Right out of order.
My friend Dominic often remarks that one of the biggest mistakes that politicians and thinkers on the right ever made was to allow the term 'Far Right' to be used as a term for racists. I agree.

In conventional terms, 'Right' and 'Left' refer to different economic views. The Right believe in private property and free enterprise. The Left believe in state ownership or regulation of industry.

But somehow, the term 'Far Right' has come to mean 'racist' without it having any clear connection to an economic viewpoint. Are the parties considered to be 'Far Right' actually in agreement with right wing politics? Let's see what the British National Party has to say about economics:

Globalisation, with its export of jobs to the Third World, is bringing ruin and unemployment to British industries and the communities that depend on them. Accordingly, the BNP calls for the selective exclusion of foreign-made goods from British markets and the reduction of foreign imports. We will ensure that our manufactured goods are, wherever possible, produced in British factories, employing British workers. When this is done, unemployment in this country will be brought to an end, and secure, well-paid employment will flourish, at last getting our people back to work and ending the waste and injustice of having more than 4 million people in a hidden army of the unemployed concealed by Labour?s statistical fiddles.

We further believe that British industry, commerce, land and other economic and natural assets belong in the final analysis to the British nation and people. To that end we will restore our economy and land to British ownership. We also call for preference in the job market to be given to native Britons. We will take active steps to break up the socially, economically and politically damaging monopolies now being established by the supermarket giants. Finally we will seek to give British workers a stake in the success and prosperity of the enterprises whose profits their labour creates by encouraging worker shareholder and co-operative schemes.

That's from the BNP's own website. It's interesting to read an argument that globalisation is bad because it favours the third world at the expense of the western nations. I'm more used to hearing people arguing the opposite. Of course, both are wrong. Globalisation is good for both sides. The trouble is that there is so little of it going on.

And what of the National Front? Here are the NF's economic policies:

Restrict foreign imports so that the goods in our shops are made in Britain by British workers.

Ensure that the wealth created by British people is invested in the future of this country and not sent abroad.

Eliminate speculators and their take-over bids by giving British people direct ownership of their place of work.(!!!!!!!!!!)

Reduce VAT on all items and abolish it on some items.

Withdraw from the European Community so that British people can gain control of their own economy.

Reintroduce exchange controls(!!!!!!!!!!)

Introduce stable and low interest rates to give confidence to businesses.

I'm not suggesting that many people vote for the BNP or the NF because of their economic policies, but it's still interesting that when both had to come up with an industrial policy, they displayed the same sort of anti-globalisation and anti-private property rhetoric that one hears from the Left.

Or do I mean the 'Far Left'?