‘Bomb plot’ retrial set for July

Two men accused over a ‘bomb plot’ will face a new trial in July.

A previous trial of Robert Cottage and David Jackson, accused of conspiring to make an explosive, collapsed after a jury failed to reach a verdict. But a judge at Manchester Crown Court yesterday ordered both men should face a fresh jury.

Earlier the court heard Cottage, 49, of Talbot Street, Colne, had ordered three boxes of chemicals from the internet on behalf of Jackson, 62, of Trent Road, Nelson. Cottage had downloaded and printed bomb making information from The Anarchist Cookbook. But none of the chemicals had been opened or used when police raided his home.

Cottage has admitted possessing the explosives, but both men deny the conspiracy charge. Both men have been remanded in custody.

The new trial, expected to last a week, has been listed for July 2nd.

Burnley Citizen

FBI may reopen cold cases in South

Slayings are from 1950s,’60s

The FBI is considering reopening dozens of cold cases involving slayings suspected of being racially motivated in the South during the 1950s and ’60s. An announcement could come as early as Tuesday, according to a law-enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans have not yet been finalized.

In addition to the FBI’s investigations, the Southern Poverty Law Center submitted its own list last week of 74 potential unsolved slayings that involved white-on-black violence. Thirty-two of the deaths were in Mississippi. The others were in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky and New York.

Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project for the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center, said each case was researched in the late 1980s when the group was putting together a civil-rights memorial. But it is unclear if each could be considered a civil-rights case, he said.

“The truth is we don’t know,” said Potok, whose group investigates hate crimes. “In each case there was some evidence to suggest that these were racial murders, but it absolutely was not proven. Had we been able to nail them down, their names would’ve been literally chiseled into the civil-rights memorial that sits outside our building here.”

U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton in Jackson reviewed the list of Mississippi killings Friday and said based on the limited amount of information available none would qualify for federal prosecution under civil-rights statutes. But he said many could still be prosecuted on a local or state level as murders. The deaths outlined by the center happened in a variety of ways, from police-involved shootings to trysts with white women broken up by gunfire.

In most cases, the statute of limitations under federal civil-rights laws will have run out, Lampton said. In others, charges could not be brought because the accused have already faced charges and been cleared by a jury.

“Some of these are going to turn out to be what they call ‘good shoots,’ where somebody deserved to get shot” during a crime, Lampton said. “But when you’re talking about somebody wearing a (Congress of Racial Equality) shirt drowned in the river, that’s murder.”

Among the deaths listed by the center was that of Sam O’Quinn, who was shot in Centreville, Miss., in 1959. Researchers found information that O’Quinn might have been shot after joining the NAACP. Sheriff Reginald L. Jackson, who has lived in Wilkinson County where Centreville is located for most of his life, said he could not open an investigation into the killing without more to go on.

FBI Director Robert Mueller said last month the bureau was aggressively seeking to solve cold civil-rights cases, vowing to “pursue justice to the end, and we will, no matter how long it takes, until every living suspect is called to answer for their crimes.”

Potok said it was not a surprise many of the deaths happened in Mississippi, the state that was the most defiant during the civil-rights era.

“The entire deep South was incredibly violent at that time, but I think that Mississippi outdid every other state hands-down,” Potok said. “That’s just a fact. I think it’s undeniable. I mean when people got to Mississippi they were looking down gun barrels in a way that was beyond even Alabama and Georgia.”

Sun Herald

LMHR/UAF/AMICUS National University Tour

The first national LMHR university tour, sponsored by trade union Amicus, and supported by UAF, starts this weekend at Essex University in Colchester with a mega 3-room “indoor festival” featuring hot new drum ‘n bass star Crissy Cris, Rampage, Lupen Crook, The Priscillas, and Nu-MCs.

The tour is aimed at boosting anti-racist organisation on campus in the run-up to May’s local elections, with growing evidence that the fascist BNP is making a concerted effort to recruit students and try to gain repsectability by running for positions in the NUS.

Each date on the tour will have a great music event as well as hosting a debate on fighting racism and fascism at Uni, with speakers from LMHR & UAF, the NUS, and Amicus. See individual Gigs and Events listings for full details of acts and speakers.

02/03/07 Essex Uni SU, Colchester: Crissy Cris, Rampage, Priscillas, Lupen Crook.
09/03/07 University of East London Stratford: Specialists, Mecca2Medina, Natty, Snakeyman
14/03/07 Leeds University SU: L Double, Broke’n’English, Virus Syndicate, FWD dubstep DJs
16/03/07 University of East London Docklands SU: Ace & Vis (Radio 1), Hypa Fen & Marcie Phonix, Mecca 2 Medina
20/03/07 Swansea SU: Jan Watkins Band, The Blims, Natty
22/03/07 Nottingham Marcus Garvey Ballroom (Nottm Uni & Trent Uni)
18/04/07 Glasgow Uni SU
19/04/07 Bristol Anson Rooms (UWE & Bristol Uni’s): Heartless Crew full band, Professor Green
24/04/07 Luton Uni: DJ Cameo, Heartless Crew
25/04/07 Belfast Queens Uni: Ultra Montanes, DJ Stuart Bailie + local support
30/04/07 Lancaster Uni SU
2/5/07 Plymouth Uni SU
8/5/07 Keele Uni SU, Stoke-on-Trent
9/5/07 Birmingham University Guild of Students
tbc May Sussex Uni

LMHR

TUC welcomes ‘union can expel BNP member’ judgement

The TUC has welcomed today’s decision by the European Court of Human Rights that unions can expel members of the far-right BNP, and that this is not incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.

