RIZZLE KICKS VS PATSY

Back to gossip folks.

It’s been a while since we heard from Clive Rizzle Kicks Jefferson whose been getting mighty lonesome up in cold Cumbria, manning the Wigton Offices. Oh he hasn’t been all alone. Dawn Charlton keeps him company – the one I have seen called the ‘Scaryport Scrapper’. Rizzle Kicks and the ‘Scrapper’ are very close friends.

Before Christmas it was reported that someone called Stephen Palmer resigned as the web editor of the BNP’s main website. Palmer was regarded as a Patsy Harrington placeman. The obvious consequence of his departure was that a vacancy arose. Who would fill it?

These little conundrums always result in a tug-of-war between Rizzle Kicks and Patsy as part of their on-going rival faction building power struggle.

Remember Moobs? As we know he has a sense of entitlement when it comes to BNP jobs, particularly in the IT sphere. He is always threatening to resign and walk away, but is as regularly cajoled back with the bait of a job dangled in from of his eyes.

Patsy sees him as being one of his clique so clearly Patsy doesn’t want Moobs to walk off in a huff. Rizzle Kicks however is supremely indifferent to poor Moobs’s fate. Moobs was interviewed for the vacancy but is being kept on tenterhooks. It is a bit like one of those advert breaks on ‘Who want’s to be a Millionaire’.

Unfortunately for Moobs, he was given the officer registration list a few months back and has done nothing to keep it up to date. He didn’t feel inspired to do that task as he wasn’t being paid. This isn’t much of a recommendation now that he is going for a new job! To be fair Mark Walker and Lindsay Reynolds also used to help keep the officer registration database up to date but neither of these two are trusted to do it now either.

Rizzle Kicks wants his ‘close friend’ the ‘Scrapper’ to be given the job.

However the fly in the ointment is Chris Barnett. Readers will remember that this IT wizard and keen enthusiast of Mendoza’s Marching Cordial is regularly bullied by Rizzle Kicks and invariably goes off crying to Patsy for protection. On one occasion Nick Nick Griffin even had to visit Rizzle Kicks and tell him off for bullying Barnett and that he had to be left alone.

Ever since, despite Rizzle Kicks’s fierce objections, Barnett has been going to Nick Nick’s Wigton Euro Office (but doesn’t do European work…) and has been sitting there spying on behalf of Patsy, passing information back about what transpires. He is Patsy’s eyes and ears.

How the worm has turned. Barnett is now saying that the ‘Scrapper’ isn’t up to the task of maintaining the officer’s list. Frankly the list isn’t very long now but she doesn’t want to ring up all the names only to be told by most of them that they are no longer interested in anything to do with the British National Party. He reluctance to do this hasn’t enhanced her chances. She spends far too much time on the British Democracy Forum under various guises.

The significance of this is that no one knows who is and who isn’t an officer. So no elections for Regional Officers can take place. How convenient. These Regional Officers are supposed to sit on the new National Executive.

Believe it or not, Barnett wants to use ALFRED to maintain the officer database. Remember ALFRED? They never talk about it now do they?

The situation will get worse when Princess Jennifer goes on maternity leave before April. She will be gone and Rizzle Kicks will be even more isolated. In any case she is reportedly looking towards Europe and finds life in Wigton dull.

Will Moobs get the job or will he finally walk?

Will Clive win and get a job for his ‘close friend’ the ‘Scrapper’?
Can Rizzle Kicks prevent Patsy from completely taking over the shrinking remnant of the BNP?
The BNP used to be a political party.

THE UKIP OPTION?

I have heard many people say that if the ‘civic’ nationalist option is the correct path to follow, then people should opt for UKIP rather than the English Democrats.

I will examine this proposition.

Firstly, I will again reject the tag ‘civic’. I do not think any descriptive terms are necessary other than ‘nationalist’.

I do not and have never referred to myself as a civic nationalist, a racial nationalist, a cultural nationalist or a ethno nationalist. What is important is that we are nationalists and share common feelings and can unite around a common manifesto.

NEVER MAKE THE GRADE

UKIP made their first breakthrough back in 1999. This was the first European Election held under proportional representation and UKIP gained 3 MEPs with a shade under 7% of the vote.

