Welcome to our live blog of the BBC’s Question Time, which tonight features British National Party leader Nick Griffin on its panel.

Whichever side of the debate you fall on, no-one can deny that this has developed into a huge story. The BBC has defended its decision to invite Griffin on, Gordon Brown has predicted that it will backfire and security has been ramped up ahead of the show.

Question Time is broadcast at 10:35pm BST, so follow our live blog below during the build-up and the show itself. We really want to hear your views on the show - so send in your comments now!

On Thursday night, BNP leader Nick Griffin will appear on the BBC’s leading current affairs programme “Question Time”, an appearance that has provoked much anger and debate.

Griffin is no stranger to the airwaves or TV screens, regularly appearing this week alone after four leading former generals attacked his party for using military imagery as part of its campaigning

But to some politicians, including Home Secretary Alan Johnson and Cabinet minister Peter Hain, the BBC’s decision to allow him on Question Time was totally wrong, giving a much higher profile platform to Griffin and his far-right views.

They also say that a recent court decision to order the BNP to open up its membership to non-whites meant the party broke race relations laws and was therefore unlawful.

One academic has said that a similar TV appearance by French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen in the 1980s led to a huge increase in support for his Front National party, generating concern that Question Time will do the same for Griffin.

There is no doubt that support for the far-right is growing in Britain at the moment, although it remains very much at the fringes of mainstream politics. The BNP has dozens of councillors across the country, a seat in the London Assembly and most notably won two seats in European Parliamentary elections earlier this year.

BBC bosses argue that for that reason it is only right that Griffin is invited onto the flagship politcal show to answer questions about his party. They say it is for parliament and not for the broadcaster to censor political parties.

However former London mayor Ken Livingstone has warned that the BBC would bear moral responsibility for any rise in racial attacks, saying the presence of the BNP always led to a rise in such incidents.

Community relations experts have also expressed fear about the impact a rising far-right will have, especially in the run-up to what is predicted to be a tense election. However many say that trying to muzzle the BNP was counter-productive, and that the group should be challenged head on.

“I think we’ve got to have a more sophisticated approach to the far right where we do use reasoned arguments to defeat them because there’s no doubt in my mind that those reasoned arguments will work,” said Ted Cantle, who led the government’s review into the 2001 race riots for which the far-right was held partly responsible.

“I do feel they have to be taken on and defeated in the public eye. For the most part, their arguments are completely ridiculous and people have to see them for what they are,” he told Reuters. He said the unwelcome truth for mainstream politicians was that there was a “grain of truth” in some of the things the BNP said, and censoring them gave the impression this was being covered up.

However the Unite Against Fascism group said the BNP should not be treated like any ordinary political party because its views were racist (it campaigns for a halt to immigration, voluntary repatriation of immigrants and Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union).

“Griffin isn’t interested in impressing people with his arguments - he just wants to build the BNP by using Question Time as a platform to whip up race hatred and bigotry,” the group says.

Griffin himself says the “hysterical” furore over his appearance has already been a shot in the arm to his party. “I thank the political class and their allies for being so stupid,” he told the Times. “Thank you, Auntie.”

Reuters UK will be live blogging Griffin’s appearance on Question Time at 22.35 BST.

This is a busy week for the British National Party (BNP).

Today it was warned to stop using military imagery in its campaign material. A group of former military leaders accused the BNP, which has used photographs of spitfire fighter planes and Winston Churchill, of hijacking Britain’s history for their own “dubious ends.”

The distinguished generals said this tarnished the reputation of the armed forces and called on them to “cease and desist.”

Meanwhile, the BNP’s membership list has been leaked again. The names and addresses of thousands of members was posted on Wikileaks, a website that allows information to be published anonymously. BNP leader Nick Griffin said the list was a “malicious forgery.”

Most controversially of all, Griffin is scheduled to appear on BBC’s Question Time this Thursday evening. The decision to give the BNP a seat on the panel has angered some people, who feel they should not be given a platform to air their extreme views on issues such as immigration.

