BNP’s deputy leader for Wales is going to have to go to court to face allegations of death threats against a You Tube user.
Roger Phillips who went by the usernames Wellard67 and WalesBNP is well known on the website by the anti-BNP activists.
One of these activists a Mr Mark Watson was on the receiving end of Mr Phillips’ anger when he rang him and threatened to kill him.
Here’s the latest video development in this story,
please check out the rest of Marks videos for the full story at
RogerTheBNPandMe
Friday, 12 March 2010
BNP rules discriminatory - judge
The British National Party's new membership rules are likely to discriminate against non-white people, a judge has ruled.
The BNP voted last month to admit non-white members but still requires them to sign up to its core principles.
But a judge at Central London County Court has ruled the party's new constitution is still discriminatory.
BNP leader Nick Griffin was met with protests from anti-fascist groups as he arrived at court earlier.
BBC News
The BNP voted last month to admit non-white members but still requires them to sign up to its core principles.
But a judge at Central London County Court has ruled the party's new constitution is still discriminatory.
BNP leader Nick Griffin was met with protests from anti-fascist groups as he arrived at court earlier.
BBC News
Facebook calls on ex-detective to name social networking site
Facebook has called on the ex-detective who posed as a 14-year-old girl online on a "well-known social network" and said he was approached by men making sexual suggestions within minutes to name the site he used.
But Mark Williams-Thomas, whose experiences were described by the Daily Mail in a contentious story this week, declined to name the site today. He suggested that it would not be helpful to the site's users – and that it might damage its reputation or attract paedophiles to use it more extensively.
A spokesperson for Facebook said that it was important to identify the site so that young users could be protected. "If you really want to protect people online, then you should name sites which allow this. It's up to the Daily Mail and Mark Williams-Thomas. If they really want to protect their readers, they should give the name."
However, Williams-Thomas said that although the operators of the site would be able to identify it from his description in the story written in the Daily Mail earlier this week, identification would not be beneficial because it might attract unwelcome users. "The site would implode," he told the Guardian.
Facebook is threatening to sue the Daily Mail over a story which appeared in Wednesday's paper under Williams-Thomas's byline which was headlined "I posed as girl of 14 on Facebook. What followed will sicken you". The piece described how Williams-Thomas had created a profile on a social networking service of a 14-year-old girl and within minutes of the profile going live had been contacted by men aged between 20 and 40 seeking sexual gratification.
The Mail has accepted that it wrongly suggested that the social network was Facebook, issuing an apology and blaming the error on "miscommunication". However, Facebook is still considering whether to sue for damage to its reputation.
Facebook has come under fire this week after the conviction of Peter Chapman, who used Facebook and other social networking systems to pose as an 18-year-old boy and lure 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall to a meeting, upon which he raped and killed her. Some police organisations have criticised Facebook for not installing a "panic button" system that would let young users alert them over their concerns – although there is no evidence that Hall had any worries about who she thought Chapman was.
Williams-Thomas, who was a detective with Surrey police until 2002, previously made an ITV documentary about the hunt for paedophiles in which he shadowed a team from the Metropolitan Police's Paedophile Unit.
He added that the piece which appeared in the Daily Mail was part of an ongoing study being carried out into safety of social networks, which will be published later this year in a peer-reviewed journal.
The Guardian
Anti-Semitism rising worldwide, US report finds
Criticism of Israel and Zionism led to a rise of anti-Jewish sentiment around the world in 2009, the US said on Thursday in a report that denounced "new forms" of anti-Semitism.
"Traditional and new forms of anti-Semitism continued to arise, and a spike in such activity followed the Gaza conflict in the winter of 2008-2009," the State Department said in an annual report.
"Often despite official efforts to combat the problem, societal anti-Semitism persisted across Europe, South America, and beyond and manifested itself in classic forms," it said.
Such incidents, it said, involved attacks on Jews or places of worship as well as desecration of cemeteries and accusations of undue Jewish influence on government policy and media.
"New forms of anti-Semitism took the form of criticism of Zionism or Israeli policy that crossed the line into demonising all Jews, and in some cases, translated into violence against Jewish individuals in general," it said.
It accused some governments - like those in Iran and Egypt - of fuelling anti-Semitism rather than combating the scourge.
The Telegraph
"Traditional and new forms of anti-Semitism continued to arise, and a spike in such activity followed the Gaza conflict in the winter of 2008-2009," the State Department said in an annual report.
