Modern Britain: Multicultural Haven Or Racist Sewer?

You can watch the full uncensored video by clicking here

The #mytramexperience video has caused an outrage since going viral, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg…

You have to laugh at the naivety of some people. One Youtube video of a drug addled chav mumbling incoherently about how foreigners have ruined “her Britain” and people are up in arms about how shocking it is. Have they left their house recently? Have they turned on their televisions? Evidently not because there was nothing in that depressing video that I haven’t seen countless times each time I leave my house.

For those of you who haven’t been exposed to this latest political-debate-by-Twitter baiting video I shall give you a more detailed summary. A seemingly intoxicated woman, with a small child on her lap, is riding the Croyden to Wimbledon tram. Unprovoked she starts slurring racial abuse at the passengers, telling them that they should “go home” and that they’re not British. She seems barely capable of speaking English herself. She’s confronted by several passengers, including people who fit into her own demographic. She remains oblivious.

The video, filmed by one of the people on the receiving end of her moronic tirade, went viral and before you knew it celebrities were all chipping in with their views on how shocking the video was. Rent-A-Twat Piers Morgan even declared that “Britain is so much better than that vile bigoted creature.” But is it really?

While one video of someone hurling racist abuse and bewildered commuters was spreading round the internet like wildfire, there were some who were asking why far more shocking ones had been ignored. For example in June this year Brian Whelan posted a video of EDL members indiscriminately attacking Asian passengers on the tube in a super violent “happy-slapping”. The video itself still widely remains available on the internet yet doesn’t seem to have caused anywhere near the same stir. Is it perhaps a matter of some truths being too uncomfortable to face?

The rise of far-right sentiment in recent times is something that can’t be denied as much as people might prefer to ignore it. It is not three years since the BNP secured seats in the European parliament and in 2008 the party representative finished fifth in London’s mayoral elections, less than 8,000 votes behind that of the Green Party. The chairman of the BNP, Nick Griffin – seemingly a relation to Peter if his appearance on Question Time was anything to go by – achieved 14.6% of the vote in his Barking constituency to put him third. It was a record number for any of the seats the BNP had contested.

From my own personal experiences from living in Birmingham, a city that perhaps embodies the multicultural spirit more than any other in Britain, I have witnessed EDL marches and mini race-riots. I found it inconceivable to think that they would march here, that they would be allowed to try and invoke their hatred, but they turned up in force. The last time, just this October gone, I stood in the rain watching them try and provoke passers-by. Anyone who wasn’t white would be subject to racist abuse. Anyone with the tappings of Islam would be called a terrorist. Glasses and fireworks were hurled into the streets and at the police.

Despite these crimes being openly committed the local police made just four arrests. One of those was for possession of cannabis and the other was for an outstanding warrant. The other two related to weapons offences. None of the charges related to the crime of inciting racial hatred, which seems especially odd given the news that the woman who has sparked this whole debate has been arrested on the grounds of a racially aggravated offence. No doubt congratulatory backslapping shall ensue, as if with that gesture the spectre of racism has been banished from British shores. The reality is while it was vogue to rally against this one ignorant woman, daily far worse examples of racism are allowed to flourish in the dark corners of the British experiment.

The nay-sayers amongst you might say it is one thing to compare a spontaneous outburst in public to an organised and mobilised group of extremists. Yet what the video of our friend from Croydon demonstrates is what happens when the dehumanising mantra of racist language becomes subconscious thought, when racism is made to seem so socially acceptable that it goes mostly unchallenged and is dismissed as mere stupidity.

I would like to tell you I was shocked by the video in question but I wasn’t. Repulsed and disgusted but not shocked for a second. I’ve seen that woman out riding my local buses, I’ve seen her doing her shopping on my high street, I’ve seen her having a drink down my regular boozer and I’ve heard her countless times. The depressing reality is that she is everywhere.

Like a permanent feedback loop of bullshit the racism described as free-speech bleatings of the EDL and the BNP go out into the public domain and are repeated back parrot fashion by people who are looking for easy answers and targets to blame. Racist sentiment goes up in times of recession… Cost of living is expensive, jobs are scarce and the media is all too happy to present images of wealthy asylum seekers on yachts or keen immigrants willing to undercut minimum wage for unscrupulous companies in order to take your labour away from you. Do any of these things actually exist? Hardly, but it’s a convenient scapegoat and one that is so emotive it allows those with their own sinister agendas to take advantage amidst the ill feeling.

As sure as the government is to blame for the collective failings that impact on the lives of its citizens, they are also partly to blame for these issues too. They won’t talk about the elephant in the room, avoid the issues that the extremists openly campaign on. This gives them a credence and authenticity they should not be afforded. These are, for the most part, thugs donning suits and playing at politics. They don’t have the answers. They barely have ideas.

That video is sadly an example of what passes for political discourse amongst a significant and growing number of British people. There’s no getting away from that. For many people exposure to that sort of hate is an almost daily occurrence. Racism doesn’t need an umbrella organisation to proliferate, all it needs for that to happen is to go uncontested by those with the means to expose it for what it is. Is the reaction to this video something more concerned with Twitter trends, or is it the start of a genuine stance against the casual racism that has become part of the day to day? Either way, let’s not use it as an excuse to pretend that Britain is an example of tolerance to anybody.

Sabotage Times

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up

Ex BNP councillor condemned for campaign to free woman accused of racist tram rant

Paul Golding, who represented the St Mary's ward in Swanley, is campaigning to free Emma West

A former BNP councillor has been condemned for his calls to free a woman accused of a racist rant on a tram. Paul Golding, who represented the St Mary's ward in Swanley, quit the BNP in March to become chairman of a new group called Britain First.

The far-right movement, which operates from an address in Swanley, has launched an online campaign called Free Emma West. Emma West, aged 34, from New Addington, is charged with a racially aggravated public order offence and has been remanded in custody. Her arrest came after a video appeared on YouTube of a woman making racists comments to passengers on a tram. The alleged rant subsequently hit the headlines in the national media.

In the online campaign, Mr Golding, who is chairman of Britain First, said: "We call upon the Home Secretary, Teresa May, and the prison governors, Helga Swidenbank and Alan Thurlby, to be held personally accountable for any harm Miss West may suffer as a result of her incarceration in an ethnically-dominated prison."

The group emailed more than 70,000 British nationalists and have organised a rally for today (December 2) in support of West outside HMP Bronzefield in Ashford.

Gerry Gable, the publisher of anti-fascist magazine Searchlight, said: "If they are trying to catch headlines they are going for the wrong ones. It just shows there's nothing new about them. They are the same old haters. If they think they can defend somebody like that it says it all."

Speaking about the YouTube video, Mr Gable said: "It says something very very good for this country that nobody actually laid a hand on her."