The case was brought by traindrivers’ union ASLEF, after the UK courts found in favour of a BNP member expelled from the union because of the incompatibility of BNP views and those of the trade union movement.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said, ‘This is an important and welcome judgement. The European Court of Human Rights has made the common sense decision that the right to freedom of association does not force unions to accept into membership people opposed to the basic principles of trade unionism. Instead it says that the European Convention’s provisions protect unions from excessive interference by government in deciding how they run their own affairs, including how they choose their members.

‘We will need to discuss further all the implications of this judgement, including what changes now need to be made to UK law, but every union will welcome this clear decision that they can now expel BNP members.’

TUC

BNP’s Nick Cass comes under fire from police!

This letter below appears as a result of moaning from the BNP’s Nick Cass that a complaint from Cllr Colin Auty regarding malicious phone calls weren’t dealt with in the way Cass felt they should have been. What it must be to think you know how to run everything…

From: Name and address supplied.

Dear Sir,

After reading the article [below] on the BNP in your paper earlier this month I was not only surprised but can I say appalled by the attitude of Mr Cass, calling us – your local police – a waste of space, and saying that if they get into power we will “all be cleaning toilets”. Who the hell does this person think he is?

As a local serving officer, I am not only amazed, disappointed and can I say angry not only at his attitude but that you, a well respected local newspaper, could print this totally unfounded rubbish in the first place.

We, as you well know, police this town to the best of our abilities and with the co-operation of the public at large do, I think, a good job. We are not perfect (who is?) but to be denigrated and smeared by this man Cass, who I believe doesn’t even live in this town, is beyond belief.

Let’s put it this way. I think that this BNP boss with his nasty, tasteless and unfounded comments have alienated not only the many serving officers in this town, their families and friends, but now the law abiding public at large who do respect the police and what they do.

The Press

An excellent response to the outrageous arrogance that Cass displayed in the original article.

Councillor’s death threat

A BNP councillor fears for his family’s safety in the wake of a ‘death threat’ phone call which he claims was ignored by police. But Coun Colin Auty (Dewsbury East) says he won’t be put off his work for the local community. And he is being backed by North Kirklees BNP boss Nick Cass who called for police to take action.

Mr Cass said officers would have acted differently if someone like Dewsbury and Mirfield Labour MP Shahid Malik had been involved.

Coun Auty received two calls last week, the first from a man with an Asian accent and then from a woman. The woman said: “We are going to get you lot. You are racists and we are going to kill you and your family. I have a gun.” Coun Auty, who lives in Chickenley, said: “I was more disturbed because the call came from a woman. The caller seemed angry about a newsletter we were distributing but there was nothing racist in it at all.”

After reporting the call, two police officers arrived at his house just before midnight.

“One was a woman and she was very good and helpful,” said Coun Auty. “She explained that what happened was not a crime but a malicious call. She suggested I contact BT to get a block on the phone. Most calls like this are from cranks but it is a lottery and one might be truly dangerous. I am hardened to it but I fear for my family. I have two little girls. These callers won’t put me off though. It won’t stop me doing what I have to do.”

Mr Cass said: “This is a long-running problem. I get such calls on a regular basis and I don’t report them. The police aren’t interested. Colin was told he should expect such things.”

Mr Cass said the newsletter was simply updating residents and introducing him as a candidate in Dewsbury East at the local elections in May. “No one could be offended by them,” he said. “But we are getting fed up. I want police to take this seriously and go through phone records for information.”

Mr Cass said he was ‘incensed’ by the death threats and added: “Let’s reverse this shall we? Can you imagine the police behaving in the same manner if someone had rung Shahid Malik, Tony Blair or even the likes of (Dewsbury East Labour councillor) Paul Kane and threatened to kill them and their families? I don’t think so. They would have rounded up the perpetrator and prosecuted them! For all their tough talk, the police are a waste of space. I have worked closely with Colin in Dewsbury East and we get many people contacting us to complain about vandals smashing their area up only to be fobbed off by police who say they can’t do anything. We need action not talk.”

He issued a warning to senior police officers and said: “Those who spend more money and time on politically correct projects than catching criminals had better watch out. When the BNP gets an MP elected in Dewsbury they had better buck their ideas up or face a career change cleaning toilets.”