"Often despite official efforts to combat the problem, societal anti-Semitism persisted across Europe, South America, and beyond and manifested itself in classic forms," it said.
Such incidents, it said, involved attacks on Jews or places of worship as well as desecration of cemeteries and accusations of undue Jewish influence on government policy and media.
"New forms of anti-Semitism took the form of criticism of Zionism or Israeli policy that crossed the line into demonising all Jews, and in some cases, translated into violence against Jewish individuals in general," it said.
It accused some governments - like those in Iran and Egypt - of fuelling anti-Semitism rather than combating the scourge.
The Telegraph
Jobbik surges ahead in March, Szonda Ipsos finds
In the decided camp, Jobbik scored 17 percent support - over three times the backing needed to get seats in parliament - while among the electorate as a whole, the radical party had double the five percent needed for representation. In January it had 12 percent support in the former camp.
Any hope among the Democratic Forum and near-defunct liberal Free Democrats that combining forces might tip them over the five percent threshold appeared dim, at least by the lights of the poll published in Nepszabadsag daily on Thursday. Only one percent of the electorate sampled indicated a vote for the small conservative party whereas the liberals had no backing whatsoever.
The new green-cum-humanist party LMP had 2 percent backing of the whole sample and 3 percent among decided voters.
Main opposition party Fidesz has been on a steady course to win a landslide for a long time, though it has shed thousands of potential voters over the past three months, dropping from 63 percent of decided voters to 57 percent in March. The Socialists have stayed virtually steady with 20 percent of decideds.
In the whole sample, Fidesz was on 35 percent compared to 12 percent for the Socialists.
The proportion of undecided voters stood at 38 percent, according to the Szonda Ipsos poll.
politics.hu
Ruling due on BNP membership rules
Last month the far-right party voted to approve changes to its constitution to allow black and Asian people to become members.
The vote followed the threat of a possible court injunction over its whites-only membership by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).
During a day of legal submissions on Tuesday, the BNP was accused of "indirectly" discriminating against black and Asian people even though the party no longer bars them from joining. The BNP denied the allegations and said it had a "waiting list" of black and Asian people and would welcome more applications from ethnic minorities.
It will be back at Central London County Court on Friday, where a judgment is expected by Judge Paul Collins on the legality of the new constitution.
Following the change in the constitution, millionaire Asian businessman Mo Chaudry said he would apply to join the party to "fight them from the inside". But he was told his application would be blocked.
Speaking earlier, Mr Chaudry, 49, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, said: "I'm hoping the court will take a robust approach and question the real intent of the change in the constitution. They have no real intention of allowing people like me into the fold. It is just a camouflage to appease the system."
Pakistan-born Mr Chaudry, who is worth £60 million, runs a string of businesses around Stoke-on-Trent, which has eight BNP members on the city council.
The decision to change the BNP constitution came after the far-right party held an extraordinary general meeting in Essex on February 14. Following the meeting, BNP leader Nick Griffin said he soon expected to welcome the party's first non-white member, a Sikh called Rajinder Singh.
Lawyers from the EHRC were considering the precise wording of the new rules to decide whether they believe the constitution is still discriminatory.
Evening Standard
Russian court jails nine over racist killing
Three of the group, known as Simbirsk White Power, were convicted of the racially motivated murder of Etizok Ndobe Ernest in the city of Ulyanovsk.
Investigators said his throat was cut and he was stabbed repeatedly on his way home from work as a DJ in 2008.
It is the latest in a series of cases involving racist attacks in Russia.
"When investigators identified the people who carried out this cruel murder, it turned out that they were all members of an extremist organisation called Simbirsk White Power," Ulyanovsk investigators said in a statement.
Simbirsk is the original name of Ulyanovsk, about 900km (560 miles) east of Moscow.
Three members of the group were found guilty of murder for reasons of ethnic hatred, investigators said.
The other defendants, who included one woman, were convicted on various charges including the organisation of an extremist group, attempted murder, robbery and hooliganism.
The nine received jail terms ranging from two to 22 years.
Attacks filmed
Prosecutors said earlier that the group had attacked 10 non-Slavic people in 2008, which they filmed on mobile phones and posted on the internet.
Correspondents say the latest case comes as Russian authorities appear to be making a concerted effort to combat hate crime
Last month a court in Moscow sentenced nine members of a neo-Nazi skinhead gang to prison terms of up to 23 years.
Independent groups monitoring the issue say the number of those killed in race attacks last year dropped by more than a quarter to just over 70 - a figure they say is still unacceptably high.