They did considerably better in 2004, with just over 16% which got then 12 MEPs. In 2009 their share of the vote increased marginally to 16.5% and 13 of their members were elected to the European Parliament.

Since 1999 they have had a platform to grow and expand into other areas. However they have consistently failed to do this, despite the massive advantages that this should have conferred upon them. They remain a party that only has relevance at the European Election

For example in the Welsh Assembly their vote went from 2.3% in 2003 to 4.0% in 2007 and 4.6% in 2011. In the 2009 European Election UKIP polled 12.8% in Wales.

In the Greater London Assembly Top Up List their vote has gone from 2.0% in 2000, to 8.2% and 2 members elected in 2004 (purely because it was on the same day as the European Election) and back to 1.9% and no one elected in 2008.

They spend up to the maximum limit in Parliamentary by-elections and usually fail to defeat any of the main three parties although they do usually save their deposit. For the money spent this is not a massive vote of confidence. UKIP’s results in recent Parliamentary by-elections are as follows:

Feltham and Heston (December 2011) - 5.5%

Inverclyde (June 2011) - 1.0%
Leicester South (May 2011) - 2.9%
Barnsley Central (March 2011) - 12.2% - defeated the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats
Oldham East and Saddleworth (January 2011) – 5.8%

The only result that stands out is that achieved in Barnsley Central and the momentum was immediately lost.

In local elections they have signally failed to set the world on fire. They have occasional local successes where local activist have good experience usually after a group has defected from one of the major parties. Their most notable success was in taking control of Ramsey Town Council – in rural Huntingdonshire. The BNP, for all its limitations, vastly outstripped UKIP in terms of its local by-election performance when it operated efficiently between around 2003 to 2009.

Quite simply, UKIP has had every opportunity to break into the big time, to challenge the political establishment outside the confines of the European Elections, yet they have always failed to make any significant impact.

Is it likely that they will ever be able to make the grade? I would suggest not. They are limited partly due to their absolute infatuation with all things to do with Europe. Talk to a UKIPer and that is all you get. They are psychologically unable to make themselves relevant in terms of local government or even Westminster elections.

So while UKIP can attract a decent body of support and a healthy membership, while they can make impact in the absence of a more rounded and credible challenger for the Euro sceptic vote at the five yearly Euro Elections, that is it.

If you want a vehicle to take power then it is not UKIP. If you just want to make a bit of a splash, then they may serve a purpose.

SECTARIAN

In many ways if you combined the political activist savvy found in the BNP at its height with UKIP you would have a dream ticket but that ain’t going to happen.

UKIP is determined to go it alone. It officially bans ex-BNP members from joining. This is understandable in many ways. UKIP thinks it has made the grade and this status would be compromised if it was tainted by the influx of ex-BNPers. The BNP is a toxic brand and it is quite true to say that anyone with BNP associations will be tarnished to a degree.

Whatever might be the case, it is a bullet that UKIP will not bite. They have got to a reasonable size without BNPers and don’t want to risk losing their respectable tag. I would suggest that if they had quietly accepted sensible BNPers then it would not in fact have done them any harm at all. Notwithstanding the BNP’s tarnished image, the media and the public quite accept that many normal and decent people were in the BNP. After all the energetic campaigns that prevailed up to about 2009 exposed a large part of the population to the BNP and this exposure was not always negative. I do not believe for a second that involvement in the BNP per se is regarded as being damning. UKIP have shown themselves to be too timid and jumpy for their own good.

I know that some ex-BNP people have joined UKIP and are tolerated so long as they sit quietly. This is not exactly a mutually beneficial arrangement as the only benefit UKIP would get is if they absorbed the activist spirit and know how that was found within the BNP up until a few years ago.

The other problem that the few isolated BNPers will experience within UKIP is that it is too big and unwieldy to help. Due to the successes UKIP has achieved it will be unresponsive to know-it-alls who come in and say ‘Oh no – do it this way’. Organisationally it will be set in its ways.

IS UKIP A NATIONALIST ORGANISATION?

While it is true to say that most UKIP voters are motivated by patriotic impulses and most UKIP members will be nationalistic, I am not so sure that UKIP can organisationally be regarded as nationalist. They have no real cultural dimension (unlike in the English Democrats for example).

