They want us to think it's too late.

If there was ever a television programme which illustrated the urgency with which the British National Party needs to establish itself as a mainstream political party it was Tonight on ITV yesterday evening at 8 o'clock.

It was pure 1984. Immigrants interviewing other immigrants to explain to the British people the positive aspects of immigration. Even the 'local' workers, interviewed about Eastern European immigrants taking their jobs, were Afro-Caribbean immigrants. You could have been excused for thinking that the programme might have been about Britain in 60 years time when the British people have become the minority in their own country.

But that, of course, was its purpose. To make the British people believe that immigration is so far advanced that there is nothing that can be done about it - that there can be no reversal of the trend that is set to change the face of the British population forever.

Probably the most depressing part of the half hour slot came near the end when dear old Trevor McDonald visited a school in East London. Just two of the twelve children interviewed were British and if you closed your eyes one of those sounded as though she was Jamaican.

What is important for us is how ordinary Britons felt watching such a programme. Are they seeing it through our eyes or the eyes of those who made the programme. The answer to that question will decide our fate on June 4th.

I'm grateful to Cynthia Wainwright for a report from Cornwall on a day's activity in Helston and Falmouth.

"While leafletting in Falmouth a community policeman who was standing in a doorway asked for one of our leaflets. We joked that his superiors wouldn't want him to read it and he just smiled as he folded it up and placed it in his top pocket.

"We were chatting to him when a retired schoolteacher joined in the conversation, she forthrightly expressed her fears about what was happening to our country.

"It's typical of the response we have received in Cornwall since we started leafleting in September for the European Election campaign. While Cornwall hasn't been affected like the rest of the UK by immigration, over 60% of the population are White flighters who have turned their backs on the multi-racial society to find a little bit of England in their retirement years, so they are receptive to our message.

"Also significant numbers of East Europeans are appearing in towns like Cambourne and with the Government wanting another 70.000 houses built in the South West, it makes you wonder who they have been earmarked for."

Thanks to Scotland organiser Gary Raikes for a report on the by-election for the Aboyne, Upper Deeside and Donside by-election for Aberdeen Council.

These are the candidates:
Rosemary BRUCE (Lib-Dem)
Wilson FORBES (Ind)
David HUTCHISON (Ind)
Roy JONES (BNP)
George PARKINSON (SNP)
Jo PICK (Con)

Gary writes:

"Another day was spent on the campaign trail in Deeside on Sunday where our leafleteers basked in glorious sunshine pounded the streets of Aboyne delivering a ‘vote for Roy Jones’ leaflet with the ‘say no to EU rule’ one.

At the same time our candidate canvassed shoppers in the town centre where he was well received although disappointed to find voter apathy to be at an all time high.

While people were happy to stop and speak many expressed their disillusionment with politics and politicians by saying they would not be bothering to vote for anyone!

On a good note those he spoke to were well aware of the BNP standing in this election.

This election uses the transferable vote system so the outcome is far from clear.

Roy has worked hard over the last month to put the BNP marker down in Deeside and in that respect is all ready a winner, we have never contested this ward so this is a first step for BNP Scotland here that has already gained supporters, activists and another future candidate.

Our percentage at the count on Friday will provide measure of things to come on June 4th.

The European Election campaign issue of Freedom is nearing completion and booked into the printers for early next week. The priority here is to get it to our units by May 1st so there's a full month to get the newspaper as widely distributed as possible.

Woolas plea just alienates voters

It seems that I was too quick to turn off BBC's Radio 4 Today programme on Friday.

Once I heard the words 'Nelson Mandela', that was enough for me, but Freedom columnist Sally Wood, has scolded me for being much too hasty.

She wrote:

"You should have carried on listening to Radio 4 this morning as it got quite interesting.

It seems that John Humphreys used to live in South Africa, 30 years ago, and he went back to his old house to see how the neighbourhood has changed.

The houses all looked the same and the same old trees were still there but the huge difference was in the security: there was barbed wire everywhere and large electric gates.

