New faces - and very keen at that

WHAT a good meeting last night in Workington. On a bitterly cold Tuesday evening, 35 people turned up and all of them were from the Workington area apart from a husband and wife from Whitehaven. And even better than that, nearly 20 of those present were new faces, which is something that a political party needs to see all the time - new people coming in to share the work and the responsibility.

There were good speeches from Paul Stafford and Clive Jefferson all about local elections and our plans for the County Council elections in June, and after the meeting two people came forward to ask to be considered as candidates in Workington, with one of them a former chairman of the local Conservative Party.

During the meeting I scanned the faces of those attending their first BNP meeting and it was a very different sight from when I had done the same thing a couple of years ago. Then, sometimes, some of the new people tended to look as if they didn't really want to be there, as if they had made a mistake in coming along, while others just looked bored and were impatient for the proceedings to be over.

But not last night. The newcomers were completely absorbed with what was taking place, a fact underlined as they queued up to speak with Paul and Clive after the event. It's a totally different political climate today. Peoples' minds are much more focused because their future is threatened and the BNP has without a doubt come in from the political fringes in the thinking of many people.

Further to my story on the main BNP website today and the revelation that one of the killers is living in ********, I have seen an exchange of correspondence about this and have no reason to believe that it is not the truth. I know the exact address but with so much going on politically I don't want to attract any unnecessary attention from the authorities by going out on a limb over this. Suffice to say, hopefully the report on the main website this morning will stimulate a journalist to go in search of the story if there is one.

Now a little job for those of you who enjoying posting comments. A regular reader of this blog, David Moon, tells me that Blue State Digital have a website where they are asking for comments in response to its decision to "take on the BNP". You will no doubt recall that BSD are the web team behind Obama's victory and which has been signed up by the Labour Party and their anti-BNP front organisation, Searchlight, to try to stop the British National Party from getting MEPs elected in June. You can see it here.

David told me yesterday: "Nobody has posted at all yet and they are encouraging debate so I have posted the item following. Their 'moderator' hasn't put it up yet, and I won't hold my breath. This is what I wrote:

"It appears you have been mis-informed if you believe that the BNP is a "fascist" organisation.

"I think you will find that the 'fascists' are to be found in the UK's Labour Government which in the last twelve years has brought in legislation to curb free speech, to hold people in detention without trial, has introduced surveillance on a massive scale, including CCTV cameras as well as plans to monitor private email and other telecommunications correspondence.

"There is repressive anti-free speech legislation on the statute book which was introduced by a previous Labour governement and has been built on incrementally by subsequent governments, both Labour and Conservative. All of these things are the hallmark of a totalitarian fascist state. Additionally, this Labour government has, in conjunction with your own government under Bush, waged war against Iraq without any legitimate or legal justification and killed countless thousands of people in the process. It also, continues to interfere in the affairs of Afghanistan with huge loss of life, not least of our own servicemen and women who have no choice in the matter.

"The BNP is a LEGAL political party in the UK which seeks a mandate from the British people through the ballot box by standing candidates in lawfully - and hopefully properly and fairly -conducted elections at local, national and EU level.

"It is improper that a foreign country should interfere with another country's internal affairs by campaigning on behalf of any political party, or 'third party' organisation, whether paid or not. Searchlight is not even standing candidates, it is a 'third party force' and any expenditure must be declared on the expenses of one of the party's which is standing, otherwise it will be in breach of UK electoral law and liable to, aswell as deserving of, prosecution.

"I would respectfully suggest therefore, that you desist from interfering in our country's internal affairs."

And finally, the British National Party's victim status scaled new heights yesterday when the Church Of England banned its clergy from holding BNP membership. With the Witchfinders now turning their attention on brave BNP teacher Adam Walker today, that victim status looks set to rise again shortly.

Aren't our opponents stupid? They have completely failed to understand the British psyche - we feel sympathy for the victim and the underdog and don't like to see the bullies picking on people who can't, or are not allowed to, defend themselves.