Labour councillor Mark Fittock, who represents Mr Golding's former ward, said: "I'm outraged that this should be going on. The Labour group would never support such action. We fully support the law as it stands in this country on the issue."

Mr Golding refused to comment.

This is Local London

Arrest over video of 'racist rant' on Croydon to Wimbledon tram

A woman has been arrested after an online video apparently showed a woman abusing ethnic minority passengers on a packed south London tram.

The clip, viewed more than 10,600 times since being uploaded to YouTube on Sunday, shows a woman sitting with a child, shouting at fellow passengers. British Transport Police said a woman, 34, had been arrested on suspicion of a racially-aggravated offence.

The incident happened on the Croydon to Wimbledon Tramlink route. Police are yet to clarify exactly where or when the incident happened.

In the online clip, the woman confronts several passengers, saying: "You are not British". She then starts swearing. When one passenger asks her to mind her language, saying "there are little kids on the tram", the woman points to the child on her lap and says "I've got a little kid here".

The woman then says: "Go back to where you come from".

In the video she then starts shouting at the woman who asked her not to swear, before another passenger intervenes, saying: "I am English, what have you got to say to me?"

A British Transport Police spokesman said: "The video posted on YouTube and Twitter has been brought to our attention and our officers have launched an investigation. At present it is not entirely clear which tram stops the offence took place between and when it occurred. As a result, we need anyone who witnessed this incident, or with any information that could assist our investigation - including the identity of the woman - to contact us.

"We will not tolerate racism in any form on the rail network and will do everything in our power to locate the person responsible."

BBC

Thanks to the many, MANY people who send this in

Britain's historians turn on Starkey

David Starkey's views on Britain would "disgrace a first-year history undergraduate", his own colleagues have said.

The controversial historian has been the subject of ferocious debate recently after a Newsnight appearance saw him argue that "whites have become blacks" in the wake of the riots. Now over 100 historians from across Britain's universities have demanded the BBC stop describing him as a historian at all and lambasted the sometimeTV presenter for his lack of "professionalism".

The letter, written by 102 academics to the Times Higher Education Magazine, reads: "His crass generalisations about black culture and white culture as oppositional, monolithic entities demonstrate a failure to grasp the subtleties of race and class that would disgrace a first-year history undergraduate. In fact, it appears to us that the BBC was more interested in employing him for his on-screen persona and tendency to make comments that viewers find offensive than for his skills as a historian.

The letter continued: "In addition to noting that a historian should argue from evidence rather than assumption, we are also disappointed by Starkey's lack of professionalism on Newsnight. Instead of thoughtfully responding to criticism, he simply shouted it down; instead of debating his fellow panellists from a position of knowledge, he belittled and derided them.

"On Newsnight, as on other appearances for the BBC, Starkey displayed some of the worst practices of an academic, practices that most of us have been working hard to change."

The letter demands that the BBC stop referring to Starkey as a historian on anything but his specialist subject, the Tudors. Among the signatories are academics from Cambridge and the London School of Economics, where Mr Starkey has previously taught. It also criticises the BBC for choosing to feature Mr Starkey in the first place.

"In our opinion, it was a singularly poor choice," the letter reads.

"The poverty of his reductionist argument... reflected his lack of understanding of the history of ordinary life in modern Britain. It was evidentially insupportable and factually wrong. The problem lies in the BBC's representation of Starkey's views as those of a 'historian', which implies that they have some basis in research and evidence: but as even the most basic grasp of cultural history would show, Starkey's views as presented on Newsnight have no basis in either."

Mr Starkey left viewers aghast when he appeared on Newsnight to express critical admiration for Enoch Powell's 'river of blood' speech and said Labour MP David Lammy sounded like a 'white man'.

Asked about the cause of the riots, he said: "What has happened is that a substantial section of the chavs... have become black. The whites have become black. A particular sort of violent, destructive, nihilistic gangster culture has become the fashion."

The appearance has subsequently been parodied in several YouTube videos setting his comments to a rap soundtrack.

politics.co.uk

Thanks to Greg for the heads-up

Accused extremists face court over affray

Ten suspected right-wing extremists have appeared in court charged with violence

The men, from across Tyneside, are accused of attacking doormen at the Tyneside Irish Centre during a rival political meeting. The alleged attack is said to have happened on September 22 last year, when the left-wing Socialist Workers’ Party were meeting at the centre on Gallowgate, Newcastle city centre. The SWP had called the meeting to discuss ways to counter far-right groups.

Rebecca Gibson, prosecuting, told Newcastle Magistrates Court that the 10 men, all believed to be members of the far-right English Defence League, allegedly gathered in nearby Rosie’s Bar. She claimed they then descended on the Irish Centre, hurling abuse and attacking the doormen.

Yesterday, Anthony Burn, 47, of Lecondale Court, Leam Lane, Gateshead; Colin Burton, 27, of Wouldhave Court, South Shields; Peter Duffy, 43, of Elgin Avenue, Seaham, Durham; Michael Garriock, 22, of Gibson Street, Wallsend; Barry Keddy, 33, of Deneholm, Wallsend; Nicholas Mills, 24, of Drumaldrace, Washington; Alan Spence, 45, of Gerald Street, Benwell, Newcastle; Steven Spence, 26, of Whickham View, Benwell; and Paul Starr, 44, of Telford Street, East Howdon, all faced charges of affray and unlawful violence.

Dressed in EDL tops, sportswear and quilted jackets, with several sporting closely-shaven heads, the nine spoke only to confirm their names and addresses. Duffy and Mills denied the offences, but the rest withheld their pleas. The tenth accused, Colin Bell, 35, of St Oswald’s Road, Hebburn, had already denied the same charge when he appeared in court last week.

District Judge Stephen Earl said the case was too serious for the magistrates court and ordered it to be heard by judges at the crown court.

More than 20 supporters, many wearing St George’s flag hoodies, T-shirts and caps, packed out the courtroom for the brief hearing. Outside the court, surrounded heavily by police, some handed out pamphlets but did not mount an organised protest.

All 10 men will return to the magistrates court next month for committal.

The incident followed the Chronicle’s revelation that extremists in Gateshead had torched a copy of the Koran on September 11. The video, posted on YouTube, caused international fury.

Chronice Live

Man jailed for posting racist video clips on YouTube

A man has been jailed for 15 months for uploading racist video clips on to YouTube.

Gareth Hemingway, 29, of Bognor Regis, earlier pleaded guilty to five offences under the Public Order Act at Leeds Crown Court. The clips called for a "racial holy war" and were designed to provoke violence against ethnic minorities, particularly in Dewsbury. When he was arrested, police found Nazi and racist memorabilia at his home.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the material came to the attention of police when a journalist researching Dewsbury on the internet came across videos Hemingway, of Longford Road, had posted and reported them. The CPS said they included titles such as 'red, white and blue through and through' and 'Dewsbury needs help'. They also featured racist references and imagery including an assault on a black man by a white man.

