Well, I'm back. Sorry it has taken so long but things have just been a wee bit hectic. I have spent the past few months fighting to keep my home. It has been hard going what with the economic downturn and one thing and another but it is all sorted now. And then, along with that, joy of joys and miracle of miracles, two new babies in the family. After Tameron was born we had another happy event to look forward to. Tamia was born 5 months later to the day.

For those of you who are interested, yes ... Tameron's father is not white and Tamia's father is Muslim. It makes for very interesting family gatherings I can tell you especially as we all get on really well.

Oh, and I am not going to engage in any discussion about my daughters, their respective partners/husbands or my grandchildren. The photos I have shared with you are going to be the only ones I will publish on this blog or anywhere else for that matter. Tameron's photo is from when he was just under 24 hours old and Tamia's is when she was 1 week old. They have changed a lot already, getting teeth, sitting up, chattering away in that peculiar way babies have, smiling, gurgling and a lot of chuckling.

I did think to come back here and talk about the (in)famous list. Not so much the content but the fact that it got published. I personally abhor and detest any segregationist policies and most certainly do not hold with either the B(lithering) N(eolithic) P(artisans) or any other Supremacist movements, theories or tendencies; be they White, Black or Faith based. However I also hold that the only legitimate topics are the policies themselves, the thought processes leading to them and those individuals who personally elect to put themselves up to public scrutiny by seeking publicity. Nick Griffin for instance, the pig farmer himself ... yep, perfectly legitimate target for scrutiny; his wife just because she happens to be his wife is not. His daughter is only a legitimate target if she carries on making a fool of herself in interviews (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2004/may/16/uk.race) but not because she is his daughter.

Joe Bloggs from number 26 Nowhere Close, Anywhere Town, Somewhere County, UK is not a legitimate target. Being a member of a political party in itself, even an utterly repugnant one, is not reason for targeting an individual; any more then possessing a different colour skin, worshipping another deity or subscribing to an alternate world-view would be.

I was utterly amazed at the reactions the publication elicited. Or maybe amazed is not the right word ... let us just say that I was partly disgusted and partly flabbergasted – and yes, okay I'll admit, there was a degree of 'Here we go again' about it. I was disgusted by the media frenzy that was whipped up around the 'numbers' that the list represented; 'n' number in this postcode and 'x' number in that location. 'x' number of teachers, policemen, soldiers and other assorted professionals (as if having a further education or being a member of the law enforcing or security services somehow precludes people from being eejits).

I was also disgusted at the number of people who claimed to be on that list as some sort of administrative error or purely for research purposes. For crying out loud, if that is what you hold with, at least have the courage of your convictions!

I was flabbergasted by much of the above as well. But what really had me stymied was the reaction to a burned out car in a road. In a Close where I live a car was sat alight once by some yobs. It flamed away merrily till the fire brigade arrived and having doused the car with water, left the Close awash with filthy oil and soot filled puddles. The car wasn't mine and therefore I did not think it at all likely that setting the car alight a few yards from my garden path was in anyway because a Jew lived in the Close. But when the same thing happens in a street that just happens to have an 'outed' member of the B(lithering) N(eolithic) P(artisans) ... it makes National headlines.

The 'Here we go again' was more to do with the pig-farmer. Blaming all and sundry, starting with the rebels except for accepting that it was the incompetence of his own administrative staff that made this possible in the first instance. But hey hop, such is the nature of this particular cyclops, as some on StormFront call him. 'This will only serve to make us stronger' says he, 'people will see how ordinary our membership is and flock to join us!' - a ready made excuse for when he fails to gain a European Parliament seat for one of his candidates thinks I.

What I found particularly noteworthy is that it was a blog of particularly staunch Nationalists who saw fit to 'out' a couple of the names on the list as paedophiles. I am not going to link to it as I want no party of this or any other 'outing' but for those of you who are interested, google Northwest + nationalist ... you should find the 'outing in one of their archived threads easily enough.

Picking up the pieces

I have been pre-occupied for a while what with a new grandson and another granddaughter on the way ... the dog has been ill, the cats are fine but me ... I've been exhausted. However I thought it was time to get back and see what has been going on in the world of eejits! I thought I would start with a quick look at Stormfront. Always a good way of getting a feeling for what is going on in that paranoia fuelled hate filled world of WN. Would you Adam and Eve it? The first thing I come across is Jack Black ... He has been, or so he states, banned from PayPal.