However, despite calls from Welsh Secretary Peter Hain to have Griffin dropped on the grounds that the party “is not lawfully constituted”, Director General Mark Thompson defended the BBC position of due impartiality. He said: “If there were to be any election –- local or national –- tomorrow, the BNP would still be able to field candidates.”

Do you think the BNP should be stopped from using military imagery to promote its policies? Is there a danger the armed forces will be tainted by this association with the far-right? Do you agree with the BBC’s decision to invite Nick Griffin to appear on Question Time?

Question Time will be broadcast on BBC1 at 10.35pm this Thursday and we will be live blogging throughout the programme.

Under fire for its perceived unfairness to older women presenters, the BBC says it is now actively trying to recruit a female newsreader over 50.

The age-old issue flared up two years ago when Moira Stuart was axed by the BBC amid accusations that she was forced out because she was in her late 50s.

It resurfaced when the Corporation was forced to deny accusations of ageism after replacing “Strictly Come Dancing” judge Arlene Phillips, 66, with former winner Alesha Dixon, 30. Presenter Bruce Forsyth turned 81 in February.

The BBC itself bristles at suggestions it sidelines older women.

Says a BBC spokesman: “News has a pretty good story to tell with Kirsty Wark, Martha Kearney and Maxine Mawhinney all flourishing — as well as highly experienced women out in the field like Bridget Kendall, Caroline Wyatt and Orla Guerin.”

Do you think the BBC is ageist?

Anyone listening to the BBC radio weather forecast this morning on the first day of Autumn will have come away with a detailed knowledge of how things look likely to pan out in Scotland – heavy winds apparently and not at all a day for going out walking on the hills.

They will also have probably had more than they need about Northern Ireland, with its endless bands of rain.

But if they lived where most of the population actually does live, London and the southeast, they would have got next to nothing. Just a couple of words about occasional cloud at the end of the bulletin.

Does this make sense?

Ah but the weather at Britain’s periphery is so much more interesting, say the forecasters, and people who live in places like the Outer Hebrides need to know what the weather’s going to do far more than city folk in their offices.

It’s not just the BBC who pointedly start their broadcasts and give most exposure to the places where the least number of people live. Apparently the word “London” is also avoided by other stations like GMTV, where presenter Clare Nasir revealed earlier this year that the mention of the capital is frowned upon in case other parts of the country feel marginalised.

High pressure building up in the southeast over this, judging by the number of newspaper articles on the weather forecast in recent weeks.

Is it time for southerners to take a stand?

Professions such as law, medicine and journalism have a “closed shop mentality” and are increasingly open only to those from affluent backgrounds, a report into social mobility says.

Former Labour government minister Alan Milburn, who chaired the study on widening access to top professions, said that young people need better career advice to raise their aspirations and give them greater confidence. Mr Milburn told the BBC: “We have raised the glass ceiling but I don’t think we have broken through it yet.

“What we have got to do is open up these opportunities so they are available for everybody.”

The Fair Access to the Professions report also recommended that universities take into account the social background of their intake, criticised internships and work placements as acting as an easy way in for affluent and well-connected young people and called for increased monitoring of the background of those entering certain professions.

What do you think? Are these measures likely to increase social mobility? Is it right to look at a person’s background when considering them for a university place or professional position?

As part of its efforts to counter the bite of the economic downturn, the BBC is suspending bonuses and reviewing the pay scales of its executives. It is also set to reduce the amount it spends on talent.

The BBC is making the cuts in reaction to its dominant role during the recession compared with its struggling competitors, as well as to its own financial challenges, Michael Lyons, the head of the BBC Trust, said.

“There has been considerable disquiet in recent weeks about the salaries of top BBC staff,” Lyons said.

The BBC announced this week that Worldwide revenues are in excess of 1 billion pounds, but that profits before interest, tax and exceptional charges were down to 86 million pounds from 118 million the previous year.

Now that savings have been made, where should that money be spent? The BBC says it needs to pay decent salaries to attract best talent, but do you agree? Should the licence fee be lowered?

As Scotland prepares to celebrate 10 years of devolution on July 1, the question of whether the nation should gain full independence from the Union refuses to go away.