Stuart Laidlaw, reviewing lawyer for the CPS, said: "Gareth Hemingway decided to use the very public forum of YouTube to distribute videos of racist and inflammatory nature which he had edited, and which were designed to provoke violence against ethnic minorities, particularly those living in Dewsbury. They called for a 'racial holy war', described acts of violence and made supportive references to far right groups such as Combat 18 and Patriots of White European Resistance."

Mr Laidlaw added: "Freedom of speech carries with it responsibilities. Publishing something that is abusive and insulting and that is likely to stir racial hatred is against the law and the CPS will work with the police to prosecute robustly anyone who does so."

BBC

The shifting shape of the slur

Words used to insult – whether racist, classist or sexist – can change meaning over time, morphing from hateful to silly and vice versa

Racist language evolves like every other kind. Modern racists have the added pressure of being forced to use code words, to avoid being obvious and unpopular, and so their language is perhaps mutating at an accelerated pace. You’ll notice this if you watch the chilling video The Guardian just put up of an undercover journey into some meetings of the English Defence League (EDL), an anti-Muslim hate group. They use the word “paki” a lot, but it seems to mean any Muslim, not just Pakistani. Similarly “Asian” seems to mean, to them, Muslim, and is similarly considered an insult.

Another thing you’ll notice is a new use of the verb “sort,” as in, “we’ll get them sorted.” This has been a common idiom in Britain for many years, and its meaning is flexible but generally friendly: “Sorted?” means “Did you get what you needed?” or simply “Are you okay?” It obviously derives from “sorted out.” But it also has an association with drugs: If you’re on your way to a dance club, and you say you’re sorted, it means you have connected with a dealer and you are in possession of some pills or herbs. “Did he sort you?” is the British equivalent of the American expression “Did he hook you up?” By extension, “I’m sorted” has come to mean I’m high on drugs, particularly ecstasy. And, by general extension for all of that, sorted can be used to mean generally good or cool or sexy, as in, “That bird’s sorted, she is.”

But when the skinheads of the EDL promise to “sort” the inhabitants of a council estate in Bradford, they do not intend anything so pleasurable. They are talking about giving out beatings. The Guardian video includes a recording of hysterical telephone threats made against an anti-racist activist that promise, “You come to Birmingham, mate, you are going to get sorted.”

It seems strange at first that the verb has gone through such a 180-degree rotation in meaning, from helping to assaulting, but it can be explained by the fact that the thugs think that they are, by administering violence, setting things right – sorting – in some way.

There’s a bright side, an optimist might say, to changes in distasteful language: Sometimes it shifts the other way, from hateful to silly. As the neutral word Asian has come to take on, in fascist parlance, a negative connotation, so inversely do some hateful racist terms become diluted.

The most recent example of this came from last year’s best actress, YouTube one-hit wonder Clare Werbeloff, also known as Clare the King’s Cross Bogan. In case you missed this troubling piece of improvisation on Australian TV news (and subsequently all over the Web), this 19-year-old model/actress was interviewed by a TV crew moments after a shooting in the red-light district of Sydney. She claimed to have seen it all happen, and famously described the altercation as being between “a fat wog and a skinny wog.” She then went on to imitate the accents of the quarrelers as she recounted their exchange: “Oi bru, you slept with my cousin, eh? And the other one goes, ‘No man I didn’t for shit eh?’ The other one goes, ‘I will call on my fully sick boys!’ And then they pulled out a gun, and just went chk-chk, boom!”

She became famous largely because her story was entirely made up, and because her impersonations were so colourful, but also because her use of a notorious racist term shocked the rest of the world. Australian commentators had to explain – and argue and argue about – what she meant by “wog.” It turns out that in Australia the word doesn’t mean dark-skinned person, but a person of Eastern or Southern European descent – it means Romanians, Balkans, Turks, Greeks and Middle-Easterners. And it is commonly used there, even in TV comedy, and even by self-parodying European immigrants themselves (google Australian videos with the word in it and you’ll see what I mean). Werbeloff herself insisted there was nothing racist about it.

That doesn’t make the word any less offensive here, of course, or even in Australia, where many people were still disgusted by it, but the general public seemed to shruggingly accept that, offensive as it may be, it’s less offensive when used toward white people, and at any rate it has entered everyday vocabulary and probably cannot be eliminated at this point.

Paradoxically, Werbeloff’s most furious detractors made a point of calling her a bogan – Australian slang for brash working-class person, similar to the British chav. This is a classist term, which is undoubtedly hurtful too. And, predictably, anonymous YouTube scribes triumphantly point out that her name is Jewish, too, proving that the miasma of racist name-calling is a deep, dark, confusing and inescapable one, a sort of shifting fog that we all hope to avoid falling into.

The Globe and Mail

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up

‘LionHeart’ Ranter Ray Attempts To Take Over EDL

Remember Paul Ray, AKA Lionheart England? Several weeks ago, we reported on him being a likely suspect in the organisation of the riot atop the proposed mosque site in Dudley that resulted in the arrest and incarceration of the English Defence League’s Jon Shaw and Leon McCreery.

It seems like their overshadowing of him in the headlines has prompted him to take more direct action… this time against the EDL leadership.

Ray can be seen on YouTube, ranting about the leadership of the hate group and his involvement in it’s conception. He claims that the roots of the EDL were put together by him, and admits to bringing football thug, Jeff Marsh into the UPL, aswell as the EDL’s links to March For England. He also exposes prominent BNP member, Chris Renton’s involvement in the EDL. Bizarrely, he claims God gave him the mission of creating what we now know as the English Defence League.

Ray also makes reference to his previous arrests for incitement. Try and ignore the cheesy music; his revelations are worth it. This could well be an early attempt at a coup.




The news will come as a blow to an already struggling EDL, that in just over a year of existence has seen constant infighting and power struggles.

One Million United

Meet Arrylad...

Meet 'Arrylad' - because nothing says 'patriotism' like using the St George’s Flag for a tablecloth and plonking a can of cheap lager on it, right?

'Arrylad' is apparently a spokesman for the Welsh and English Defence Leagues. He has an entertaining YouTube channel here - although he may sound like some new comic character created by Ricky Gervais, he is in fact for real. A taster:



Bart's Notes

Thanks to PMcC for the heads-up :-)

Anti BNP Video Banned for Being Too 'controversial'

The brand new single from the 18-year-old award winning political rapper/lyricist Sabotage that has been banned from mainstream radio for being “too controversial”. Still just 18 years old, he has firmly established his name on the underground scene as one of the best up and coming reality based and conscious lyricists.

The fact that challenging racism is seen as controversial is a sign of the times and a reflection of the fact that the in the UK today the politics of racism has now become normalised. It begs the question that when a party can legitimately promote racism as part of the democratic discourse anti racist’s become deemed anti democratic. This perversity cannot stand unchallenged, racism has no place in progressive democracy.