According to Jack Black he recieved the following from those wizards of internet banking:

After a recent review of your account, it has been determined that you are currently in violation of Pay_Pals Acceptable Use Policy. Under the Acceptable Use Policy Pay_Pal may not be used to send or recieve payments for items that promote hate, violence, racial intolerance or the financial exploitation of a crime.

In view, probably of the not too long ago 'outing' of Jack Black by Lee Barnes Jackie boy has decided to take the following view:

This little reverse occurs just a bit too close to the Barnes blog nastiness to be a coincidence, I reckon. Whether he, or other interested a***holes, contacted Pay_Pal direct or Barnes' actions got the powers-that-be to pay me more attention I don't know, but I'm 99% sure that my current disenfranchisement is down to him at some level. And, of course, if my 99% certainty happens to be spot on, the buck stops with Griffin

Tameron is here!

These have been a few stressful weeks and no mistake. My youngest daughter has always had a tendency to follow a beat no one but she can hear and it seems my youngest grandson is following very firmly in his mother’s footsteps. I reckon if I step in my car, clad in my nightdress, slippers and dressing gown … the engine will switch itself on and just head for the local maternity ward without being asked. But he is finally here!

And worth all the ‘dry-runs’ and every hair raising dash we’ve been through; the whole 7lb 6oz of unadulterated, sweet-smelling bundle of delightful promise, potential and wonder of him.

UPDATE!

We’ve had a bit of a scare as well as he had to be delivered by emergency C-section. My daughter caught an infection and things were rather hairy for a while. She has finally been given the all clear and so we should all be able to get back to normal before long. Tameron is doing well … he is now three weeks old and a healthy 10lb and I swear that was a social smile he gave me yesterday. And you can say it was just wind all you like. I stand by the social smile!

Hastings in the limelight!

Hasting as we know only had a by-election last year which was brought about due to the resignation of two Conservative councillors, Michael Lambrechs and Daniel Poulter. Both seats went to Labour as a result of these by-elections. Hastings however holds elections every other year for half of the Council. County Council Elections are held every four years and European Parliamentary Elections every five years. These elections are usually held on the first Thursday in May.
Hastings is due to go to the polls for the local Council elections this coming May. One councilor position in each ward will be up for grabs. Now most of the wards are rather even in that both the incumbent councilors belong to the same political faction. However there are a couple of wards where there is a split; notably Silverhill – split between a Labour and Independent councilors where the Labour seat is up for election and Gensing – split between Liberal Democrat and Labour where the Liberal Democrat seat is up for election.

The way wards are split in Hastings every ward has an election every other year for one of the incumbent councilor seats. And it looks as if Nicky Boy has his beady eye (no pun intended) on these elections. They are fielding three candidates with Paul Price and Fay Hughes looking for votes in the Tressell ward and Michael Lovett is hoping to get elected in Hollington. They are probably counting on the general back swing from Labour. Getting the protest vote has always been a road in for the Blithering Neolithic Partisans.

One of the reasons I am firmly against the ‘No Platform’ is because it gives the Pig Farmer ample opportunity to pay the ‘more-sinned-against-then-sinning’ card. And boy oh boy does he love it!!! Where was this better illustrated then in the meeting held by the ‘One eyed King in the country of the Blind’ … Yes I am talking about the recent ‘rally to arms’ held by Nicky Boy himself at a ‘secret’ location. So secret even the location did not know about it till afterwards so it seems.

According to an article in the Hasting’s & St Leonards Observer (19 February 2008) he is quoted as saying:

"I would love to come down and debate issues in public but we are simply not able to. All that would happen is our opposition would bus in demonstrators to stand outside or put pressure on the owner of the venue to not to let us meet there."We would then most likely be blamed for any disturbances so we have to go out of our way to avoid confrontation."

When you look at the various comment on the BNP visit the majority of them are concerned with whether or not the BNP should or should not be allowed to visit. Very few are actually about what the aims for Hastings are as far as the BNP is concerned. What did not come out loud and clear, and probably should have done was the feeling that ‘removal of foreign nationals’ is clearly something the BNP is interested in.

In the same article as above The Pig Farmer is quoted as saying: "Tourists come visit the town expecting to see somewhere connected to 1066 and the Battle of Hastings. They are expecting an English seaside town - not what it has become now." Of course I may be wide of the mark now but I would have thought that most people are aware that this is no longer 1066 and that a certain degree of progress has been made since then.

Though Hastings is, quite rightly so, proud of its historical past no one would wish to see any town, whether an English seaside or not, resting on its laurels … especially when those laurels are assumed to go back as far as 1066. There are a great many other attractions in Hastings and many of them do not date back as far as 1066. However they too have their part to play in what makes Hastings unique.