A police spokesman said: “We received a report of a malicious communication made to an address in the Chickenley area in the evening of January 31, in which the caller had withheld their number. We visited the complainant that night and inquiries are on-going. We have fully updated the complainant and as far as we are aware they are happy with how the matter has been dealt with.”

The Press

BNP chief blames immigrants for TB

A racist who blames TB on immigrants gets…TB

A BNP leader revealed yesterday he has TB – and tried to blame it on immigrants. Richard Barnbrook told the Mirror he was “furious” that he had the disease. Misinformed Barnbrook, 46, ranted: “Yes I have got TB. Immigration has caused this.”

But his blast is incorrect racist propaganda. Experts say tuberculosis was common in Britain until the 50s but contrary to Barnbrook’s claim was NEVER eradicated and never dropped below 5,000 cases a year, despite the discovery of a cure.

Barnbrook admitted he could have contracted it on holiday in Turkey – then wrongly claimed: “We eradicated this country of TB donkeys’ years ago – we should never have allowed it back.” He raged: “I am angry that I have picked up this junk. This disease should not have come into our country. Immigration has caused this massive TB problem …They have bought in this disease.”

Former art teacher Barnbrook, of Barking, East London, is the British National Party’s leader for London and candidate for mayor. He was diagnosed this week after tests. He admitted: “I went on holiday in Turkey last summer and there is a chance I could have got it there but it is just as likely I got it in Barking.”

Barnbrook added: “It is not infectious and it is a milder form. I am not going to die.”

Paul Sommerfeld, of the charity TB Alert, said it was a “myth” to blame immigrants. It had more to do with poverty and living conditions than country of origin. He said: “It is clear TB is endemic to the UK. Blaming immigrants is a bit of a myth. One of the biggest issues is the distinction between infection and active disease – many more people are infected than develop it because it is dealt with by their immune system. When their immune system is lowered they get the active disease – and that could be 50 years later.”

“They could have actually become infected in the 40s or 50s when the disease was very, very common. The majority of recent immigrants who get TB tend to have been here upwards of two years. That suggests they did not have raging TB when they arrived but it is the conditions in Britain which led them to develop it. They could be living in poor, overcrowded conditions where their chances of catching TB are much higher. It is a disease of the poor rather than a disease of immigrants.”

TB: THE FACTS

• Tuberculosis was NEVER wiped out in Britain, despite doctors finding an antibiotics cure more than 50 years ago.
• Cases here have never fallen below 5,000 a year. Half of all TB diagnosed is in British people that were born in the UK.
• The illness is more common in poverty-stricken areas, where people have lower immunity and live in overcrowded houses.
• Most immigrants with TB tend to have already lived here for two years and contract it due to stress and poor living conditions.
• The failure to eradicate TB has been blamed on complacency, poverty and globalisation.
• Many more people are infected than develop TB. Some cases may even have been infected in the 50s but develop it now because of a low immune system.

Mirror

Griffin ‘attack’ joins Griffin ‘assassination attempt’ in top-ten list of classic BNP lies

Back in April last year, the BNP attempted (unsuccessfully) to gain the sympathy of the nation when it claimed that Nick Griffin and his entourage only narrowly missed being blown up while travelling by train in Sweden, by, it claimed, radical Muslims. A complete lie of course. It turned out that Griffin and his gang weren’t even on the train with the bomb, the bomb itself was never going to go off because it wasn’t constructed properly and the Swedish police stated that the bomb had been planted by radical leftists, though they were by no means certain even of that much.

Griffin, the lying buffoon, was nowhere near being assassinated but obviously thought we were all too stupid to do a little research and check out his ridiculous story.

Now – in the run-up to this year’s local council elections, the BNP’s fibmeister has come up with another stupid story; that he was attacked by a bunch of thugs on his way to a meeting but that his assailants were fought off by his heroic bodyguard, Martin Reynolds.

In a slightly hysterical thread, now closed and doubtless soon to be deleted, on the Stormfront nazi forum, where most of the BNP, including its leadership, go to play despite it being ostensibly proscribed by the party, the story quickly evolved from an attack by two so-called white nationalists (nazis) who punched Griffin then did a runner, all the way through to a battle of Homeric proportions against four ‘reds’, one of whom was captured then apparently and surprisingly released by Reynolds – an unlikely outcome, to say the least.

Curiously Griffin, usually ever-eager to claim attacks even when there have been none, chose not to report this one to the police or even mention it on the BNP website. If the attack was carried out by lefties or any other kind of anti-fascist, you can be sure that Griffin would have been in the police station before they’d finished hitting him and in the nearest newspaper office ten minutes later.

If, on the other hand, the attack was carried out by disgruntled right-wing nuts, Griffin would probably have reported it on the BNP website at least, to make sure he got all the sympathy he could from his own people, a notoriously unsupportive bunch, and to criticise those he sees as his right-wing opposition. Given that there’s no report, there appears to be only one sensible conclusion – that Griffin’s little story-spinners are telling porkies again. Like the fake assassination attempt that never got anywhere near him, this is just another attempt to get the sympathy of his own party membership, if not the public.