In many ways it is statist party. The very term ‘United Kingdom’ grates with me and always has. It strikes me that a nationalist would never use that term to describe their party. The term could apply to any ‘United Kingdom’. The term is not reflective of the land or people. The 'English Democrats', for example, is a ‘people’ term.

The statist nature of UKIP is underlined by its refusal to accept devolution in Wales and Scotland and its opposition to an English Parliament. UKIP is very much an old fogey party that finds it difficult to move with the times. The nature of the Union has changed. Any political party that fails to recognise that is pretty much doomed.

I know a few people in UKIP are desperate to head off the growing momentum behind the English Democrats and are making noises about recognising the need for an English Parliament but that won’t affect the overall statist construction of UKIP and its one-trick pony Euro obsession.

Similarly UKIP is too timid to take the bull by the horns and talk about immigration beyond a little rattling of sabres during certain by-elections, in the manner of the old Conservative Party.

This can be seen as a reaction to old skule traditional nationalism causing that whole area of politics to be too hot to handle. It has almost the case that if any politician mentions immigration in a negative manner then they feel they will be tarred with the NF-BNP brush along with mental images of rowdy marches, bovver boys, hate–filled remarks, aggressive sloganising and stiff right arm salutes. One of the legacies of decades of inappropriate behaviour from with the ranks of old skule nationalism is that this is the prevailing image associated with political opposition to immigration. UKIP are utterly unable to face this down.

OUTFLANKED?

It is sometimes said that if the Conservatives adopt the English Democrat policy for an English Parliament then the English Democrats would cease to exist. This is hardy the case as the English Democrats also have a firm policy for encouraging England’s cultural identity, it opposes immigration, it firmly opposes membership of the European Union and so forth. Should the Conservatives do all these things then maybe there would be no point in the EDs existing, but then the objectives would have been achieved anyway!

In any case, has the creation of the Welsh Assembly resulted in a fall in support for Plaid Cymru? No! Since the Welsh Assembly was created their vote has risen.

But what chance is there that the Conservatives will support an English Parliament? Virtually none.

One of the founding principals of the liberal state is to deny Englishness at every turn. The English liberal ascendancy fears and loathes, in equal measure, its own English identity. That what you have to understand before you can grasp the nature of British politics. Yes I used the term British deliberately. That is why the English are actually the poor relation in this Union.

The Conservative Party is a fully paid up member of that liberal ascendancy. They have, at least since the last war, governed as such.

Similarly UKIP would effectively, and more certainly, ceased to exist were the Conservatives to adopt a policy for the withdrawal of Britain from the European Union. Frankly I think there is no realistic chance of this happening although they may make noises about re-negotiating the treaty or about holding a referendum on some issue or another. Remember the Conservatives are part and parcel of the liberal ascendancy. The liberal ascendancy is wedded to the European dream.

It is as likely that the Conservatives will ever stop immigration. They will make an occasional noise but do nothing about it. Anyone who seriously thinks this is a fantasist.

ACCOUNTABLE

The other thing about UKIP is that it is essentially a top down party. It is run in an autocratic manner by Nigel Farage. There are regular bouts of internal tension and complaints about heavy handed behaviour with the UKIP party centre regularly overriding local decisions. While UKIP’s internal leadership election in 2010 was run in a fairly legitimate manner – particularly compared to the corrupt process Nick Griffin put in place at the same time in the BNP (OK that isn’t saying much as Nick Griffin is a master at corrupting the BNP’s internal democratic process) – there is a major problem in UKIP with respect to democratic accountability.

Because the age structure of UKIP is so old (there is no other way of putting it) and non activist based, Farage and co can get away with his this level of authoritarianism. In a vibrant and youthful party – as any party that really challenges for power must be - this will be a major problem. Authoritarianism stifles initiative.

By comparison the English Democrats are a bottom up party. Most power is invested in branches, counties and regions. There is a very high degree of local autonomy and complete local financial independence. Its internal structure is ideally suited for rapid and dynamic growth.

CONCLUSION

In short, UKIP have had ample opportunity since 1999 to make real progress and shake the establishment. It has consistently failed to do this. There is absolutely no reason to suppose that it could ever do it. There are absolutely no signs that it can. It will almost certainly remain as a large anti-European pressure group that makes a name for itself every five years. It will retain that position until a credible year-round party comes along that is also opposed to our continued membership of the European Union.