I personally think that the BNP is interested in Hastings because it deems it ripe for what it excels at; the sowing of disharmony and discontent. That Hastings, along with many other towns in England has areas of deprivation is not disputed. That Hastings in common with many other boroughs has a council that at times seems deaf to the people it is supposed to represent will not be questioned. What I do wonder though is whether the introduction of a party that advocates the highlighting of differences rather then commonalities will actually serve any constructive purpose.

The White Rose

A group of mayhaps naive but certainly exceptionally courageous and truly humane individuals we would do well to remember. Thank you Denise.



I've been trying to figure out how to link to the article, unsuccesfully so far, but I would urge you all to read it:

65 years ago today: remembering the White Rose

A BNP infestation?

This may be somewhat late in the day the way things seem to be moving on the political agenda but … Has anyone else noticed that wherever the BNP lays its hat discord flows? Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for a bit of discord here and there. Discord is often the anvil on which opinions are sharpened and clarified. I find dissent too to be a healthy indicator of a pro-active society. To say nothing about the fact that it affords me ample room for my own particular brand of witticism.

But there is something odious about the manner in which White Nationalism in general and British Nationalism as espoused by the BNP in particular tries to enforce itself on the population at large; and enforce it is and make no mistake about it (but more about that later). For now it is the general manner that seems to be de rigueur for the BNP that I am contemplating. In some areas, much fewer then Nicky Boy’s brigade would have you believe, they have been established for a while and to discuss their eruption on to the local political landscape is complex and multi-faceted. However here, in Upper Beeding we have what I think serves as a very good illustration of what a BNP infestation actually entails.

Upper Beeding was a typical English village in many ways. The pace of change was sluggish according to David Coldwell, editor of the village newsletter. And then a charming Donna Bailey arrived on the scene. Young mums loved her, she was kind, concerned, active, involved:

"She's a marvellous person. She's just thrown herself-into helping the community, and there aren't a lot of people like that around these days," explains Lorraine Blain, 38, who runs the local pub. "She raised money for the school, helping them buy laptops, and she's forever talking about how we've got to do something for the youngsters, to stop them loitering at the local convenience store every night." No surprises then that her fellow mums supported Donna when she told them she was thinking of standing for the parish council. (Daily Mail, 4th February 2008)

What Donna may not have told the mums was that she had tried to stand as a district councillor in other areas: twice in fact and both times unsuccessfully so. She had also omitted to tell them that she was a member of the BNP and an active member at that. This did not come to light, according to the same article till idle curiosity on the part of some sitting members of the incumbent Parish Council caused them to do some research on the internet.

This is where I was reminded of Foul Ole Ron and his independent minded scent – well it was more of a stench really. Aficionados of Terry Pratchett’s Disc World will recognise the character. Suddenly and without any real prior warning the other side of Donna came to the fore; contentious, litigatious, strident and demanding. When her request to be co-opted unto the Parish Council was denied, she marched along with 23 supporters to the next Parish Council demanding she be appointed. When this was again refused, she forced a by-election.

Setting neighbour against neighbour and causing upheavals the likes of which have not been seen in Upper Beeding. And was it all worth it? She, even with the elections forced on the local community did not get her place on the Parish Council. But it has left bitter divides; divides that will not heal all that easily. It has also highlighted a very real concern. The surface plausibility that hides quite effectively the real nature of British Nationalism as espoused by the BNP

‘Wide Boys“R”Us’ - or BNP Finances?

Well, well well … Okay, say what you like but ‘Wide Boys“R”Us’ has nothing on the BNP; sailing close to the wind and just that all important one step away from indictable offences. Listening to this broadcast I had visions of street corner merchandisers with ‘Genuine’ (fake) Rolex watches, pirated CDs and copy-cat perfumes!

Okay we learned nothing new really from the broadcast. Well, nothing that hasn’t been bandied about on the various blogs and forums interested and concerned about the shenanigans of this 4th Major Party, the BNP - as Nicky Boy likes to call his piggybank. I did however learn one new thing. I never knew that there was such a creature as a “Forensic Accountant”. But I am getting ahead of myself …

I was hoping that the programme might address various issues such as the refurbished barn on the ole homestead – you know the one I mean. That barn that was refurbished using party funds for materials and the expertise of skilled artisans from among the faithful – all volunteers. Currently the party pays £19,000 a year ‘rent’ for the barn as detailed in their overdue but finally submitted accounts

(From the copy of 2006 accounts finally available from the Electoral Commission website)

But alas that was not to be. What was brought up though was with what little regard this ‘great white hope’ for the hard working and ‘down-trodden’ law abiding native inhabitants of this country regarded the actual Rule of Law. You know the one I mean, that one he is claiming is being submerged by Sharia Law.