Not surprisingly, even the hard-liners on the Stormfront forum are sceptical of the claim, with Sharon Ebanks, former member of Griffin’s gang and now avowed Griffin-hater, right there at the forefront, ridiculing the attack claim as yet another example of Griffin’s bullshit and spin. When called a traitor for taking the opportunity provided by the fake attack thread to criticise Griffin, she responded in her usual inimitable way, not just answering a direct attack on her but also launching an immediate and vitriolic counter-attack of her own, thus:

‘What do you think of your leader for stealing members money and attempting to bankrupt and jail me? Don’t answer, actions speak louder than words What a splendid membersheep it is that it follows a crook. Griffin knows who I am, tell him to put me on the stand and disprove it. He isn’t a nationalist, he’s just a common thief gifted at conning the uneducated.’

We’ll agree with Ebanks about the crook statement but not over the claim that he’s gifted at conning the uneducated. A couple of us are uneducated and we weren’t conned by this lie at all, any more than we were conned by the stupid lie about the so-called ‘assassination attempt’ – but what’s the betting that both of these mythical events appear on a couple of the BNP’s leaflets in the pre-election period to show how the opposition uses violence to oppose the BNP, as a counter to the many recorded instances where anti-fascists actually have been attacked by BNP supporters.

The only truth in all this is that Nick Griffin is a compulsive liar, prepared to use any means to deceive the British public enough to get them to vote for his appalling party and its filthy and divisive policies.

Searchlight exposes ‘racial terrorism link’ in the BNP

Searchlight, a researcher into facism and racism says it has exposed the apartheid terrorism link behind Solidarity, the British National Party’s trade union.

Solidarity has cancelled its re-launch and first annual meeting in London tomorrow, citing ‘public order considerations’ but Searchlight said, “This is just a smokescreen. They are running scared.”

Searchlight had started asking questions about the South African apartheid connection and the BNP’s ’secret think-tank’.

Solidarity’s website is hosted by Dr Lambertus Nieuwhof, who runs Herefordshire-based company, ‘Vidronic Online’. The company has taken over most of the BNP’s internet operations, including the party’s website for Barking and Dagenham, where the BNP had 12 councillors elected last May.

Searchlight has revealed that Nieuwhof, known in the BNP as Bep, is part of the ’secret think-tank’, a small inner circle of men whose identity is unknown to both the wider membership and the general public. Their task is to form policy for Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, and give the party intellectual underpinning.

Nieuwhof, 35, is an immigrant with a past record as a white racist fighter.

Fifteen years ago South Africa was in the process of dismantling apartheid. The white supremacists of the terrorist Afrikaner Weerstand Beweging (AWB) were trying to prevent the move towards majority rule and to restore the racist system. Three men had planted a home-made bomb at the Calvary Church School in protest against the school’s decision to become racially mixed. When the bomb failed to go off, one of them lost his nerve, gave himself up to the police and turned in his two associates, one of which was Nieuwhof. At the end of the resulting court case he received a derisory 12-month suspended prison sentence.

Leaving South Africa Nieuwhof set off for Britain, where he came into contact with Arthur Kemp, another South African extremist exile, who had been arrested for the murder of Chris Hani, a close colleague of Nelson Mandela, in April 1993 but released without charge. Kemp had been named by Clive Derby-Lewis, a far-right South African MP who is now serving life imprisonment for setting up Hani’s murder, as the author of a hit list of prominent anti-apartheid leaders.

Kemp too has become influential in the BNP. His articles appear on the BNP website and his 586-page tome March of the Titans comes highly recommended on the BNP’s booklist. The book propounds the view that “all civilisations rise and fall according to their racial homogeneity and nothing else.”

Kemp still supports apartheid. In an article in November 2004 on South Africa under the ANC he complained that: “… the Tory/Labour old gang parties, were all complicit in ensuring the creation of the new South Africa, working as hard as they could to bring about the downfall of the previous White government.”

Gerry Gable, publisher of Searchlight, said, “The handmaidens of South Africa’s murderous apartheid regime are unfortunately alive and well and pulling the strings in the British National Party.”

24dash

Ex-BNP man’s bomb trial ends without verdict

A jury trying a former British National party candidate and another man on bomb-making charges was discharged today after failing to reach a verdict during three days of deliberations.

The jury of five men and seven women at Manchester crown court had been asked to reach a majority verdict if possible. But this afternoon judge Justice Beatson heard they had been unable to do so. Prosecutor Louise Blackwell said the Crown Prosecution Service would apply for a retrial.

Robert Cottage, 49, and David Jackson, 62, both deny conspiracy to make an explosion with chemicals that they ordered on the internet. The court had heard that Mr Cottage, an unsuccessful BNP candidate in three local elections, had talked of wanting to shoot the prime minister, and had stockpiled explosives and weapons because he believed the country was on the verge of civil war.