The British National Party was never able to do this due to the excess baggage that it was burdened with. A sensible party that is in tune with the modern age can. It is not certain that success will be achieved. Nothing is certain. However we can be pretty sure that UKIP faces an unbreakable glass ceiling. Effort must be put into building an organisation which, while it might be currently smaller and less significant, has the latent potential to grow and surpass its rivals.

That party is the English Democrats.

WHO’S THE PREDATOR AND WHO’S THE PREY?

From being a political predator the BNP has become the cornered prey. It’s strength has waned. It is like a rotting half dead animal that is being eaten alive inch by inch, picked over by more vital creatures.

A few year’s ago, as a political party the BNP was in the ascendant. It consistently posted a series of good by-election results as it contested more and more by-elections in many previously virgin territories. For several years the BNP averaged over 15% in these local by-elections. The Labour Party were beaten by the BNP in the Henley Parliamentary by-election. In the yearly round of local elections literally hundreds of BNP candidates stood with full slates put up in many local authorities. The BNP got someone elected to the Greater London Assembly and two MEPs elected to the European Parliament.

These are the benchmarks by which ‘normal’ political parties are judged.

It has however been downhill ever since then.

The fundamental reason is that the inherent weaknesses and contradictions that exist within a fringe and unnecessarily ‘extreme’ party came home to roost.

The BNP never shook off its ‘far far right’ legacy. It had positioned itself on the margins of society and attracted far too many fringe players and not enough people who were grounded and ‘normal’. Hence when push came to shove it could not respond. Collectively it was unable to recognise the corrupt nature of the Nick Nick Griffin regime and take the necessary action.

Obviously some individuals did and these individuals did at different times. But collectively the BNP did not.

The decay has been all too obvious ever since the General Election in May 2010.

Let’s examine some tangible examples.

In the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election, held in January 2011, the BNP polled 4.5% compared to 5.7% in the 2010 General Election (itself something of a low point compared to previous years). That is a decline of over 21%.

In the Barnsley Central by-election, held in March 2011, the BNP polled 6.0% compared to 8.9% in the General Election. That is a decline of over 32%.

In the May 2011 Scottish Parliamentary Election the BNP polled 0.8% of the vote compared to 1.2% in 2007. That is a decline of over 33%.

In the May 2011 Welsh Assembly Election the BNP polled 2.4% of the vote compared to 4.3% in 2007. That is a decline of over 44%.

In the Feltham and Heston by-election, held in December 2011, the BNP polled 2.3% of the vote compared to 3.5% in the General Election. That is a decline of over 34%.

The local election results have been even more appalling.

This remorseless and uninterrupted decline points to one thing this May and one thing only.

Defeat and the loss of the BNP’s nominal seat on the Greater London Assembly.

You need to get over 5% of the vote across London to get a GLA member elected. In 2008 the BNP polled 5.3%. It scraped over the finish line at a time when the BNP was near its peak in terms of electoral support, when there were active branches all over London that regularly contested local by-elections and the BNP had elected councillors in three boroughs.

Now the BNP has a couple of active units, no councillors, and its occasional forays into electoral politics has led to humiliation.

A decline of 20% in the BNP’s vote – which is a smaller diminution than that experienced by the BNP in any major election since 2010 – will result in the BNP getting just 4.2% and obviously no GLA member.

A more likely decline of 35% will see the BNP poll just 3.4% across London.

THE PHANTOM TEXTER OF OLD LONDON TOWN

The BNP could only muster eleven activists from across London today and they were mightily proud of that number. That was the message that went out today from the ‘Truth Truck’ which should be renamed the 'Text Truck', as I understand that it was used as a base from which to send frantic text messages while the ‘day of action’ was in progress in Romford. A full 2,300 leaflets were supposedly delivered while the texting was in progress. In the run up to the 2008 Greater London Assembly Election the effort was ten times greater and still the BNP only just scrapped home.

FIRING BLANKS

Furthermore these leaflets are falling on stoney ground. The BNP is now an utterly toxic brand. The BNP London campaign is politically impotent, it is firing blanks. It is also organisationally inept as all the experienced and capable officers have left. The efforts of those that remain are utterly inadequate.

