If there is one thing that this weeks European parliament election is likely to show, it is the rise of the far-right parties in Europe. Europe's history of involvement with the far right is not a happy one, to say the least. Despite that, the rise is very visible. In the UK, it is represented by the BNP and to a lesser extent by the UK Independence Party.

The reason, and the blame, for this lies squarely before the center-left "movement" that calls itself The New Way. This is the movement that Tony Blair and the New Labour are figureheads for, but which has spread through many of Europe's center-left parties. The theory went something like this: by shifting these left wing parties to the right, they could get votes from the right wing while still maintaining the votes of left-wingers who would have nowhere to go, and so win power. At first, this was pretty successful. They did get the votes. They did get elected. But in this constant search for right-wing votes, they became entirely unwilling to challenge any right-wing policies. Instead, they sought to trump them by being more right-wing than their right-wing critics. This has proven ineffectual. Their right-wing critics simply moved further to the right. With the third way parties refusing to challenge extreme right wing orthodoxy, and instead feeding it to maintain the right-wing support that had elected them, and the absence of a large left wing party now that the left wing party has moved right, the extremist positions are fed and left unchallenged. Thus the extremists on the right are likely to find themselves in positions of power that they would never have found themselves in seven or eight years ago.

I can only hope that I'm wrong and that if I'm right, this will be a temporary blip, because if not, Europe is going to be an uncomfortable place to be.