According to the prosecution, he and Mr Jackson bought a large number of chemicals over the internet. If mixed correctly, these could have created a powerful bomb. Mr Cottage also had a digital copy of the Anarchist Cookbook, a bomb-making manual, as well as crossbows and four air rifles at his home in Colne, Lancashire, the jury was told.

He told the court he had purchased the weapons to protect his family during what he believed was an imminent civil war.

“I believe it is everybody’s God-given right to protect themselves and their families if they are attacked,” he said. “The breakdown of the financial system will inevitably put an unbearable strain on the social structures of this country.”

Mr Jackson, who is not a BNP member but attended several party meetings, also denies one count of possessing explosives. Cottage earlier admitted the same charge. Both men were remanded in custody pending a retrial.

Guardian

Race-hate man guilty of shootings – claims BNP membership

A gunman who had threatened to “kill all black people” has been found guilty of three counts of attempted murder. Former boxer John Laidlaw, 24, went on a shooting spree in Islington, north London, last May, the Old Bailey heard. It is not clear whether the attacks were related to his threats against black people.

He shot Abu Kamara in Upper Street before accidentally shooting Emma Sheridan at Finsbury Park Tube station, as he aimed at a second man. Laidlaw, from Holloway, north London, was also found guilty of two firearms charges.

Judge Samuel Wiggs warned him that he faced an indeterminate jail sentence for the public’s protection. “These offences, certainly the first incident, seem to be almost completely random,” he said.

Detective Sergeant Nick Bonomini, of Scotland Yard’s Serious Crime Directorate, said: “He has previously demonstrated a high level of aggression towards black people that appears, given his words, to be based on their race. But there was no evidence in these current two shootings that suggest that this formed the same sort of motivation for him and on that we have an open mind.”

Social worker Mr Kamara, 44, had been with a group of work friends going for a drink after a game of badminton. When a sports bag belonging to one of his colleagues brushed against a friend of Laidlaw’s, the gunman reacted by pulling out a gun and shooting Mr Kamara. The bullet was deflected off Mr Kamara’s chin and entered his neck through his Adam’s apple. It went through his voicebox before finally lodging near his spinal column.

Half an hour after shooting Mr Kamara, Laidlaw shot at a man called Evans Baptiste. Mr Baptiste and a friend had been chasing Laidlaw after recognising him as the man who had attacked Mr Baptiste with a hammer earlier in the year. But the bullet brushed past Mr Baptiste and struck 26-year-old Emma Sheridan in the back.

Mistaken identity

A passing medical student plucked the bullet from her back before ambulance crews took her to hospital for treatment.

When police caught up with Laidlaw at the home of a family friend in Kingston, south-west London, he dived through a glass door and ran into a shed to hide. In court, he claimed he was watching television all day during the shootings and was the victim of mistaken identity.

Three weeks before the shooting spree, Laidlaw admitted in court attacking a black motorist. When he was arrested he behaved violently and was “foaming at the mouth” according to a police document.

“In the presence and hearing of the black female jailer the defendant made racist comments and remarks, stating he was a member of the BNP and that he hated all black people,” the document says. He also stated that he was going to kill all black people, said the report.

BBC

Note: For the benefit of Lancaster BNP’s resident liar, Chris Hill, and so he can make the appropriate correction on his blog where he claims we made up the BNP connection in this article, we’ve highlighted the point that he seems to have completely missed.

Scots to fight BNP

An anti-fascist movement is to launch a Scottish branch to battle the British National Party’s largest ever Holyrood campaign.

The far-right BNP plan to field four candidates for every regional seat in May’s Scottish parliamentary elections but Unite Against Fascism have announced a counter attack. The anti racist counter campaign will hold two large Love Music Hate Racism gigs and leaflet homes over the next two months. They have cross party support from the political opposition as well as endorsement from bands like Franz Ferdinand and the Chemical Brothers.

UAF Joint Secretary Weyman Bennett called BNP campaigning “really vicious stuff” but thought the party had overstated their popularity: “There is a good tradition of resisting the BNP in Scotland and we hope that that continues. These people can terrorise minority groups and if they are going to spread their propaganda to Scottish homes then we will retaliate with our own campaign.”

This month the BNP were accused of exploiting electoral funding rules which grant them £670,000 in free publicity including a prime-time political broadcast and cash to distribute 2.6 million campaign leaflets for having 32 candidates. BNP Scotland spokesperson Kenny Smith said the party would target Glasgow: “We are in with a real shot in these elections. “The opposition are running scared that we will get a seat but… if we do it will be the democratic will of the people.”

The BNP’s Glasgow list candidate won 1.1% of the vote in 2003’s Scottish election.

Big Issue

Lib Dem councillors suspended after backing BNP member for key job

The Liberal Democrats have suspended two councillors who backed a BNP representative for a key local position and then refused to apologise. The party initially said it would let the matter rest because John Jones and Jeff Sumner, from Lib Dem-held Burnley council, had admitted they were wrong and undertaken not to support members of the far-right group again.