Inadequate, inept, impotent. The dreaded three I’s.

Those that remain in office bend over backwards to please Nick Nick Griffin. It is a political form of being Gay for pay. Except there will be no pay!

A PEST?

Oh, I know they will think I am a terrible pest for reminding them of this, but it is the simple truth.

But I will carry on being a pest, as there are still some people who need to be saved.

They may think that it is admirable to hang in there in a fake show of stoicism. However it is not an admirable trait to be devoid of external signs of being affected by pain or distress. We feel pain as a warning against further suffering. Needless suffering.

SENSIBLE PROTECTION

I don’t want to leave people without hope – unprotected from the trials and tribulations of life.

To keep vital they say we should all have five-a-day, or is it six? I forget. But we are not talking about vegetables here, we are talking politics.

The political equivalent of the healthy five-a-day are the sensible policies of the English Democrats.

The golden key, the answer to our political problems, is held by the English Democrats.

I pointed out some time ago that there would not be any sensible alternative to the English Democrats for anyone who wants to do something credible in nationalist politics. There simply is not and will not be anything else.

You have however to get your head around two simple things.

Firstly, the nature of the Union has changed and is changing. There is devolved government in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The English Democrats firmly support the creation of an English Parliament. It does not favour independence for England. It supports a devolved assembly for England and a federal structure for the British Isles that will in fact renew and strengthen the intrinsic unity of these islands. The imbalance that now exists is to England’s detriment. It will be the cause of increasing resentment if this problem is not addressed. Scotland, under Alex Salmond’s SNP government is in any case is actively weakening the Union and may present England with a fait accompli.

Secondly, the English Democrats' policy is to call a halt to inward migration and to expel illegals. It supports the preservation of our English cultural identity and will act vigorously to defend and nurture this. Those who hanker after a ‘stronger’ racial or ethnic policy are living in cloud cuckoo land. At a time when inward migration is set to expand our population by 50% in a couple of decades and when ‘old style’ nationalism has delivered a crushing collapse, it is unrealistic to hanker after more. This is also recognised by parties such as the Front National under Marine Le Pen, the Austrian Freedom party and the Flemish separatists, the Vlaams Belang.

So to get involved with the English Democrats (the only nationalist party that has seen any increase in its votes in elections since 2010) ,as I sincerely hope that every sensible nationalist will, you just have to accept and support these things. The only way to save our country from destruction is to follow this path.

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON ENGLAND

Sometimes I get a good feeling, yes, I get a feeling that I never never knew, never had before, no no, I get a good feeling, yes.

Yes I have a feeling in my bones that we will witness interesting things.

Firstly my apologies for going AWOL again on this blog. I have been busy lately doing something else that has absorbed my time.

But back to these interesting things… I’m not talking about little things such as poor old Moobs (as he is known) getting ready to pack up after, what? A year and half? What commitment, what involvement.

This is what happens though when people feel a sense of entitlement – entitlement to a share of the bankroll.

I have been involved in this business for well over 30 years. During nearly all that time the movement was as poor as a collective of church mice.

There has always been a degree of ‘graft’ at the top, where paid officials topped up low wages with expenses claims and back handers. Indeed the low wages and long hours often caused the paid staff to feel that it was quite legitimate for them to harvest receipts in order to make expenses claims. After all they knew that the bequests that were left to the cause, but invariably made out to a personal name of ‘someone or another’ rather than to a party name, usually went straight into that ‘someone’s’ back pocket.

The closer you got to the heart of the cause, the blacker you realised it was.

I was a volunteer and I never claimed expenses even from my branch or region, and never so far as I can recall, from a branch or region I had to visit in the course of my voluntary work. That was how it was not just for me. It was a privilege to serve. It was a privilege to be a senior officer. Most volunteer activists and officers were willing to give up all their spare time, their holidays, and a big slice out of their earnings for the cause.

The expenses door started opening in the late 2000s I would say. The campaign to get someone elected to the Greater London Assembly led to a dramatic spread of the expenses culture. The BNP’s lead candidate Richard Barnbrook was an expenses fanatic. Other activists looked on enviously and inevitably some copied. Then, when Richard Barnbrook was elected, there was an undignified scramble by people to get on the payroll. There was a budget for staff!