British rapper Sabotage has created a You Tube sensation with his “ Letter to the BNP “video. In response to the many supportive comments he issued this statement:

“Thanks a lot for everyone’s support, I really appreciate it! Despite it being banned from radio for being “too controversial” and because it “may potentially upset listeners” it has got almost 10,000 views in 5 days on You Tube.”

It is important that we support the rights of artists to freely express themselves in challenging racism in politics.

OBV

BNP supporter spoofs 'The Spoof' (maybe)

Q: When is a spoof not a spoof? A: When it's BNP propaganda.

For those of you who have yet to come across 'The Spoof', it's an online repository of spoof articles, many of which look like they might be hysterically funny but turn out to be about as entertaining as reading back issues of Punch while waiting for the dentist to clean off the blood from the patient before you.

The article that caught my eye was titled 'IMF Shock "Only Nick Griffin's BNP Can Fix The British Economy!"'. With a title like that and with all we know about the BNP's financial corruption and mismanagement, it looked like essential reading, if only for the odd snigger after a busy day.

It started off fairly promisingly and looked like it might be a tad more subtle than the usual fare (like 'Scientist proves Kerry Katona doesn't actually exist' or 'Entire UK Population To Hide From Inspector Morse').

'Red faces all around when Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund amazed journalists and commentators at a news conference this morning In Berlin by announcing that only the British National Party has put forward enough spending cuts to save an almost certain imminent collapse of the British economy within the next few months.

Mr Strauss Khan endorsed the plans of Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP to make the real and substantial spending cuts necessary to cut the deficit and get Britain on track to regain her financial independence from abroad.

"Only the British National party" he said "has proposed enough cuts to prevent Britain from going begging for a bailout to the International Monetary Fund within the next few months of an election win by any of the three wings of the British One Party State."'

Hmm. That phrase 'British One Party State' seems strangely familiar...

'Mr. Griffin commented "Unlike the other parties we will hide nothing, we will open all the books on the economy to the British people and the British media and trust them to understand, instead of hearing bits of the facts filtered through the the spin doctors in Number 11 or the main party's phoney think-tanks."'

Odd then that Griffin can't even open the books (or indeed, balance them) for the BNP itself, let alone the entire UK, but there you go. The article continues:

'Before releasing the full economic policy as listed below this report, Mr Strauss-Kahn gave some interesting highlights drawn up by his advisors:

The British National Party will begin by carefully explaining to the British people the truth about the economy and explain why a number of jobs, but less than those proposed by the other parties, will be lost for a while in public services. It will seek to get the British people on board in the spirit of the Blitz, when Britains [sic] united together to make sacrifices now to lay the foundations for a strong economy in the future for their children...'

The article then drifts into a complete (and long) reproduction of the finance section from the BNP's manifesto. Not funny at all, in fact.

So who would post something like this? Well, that at least is easily explained because the item was provided by a writer named 'sarasara'. Sarasara's homepage turns out to be a YouTube channel packed with pro-BNP and EDL videos and this little image at the top, which might help to explain things.

A search of other stories by Sarasara reveals that he, she or it has been a busy little bee on the BNP's behalf. A story named Secret MI5 Report Highlights Nick Griffin Threat is another puff-piece for the BNP, while others attack the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Unite Against Fascism, Billy Bragg and anyone even vaguely anti-fascist or linked in any way to anyone who has dared to question the BNP.

In fact it's pretty clear where Sarasara's political sympathies lie, particularly when, on reading an article about a fictitious invitation to Nick Griffin to visit Israel, the phrase 'fascist far-left anti-Israel UAF' is used. Sarasara's 'satires' are no such thing - they are pro-BNP propaganda, pure and simple.

The Spoof, naturally, has a set of fairly familiar terms and conditions for the writers who submit their stories, one of which is:

'You must not use the website for any of the following...to impersonate any third party or otherwise mislead as to the origin of your content'

I would suggest that providing political propaganda in the guise of satire is breaching that condition and I would ask that readers complain about this to the site's webmaster or the site's administrator. It's one thing to be attacked by humour - we do it all the time - but it's quite another to have an innocent site (if it is one) used to unwittingly spread the BNP's filth, lies and idiocies.

Annoyingly, Mark Lowton, the owner (or at least the site registrant) of The Spoof, lives here in Lancaster, so purely because I'm a nosey bastard, I searched to see what other domains he had an interest in and immediately one popped up, so to speak - www.bountifulpenis.com. Says it all really, doesn't it.

BNP Organisers Come Clean Over EDL Involvement

Click on image to see it full-size

As British authorities are accused of turning a blind eye to fascist racial incitement and street violence, there is damning evidence BNP organisers are, as suspected, using the EDL to do the BNP's dirty work by plotting race riots in multicultural areas

The alleged failure of the Greater Manchester Police to act impartially, coupled with the cancelling of charges against Tommy Robinson and the softening of media attitudes towards the English Defence League, have paved the way for the BNP to come clean about their interests with the EDL.

Until recently the British National Party were still peddling their tired and worn lies about the EDL being proscribed, even though Chris Renton has been outed as the Griffinite stooge with his hands on the reins of the nationalist football hooligan bandwagon. While some Aryan purists within the BNP err on caution on the presence of Uncle Toms in the EDL (just as they do regarding changing the BNP's constitution), many BNP organisers are now openly declaring their love of the EDL on hardcore neo-nazi chat sites such as Stormfront (see the screenshot), and the Griffinite "Covert Underground Nuisance Tactics" website (abreviated C.U.N.T.S).

"Covert Tactics" is one of the most racist Griffinite websites on the net, and bearing in mind their candid anti-Semitism, why would they throw their towel in with EDL rallies where a tokenite Israeli flag flown for effect (the Jew Flag as Aryan hardliners love to call it), unless the EDL had become the street-fighting division of the BNP (as suggested by the screenshot)?

On Saturday, Covert Tactics were openly supporting the EDL's visit to Bolton, carrying a live feed of the EDL rally, arguably peculiar behaviour for a website run by trusted close friends of Nick Griffin - Tommy Williams and Dave Howard.

Since the CPS dropped charges against Tommy Robinson, police forces up and down the country have noticeably dropped their guise of impartiality when policing EDL rallies and anti-fascist counterprotests. This change in attitude was first visible during the London scuffles when Dutch Islamophobe Geert Wilders arrived to speak in the House of Lords, when the Metropolitan Police waded heavy-handedly into law-abiding anri-racists, batons-blazing.

The policing debacle in Bolton when peaceful UAF supporters were arrested and released without charge, coupled with a parellel sea-change of the reporting of the British Media, (from the Guardian to the BBC, politically correctly labelling the EDL merely "right wing" rather than far right), questions must be asked as to what deals (if any) were done in secret, in the Sheffield Police Station interrogation room, between the authorities and the leadership of the EDL.

