on a strategy to make the party electable, by taking it away from Tyndall's extremist image. He was helped by Tyndall's lack of familiarity with the mainstream media, and in the party's September election he defeated Tyndall to become head of the BNP. One of Griffin's changes included moderating the party's emphasis on the removal of multiculturalism, a policy it claims has a destructive influence on both immigrant and British cultures. This realignment was designed to position the BNP alongside successful European far-right groups, such as the French National Front. Street protests were replaced by electoral campaigning, and some policies were moderated (the compulsory repatriation of ethnic minorities was instead made voluntary). Other policies included the introduction of capital punishment for paedophiles, rapists, drug dealers and some murderers, and corporal punishment for less serious crimes such as juvenile delinquency. Griffin's image as a Cambridge-educated family man was in contrast to the extreme image presented by the BNP under Tyndall's leadership. Following the Oldham race riots he ran in Oldham West and Royton in the 2001 general election. He received 6,552 votes (16% of those cast), beating the Liberal Democrats for third place, closely behind the second place Conservatives, who received 7,076 votes. He again stood for election in the 2003 Oldham Council election, for a seat representing the Chadderton North ward. He came second to the Labour candidate, receiving 993 votes (28% of those cast). In the 2004 European Parliament election, when he was the BNP candidate for the North West England constituency, the party received 134,959 votes (6.4% of those cast), but won no seats. In the 2005 general election he contested Keighley in West Yorkshire, and polled 4,240 votes (9.2% of those cast), finishing in fourth place.
(left) and Griffin at a press conference outside the Palace of Westminster in May 2009]] Griffin was the BNP candidate in the 2007 Welsh National Assembly Elections, in the South Wales West region. The BNP received 8,993 votes (5.5% of those cast), behind the Labour party's 58,347 votes (35.8%). In October 2007 he was an unsuccessful candidate in the Thurrock Council election. In November 2008 the entire membership list of the BNP was posted on the Internet (however the list may have included lapsed members of the party and people who have expressed an interest in joining the party, but have not signed up). Griffin claimed that he knew the identity of the individual responsible, describing him as a hard-line senior employee who had left the party in the previous year. He welcomed the publicity that the story generated, using it to describe the common perception of the average BNP member as a "skinhead " as untrue.
He was elected as a member of the European Parliament for North West England in the 2009 European Elections. The BNP polled 943,598 votes (6.2% of those cast), gaining 2 MEPs. Griffin and fellow MEP Andrew Brons were subsequently pelted with eggs as they attempted to stage a celebratory press conference outside the Houses of Parliament. A second venue—a public house near Manchester—was chosen the following day. A line of police blocked a large group of protesters, who chanted "No platform for Nazi Nick" and "Nazi scum off our streets". Griffin viewed the election as an important victory, claiming that his party had been demonised and blocked from holding public meetings. "In Oldham alone there have been hundreds of thousands of pounds spent on employing bogus community workers to keep us out. To triumph against that level of pressure as a political party has never been done before."
In May 2009 he was invited by the BNP representative on the London Assembly, Richard Barnbrook, to accompany him to a Buckingham Palace garden party hosted by Queen Elizabeth II. The invitation prompted objections from several organisations and public figures, including the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, and the anti-fascist organisation Searchlight. Griffin declined this first invitation, but when invited personally in 2010 he accepted:
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The Palace later decided to deny Griffin entry to the event, claiming that he had used his invitation "for party political purpose through the media", and citing security concerns. Griffin claimed the decision was an "absolute scandal", and appeared to be "a rule invented for me."
In September 2009, he appealed to party activists for £150,000 of extra funding for the BNP. In the letter, he said that the party's ailing fortunes were a direct result of "attacks on the party". He also defended questions by the Electoral Commission about the transparency of BNP funding.
In the 2010 general election he failed to become a Member of Parliament, polling 6,620 votes in Barking, and finishing in third place.
Griffin claimed that the law under which he was convicted was an unjust law and he therefore had no obligation to follow it.
Griffin was also accused of calling murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence a drug dealer and bully who stole younger pupils' dinner money. In the witness box he defended himself by quoting passages from the Qur'an, saying that his comments describing Islam as a "vicious, wicked faith" were attacking not a race, but a religion. During the two-week trial he used a laptop to post daily updates on a blog on the BNP's website.}}
Griffin and Collett were cleared of half the charges against them—the jury remained divided on the other charges, and a retrial was ordered. On 10 November 2006, after five hours of deliberations, the jury cleared them of all charges. They were met outside the court by about 200 supporters, whom Griffin addressed with a megaphone. He attacked Tony Blair and the BBC, and defended the BNP's right to freedom of speech. BNP Deputy Chairman Simon Darby later claimed that had Griffin been convicted, the BNP leader planned to go on hunger strike.