But after the men told the Guardian that they had no regrets about voting for BNP councillor Sharon Wilkinson – rather than her Labour rival – to join the board of a publicly-funded regeneration initiative, the party’s president issued a further statement.

“In the light of the comments reported today, councillors John Jones and Jeff Sumner have been suspended from membership of the Liberal Democrats [pending investigation],” Simon Hughes said.

The council leader, Justin Birtwhistle, had already said he would discipline the men following their remarks.

“She [Ms Wilkinson] is a good councillor. I can’t afford to be biased against a certain party if they’re doing the business for their ward members,” Mr Jones told the Guardian earlier today. “Most parties have their faiths, tenets and beliefs. They [the BNP] are to an extent extreme at the national level, but I think she speaks sense most of the time.”

Asked whether he had promised not to vote that way in future, he replied: “Bullshit. I vote the way I want to vote and as far as I’m concerned I’m an asset to the Liberal Democrats. We did have words about this, but I certainly wasn’t told it was the party line and never to do it again. I wouldn’t have agreed to it.”

In a letter to a local paper, Mr Jones also argued that Labour was “over-represented” on the board of Padiham Life.

Mr Sumner said: “I voted for Sharon Wilkinson because I thought – and still do – that she was the right person for the job. Politics shouldn’t come into it. If the vote was again tonight, I would vote for Sharon again.” He added: “I don’t think she’s a very racist person.”

In their original statement, the Liberal Democrats said: “The actions of the two councillors are not in any way indicative of any support of any element of the BNP’s platform.”

They added: “After this incident the council group leader, Cllr Birtwistle, spoke to Cllrs Jones and Sumner and explained to them that this was conduct not becoming of an elected Liberal Democrat representative. They wholly accept that analysis and undertake that their votes will never be used again in such a way as to be open to any form of misrepresentation as support for the BNP. Fortunately in the event the two votes cast had no bearing on the outcome and the BNP councillor was not elected. No further action was taken because they wholly and swiftly accepted that they had behaved wrongly.”

Guardian

Jury retires in bomb plot trial

A jury in the trial of two men accused of plotting to cause explosions has retired to consider its verdict.

Robert Cottage, 49, and 62-year-old David Jackson, both from Lancashire, deny conspiracy to cause an explosion. Mr Cottage, an ex-British National Party (BNP) candidate, has admitted possessing explosive substances. Mr Jackson, a dentist, denies the charge.

The hearing at Manchester Crown Court was adjourned on Wednesday and the jury sent home for the night.

‘Civil war’

The court has heard how police found chemicals including ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, hydrochloric acid when they searched Mr Cottage’s home at Talbot Street, Colne, last September. Officers later recovered two nuclear protection suits and a bow and arrows from Mr Jackson’s home in Trent Road, Nelson, the court heard.

During his evidence, Mr Cottage told the hearing he stockpiled chemicals, airguns and crossbows to protect his family for an “inevitable” civil war. Mr Jackson told the court he agreed to purchase a number of chemicals via an internet site but said these were for “personal experiments”.

The jury is expected to continue its deliberations on Thursday.

BBC

Government vows to take on ‘poisonous’ far-right groups

The Government is to step up its efforts to take on “poisonous” far-right groups like the British National Party (BNP), Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly said today.

Ms Kelly accused far-right extremists of promoting violence and division by peddling “myths and misconceptions” about Britain’s multi-racial society. And she said that strong leadership was needed to correct “gross falsehoods” spread by extremist groups – particularly during election campaigns such as last year’s local authority polls, when the BNP doubled its number of councillors to 52.

Ms Kelly was speaking at the launch of a new report highlighting English language skills as the key to helping immigrants integrate successfully into British society. The interim report by the Commission on Integration and Cohesion floated proposals to require spouses from overseas to pass an English test before joining their husbands or wives in the UK. And it suggested that translation services for migrants should be scaled back to allow a greater focus on English language tuition.

Ms Kelly indicated support for the Commission’s argument that translation services should not be allowed to become a “crutch”, removing the need for migrants to learn the language of their new home. And she said she would “study carefully” their other recommendations when she is presented with a final report in June this year.

But she told the launch, at Charlton Athletic Football Club in south-east London, that efforts to help newcomers integrate must go hand-in-hand with a struggle against the far-right to “win the hearts and minds” of communities from all racial backgrounds.

There was no room for complacency if Britain was to avoid the emergence of a far-right political figure like Jean-Marie Le Pen in France or Joerg Haider in Austria, she warned. Extremists are targeting both traditional white communities and settled ethnic minority groups who now see new waves of immigrants arriving in the UK, said Ms Kelly.