He went to speak to the lady who now lives in his old house and she told him that she is often followed home from the shops by those intent on robbery, and so the gates have to close very fast behind her as she enters her drive.

He also visited a white squatter camp and asked a white man why he didn't go and look for a job, but the guy said he stood no chance of getting work as they only want to employ blacks."

Sally also draws my attention to Martin Kettle's column in Friday's issue of The Guardian. He believes that when the expenses claims of MPs are released to the public in July there will be suicides and by-elections!

Having watched last night's Dispatches programme on Channel 4 about the Westminster Gravy Train, I can well believe that this could be case.

Plenty of drivel in the weekend newspapers but one important report in the Mail on Sunday which you can read here

This is what we need. Senior Labour figures telling people to vote for any political party other than the BNP.

Such statements devalue the importance of a vote for Labour and rather than encouraging people to come out and vote, in fact confirms what many people already think - "that all the old gang parties are the same".

Disillusioned Labour voters will never 'Vote Tory', and at election time will either just stay at home or go out and actually 'Vote BNP' to punish the Government for letting them down.

It is such a naive statement from Woolas that I can only think it is a special message for ethnic minorities who are new-arrived in this country and who have no grasp of partisan party politics. I can't believe Woolas was addressing former miners in South Yorkshire telling them to vote for a Conservative Party that has destroyed their industry, community and way of life.

Another cracking photo taken in Exeter on Saturday.

Peter Lucas wrote in his accompanying report:

"Towards the end of the Second World War the Royal Air Force seemed to operate two distinct offensive strategies. Down in the South West these principles seem to have evolved, also. Bomber Command managed to muster 1,000 aircraft to attack one target during the course of one night, an incredible feat of organisation. Fighter Command would send out pairs of locomotive and tank busting Typhoons and Tempests on "interdiction" raids where they would roam the sky looking for targets of opportunity on the ground.
James Wallis and Mike Wainwright do the latter in Cornwall, organised by the formidable Cynthia Wainwright. On the 16th April the two of them raided three towns in one day handing out hundreds of leaflets and chatting with dozens of interested parties.
Laurie West over in East Devon takes the former approach and amassed eighteen activists to "bomb" the centre of Exeter on Saturday. A photograph of just some of the Magnificent Eighteen is shown here, the remainder having hared off to the other end of the Shopping Mall.
Both systems seem to work and both compliment each other as the recent enquiry rate indicates."


If anyone has any news on this week's three by-elections I would be very grateful for it. In the prediction thread on the Vote-2007 website, there are a wide range of BNP percentages suggested which probably means that no one really has much idea of the outcome, so it would be useful to be able to shed some light on this.

The New Statesman understands

Off-button at 7.13 this morning. I just couldn't stand any more.

It was the South African General Election this time, which isn't even until next week. John Humphrys has been sent all the way out there, at licence fee payers expense, just to report on the ANC recording a landslide victory.

John explained why the BBC is making such a fuss about it in his opening gambit: "The ANC is the party of Nelson Mandela."

Make no mistake Mandela is quite incredible. A former Black terrorist fawned over by so many White people. I expect he wakes up most mornings and thinks: "Nelson, how did you do it?".

It doesn't seem like Friday this morning with no elections to report on. Next week it is back to normal with contests for us in Redbridge, Erewash and Aberdeenshire. I'll try and get some info on how our campaigns are going over the next few days.

I expect most of you have read the article in yesterday's New Statesman. It's here if you haven't.

It is a very good understanding of what has taken place over the past five years and it acknowledges the changes that have taken place within the British National Party since 1999.

One of the key passages is:

"But even one seat in the European Parliament would provide resources and publicity that could act as a potent catalyst for a party accustomed to operating on a shoestring outside of the media spotlight."

It is key because it is correct in identifying our aspiration and the benefit of meeting it. It is also right in acknowledging how we have operated on shoestring budget, although claiming that we have been outside the media spotlight is naive. We have been hounded and persecuted in the media for the past ten years and all what we have achieved has been done inspite of this.