In February 2005 Griffin was asked to take part in a debate on multiculturalism at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. He was invited by the president of the students' debating society, who said "We believe that the only way to get the truth of what the BNP are saying and to combat them is to do it in public in a debate." The move was attacked by anti-racist groups, some of whom refused to participate in the discussion. Griffin said "I am coming up because I was invited by the students at the university because they have a debate on an intelligent subject on which I have something to say. The people against it are the usual bunch of people who cannot win the argument and refuse to stand on a platform."
In May 2007 Griffin was invited to address a meeting at the University of Bath by politics student and BNP youth leader Danny Lake. Lake wanted Griffin to visit the university and explain the BNP's policies to lecturers and students. The invitation was viewed by some as an attempt by the party to establish a foothold on the university campus. Eleven union general secretaries wrote to the university's vice-chancellor and asked her to reconsider the decision to allow the meeting. A large protest was planned, and following students' concerns over their personal safety, the University cancelled the invitation.
Several months later the Oxford Union invited Griffin to speak at a forum on the limits of free speech, along with other speakers including David Irving. The invitation was condemned by the Equality and Human Rights Commission head Trevor Phillips and the president of the Oxford Students' Union. The Conservative MP Dr Julian Lewis resigned his membership of the Union. A rally against the invitation was held at Oxford Town Hall on 20 November, and included the Oxford Students' Union president, the National Union of Students black students' officer, and the Trades Union Congress south east regional secretary. Representatives of Unite Against Fascism also attended, as well as the University of Oxford's Jewish student chaplain. Several Holocaust survivors spoke at the rally. Stephen Altmann-Richer, co-president of the Oxford University Jewish Society, said "I don't think these people should be invited to the Oxford Union, by having them speak, it legitimises their views ..." On the night of the debate, about 50 protesters forced their way into the venue, and a crowd of hundreds gathered outside carrying banners bearing anti-racist slogans and voicing anti-BNP chants. Police blocked the entrances to the building, and removed the protesters encamped inside. Griffin was accompanied into the premises by security guards. The event was eventually split between two rooms, with Griffin speaking in one, and Irving in the other; many Union Society members were unable to gain access. Although many present found the debate objectionable, some were supportive of both Griffin and Irving's right to freedom of speech. The Oxford Union later endorsed the debate as a success.
Griffin travelled to the United States and spoke at Clemson University and Texas A&M; University, but the reception he received in October 2007 at Michigan State University was markedly different to that in the other venues. Intending to address the "overpopulation of Islamists in Europe", he was repeatedly interrupted, to the point where the event became a question and answer session. He was heckled by hostile elements of the audience, and at one point the fire alarm was activated.
ahead of Griffin's appearance on Question Time]]
On 22 October 2009 Griffin took part in the BBC's topical debate programme, Question Time, as a representative of the BNP. He appeared alongside Bonnie Greer, Jack Straw, Baroness Warsi, and Chris Huhne. He was challenged by members of the studio audience, and questioned by host David Dimbleby on comments he had previously made on the Holocaust. His invitation followed the election of two BNP MEPs to the European Parliament, and led to significant debate over the merits of the BBC's decision. The appearance sparked a protest outside the BBC Television Centre prior to the recording of the programme, in which an estimated 500 people picketed the front entrance of the complex. Six protesters were arrested, and three members of the police service were injured. The programme dominated the following day's newspapers. In an editorial, The Guardian wrote: "Certainly, the week has provided the first serious scrutiny on BNP policies, and they have proved to be as vicious as feared." Max Hastings wrote "… the panel had little difficulty making Griffin seem slippery and indeed repugnant …" in the Daily Mail, and The Sun columnist Kelvin MacKenzie said "He emerged as the lying piece of work you always suspected." However, Minette Marrin, writing in The Sunday Times, later said that Griffin had been "tormented like a crazed bull in a bullring" and "thrown to a sanctimonious mob",
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In a press conference held on 23 October, Griffin stated that he would make a formal complaint about the format of the programme, which he said was "… not a genuine Question Time; that was a lynch mob". He suggested that he should appear again, but that "… [we] should do it properly, and talk about the issues of the day", and added: "That audience was taken from a city that is no longer British … That was not my country any more. Why not come down and do it in Thurrock, do it in Stoke, do it in Burnley? Do it somewhere where there are still significant numbers of English and British people, and they haven't been ethnically cleansed from their own country." He has changed the BNP's traditional focus on immigration and race, to a defence of what it sees as "our traditional principles against the politically correct agenda" The BNP's policies include a halt to all immigration, the forced repatriation of all illegal immigrants, and the deportation of criminals whose original nationality was not British. It is opposed to a single European currency, and supports British withdrawal from the European Union (EU). It promises to "free the police and courts from the politically correct straitjacket that is stopping them from doing their job properly". It believes that British industry should be prioritised, that foreign imports should be strictly regulated, and that defence spending should be increased. Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland would be invited to join a "federation of the nations of the British Isles". The BNP maintains ties with Roberto Fiore and fascist groups across Europe. Griffin has criticised the Labour government for its attitude toward the BNP, accusing it of treating elected representatives of the BNP as "second-class citizens". Following his election, in a press conference held at a public house in Manchester, he criticised the privatisation of national industries, such as the railway network, and accused MPs generally of being involved in this "… giant looting of Britain". He accused private corporations and the "ruling elite" in Britain of building a "Eurocratic state", a process he called "Mussolini fascism […] under Gordon Brown." He also suggested the removal of 100,000 Muslims "disloyal to Britain" and their replacement with the Gurkhas.) made as an editor of The Rune, demonstrate revisionism. He criticised Holocaust denier David Irving for admitting that up to four million Jews might have died in the Holocaust; he wrote "True Revisionists will not be fooled by this new twist to the sorry tale of The Hoax of the Twentieth Century." In 1997 he told an undercover journalist that he had updated Richard Verrall's booklet Did Six Million Really Die?, and in the same year he wrote Who are the Mindbenders?, about a perceived domination of the media by Jewish figures. and spokesman Phil Edwards has stated that the party also has Jewish members. The BNP has stated that it does not deny the Holocaust, and that "Dredging up quotes from 10, 15, 20 years ago is really pathetic and, in a sense, rather fascist." In an interview with BNP deputy leader Simon Darby, Griffin claimed that the English Defence League was a "Zionist false flag operation", and added that the organisation is "a neo-con operation". He also claimed that the EDL's activities are an attempt to provoke civil war.