“These are the communities that far-right extremists are determined to divide through the exploitation of myths and misperceptions,” she said. “The far-right is still with us, still poisonous. Their policies are as unacceptable and ugly now as they were in the 1930s when the communities of the East End stood together against Mosley’s brownshirts. And they remain a fringe element because the overwhelming majority of British people reject their message of hate. But we all have a duty to remain vigilant. And it is because of this that I am determined to achieve a step change in the Government’s work to tackle far right extremists.”

Ms Kelly acknowledged that a “new approach” was needed to ensure community cohesion, as multiculturalist policies pursued over past decades had sometimes “emphasised what divides us at the cost of what unites us”.

In offering comprehensive translation services to help migrant groups with everything from housing to healthcare to finding work “there is a danger that we have failed to promote independence and inclusion in British society”, she said.

She welcomed the Commission’s emphasis on celebrating shared British values and heritage. But she said that this must be matched by more effort at a local and national level to counter the “rubbish” peddled by the BNP, particularly at election time. She highlighted claims in last year’s campaign that Dagenham and Barking council in east London was offering Africans £50,000 to buy homes and that a library in Tipton, West Midlands, was being turned into a mosque – both of which she said were untrue.

“As far-fetched as these myths can be, it’s not always so easy to deal with them,” said Ms Kelly. “Yet I can’t help thinking that we all – nationally and locally – need to be better at correcting gross falsehoods.”

She added: “There is a challenge for local government here. Some councillors and officials aren’t aware of what they can and can’t say to quash the myths. Local officials need to know that they are perfectly entitled – even in a pre-election period ahead of the upcoming local elections – to challenge lies about asylum seekers and ethnic minorities.”

Ms Kelly said that her department was working with the anti-fascist organisation Searchlight on a new magazine for young people, emphasising their shared Britishness, regardless of their background. The magazine will initially be distributed in Croydon, Greenwich, Waltham Forest, Stoke-on-Trent and Hull.

Ms Kelly said: “It is worth remembering that Britain’s traditions of tolerance are robust. In recent years we have not had a Le Pen, like France, or a Haider, like Austria. But there is no room for complacency, and we must all ask what more we can do.”

Today’s report by the Commission on Integration and Social Cohesion – set up last year in the wake of the July 7 bombings – identifies the inability to speak English as the single biggest barrier preventing migrants from integrating successfully in Britain. Commission chairman Darra Singh warned that if immigrants fail to pick up the language soon after their arrival, they many never do so.

And he said the Commission would produce guidance to local authorities to ensure that translation services help newcomers adapt to life in the UK after their arrival, but do not become a substitute for learning to communicate.

The Commission is also seeking views on whether there should be a new entry requirement for spouses to speak English before settling.

Mr Singh said: “Just as mastering reading and writing for school children opens up the rest of the curriculum, mastering English opens up participation in British society and accessing employment. If you can’t speak English – whether you are a new migrant or someone who has lived here for years – you are on a path to isolation and separation. Those who can’t speak English find other ways of getting by and if English is not learnt quickly then the chance of ever learning the language diminishes rapidly. I want to see what innovative schemes across the country are doing to combat this.”

Ms Kelly said her Department would study the Commission’s recommendations carefully in June before making a formal response to them.

Sir Jeremy Beecham, vice-chairman of the Local Government Association, said: “As the only body directly elected by local people to represent them, councils have a duty to ensure that everyone in their locality feels respected and lives with a sense of responsibility and belonging. Councils are uniquely placed to bring together the many organisations that contribute to life in our local areas, and it’s vital we use our capacity as community leaders to make links with local businesses, partners and the voluntary sector to understand issues which are barriers to cohesive communities, and tackle them head on.

“As employers, councils are committed to making sure their workforce is representative of the local community. Similarly, local authorities across the country are working hard to encourage more people from minority groups to fulfil their potential as community champions and stand for election as a councillor. There is no single best way for a local authority to tackle prejudice and extremism. Much work is already happening across the country and it’s clear that solutions must be focused on what’s right for local neighbourhoods. If these solutions don’t carry weight with local people, they’re not going to work.”

He added: “Shared language should be at the heart of a common set of values for a community. It is imperative for the continued long-term advancement of community cohesion and improving education that language does not act as a barrier to access to services. What is disappointing is that the Learning and Skills Council has recently decided to drastically reduce its budget to provide English as a second language to overseas learners.”

24dash

Neo-Nazis on a Shopping Spree

For years, the far-right NPD has been eager to buy land in Germany. The party will soon open a schooling center for young right-wingers in Gonzerath, a village near Trier. But are deals in Dresden and Bavaria a real-estate scam?

The sophisticated cuisine Heinrich Schöpf offered his guests in the Jägerstüberl inn, in the Bavarian town of Wunsiedel, was a grand success. The renowned chef was even picked out by the authors of the Michelin guide for specialties, said to combine “homeliness” with “cosmopolitanism.”

But the gourmet attraction has been closed since the start of the year, just like the Waldlust mountain inn next door — for economic reasons, people say. A “hint of Asia,” a “dash of the Orient,” a “Mediterranean touch” — that’s all gone now. The NPD, Germany’s largest far-right party, is moving in.