For the Establishment to do a sudden about-turn following the EDL's violent anti-police thuggery of Stoke, is absolutely astonishing. From the BPP to the BNP and the National Front, Special Branch are believed to have infiltrated the whole of the Far Right using the carrot as well as the stick.

For every threat or sanction comes a concession (in this case, if true, a loss of impartiality and softening of policing towards EDL racism and criminality). If it was public knowledge the leadership of the EDL had done a deal with the police or the government following interrogation in Sheffield (under coertion or otherwise), the organisation's credibility would be in tatters, and their followers would walk away, accusing the leadership of having "sold out", thus a juicy "carrot" (the Metropolitan Police viewed as taking sides rather than doing a deal). goes some way to convince the EDL's supporters its leaders still have its interests at heart.

Just how the EDL's majority football hooligan support base will react if they discover their leadership have grassed-up its loyal football hooligans to Special Branch, is not known, as for the moment, the extent of "state-collaboration" will be hidden amongst the celebrations of a seemingly victorious EDL, but if the police continue to treat the EDL with kid gloves, people will eventually ask awkward questions.

It takes a quarter of a century for official documents to be declassified. It wasn't until many years after Margaret Thatcher left office when the horrid truth was revealed about illegal paramilitary police tactics, agent provocateurs and state-approved strike-breakers in the miners strike, by which time, most if not all key players have left office, making justice for the wronged victims largely impossible. The time-friendly veil of secrecy afforded to the police, government and civil service allows human rights abuses to happen safe in the knowledge nobody will ever be held to account for their actions.

The intrigue of what went on in the Sheffield police station interrogation room might never be known, but if the authorities continue to treat the EDL with kid gloves, society will most definately suffer. How much longer must Britain's racial and religious minorities suffer open incitement, whilst the upholders of law and order continue to turn a blind eye to illegally provocative chants, Facebook and YouTube death threats to journalists, and open calls online for racist murder and the "wiping out of Muslims?"

Are peaceful anti-racist protestors to now expect regular harrasment, violence and intimidation from police, simply to keep loose-tongued EDL leaders happy?

The 89 year old veteran campaigner knocked over by out-of-control riot cops was an act of criminal negligence, and the apparent taking of sides with the neo-facists of the EDL makes a mockery of the supposed impartiality of the Greater Manchester Constabulary. Several policemen have been filmed laughing and joking with EDL leaders, which proves beyond all doubt the lack of professionalism of the Bolton police.

Immediate questions must be asked to our democratically elected government in regards to whether secret deals have been done between the EDL and the state. Nobody in their right mind appreciates gangs of maurading soccer thugs fighting amonst themselves outside football grounds, trashing pubs, shops, trains and buses with insane abandon, but if the EDL leadership have indeed thrashed out a deal to grass-up their football hooligan followers in return for "public respectability", this is of concern for everybody.

If organised racism is being tolerated just so the British Sporting Scene can be cleansed of hooligans in time for the 2012 Olympics, to assure the safety of tourists, without more importantly considering the safety of our own racial and religious minorities from the "well directed boot or fist", democracy is well and truly failing.

The far right have made a meal of the fact that fewer EDL racists were arrested at Bolton, while ignoring the fact that EDL thugs were arrested for inflamatory chanting, throwing missiles, and walking the streets drunken and disorderly. If the amount of actual crimes are considered per person, the EDL would be seen as culprits not victims. The only reason there was not an Anti-Muslim pogrom as in Stoke, is down to the steadfastness and refusal to budge under intense pressure of the mostly peaceful anti-fascist supporters. Whether socialist or anarchist, Quaker, Buddhist, Muslim or Athiest, there was unity against a common enemy last Saturday, and ignoring the heavy internet trolling of the far right and the dodgy pro-EDL media spin, everybody who attended Bolton helped ensure the fight-hungry EDL yobs went home unfulfilled.

Don't be fooled by either arrest numbers or EDL lies, trolling and spin. With a ready-made army of seasoned ultra-violent football hooligans, regardless of public intent, the EDL's sole intent is to cause deadly race riots, and the greatest danger is that complacency will allow this to happen. A number of smaller-scale EDL events are happening shortly in the Midlands and the South where the EDL will "lie low", preparing for far more destructive altercations when the time is right.

The ethos of the Turner Diaries, a popular read of the Far Right, is one of "leaderless resistance", racial terrorism and open racial warfare on the streets, and this is the reason the BNP have reportedly taken control of the EDL.

Whichever puppeteer is running things at the top, be it Chris Renton, Nick Griffin, Tommy Robinson or Alan Lake, the EDL's "political agenda" is in-line with that of Geert Wilders, i.e., vehemently Islamophobic and designed to alienate an entire community not just religious extremists, stopping mainstream Muslims from practising their faith (closing down mosques, banning Halal meat), with the ultimate aim of reducing the numbers of Muslims in the UK, something that can only be achieved via forced repatriation, nazi-style sterilisation, or a Muslim Holocaust, as British Muslims are here to stay.

If you think this is alarmist, spend time trawling through the many thousands of Facebook and genocidal YouTube comments. Behind the spin and trolling of Trevor Kelway, forget the lack of arrests at Bolton. The EDL's street-fighting agenda and their continued utilisation of violent racist hooligans, inviting Wigan Mike and Liam Pinkham to attend rallies via the phone (as recently revealed on VNN), supports the observations that they are merely waiting their chance to create "the mother of all race riots".

Nobody has the moral right to march willy-nilly through towns and city centres peddling hated and fear under the guise of free speech, be it (banned) Islamic extremists or (not banned) racial supremacists. Allowing racist chants to go unpunished, while fascist-friendly police phyically assault peaceful anti-racist protestors simply exercising their opposition to organised racial hatred, is an abuse of the very Western democracy the EDL neo-Nazi thugs claim to hold dear.

If EDL grasses are (as alleged) helping the authorities entrap a handful of British football hooligans while whole communities suffer fear, hatred and desperation, this is most surely a price not worth paying.

The General Election approaching, ask your prospective parliamentary candidates how they will protect communities from EDL invasion, and vote accordingly.

Investigator at Indymedia

Twisted BNP cashing in on my hero's funeral

Footage used to raise money

Grieving Jessica Deans has blasted the BNP for using a photo of her fiancé's coffin to plug their hateful policies. The picture - taken at the funeral of marine Liam Elms - appears in an online video to drum up election support for the far-right party. But Jessica branded it an outrage - and his family insist the fallen hero would have raged against the BNP's loathsome views.

Corporal Liam, 26, was killed by a roadside bomb while battling the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Jessica, a 22-year-old nurse, said: "I find it an outrage that an image of Liam's coffin on the day of his funeral is being used as propaganda for the BNP's personal gain."