At a conference organised by a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan Nicky Boy can be heard to ask people to … “throw money at the British National Party. Actually, you can’t throw money at the British National Party because it is against the law. But you can throw money at a group called ‘Civil Liberty’ and that is within the law. It is bizarre but there you are … the law is an ass” so sayeth Mr Griffin - quoting poor Mr Bumble completely out of context in the process. Incitement to circumnavigate the law? From such a fine upstanding honourable pig farmer?

Of course Mr Smith, Civil Liberty Treasurer, states that the organisation does not exist purely to help members of the BNP (Did someone forget to mention that fact to Nicky Boy) Though he cannot recall which non-BNP members the group has helped … Are there any or are those 'few low profile cases down South' an instance of ‘OMG!!! I wish there were some so I could counter-claim’. As of February 12, 2006 the Civil Liberty website listed only 3 individuals that it had supported in their fight against victimisation because of dissent:

• BNP councillor Arthur Redfearn
• Nick Griffin
• Mark Collett

It also mentioned concern for Tina Wingfield, another BNP activist and there is a mention of support from, rather then for Bradford BNP activist Darren Manby. Never Mind Mr Smith, I for one am willing to let you come back to us on that one. On the day a snowman rules in Hades.

But it seems that circumnavigation is about the kindest thing that can be said about the financial contortions of the BNP. What about those shredded document then? Now there is something really fascinating …

• Claim number one: There is no such thing – no paper records everything stored on computer.
• Claim number two: the shredded material included material such as "draft accounts that may have errors in dates and things like that. Because you are trying to reconcile the accounts, of course you shred documents."
  

Of course Mr Walker sir; now, I am no accountant but I would have thought that shredding documents is something you would do when you are cooking the books. Judging by the linguistic content of the submitted annual accounts, I don’t think that grammatical errors were the reason for shredding anything.

BNP as a brand name? Well, why not. I often go to the local supermarket and get a couple of pounds of Tate and Lyle sugar, a jar of Kenco coffee … oh and while I am at it I’d better have a packet of BNP. We are running rather low on racist xenophobia (Actually I do need to get some toilet paper next time I go shopping).

One other thing I shall await with eager anticipation. The sight of that bounced £20,000 (twenty thousand pound Sterling) cheque. There is no doubt about it but Nicky Boy, exultant from his narrow escape on the steps of Leeds Crown Court did speak of a single donation of £20,000. Of course it is very amusing that this cheque bounced Mr Walker. What I find incredible though is that you, as treasurer should not be able to access this bounced cheque and the letter confirming its ‘bouncing’. But again, I am sure that once your deputy returns from wherever he is lurking, that you will be only to glad to put all our minds at rest.

Oh, and before I put this post to rest. Remember I mentioned a ‘Forensic Accountant’. Well Chris Makins is one. The firm he is with has some expertise in uncovering money laundering. He is concerned by the two separate headings in the accounts:

• Meeting collections £80,000
• Donation income other £62,000
  
  

He feels that for a sum as large as £62,000 there really should be something more specific then merely ‘other’. Still Mr Walker holds that this is insignificant and as Mr Walker has so far managed to inspire me with complete confidence in his integrity …

Well, no not quite. But I am convinced of his utter loyalty to the Chairman; and his complete confidence in both the Chairman and other high officials whom he absolves from having to account for their spending when they are ‘out in the field’. In short, the programme left me with more questions then answers and I daresay the latter will not be forthcoming in any hurry.

Forums Locked

I had a look at the Oxfordshire forums at about 1pm today and the entire UK and world news category is locked! Looking over at Stormfront they appear to have locked the sub-fora there as well.

A quick update: As of late last night it seems that it is impossible to access Stormfront or Stormfront Britain.

Clicking the link that Google offer you for Stormfront leads you to some Swedish Music site. Stormfront Britain just comes up with a 401.

But the Oxfordshire forums UK and world news category is unlocked and people are free to post there again.

Another quicky update. It looks as if Stormfront has just been closed down for maintenance.Well, that was the claim when I finally did manage to access the front page. Seems to have taken an extraordinary length of time though

Slimy swamps of decayed imbalance.