This was followed by the European Elections and an even bigger payroll and an even bigger scramble.

I was unwise enough to give up a very secure and well-paid job and work for the party, in and out of Europe. Contrary to claims made by my shrinking band of Griffinite enemies, I only claimed a fraction of the expenses that I was potentially due.

As I say, the closer you are to the heart, the blacker you realise it is and I didn’t last long on the payroll. It was barely eight months before the rotting stench became too apparent – and I like to think that I am cynical and hard nosed enough to absorb and work through such things. But I determined to make a stand and the rest is history. Actually the BNP is history as collectively it failed to purge the rot when it had the chance and you only get one chance in this life. I left without even claiming my back expenses – which were considerable.

But the consequence is that precious few people will work for Nick Nick without being paid. Even if they have only been in the BNP for ten minutes, they want their dosh before they are willing to do anything. Hence Moobs is feeling bitter at his lack of remuneration and is looking to the door.

Talking of which I see that Dave Hannam’s self serving resignation statement has surfaced from September 2010. It is genuine in my opinion.

I know of a handful of people who fear to admit that they are flogging a dead horse. It is the only horse they know about and do not have the imagination to look elsewhere.

Oh – those interesting things? You will know when it happens. Then even the unimaginative dead horse floggers will realise the futility of their endeavours. They already know actually but they try and push it to the backs of their minds and carry on regardless. That way leads to grievous disappointment. That is the iron law of nature. It is inevitable.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL

A belated Happy New Year to all the readers of this blog – even those remaining ‘hostiles’ who are strangely mesmerised by my words… and deeds.

I have not posted much lately as I had an accident with this laptop not long before Christmas and spilt a load of coffee over it! I only just got it back – almost in one piece  - and in the meantime I have had to use old semi-functional laptops or borrow that of one of my collaborators.

Normal service is now resumed!

Like perhaps a benign werewolf mauling its prey. All in the best possible taste of course.

More people to subvert from the forces of darkness, more to inject with the serum of truth. More people to save from bondage to the vile incubus. Yes that’s the right word for him, incubus.

THE SECRET ESTATE AGENT

I would like to take this opportunity to clear up a misapprehension that is doing the rounds in some quarters.

I used to work for the City of London Corporation for nearly twenty years - in their accounts department. It was actually quite a good job and I foolishly gave it up to work for a degraded and craven wretch who I hoped, vaingloriously, that I could influence in a more honourable direction.

Although this curl knew that I had worked in local government for a long time (actually he is a shockingly ignorant individual and persisted in thinking I was a civil servant which is something altogether different) he was happy to employ me as he no doubt thought I would be useful to him.

This of course did not stop him, when the inevitable fall out occurred, from putting it about that as I had worked in local government unmolested for 20 years, then I must have been protected by the state and therefore be a state agent.

Actually during my time there, until just before I left anyway, I didn’t stand in local elections or do media work, in order to retain my anonymity.

The question arises. How many state agents are forced to work in boring desk jobs for twenty years while simultaneously being employed to infiltrate an ‘extremist’ party? None. That would be a punishment rather than a reward. They are always given difficult to verify non existent occupations - like the policeman who infiltrated and fornicated his way through the far left. He said he was an outward bound extreme sports instructor. I guess in a way he was.

Or they have bogus businesses that they never have to attend to. Supposed offices and empty work units.

Then I got to thinking. Before going to work at the Corporation of London (which incidentally is the most reactionary and old fashioned of all local authorities and only started getting into Equal Opportunities in the early 2000s) I was an estate agent. I sold and rented properties in the East End – being based in Bethnal Green.

I was an estate agent – not a state agent!

Do you see how easy it is to start a rumour?

JOHN RYDE

I was very sad to hear about the death of John Ryde just before New Years Day. He was an excellent chap and I was pleased to have his unwavering support during last year’s troubles. I knew he had been ill for some time. He is sitting next to me in this picture, taken last year. I remember it was our second breakfast of the day!

He was an honest and honourable man.

A YEAR TO LOOK FORWARD TO

This year will see the English Democrats make great strides ahead. I knew from the outset that there would be no realistic prospect of any new credible party being formed and making any headway. This will be the year when it becomes obvious that the EDs are the way ahead. Sensible, moderate, credible, achievable.