Since assuming control of the party, Griffin has sought to move it away from its historic identity, although on the BBC's Newsnight on 26 June 2001 he stated that Hindus and whites had both been targeted in the "Muslim" riots of 2001, and in the August 2001 issue of Identity (a BNP publication) he claimed that radical Muslim clerics wanted "... militant Muslims to take over British cities with AK-47 rifles". When interviewed in August 2009 for RT, he distanced himself from the present-day National Front, which he claimed is "... a group of skinheads running around with no political direction, other than that we suspect which their masters give them." On The Politics Show on 9 March 2003 he appeared to accept ethnic minorities who were legally already living in the country, and on 6 March 2008 he was again interviewed on Newsnight; when told of a poll that demonstrated that most working-class Britons were more concerned about drugs and alcohol than immigration, he linked the UK's drug problem with Islam, specifically Pakistani immigrants. His inclusion on the programme was criticised by contributor and radio presenter Jon Gaunt, who branded the decision as "pathetic". When asked by The Times about concerns that his recent success was presaged in Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood speech, Griffin replied:
In a June 2009 interview with Channel 4 News Griffin claimed that "There's no such thing as a black Welshman", which was criticised by Vaughan Gething (the first black president of the Welsh NUS and the Welsh TUC, and the first black candidate for the Welsh assembly). Commenting on Griffin's claim, he said "On that basis, most white people wouldn't qualify. It's quite clear that Nick Griffin just doesn't accept that black British people or black Welsh people are entitled to call themselves proper, full citizens of the country." Griffin's interview with Channel 4 News was in response to a decision by the Equality and Human Rights Commission to investigate the BNP's membership criteria, which, it stated, "appeared to discriminate on the grounds of race and colour, contrary to the Race Relations Act." He rejected claims that the BNP was "acting unlawfully"
Following the Admiral Duncan pub bombing by former BNP member David Copeland, Griffin stated "The TV footage of dozens of 'gay' demonstrators flaunting their perversion in front of the world's journalists showed just why so many ordinary people find these creatures so repulsive." The BNP states that, privately, homosexuality should be tolerated, but that it "should not be promoted or encouraged".
Writing for The Rune, Griffin praised the wartime Waffen SS and attacked the Royal Air Force for its bombing of Nazi Germany, and in 1996 during a public demonstration at Coventry Cathedral he accused British airmen of "mass murder". Although unconnected, on 9 June 2009 the Royal British Legion wrote an open letter to Griffin asking him not to wear a poppy lapel badge.
In a BBC interview on 8 June 2009 Griffin claimed that "global warming is essentially a hoax" and that it "is being exploited by the liberal elite as a means of taxing and controlling us and the real crisis is peak oil". He was a representative of the European Parliament at the 2009 UN Climate Change Conference, where he repeated his claim that global warming is a hoax, and called advocates of action on climate change such as Al Gore "mass murderers" by supporting biofuels, claiming that their use would lead to the "third and the greatest famine of the modern era". A Greenpeace spokesman said, "In reality the environmental and development groups he has been disparaging have been in the forefront of concerns about biofuels. Griffin’s claims that climate change is a hoax is one of many curious things going on between his ears.”
Welsh Assembly elections (Additional members region; party list)
;Bibliography
Category:1959 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge Category:Anti-globalist activists Category:British anti-communists Category:British National Front politicians Category:British National Party MEPs Category:British National Party politicians Category:British politicians convicted of crimes Category:Holocaust denial in the United Kingdom Category:Holocaust deniers Category:Leaders of political parties in the United Kingdom Category:Members of the European Parliament for English constituencies Category:MEPs for the United Kingdom 2009–2014 Category:People from Barnet Category:People from Suffolk
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