What exactly is meant by the above? How can anything less like a topographical landscape actually resemble such a very specific terrain? Anyone who has ever been on an internet discussion forum will be familiar with the general lay-out. You have the general index that will refer you to the various ‘boards’ which will then list the various ‘active’ topics under discussion.
Something like:

(From: Oxfordshireforums.com)

This above is a typical active topics page where the far right in its various guises has taken over a public discussion forum. No mention of issues that are of national relevance such as the proposed take over of ‘Northern Rock’. No discussion regarding the post code lottery and the provision of care by the NHS – the only time the NHS warrants a discussion it is in relation to Muslim medical students seemingly refusing to ‘scrub up’.

On the principle of ‘flood and deluge’, pejorative threads multiply. Very few of the far-right posters have actually anything to bring to the debate as such. So generally speaking apart from a quick ‘cut and paste’ more often then not direct from the BNP owned Regional News there is very little else. If flaws are pointed out or inconsistencies highlighted or alternative views offered it quickly descends into a raving attack on the various individual posters.

So in essence reasoned debate is caught in a cleft hook. You either ignore the threads hoping that they will fall off the ‘active post’ threads – in which case there are apparently plenty more ‘topics’ that can be raised regarding ‘filthy foreigners’, their criminal ways, their abuse of the benefit system, etcetera and so forth. Alternatively you try and address the ‘concerns’ and the topic is kept active primarily by seemingly semi literate keyboard activists who ‘ladder’ quote.

Even when a very brave poster manages to get a thread of topical interest posted and where the issue of race or ethnicity has no real bearing on the matter, they will bring race and immigration in. Ignoring the posts is an option that will only work to some extent because before you know where you are, the actual thread becomes impossible to read and the real debate impossible to follow.

On our forums, the late and sincerely lamented ‘Evening Argus’ we fought back. We continued posting, refusing to be over-run. One or more of the more pernicious far-right posters then decided to ‘advertise’ for fellow xenophobic White Nationalists and racialist far-right BNP keyboard activists to join the fray:

(From: Stormfront Britain)


and beat the 'lefties' - which not all of us were. I am not, a couple of posters were and at least one of our posters was extremely conservative in his view.

The long and the short of it is that we ended up with discussing nothing. The Forums got spammed, time and again and eventually the ‘lamentables’ managed to find a way of overloading the servers; which effectively resulted in the forums being locked down, causing hours of work for the forum hosts.


(From: Stormfront Britain)

As you can see, it even annoyed some of the seriously minded right wingers.

But not before Byron Boy above managed to drag in some re-enforcements.

The How, the Why and the Wherefore ...

or something like that.

I am a Jew. Not orthodox, not even all that practising but a Jew never the less. I thought I’d better let you know right off the bat because as soon as the comments start coming in, I am sure that one of the dear 'lamentables' will point it out. It is not something I am proud of particularly. After all I haven’t done anything to warrant the distinction. I was born a Jew because my mother was born a Jew etcetera and so forth. I am proud of being me though and part of being me is being a Jew.

I first got involved in local forums a few years ago. It was just my local newspaper forum. You can see a link to that at the bottom of this blog. It isn’t a big paper you understand but it was our local paper. The forum when I joined it sometime in 2003 was a lively little community. We had our forum regulars, including the requisite characters such as the forum clown, the village idiot and our very own ‘Victor Meldrew’. We had some lively debates about various issues, local, national and international. We would bicker and banter and sometimes we’d fight like cat and dog on one subject, agree wholeheartedly on another. We had posters from across the political spectrum and not all local to Brighton either. Some were from abroad, others from different places in England; though all had some connection with Brighton.

Just before the cycle of Local Government elections in 2003 we got a contingency of rather brash posters. It was the first time ever I came across the naked face of the BNP. Oh, I had met nationalists before. I had come across racists before. Both open and above board racists and, perhaps more frequent then most people are aware, the unaware racist. But I had never before come across the naked face of the BNP. The vile base comments and posts all claiming legitimacy on the basis of ‘Free Speech’. Whilst relying however on the anonymity of the internet to absolve their authors from accountability which is the very foundation of ‘Free Speech.

When it first started opinions regarding how we were to deal with this influx were divided. Some were of the opinion that if we just ignored them, they would eventually go away. Others thought that we could talk to them as one would with any rational human being. It became a dirty, nasty war of attrition. Slowly the number of regular posters dwindled. What had been a lively little community became a handful of posters. The more bloody-minded handful that was not going to have ‘our’ forum dragged down to the slimy swamps of decayed imbalance that is the BNP and White Nationalist world view.