Anti-BNP concert for Brixton inmates!

ONE of the 'big guns' in the opposition's armory against the British National Party in the run-up to the May elections is a series of music concerts under the banner of 'Rock Against Racism'.

The programme of events kicked off with a gig at Brixton Prison where inmates were told about the unacceptable policies of the BNP, including stopping immigration and clamping down on crime, while listening to a selection of songs about being in prison. The afternoon jolly was the idea of prison governor Paul McDowell, in an effort to rally support against the BNP for the GLA and Mayoral elections. Apparently McDowell, who says he is committed to fighting the BNP, believes that Brixton's 800 prisoners from 60 nationalities most of whom are on remand and entitled to a vote, will want to use their influence to try to nullify support for the BNP at the ballot box.

"The roots of this go back all the way to my involvement as a teenager in the Anti-Nazi League," said McDowell. "I have always had an interest in race relations and I've been able to cross-pollinate that in terms of my professional life as a prison governor. We're using entertainment to get some key messages across about racism and diversity."

As I said last week, I'm beginning to wonder whether our opponents might be losing the plot just a little in their various campaigns against us.

The leaflets they put out telling people to vote for any political party other than the BNP, do appear in some elections, to have had the very opposite effect. The electorate is already cynical of the motives of many mainstream politicians and are disinclined to do their bidding.

Now we have Rock Against Racism targeting prisoners on remand, a move which will hardly encourage support from the public in general whose main concern at the moment is rising crime in their communities. This, together with the campaign being fronted by the rather media unfriendly Pete Doherty and the champagne socialist Billy Bragg, must limit somewhat the appeal of this 'musical' attack on the BNP. Still we shall have to wait until May 1st to see how successful or not the campaign has been.

Allerdale meeting tonight where I must say a few words - probably on the local media's bias against us, the extent of which always surprises any new recruits to the Party.