And Liam's father Michael, 51, said: "We haven't give our permission for them to use any coverage of Liam's funeral on this video. It's out of order that the picture has been put in the public domain and for the BNP to use it for political gain is not on. It feels like an easy way for the BNP to get people involved in their party and to make money."

The video has been watched thousands of times since it was put on the BNP website and YouTube last week. Party leader Nick Griffin shamelessly uses it in a plea for cash to bolster his election fund. The photo shows Liam's coffin - draped in a Union Flag - being carried by three comrades.

Griffin, who was filmed in front of a portrait of Winston Churchill, describes the Afghan conflict as "a ludicrous no-win war" and pledges to end British involvement. And as Liam's coffin flashes on screen, he says: "We need our coffers filled so we can afford to fight every single seat we should be fighting up and down the country."

But Liam's dad - who also served in the forces - said: "I'm angry with the BNP because what they are saying is the complete opposite of what Liam wanted. Liam's last words to me were, 'I'm where I want to be, doing what I want to do with the people I want to be with. Don't worry'."

Michael added: "Any party that says the troops should be brought out without any power being in place to look after local Afghans is going against what our boys are fighting for."

Liam died on New Year's Eve 2008 on patrol in Helmand with 45 Commando and Afghan troops. The photo used by the BNP was taken at his funeral last January - when he was hailed a "true patriot". Hundreds of mourners packed St Joseph's church in his home town of Wrightington, Lancs, and more than 150 had to wait outside.

Liam's mum Maureen, 52, said: "I would love all the soldiers in Afghanistan to come home safe. But they have chosen to do a job out there and they will stay until the Afghans are safe."

Liam's family are asking people who want to help British troops to support legitimate charities such as Help For Heroes, the Royal Marine Benevolent Fund and the British Legion - not the BNP. His sister Rachael, 28, has raised £20,000 for Help For Heroes by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. And she plans to raise more in a 900-mile London-Geneva bike ride - www.justgiving.com/rachael-elms - this year.

The BNP tried to play down the row over Liam's coffin. An official said: "The picture was intended to be representative of a problem we're trying to give our view on - it is not homing in on an individual. No offence was intended to the family."

People

Note: The People made a donation to the British Legion at the Elms' request for their interviews.

Police investigate alleged death threats over YouTube BNP video

Police are investigating a senior member of the BNP in Wales over alleged threats to kill a man who posted an anti-BNP video on a website

Roger Phillips, the BNP’s deputy organiser for West Wales, allegedly made the 12-minute expletive-filled telephone rant after he discovered the video about him on YouTube. Mark Watson recorded the call, in which Mr Phillips allegedly threatened to kill him, and handed it to police.

Avon and Somerset police said they had been in touch with South Wales Police and were investigating the complaint, which they described as “serious”.

Mr Watson, 46, an independent filmmaker living in Bristol, said he started getting phone calls from businessman Mr Phillips, 42, after he made an anti-racist video and posted it online. He said: “He started contacting me to tell me to stop making videos and telling me he would come and get me. When I found some more pictures of him and made them into another video, he phoned me and started shouting and swearing at me to take it down.”

One of the pictures in Mr Watson’s video included the BNP member’s 18-year-old son, and it was this that allegedly led Mr Phillips to make the death threats.

“He told me I had to take the picture of his son down,” said Mr Watson, who has subsequently removed the video from his YouTube page.

The threats, heard by Wales on Sunday, cannot be repeated for legal reasons because they could be used as evidence in court. But in one 40-second clip the caller, believed to be Mr Phillips, swore 14 times and threatened to kill Mr Watson twice. Mr Watson and his friend recorded it by switching his phone to speaker mode and recording the rant on a separate phone.

“My first reaction was ‘my God, I’ve got him now’,” he said. “But afterwards I realised this guy meant business and I really got scared.”

Mr Watson has kept a video diary of his life since the phone call, which was made on Tuesday December 1, and has posted it on YouTube, receiving thousands of hits in days. He is hoping to make a feature-length documentary about his experience after the police investigation and any subsequent court case is complete.

He added: “So many of my friends have been threatened by the BNP and they have backed down because they are scared, and I don’t blame them. But I wanted to stand up to them and show people exactly what they are. Since then I’ve been constantly bombarded with online messages and I’ve even been threatened again by somebody else, but I’ve also had a lot of support and that is really what’s keeping me going.”

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police said: “A man has made a complaint to the police. This is a serious allegation and we are investigating.”

When WoS tried to contact Mr Phillips, his phone was switched off.

The BNP’s spokesman and deputy leader Simon Derby said he would not comment until the police investigation was complete.

Last month, WoS reported how Mr Phillips was forced to withdraw “racist” football merchandise following threats from top Premier League sides. His company Patriot Products, which was based in Ammanford, sold an extensive range of nationalistic memorabilia, including golliwog badges with the names of clubs such as Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.

Mr Phillips received numerous complaints from the clubs and the items were removed from the company’s website.

Wales Online

Residents hit back at BNP's Wembley video

Brent residents have helped to make a film hitting back at the British National Party for using Wembley as an example of how Britain's immigration policies have failed.

The video was uploaded on to YouTube last week after the South Wales BNP uploaded its own clip, called The True Face of Immigration, using shots of black and Asian people shopping in Wembley High Road. Last week community leaders, religious figures, Brent residents and even the Football Association condemned the BNP's video, which criticises the borough's cultural diversity.

In response Barry Gardiner, Labour MP for Brent North, arranged for neighbours to come together and make their own film. During the video, residents praise Wembley for being culturally vibrant and say how proud they are of their community.

Mr Gardiner said: "It was fantastic. We got a whole host of people involved - a 70-year-old Arsenal fan who has lived here all his life, an RAF pilot, writer and former broadcaster Pauline Webb, and Aisha Benn-Hoda, whose father set up the Muslim Welfare Association in Ealing Road. Aisha spoke very powerfully about how she felt about the video. It was really good to see the community coming together. It doesn't matter what your background is, we value each other in Wembley and its diversity, which we are very proud of."

The BNP video first came to light when a member of the public noticed it on YouTube and contacted Mr Gardiner. Mr Gardiner spoke about the footage in Parliament, describing it as the single most revolting and disturbing thing he had ever seen as a constituency MP. The Football Association, now based at Wembley Stadium, also called for the clip to be removed.

But John Walker, a spokesman for the BNP, told the Observer: "There would be little point in us challenging a seat in Wembley because as far as we are concerned places like that are completely lost, but quite honestly he [Barry Gardiner] can keep it. It is not part of Britain."

Harrow Observer

Barry Gardiner MP hits out at BNP over Wembley video

A far-right group has described scenes of Wembley's diverse population as “horrific” in an online video

Members of the British National Party (BNP) from South Wales can be heard saying “it's not our country anymore” as they drive down High Road, in footage uploaded to video sharing website Youtube.