At the last European Elections we came close to winning three seats, and that was despite Max Clifford pulling Kilroy-Silk out of the hat for UKIP and a very poor campaign on our behalf. Our main leaflet was almost unreadable. Even our most enthusiastic supporters said it was awful and as it was our only way of reaching voters due to a virtual media black-out because of its love affair with UKIP, it was amazing that we polled so well.

This time around our campaign in 500% better, so hopefully 500% more effective, and that should be enough to secure a seat in the North West at the very least.

We had a very nice Easter Sunday, I meant to mention this before. All the family were there and as we enjoyed our aperitifs and chatted, we listened to our Colin Auty CD. My in-laws are great fans of his, and for me when listening to many of his songs, the hairs on the back of my neck still stand up.

Back in the early 1990s I wrote a series of books about the history of my football team, Workington Reds AFC. In 1977 they dropped out of the Football League and the title of the books was So Sad, So Very Sad . . which summed up the feelings of most of the supporters of this brave little club. Reds had such a proud history, two League Cup Quarter-Finals (including beating Blackburn 5-1 at Ewood Park), promotion to the old Third Division, and cup games against Liverpool (0-1), Manchester United (1-3) and Cheslea (2-2) (0-2), so it was a tragedy that they had fallen by the wayside.

When I listen to Colin's music and think of the events that led to him dropping out of politics, the title of those Workington books comes to mind.

Our manipulating media

YOU are going to start thinking that I'm being obsessive, but I just have to mention the BBC Radio 4 Today programme again this morning.

This time it was an item on the seven o'clock news bulletin which caught my attention.

The newsreader in a cheery voice, put on especially for the report, announced that the biggest democracy in the world was going to the polls with 714 million voters in India choosing their next government. The report told us that although terrorism and the collapse of the global economy were the main issues, people were just as concerned with local issues such as roads, schooling and local jobs.

By this time you could have been forgiven for thinking "it's just like one of our elections here in Britain", but then, slipped in before the announcer told us that early voting had been brisk, was the news that six policemen guarding a polling station had been killed, slaughtered within hours of it opening!

Is life so cheap in India that the death of six policemen on election duty doesn't warrant leading in the report on the election in that country?

No, of course not. But in the thinking of the BBC that's not the propaganda it wants to disseminate. The Beeb wants us to think of India and Indians as being just like us so that the fact that there are around 5 million living here in Britain doesn't unduly concern us.

If the BBC was reporting the news properly, it would have started the report with:
"Within hours of the polls opening in the Indian election, six policemen had been murdered."

But the BBC just peddles its own propaganda so it reported:
"The biggest democracy in the world goes to the polls today where the issues are terrorism and the global economy", all in the hope that the listener is thinking . . "just like here in Britain then."

Starting the news item with the slaughter of six policemen wouldn't have had that desired effect.

I dislike more than anything else those who are manipulating the media to suit their own ends. There was a classic yesterday in the Waltham Forest Guardian . . and no, I'm not talking about their story of the frail little black lady who was quietly gardening when she was set upon by half a dozen BNP skinhead thugs.

This time the newspaper was being just a little more subtle.

It reports that:
"A debate between the candidates in the upcoming Wanstead by-election has been cancelled."
and that the reason was because:
"Organisers and speakers at the planned debate feared BNP members from across the country may have turned up at the meeting to "hijack" it."

But that's not how the Ilford Recorder saw it. It reported:
"Tonight's by-election hustings have been cancelled after the Labour Party candidate refused to share the stage with the British National Party.
"Ross Hatfull contacted the organisers of the Wanstead by-election hustings scheduled for this evening to say that he would not debate with the BNP".

To clear up any confusion, the Conservative candidate writing on the Vote-2007 website made it very clear that it was just the Labour Party that had pulled the plug on the debate:

"If Ross Hatfull's reason for withdrawing from the hustings was the presence of the BNP, why did he leave it until the morning of the event rather than when the invitation was originally made a couple of weeks ago? (When I had the original phone call, the Residents' Association Chairman made it perfectly clear that all 6 candidates were being invited).
I was very much looking forward to this event and the Labour Party have done themselves no favours by doing this. Cowards."