It is time to look around, smell the coffee and accept that this is the case. The BNP is on a remorseless downward spiral. It is going to be hit by some dreadful hammer blows.

And while waiting for these big bombs to land what is the ‘leadership’ doing? They are obsessed with waging internal factional war. All their pitifully inadequate efforts are focused internally, within the wider movement, not on promoting the views they sometimes claim to hold.

I am pleased to know that they are still fixated with little old me. Awww how touching.

Nick Nick, Rizzle Kicks and Patsy - keep trying. Don’t give up yet. But do yourselves a favour, get your tin hats on.

A WINTER’S TALE

The last time the favoured and fair land of the English lay under the heel of a conquering invader was nearly a thousand years ago.


Following the disaster at Hastings the Normans held this land in their mailed fist. The English did not submit meekly. The castles that are visited by our families on bank holidays stand as a testament to the simmering rebelliousness that persisted for centuries. They are a lasting symbol of military oppression.

Being a kind and forgiving people this scar has totally healed and the battlemented ruins are now curiosities. The grudges have been buried under centuries of unrivalled and unparalleled English success and progress in all fields of human endeavour.

But it is well to remember.

The rebellions against the Norman invader were hard fought. Many heroic deeds were done. None more so than those performed by Hereward, who came from the eastern fens. But this story isn’t about Hereward, although there is a connection, it is about one of his allies - Waltheof. While Hereward is a semi mystical and legendary figure, Waltheof’s life was well recorded.

In 1066 Waltheof was just a teenager and had been given the small earldoms of Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire. He was judged too young to govern his ancestral earldom of Northumbria as it was one of the most important and difficult to govern parts of Anglo-Saxon England.

After William of Normandy’s victory at Hastings in 1066, most of the surviving English nobles, including Waltheof, submitted, although he was kept under close scrutiny at court.

However in 1069 he broke away and joined a revolt that was led by Hereward. York was captured and most Normans in Northumbria were put to the sword. But some Englishmen had sided with the Normans, mainly as a result of local political intrigue. Northumbria was notorious for feuding and infighting.

Waltheof’s great grandfather, Uhtred, Earl of Northumbria had been murdered in 1016 by a rival, Thurbrand the Hold. Thurbrand was probably was a major landowner in the Holderness area of East Yorkshire. Thurbrand in turn was killed by Uhtred’s son Ealdred. Thurbrand’s son Carl killed Ealdred in 1038. Ealdred was Waltheof’s grandfather.

Thurbrand’s descendents sided with the Normans and when the English patriots captured York they took revenge on their own traitors. Thurbrand’s family suffered in particular.

However, the English rebels were not very united. William of Normandy marshalled his forces and swept north. The rebels melted away and William laid waste to Northumbria in revenge.

Waltheof made terms and in 1070 was given William the Conqueror’s Norman niece Judith as his wife. This was an attempt to bind the remaining English nobility into the new regime. In tie him further William gave Waltheof his rightful earldom of Northumbria in 1072.

This led to the feud with Thurbrand’s descendents reigniting and in 1074 and two of Carl’s sons were killed by Waltheof’s men. This was the background to a conspiracy involving some Norman earls in 1075. Waltheof was implicated by his own wife in this plot. Waltheof denied it but was executed by William nevertheless in 1076. It seems that he was the victim of intrigue by his enemies.

Waltheof was buried in Crowland Abbey, near Peterborough. His shrine became a place of pilgrimage, no doubt as a symbol of English resistance and visitors were miraculously healed of their ailments. As a result Waltheof became a local saint.

One of Waltheof’s daughters married King David I of Scotland and through that line the Kings and Queens of England are descended.

It is probable that Waltheof’s connection to Huntingdonshire led to the later legend that Robin Hood, another later freedom fighter against the Norman invasion, was the true Earl of Huntingdon.

But Waltheof’s ancestry also offers a fascinating insight into the history of the English.

Waltheof’s grandfather Ealdred, the one who was murdered by Carl, had a daughter called Aelfflaed. She married the renowned Siward, who was appointed by the great King Canute as Earl of Northumbria in the mid 1030s.