As residents from different the areas diverse community walk passed the camera voices can be heard in the background saying “how can anybody say immigration is a good thing”. One man says “you've got your pajamas on” as the camera, aimed out of a car window, passes a man wearing traditional clothing.

Barry Gardiner, MP for Brent North, hit out at the BNP in Parliament, describing the footage as “revolting” and challenging the party to contest his Brent North seat. He said: “My understanding is that if you are born here you are British. To say “Briton” means people who came here several hundred years ago is simply rubbish. You can apply for citizenship or you can be born here. Most of the people in Wembley were born here.”

Simon Darby, vice chairman of the BNP, said: “There may well be a case for putting up a candidate in Brent North, I don't know.”

He added: “This isn't integration it's colonisation. It's not a question of integrating it's replacing the local population. That area was predominantly indigenous, white and British. It's fallen down and down where we are on course for there being no, or a negligible amount of indigenous people.”

When asked what he meant by indigenous, he said: “Indigenous Britons are white. It's an inconvenient fact – indigenous Britons are white.”

Harrow Times

BNP politician Richard Barnbrook faces ban after 'making up' murders

The BNP’s representative on the London Assembly is facing a six-month ban after he fabricated murder stories to increase fear of knife crime

Richard Barnbrook, who is accused of bringing the authority into disrepute, may become the first politician in its history to be suspended when the case is heard today. An independent investigation found that Mr Barnbrook’s comments on YouTube about non-existent murders had showed “wilful disregard for the truth”. He said that he had got his words “jumbled up”.

City Hall’s standards committee will consider a penalty for Mr Barnbrook, who was elected in May, after he was found to have brought both the London Assembly, and Barking and Dagenham Council, the East London authority to which he was elected in 2006, into disrepute. Their options range from forcing him to apologise, undertake a course or participate in conciliation, to suspending him from both authorities for up to six months.

Supporters of both the BNP and Unite Against Fascism, which campaigns against rightwing groups, are planning to attend the hearing. London Patriots, a fringe rightwing organisation, says it will bus supporters to City Hall, raising fears of clashes between the groups.

In a video, which was posted on YouTube in May last year, Mr Barnbrook said: “Three weeks ago, there was a murder of a young girl. We don’t know who’s done it, her girlfriend was attacked inside an educational institute. Again, two weeks ago there was another attack by knives on the streets of Barking and Dagenham where two people were murdered.”

The Metropolitan police confirmed that there had been no murders or serious incidents in the time period cited, and that murders in the area were actually decreasing.

During a joint investigation by the GLA and the council, Mr Barnbrook admitted to investigators that he was aware that his comments were inaccurate. He was accused of making up the murders because knife crime was an emotive issue in the capital at the time. Valerie Rush, a Labour cabinet member at Barking and Dagenham Council, who made a complaint about Mr Barnbrook, said he had “openly and outrageously” lied to “whip up fears in the London community”.

Mr Barnbrook has since changed his position and yesterday told The Times that his comments should be excused because he had dyslexia. He said that he was the subject of a witchhunt because he had “humiliated” Boris Johnson, and his Tory colleagues, by highlighting the issue of knife crime.

Referring to the “young girl” he had spoken about in the video, he said: “I said she was murdered in Barking, but I should have said she was from Barking. She was actually murdered in Newham. The two additional murders that I spoke about, I should have said attempted murders. We had done five takes of the video. Some of the words would have got jumbled up.”

He said that once he realised the video was incorrect, it was removed.

Mr Barnbrook had been the most senior elected member of the BNP until June, when its leader Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons were both voted into the European Parliament. His disciplinary hearing was scheduled for July but was delayed when he claimed stress-related illness and was signed off work for two weeks.

Times Online

BNP activist and the false murder claims on YouTube

Richard Barnbrook admitted he broadcast inaccurate information

A prominent BNP councillor has escaped suspension after a disciplinary hearing was postponed at the 11th hour

Today's hearing had been set up by City Hall and Barking and Dagenham council after Richard Barnbrook falsely claimed on YouTube that three people were murdered in three weeks in the borough. But last night officials were forced to delay the hearing after the BNP member of the London Assembly presented a dossier of new evidence denying that he had brought the Greater London Authority and council into disrepute.

Mr Barnbrook, who was elected to Barking and Dagenham council in 2006 and is one of 12 BNP councillors in the borough, was due to face a hearing three weeks ago but claimed he was too stressed to attend.

In the YouTube clip he posted last September, he claimed the borough had seen three murders in as many weeks. There had been one killing in the neighbouring borough of Newham, and no evidence of two other attacks, despite Mr Barnbrook insisting two victims died after being placed on life support machines. He told investigators he knew he was making inaccurate statements, and has since apologised, but said he was right to raise concerns about knife crime.

His comments led to a complaint to the council and Greater London Authority that he had brought both authorities into disrepute. The GLA's standards committee was to decide today whether to uphold an independent investigation's finding that Mr Barnbrook, who earns £52,910 as an Assembly member and £10,006 as a councillor, showed “wilful disregard for the truth”. If found guilty, he could be suspended from both authorities for up to six months.

Val Rush, Labour councillor in Barking and Dagenham, who brought the complaint, said Mr Barnbrook had undermined confidence in local authorities. Murders have fallen in Barking and Dagenham, from six in 2006/07 to three in 2007/08 and one in 2008/09.

Mr Barnbrook claims he was a victim of a political campaign and his comments about the first murder “came out wrong”. Investigators noted he made no attempt to remedy this by re-recording the video.

Evening Standard

The BNP represents Britain's workers? They don't even represent basic British craftsmanship

I was born in the 70s and grew up in a tiny rural village. There was, I think, only one black kid in my primary school. One day, someone pushed him over and called him "blackjack". The headmaster called an impromptu assembly. It involved the entire school, and took place outdoors. No doubt: this was unusual.

We stood in military rows in the playground. I must have been about six, so I can't remember the words he used, but the substance stuck. He spoke with eerie, measured anger. He'd fought in the second world war, he told us. Our village had a memorial commemorating friends of his who had died. Many were relatives of ours. These villagers gave their lives fighting a regime that looked down on anyone "different", that tried to blame others for any problem they could find; a bullying, racist regime called "the Nazis". Millions of people had died thanks to their bigotry and prejudice. And he told us that anyone who picked on anyone else because they were "different' wasn't merely insulting the object of their derision, but insulting the headmaster himself, and his dead friends, and our dead relatives, the ones on the war memorial. And if he heard of anyone - anyone - using racist language again, they'd immediately get the slipper.

Corporal punishment was still alive and well, see. The slipper was his nuclear bomb.

It was the first time I was explicitly told that racism was unpleasant and it was a lesson served with a side order of patriot fries. Or rather, chips. Our headmaster had fought for his country, and for tolerance, all at once. That's what I understood it meant to be truly "British": to be polite, and civil and fair of mind. (And to occasionally wallop schoolkids with slippers, admittedly, but we'll overlook that, OK? We've moved on.)