An opinion poll has found that 58 percent of Scots support the Scottish government’s wish to hold a referendum on independence in 2010.

This does not mean that the people of Scotland actually want to break free, however. The poll, carried out by ICM for the BBC, also showed that only 38 percent of the 1,010 respondents said they were in favour of Scotland becoming an independent country, while 54 percent said they would vote against the idea.

Respondents were also asked if they believed it was likely or unlikely Scotland would become a completely independent nation within 20 years, with 10 percent saying they thought it was likely and 28 percent quite likely. A larger proportion were not as convinced — 34 percent said it was quite unlikely and 24 percent said it was very unlikely.

The issue of Scottish independence is a hot topic south of the border too. Many feel that Scottish MPs should not be allowed to vote on laws that affect only England, while the multi-billion pound annual subsidy Scotland received from the Treasury also gets many people hot under the collar.

What do you think? Should Scotland separate itself from the United Kingdom? Would it be able to manage on its own?

The BBC is coming in for flak about its religious coverage, much of it centring on its incoming head of religious broadcasting.

The publicly funded broadcaster has appointed Aaqil Ahmed from Channel 4,  a move that has dismayed a Church of England member who is proposing to discuss the matter at the church’s General Synod, the church’s parliament.

Nigel Holmes, a former BBC employee and lay member of the synod, has tabled a private members’ motion for the upcoming meeting in July.

In a document to go with the motion, which has to attract 100 signatures to be discussed, he accused Ahmed of heading up a Channel 4 religious department that was sensationalist and biased against Christianity.

“Many of the Channel 4 programmes concerned with Christianity, in contrast to those featuring other faiths, seem to be of a sensationalist or unduly critical nature,” he wrote.

“From this point of view it is worrying that the Channel 4 religion and multicultural commissioning editor, Aaqil Ahmed, who is a Muslim is soon to be responsible for all the religious output from the BBC.”

He also said BBC coverage of religious affairs had been falling over the years, and the BBC 3 output covered religion “from the angle of the freak show”.

“We have lost so much and there is now hardly any religion on television in peak time and no programmes with a moral dimension aimed at young people either on radio or television,” he wrote.

The motion calls on the BBC and its regulator to explain why religious and ethical issues had become so ”marginalised”.

In a separate criticism, a former Radio 2 religious presenter said the corporation only focused on gay clergy stories about the Anglican church, and paedophile stories in connection with the Catholic church, the Daily Mail newspaper reported.

Don Maclean, 66, who hosted “Good Morning Sunday” for 16 years before being replaced by Aled Jones, said programming chiefs were keen to take a ‘negative angle at every opportunity’ in a way they do not with other faiths like Islam, the paper added.

“They seem to take the negative angle every time,” he was quoted as saying. ”They don’t do that if they’re doing programmes on Islam.  Programmes on Islam are always supportive.”

The BBC said in a statement that Ahmed was appointed because he was “the best qualified candidate”.

It said its commitment to religious and ethics broadcasting was “unequivocal”.

“As the majority faith of the UK, Christians are and will remain a central audience for the BBC’s religious and ethics television and other output. We regularly exceed our formal commitments to religious programming on both BBC One and BBC Two,” it added.

“On radio our commitment to quality Christian programming is as strong as it’s ever been with over 450 hours of content broadcast each year.”

It has been suggested that the BBC could be forced to give up some of its income from the licence fee to help fund regional news on commercial broadcasters such as ITV which are struggling during the downturn.

The suggestion was included in a government-backed report called Digital Britain which is aimed at helping those broadcasters such as ITV which have been hit by the fall in advertising.

The government believes there should be several suppliers of regional news, not just the BBC, and has suggested giving some money from the home of Eastenders to any organisation willing to make regional news for commercial groups.

The money would come from a section of the licence fee that was used for helping with the switchover from analogue to digital TV and that has not been spent.

If approved, the move would mark the first time in nearly 90 years that the BBC has been forced to share some of its 3.6 billion pound budget. But the corporation is likely to fight the suggestion.

Would you object to suggestions that money you have paid being given to other broadcasters or do you think the BBC should accept it needs to help out at a time when commercial groups are in dire need?