The Waltham Forest Guardian reporter is one Daniel Binns. You can contact him here at dbinns@london.newsquest.co.uk. Why not drop him a line and tell him what you think about his "story"?

You can read his report here. Why not give your take on his reporting in the Comment's Section?

Finally, please support this appeal from Civil Liberty to help with the legal costs of Mark Walker's case against his unfair dismissal from his job as a teacher. Please read the report here.

Civil Liberty were brilliant when helping Tina in her legal battles after losing her job as a graduate mental health worker with Cumbria NHS because she was standing as a BNP candidate. We would never have even got to court if it hadn't been for the financial help Civil Liberty provided and although she lost her case (the law has since been changed and another year later she would have won), actually being able to have her day in court shocked the authorities and showed that BNP members will make a stand against this sort of persecution.

Hillsborough

IT is the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough tragedy and the Today programme remembered it in its slot after this morning's 8 o'clock news.

I could nit-pick that the coverage was only the same length as the that given to the German immigrant ship yesterday and that David Blunkett was given the opportunity during an interview to make political capital out of his time as Home Secretary, but some might think this churlish and point out that it's the BBC, so what should anyone expect.

You would have thought that with the scale of the tragedy, presenter James Naughtie would have been 'losing it' as he so often does when reporting on certain issues, but he was word perfect and his voice never wavered.

Perhaps he should be applauded for such a professional performance in dealing with the deaths of 96 Liverpool supporters, especially when we know he can get so emotional and has trouble finding his words when reporting on certain other topics.

Back in 1989 football was still football. There was no Premier League, no foreign ownership, few foreign players and even fewer foreign managers. Those representing their clubs identified with the city or town bearing the name of that club and the Football League looked after all 92 clubs - no club received exclusive status just because it was the richest and could afford to buy the best players.

Naughtie's hankie

IT was the off button for the umpteenth time for the Today Programme this morning.


Now I'm certain that 2009 must be the fiftieth or hundredth anniversary of many acts of British heroism or times of great British achievement. Yet BBC Radio 4's flagship news programme chose to recollect the seventieth(?) anniversary of a boatload of Eastern European immigrants fleeing Germany and coming to Britain. The tenuous 'news' element to the story was that a book published in 1974 recalling the voyage, has been re-published.

Once the interviewer, James (Everyone must carry the guilt) Naughtie started slowing his voice down, so that his audience could dwell on the injustice of it all, and then his struggling for words with his voice starting to break up as he reached for his hankie appearing overcome by the courage and fortitude shown by the immigrants - I'm afraid I had had enough.

If the BBC had a spot to fill, then they should have found a story connected with the anniversary of something British. An act of heroism at a pit disaster or a British invention. Not something that has nothing to do with the British people apart from the fact that yet another boatload of immigrants landed up on our shores.

More predictions on how the British National Party might do in the European Elections in this morning's copy of The Times.

You can read the report here.

It appears that Glyn Ford has moderated his original prediction that the BNP would win seven seats, it's now down now to six seats. He's probably trying to keep more in line with Harriet Harman's one to three seat prediction in Friday's Independent newspaper.

Excellent meeting for our Euro candidates from the North West, North East and Scotland on Saturday. Dealing with a hostile media is something all our candidates must be able to do. The seminar was about those questions fired out at the begining of any interview which need to be got out of the way to enable our representatives to start talking about BNP policy. The day was very useful indeed and lots of good tips were picked up. There's more about the meeting and some of the literature that's going out in the North West on Clive Jefferson's blog which can be found here.

Email from Gary Tumulty this morning saying that there has been a brilliant response to the plea, put out on this blog on Saturday, for help and funds for the Irwell Riverside by-election in Salford just two weeks before the Euro Elections.

I can't stress how important this contest is, coming just two weeks before the big day on June 4th. The bottom line is that we must poll 8% or more to ensure that the final weeks of our campaign have the morale boost of knowing, in the North West at least, we are on course for an MEP.