At last, some opposition to the NUJ

APOLOGIES for no postings for the last two days but I have been out of the office.

There have been a series of meetings with regard to staffing and the structure of the Party. With success also comes some welcome problems such as Nick and Andrew needing 6 members of staff each to enable them to carry out their duties as MEPs representing their constituents over the next five years - this has meant some shuffling amongst existing staff and new staff being taken on.

That entails training, changeovers, relocations and the re-defining of jobs. All quite a major upheaval in the short term, but of definite benefit the British National Party in the long term.

There's only one change that has been made public so far and that is Tina becomes Nick's PA and Constituency Office Manager. She's very excited about this completely new job after five years as Membership Secretary. The handover to the new Membership Secretary will take place in around two weeks, in time for the opening of the new session of the European Parliament.

Pride of place on the blog today goes to a report on the Hold the Front Page website.

I am able to reprint this completely unedited and you can confirm this by the link here.

Treat BNP the same as other parties says union

A journalists' union has entered the debate over coverage of the British National Party by calling for them to be treated on the same basis as other political organisations.

Last night, the National Union of Journalists held a debate over how reporters should respond to the rise of the far-right group which captured seats in the recent European Parliament and local council elections.

But a rival union, the Chartered Institute of Journalists, says there is no need to single out the BNP for special treatment. It says the election of BNP members as councillors and MEPs should be dealt with in the same even-handed manner as all other political parties.

CIoJ president Liz Justice said: "It is not an option ignoring views of elected members because they don't chime with your own political views.

"It is a reporter's job to report – and a sub's job to edit – without injecting personal feelings and prejudices into the story. It is not the job of a journalists’ trade union to dictate otherwise.

"That is why the Chartered Institute of Journalists is strictly non-political and urges its members to report the facts and let the readers make up their own minds.

"The electing public can make good decisions based on accurate reporting. Journalists are in the perfect position to let the public know what they are voting for when the next elections come along."

Let's hope that all self-respecting journalists now sign up to the Chartered Institute of Journalists to show their support for this brave action.

Finally, it's a difficult job for me tomorrow at the Victory Rally in Blackpool.

I'm the under-study for Eddy Butler who is due to give an analysis of the local and European Election results but might not be able to make the Conference. So I have to prepare my take on the results just in case Eddy doesn't make it to the North West's main seaside resort.

The July issue of Freedom is on schedule despite my two days away, and this is because I have been burning the midnight oil. Hopefully it will be with the printers well before the end of the month.

I'm really happy with the front page which will be an eyecatcher on the High Street. I will post it up here first, once the newspaper has been completed.