Wardman Wire Magazine

Some further quick thoughts on the loss of the BNP Membership List.

I spend an entire day digging around for details of the Martin Bright New Statesman / Carter-Ruck Libel imbroglio about the businessman Nadhmi Auchi and news reports being removed from websites in the UK after lawyers letters are sent, and I surface to find that someone has published what is claimed to be the entire membership list of the BNP, including phone numbers, email addresses and personal notes - the whole lot.

The story was first reported by the anti-fascist activist Lancaster UAF site. The list is not hard to find. Liberal Conspiracy will be having an interesting debate about it.

Despite obvious violent disagreements in policy and politics and that I think the party is contemptible, the BNP members do have a right to privacy and for their data to be properly maintained - just like the rest of us, and whoever posted the list is headed for trouble if they get found out.

Whilst claims of huge increases in US electoral turnout this year have turned out to be myths, with turnout only rising by around 1% on 2004, the continued gradual improvement in turnout in British elections is going largely unremarked.
The improvement is not yet sufficient to cause rejoicing, but there are solid grounds for being cautiously [...]

I have seen two lengthy accounts from British bloggers who were active in helping the campaign in support of Barack Obama’s campaign for the US Presidency: Sunny Hundal, who spent several weeks California and Miranda Grell, who spent a total of nine weeks working on the campaign in the USA and London.

I have seen two lengthy accounts from British bloggers who were active in helping the campaign in support of Barack Obama’s campaign for the US Presidency: Sunny Hundal, who spent several weeks California and Miranda Grell, who spent a total of nine weeks working on the campaign in the USA and London.

Mr Eugenides is back from a hiatus, and I’m back from hospital. In celebration I’m echoing his first, splendid, proposal: let’s apply the Law of the Land at the Palace of Westminster.

I have just received the full text of Hazel Blears’ address to the Hansard Society, and I agree with about 90% of it.

My opinion is that political blogs in all their glorious variety are already proving that they are part of the solution not part of the problem, so I differ from Hazel Blears on that aspect. See my examples quoted in the comments of that post on the Bevan Foundation blog.

And I have no idea whether the juicy quotes attacking political blogs that appeared in newspapers were them choosing juicy and controversial nuggets from the full text, or them being supplied juicy and controversial nuggets in order to create a media narrative. I think that whoever selected those nuggets has done a disservice to all of us.

Let’s sidestep that polemical aspect of the story (and the insults that have been thrown back on the basis of those controversial nuggets), and do a real blogger examination, and have a proper debate about what Ms Blears actually said, and the answers. Proper debate belongs outside the Westminster Village and the Parliamentary Bubble.

So - what do you think - Justin, Tim, Iain, Guido, Paulie, Mick, Curly, Bob, Tom and all the rest?

Here’s the text of Hazel Blears’ talk to the Hansard Society about Political Engagement (click through on the title).