The little town is a symbolic place for the German far right; Hitler’s deputy, Rudolf Hess, lies buried there. Now it seems a top-level NPD functionary named Thomas Wulff plans to open a “Rudolf Hess Memorial and Documentation Center” in the building complex. There’s also talk of a “national schooling and education center” — and of using the complex as a campaign headquarters for the NPD during next year’s Bavarian regional elections.

Wulff is the right-hand man of the NPD’s leader, Udo Voigt. He’s also a middleman between the party and the unorganized and sometimes violent neo-Nazi groups called Freie Kameradschaften (“Free Associations”). Jürgen Rieger — a Hamburg-based neo-Nazi known for nationwide real estate activities — has been presented with a sales offer by the property owner, according to the NPD’s Bavarian spokesman, Günter Kursawe, who added that negotiations were underway. Rieger is notorious for co-organizing the so-called “Rudolf Hess Memorial Marches,” which have now been banned for two years. Several thousand right-wing radicals from all over Europe participated in the march when it was last held in 2004.

People in the city are worried, all the more so because one right-winger has been sleeping in the house during the past few days — “to guard it,” as the NPD says. The old inn is located in the middle of the woods, just a few hundred meters away from the natural stage of the Luisenburg Festival, which draws more than 100,000 theatergoers every summer.

Mayor Karl-Willi Beck from the conservative Christian Social Party (CSU) now has reason to worry that tourists might pass a national neo-Nazi office when they attend the festival. But he says the city has secured a license to sell the property and is itself negotiating with the proprietor. It remains unclear “to what extent this is simply a question of putting financial pressure on the city,” Beck told center-left daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Nazis on the tennis court?

A possible far-right real estate purchase is also being discussed in Dresden. Rumors the NPD may want to buy a long-defunct tennis hall in the Pappritz neighborhood have been circulating for months. The NPD’s party organ Deutsche Stimme already held a so-called “press festival” in the sports hall last August; thousands of members of the far-right scene showed up.

Now Uwe Meenen, an NPD functionary from Lower Franconia, is said to have purchased the sports hall. The party’s federal spokesman Klaus Beier says the sales contract was signed at a notary’s office on Jan. 30 and the change of owner now merely needs to be registered in the cadaster. Beier called the sales price of €3.25 million ($4.26 million) — reported by Germany’s mass-market daily Bild — “realistic.” The NPD will hold party congresses and other major events there in the future, he says. They may even play tennis.

Saxony’s conservative (CDU) governor, Georg Milbradt, lives a few hundred meters from the tennis hall. He acts relaxed about his potential new neighbors. “One shouldn’t allow oneself to be blackmailed by the NPD,” he said, according to Bild. “And if they want to play tennis in Pappritz, that’s politically harmless.”

What does he mean by blackmail? As in Wunsiedel, it’s not out of the question that the threat of neo-Nazis on the tennis court is just a ploy to drive up the price of an unpopular piece of real estate. It wouldn’t be the first time that NPD functionary Meenen presented himself as a far-right investor to help Wolfgang Jürgens, the proprietor, pocket a princely sum.

In spring 2005, Meenen said he was planning a “National Center” in Grafenwöhr, in Germany’s Upper Palatinate region. Here too, the piece of real estate in question was a sports hall with a tennis court. Alarmed, the city made use of its license to sell and took over the building for €545,000 ($714,000). That was the price Meenen had previously negotiated.

The city administration complained about “a form of blackmail” and shelled out major sums for renovating and restructuring the building while the former proprietor laughed all the way to the bank. “I should have asked for €100,000 ($131,000) more,” Jürgens sneered, openly calling the far-right purchasing offer “a pretty good pressuring device.”

Neo-Nazis schooling center in Hunrücksdorf

In the Rhineland area of Hunsrück, on the other hand, the NPD’s real-estate shopping spree is more tangible. The party has rented rooms in a former primary school in Gonzerath, a small town near Trier, and the state branch of the NPD wants to open its “Schinderhannes Center” there in early March.

The party held a congress there in December. The first schooling session for “functionaries, activists and (potential) candidates” took place in January, and the plan is to continue holding such sessions at the school grounds on every third Saturday of the month. The local NPD branch has announced on its Web site that the sessions will instruct people in the “foundations of national politics,” and that this will involve defining concepts such as “race,” “people,” “nation” and “state” — as well as explaining “the view of humans appropriate to life,” and the NPD’s political platform.

Dietmar Thömmes, Gonzerath’s head official, is horrified by the prospect of a far-right schooling center in the town. The CDU politician says he and others feel helpless at the moment, but haven’t given up the fight.

The property owner’s decision to rent to the NPD in the first place goes back to an argument with the local administration, according to Thömmes. He says the town clerk’s office took the man’s snappish dog away — prompting him to announce to the administration that he would present them with a “nice surprise.”

Spiegel Online