But according to the BNP, I'm wrong. Being British is actually about feeling aggressed, mistrustful, overlooked, isolated, powerless, and petrified of "losing my identity". Britishness incorporates a propensity to look around me with jealous eyes, fuming over imaginary sums of money being doled out to child-molesting asylum-seekers by corrupt PC politicians who've lost touch with the common man - a common man who, coincidentally, happens to be white.

They're wrong, obviously. None of these qualities has anything whatsoever to do with being British, but everything to do with ugly nationalist politics. And ugly nationalist politics are popular all over the world. Just like Pringles. Every country has its own tiny enclave of frightened, disenfranchised, misguided souls clinging to their national flag, claiming they're the REAL patriots, saying everyone's out to get them. It's an international weakness. For the BNP to claim to be more British than the other British parties is as nonsensical as your dad suddenly claiming to have invented the beard.

The other day, the BNP had a political broadcast on the box. I wasn't in my beloved homeland at the time, but I heard about it, via internet chuckles of derision. Fellow geeky types tweeting about the poor production values. I looked it up on YouTube. Sure enough, it was badly made. No surprise there. Extremist material of any kind always looks gaudy and cheap, like a bad pizza menu. Not because they can't afford decent computers - these days you can knock up a professional CD cover on a pay-as-you-go mobile - but because anyone who's good at graphic design is likely to be a thoughtful, inquisitive sort by nature. And thoughtful, inquisitive sorts tend to think fascism is a bit shit, to be honest. If the BNP really were the greatest British party, they'd have the greatest British designer working for them - Jonathan Ive, perhaps, the man who designed the iPod. But they don't. They've got someone who tries to stab your eyes out with primary colours.

But there's more to the advert's failure than its hideous use of colour schemes. Every aspect of it is bad. The framing is bad. The sound is bad. The script is bad. For all their talk about representing the Great British Worker, when it comes to promotional material, the BNP can't even represent the most basic British craftsmanship.

Nick Griffin's first line is "Don't turn it off!", which in terms of opening gambits is about as enticing as hearing someone shout "Try not to be sick!" immediately prior to intercourse. He goes on to claim that, "We're all angry about professional politicians with their snouts in the public trough." He's right, we are: so angry we're prepared to instantly forget all the occasions we've fiddled our own expenses, thereby enabling us to add a dash of undeserved self-righteousness to our existing justified anger.

But by referring to "professional politicians", Griffin is presumably suggesting we should elect amateurs instead. Maybe that's why the advert's so amateurish. Maybe that's why all the BNP representatives in the ad read their lines so clumsily, like DFS employees in a bank holiday sale commercial circa 1986, or recently revived chemical coma patients being forced to recite barcode numbers at gunpoint. It's deliberate incompetence. Don't vote for those nasty slick parties. Vote for a shoddy one! Never mind the extremism, feel the ineptitude.

Here's a fantasy. We - the decent British majority - spend years toiling in secret, creating a life-size replica of Britain in the middle of the Pacific. It's identical down to the tiniest blade of grass, or branch of Gregg's. And one night, while every member of the BNP is asleep, we whisk them via helicopter to this replica UK, this Backup Britain. Put them in replica beds in replica homes. Then we fly back home to watch the fun on CCTV.

For several weeks, they walk around, confused, but pleased. The weather's nice! More importantly, there are no black faces! Then the infrastructure breaks down and they start to starve, and there's no one to blame but themselves. And then someone with GPS on their phone works out what's happened, realises they've all become immigrants in their own land. Half of them go mad and start attacking each other. The rest desperately apply for asylum in Britain. The real Britain. The decent, tolerant Britain. The country you can be proud of.

Guardian

Voters must hear the truth about the BNP before it's too late

There is nothing British about suggesting to a black child who was born in Britain and loves this country that he's not welcome here, writes Tim Montgomerie.

I have long believed that the best way to defeat the British National Party and other extremist groups was to deny them the oxygen of publicity. That belief was shaken when I talked to two people in Salisbury cathedral after Sunday morning worship. We were having a pleasant conversation about the state of the nation and they suddenly mentioned that they'd be voting BNP. My jaw dropped.

It quickly became clear that they had no idea what the BNP really stood for. They said that they liked its patriotism and opposition to political sleaze. They wanted to register a protest vote. I asked if they knew about the Nazi ideology that many BNP activists followed. I asked if they knew about the party's preference for an all-white Britain. They didn't. They were horrified and promised to find a different vehicle for their protest vote.

The no-oxygen strategy was successful only when the route to publicity was more or less monopolised by a few TV channels and national newspapers. Without any attention from the mainstream media, and because Conservative governments pursued firm immigration policies in the 1980s and 1990s, support for racist parties declined.

It's different today. The most popular political party website in Britain is owned by the BNP. Its most watched YouTube videos receive many times more views than any videos put out by David Cameron. The ether is buzzing with pictures of Gap-style line-ups of young BNP supporters attempting to normalise their party's brand. Without a hint of embarrassment their leader, Nick Griffin, even talks about learning the lessons from Barack Obama's online campaigning.

This use of the internet has contributed to a comeback by the party. It has been winning council contests and, helped by the introduction of proportional representation, it won a seat on the Greater London Authority. Now, most experts expect the PR electoral system to help them win seats in the European Parliament on June 4. If victories are achieved, it will be the biggest story of the election and Britain will no longer be able to proudly say it has kept fascists out of high office. The BNP will have a new platform – funded generously by European taxpayers. Support for the extremists has grown because of failures by the Labour Government on jobs, welfare, housing and immigration. Its support has also grown because of cosmetic change. The skinheads and boots are gone. Suits are in.

But by not contesting the ground we are giving them a walk-over on the critical playing fields of the internet. That's why I'm supporting a new online campaign to expose the party's true beliefs. The Left already have websites that target the BNP. NothingBritish.com is the first attempt by the centre-Right to offer a critique. It's a very focused campaign at present, but we hope it will grow into a very substantial resource that will ensure all moderate opinion shuns the BNP.

There will be those who argue that this campaign gives the racists the attention they crave. However, they already have got the attention. The BNP wants to define itself. It's vital that decent, mainstream Britons define it instead – before it's too late.

The main difference between the BNP and other parties is their determination to deport, one way or another, the non-white population of the UK. Most Britons want to reassert control of our borders. They want fairer allocation of housing. They want more jobs. The BNP wants you to think it shares those aspirations. But they are not the party's core motivation, which is still a belief in a largely all-white Britain.

There is nothing British about suggesting to a black child who was born in Britain and loves this country that he's not welcome here. There's nothing British about the BNP's core beliefs.

Tim Montgomerie is part of the NothingBritish.com campaign against the BNP.

Telegraph