Siward was nicknamed Digre, meaning the Stout or Strong. Siward features in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth and he defeated the Scots in 1054 at the Battle of the Seven Sleepers or the Battle of Dunsinane. His eldest son Osbeorn Bulax was killed at Dunsinane and Siward famously hoped that all his wounds were to the front.

Siward died in 1055 but Waltheof was too young as we have seen to take up his position as Earl of Northumbria, which was his right through descent from both Siward and Uhtred.

Siward was an outstanding warrior and was of Danish origin. England in the early 11th century was a rich mixture of the earlier Anglo-Saxons and more recent Danish settlers.

Both were of similar stock. The Angles, from whom the name England derives, came from Angeln which is in northern Schleswig, right on the border of present day Denmark. The Jutes, another one of the earlier Germanic tribes to settle England at the fall of the Roman Empire came from Jutland – which is the major part of mainland Denmark. The Saxons came from northern Germany, just below Denmark. The Danish settlement in the Viking period was little more than a continuation of the earlier migrations.

THE FAIRY BEAR

To the Vikings the most feared natural danger was the bear. Particularly the white bear – the Polar Bear that they came across when they ranged to the far north.

The bear was feared for its strength, viciousness and intelligence. To fight and kill a bear, particularly a Polar Bear, was regarded as an act that required almost superhuman strength. The most feared warriors in the northland were called berserkers and they wore the skin of a bear in combat. The most treasured possession of Crowland Abbey were twelve white bearskins. Hereward’s first act of bravery was to kill a Polar Bear that had escaped from its cage and was menacing a young beautiful princess called Alftruda who he met on his travels in Ghent and who he went on to marry.

The bear loomed large in the tales of our ancestors.

Now Siward was the son of Beorn Bearsson. Beorn Bearsson being the offspring of the union between a fairy or magical white bear and a Danish princess!

Siward by repute had pointed ears, this being the mark of the bear. Waltheof being his son was also of the house of the bear. That was a thousand years ago. The blood line of that union has been diluted but the signs are still there.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

I went to the Christmas Eve midnight mass at North Weald Church, just down the road from where I live in the wonderful county of Essex. As they say – The Only Way Is Essex!


North Weald was the home to a major Royal Air Force base during the last war. The churchyard contains the war graves of a number of RAF personnel together with a poignant group of very young soldiers from the Essex Regiment. Nine men were killed on 24th August 1940 when the Luftwaffe bombed the airfield. Eight of them are buried in North Weald Churchyard.

The actual service that I attended was very High Church – almost bordering on Roman Catholic. For my blood there was too much bending down and getting up, waving of arms, scattering of incense and responses were expected to be recited by the congregation. It was a nice service, with a good politically incorrect sermon, but I prefer things to be kept simpler.

The other morning, after some Christmas festivities, I was walking past Hyde Park Corner when I noticed the ‘Winter Wonderland’ – a special Christmas themed market with ice skating and so forth. Just as I went to take a closer look who should I see appear? Rolf Harris!

I’ve always quite liked the cut of Rolf Harris’s jib. He is a throw back to those nostalgic days when Australia and Britain had a really close bond. He also has always struck me as being a thoroughly decent bloke. When he was spotted by Regents Park on this morning, he waited patiently, cracking jokes, while numerous families posed next to him to have their picture taken.

He is a good egg.

ANOTHER GOOD RESULT FOR THE ENGLISH DEMOCRATS

A few days ago the English Democrats scored yet another good election result. Things are starting to look up. Indeed, besides UKIP, who throw tens of thousands of pounds into its electoral efforts for relatively little return on their investment pound for pound, the only nationalist party to have made any headway at all since the General Election has been the English Democrats.

The by-election took place in the Birchills Leamore ward of Walsall in the West Midlands. The result was as follows:

Labour – 835 votes (53.8%)
Conservative – 512 votes (32.4%)
Chris Newey English Democrats – 130 votes (8.2%)
UKIP – 59 votes (3.7%)
Green – 46 votes (2.9%)

I don’t believe the English Democrats have ever challenged for this ward before. However as a point of interest the BNP contested a by-election in this ward when it was near its peak in 2008 and only polled 5.2%.

Well done to all concerned. We have much to look forward to in the new year!