Hiding in the bushes?
Who would be part of the BNP? “The British National Party’s leaked membership list was supposedly full of middle-class professionals. So where were they during its annual festival, asks Anna van Praagh” (Anna van Praagh and Patrick Sawer, The Daily Telegraph, November 22, 2008): “In the same week that the list was leaked online – reportedly by an aggrieved party activist – two BNP members from Blackburn, both of whose names appear in the document, were jailed for a total of five years and three months for sexual activity with under-age girls. Ian Hindle, 32, and Andrew Wells, 49, plied two 14-year-olds with alcohol before taking advantage of them, Preston Crown Court heard.”
Pictures of Billy
Pictures of BNP members on web, Mark Stead, The Press, November 22, 2008: “PICTURES of British National Party members in York whose names and addresses were revealed on a leaked list of its supporters have been posted on the internet. The furious far-right organisation has branded the move “irresponsible and criminal” as police continue to investigate how the information – which also included phone numbers, e-mail addresses and, in some cases, occupations – was made public…”
Fascist police!
BNP members held over leafleting, BBC, November 22, 2008: “Twelve British National Party (BNP) members have been arrested on suspicion of distributing racist material in Liverpool city centre…”
Evil paedos are secret BNP thugs!!!1!!
SICK! Wells took snaps of depravity
SHAMED! Hindle had sex with child
LEADER! Griffin
“Their sentences came as the Metropolitan Police in London suspended four employees who were on the BNP list leaked on the internet. They are a PC, a special constable, a police community support officer and a civilian staff member…”
~ Ryan Sabey! News of the World, November 23, 2008
Best of the Politics Blogs
What’s been happening in the political blogosphere
Frothing extremists
Paul Evans
New Statesman
November 21, 2008The leaked BNP membership list has preoccupied the blogosphere this week. Paul Evans gives us his regular round-up
Leaky
What has 410 misses, 2 captains and a professor? Sound like a bad joke? Well no, actually, it’s the BNP membership list.
Not for the first time, a story that started on the blogs soon found its way on the front pages, as the far-right party’s entire membership was published online. It was ever-vigilant Lancaster UAF that alerted the blogosphere, dryly noting:
“Curiously, there are quite a number of BNP members abroad, presumably ex-pats or those working abroad temporarily…Isn’t the BNP opposed to foreign workers? I’m sure it was last time I looked.”
The Register and Harry’s Place were soon all over the story like a rash. On Liberal Conspiracy Unity allowed himself a moment’s schadenfreude, observing that:
“There are very few things in life that contain quite as much entertainment value as a good old falling out amongst the far-right but this time out they’ve really surpassed themselves”.
And there is nothing that geeks love more than a huge pile of data from which to fashion novel visualisations – and so the BNP membership list proved a real treat. An interesting “heat map” indicating areas of support for the far right party was generated by Ben Charlton of spod.cx.
Frothing rage was the order of the day on nationalist blogs and message boards, where activists got itchy over the prospect of losing their jobs.
They were right to be concerned, because within a day TalkSport DJ Rod Lucas had been sacked. Lucas offers his explanation here. David Semple was delighted by the prospect of weeding out far right activists.
“Now it’s time to take this list of BNP members and their professions and use it to expunge BNP members from public services, where they are meant to be ready to serve all colours equally,” he argued.
With Nick Griffin reduced to invoking the same Human Rights Act that he professes to abhor, to protect member privacy, these are indeed curious times.