They attribute this fall to the police and justice system taking hate crimes more seriously and targeting some of the largest far-right groups.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin recently called for tougher laws against racially motivated attacks.
He also urged a deeper sense of community and a recognition that Russia is a multi-cultural country.
Hate crimes increased sharply in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Skinhead groups began targeting people of foreign appearance such as Central Asians, residents of the Caucasus or Africans.
BBC News
Neo-Nazi Reportedly Confesses to Murder (Russia)
According to police, he regularly took part in neo-Nazi attacks on ethnic minorities. The murder in question took place on February 28.
The victim was not identified in the Regnum report, so it isn't clear if the killing was a hate crime. Police reportedly detained the suspect near the scene of the crime in possession of a knife.
UCSJ
BNP fail to publish European expenses details
Nick Griffin, the British National Party leader and MEP, has not published details of his own expenses despite campaigning on an anti-sleaze platform during European elections
Nine months after accusing mainstream Westminster MPs and Brussels MEPs of having "their snouts in the trough", neither Mr Griffin, nor his BNP colleague Andrew Brons, have given any details of how they spend allowances worth a combined £530,000 every year.
According to Mr Griffin's website: "All accounts and expenses will be published on this page for complete transparency as soon as they become available." The "accounts and expenses" website section for Mr Brons, a Yorkshire MEP, has remained blank since last July.
Other Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat MEPs have all given detailed breakdowns of how allowances are spent since the European elections last June. Most British MEPs give salary band details of employees and justify travel, subsistence and other expenses.
The most recent parliamentary "declarations of financial interest" for both MEPs date back to June 16 2009, just days after they were both elected. Neither declaration gives any details of annual expenses, worth over £280,000 for each man.
Mr Griffin has used parliament assistant allowances, worth over £190,000, to employ three staff members, according to his website, but has given no details of their salary bands. Mr Brons employs four people but, also, gives no details of their wages.
One staffer, Martin Wingfield, is employed twice by both MEPs as a communications officer. Mr Wingfield's wife, Tina, also works for Mr Griffin.
European Parliament officials have told The Daily Telegraph that Mr Griffin and Mr Brons do not have any staffers accredited to work in the Brussels or Strasbourg seats of the EU assembly.
The Daily Telegraph has also learnt that the Electoral Commission has opened an investigation into the BNP's accounts after the party's auditor refused to sign off accounts for 2008.
The "case under review" concerns a suspected breach of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act, which requires all party treasurers to file full and accurate accounts each year.
"There are reasonable grounds to believe there has been a breach of reporting requirements," said a spokesman.
The BNP, Mr Griffin and Mr Brons yesterday declined to comment or answer questions about the use of their allowances.
Chris Davies, a Liberal Democrat MEP for the North West, said: "The BNP's MEPs are shown to be less than open and transparent about their own financial affairs."
As well as staff allowances, both BNP MEPs, who earn a salary of £84,000 a year, receive a "general expenditure allowance" worth over £44,000 annually. While working in Brussels or Strasbourg, the two places where the parliament sits, MEPs pocket a £265 daily cash subsistence payment, worth over £40,000 tax-free every year.
The Telegraph
According to Mr Griffin's website: "All accounts and expenses will be published on this page for complete transparency as soon as they become available." The "accounts and expenses" website section for Mr Brons, a Yorkshire MEP, has remained blank since last July.
Other Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat MEPs have all given detailed breakdowns of how allowances are spent since the European elections last June. Most British MEPs give salary band details of employees and justify travel, subsistence and other expenses.
The most recent parliamentary "declarations of financial interest" for both MEPs date back to June 16 2009, just days after they were both elected. Neither declaration gives any details of annual expenses, worth over £280,000 for each man.
Mr Griffin has used parliament assistant allowances, worth over £190,000, to employ three staff members, according to his website, but has given no details of their salary bands. Mr Brons employs four people but, also, gives no details of their wages.
One staffer, Martin Wingfield, is employed twice by both MEPs as a communications officer. Mr Wingfield's wife, Tina, also works for Mr Griffin.
European Parliament officials have told The Daily Telegraph that Mr Griffin and Mr Brons do not have any staffers accredited to work in the Brussels or Strasbourg seats of the EU assembly.
The Daily Telegraph has also learnt that the Electoral Commission has opened an investigation into the BNP's accounts after the party's auditor refused to sign off accounts for 2008.
The "case under review" concerns a suspected breach of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act, which requires all party treasurers to file full and accurate accounts each year.
"There are reasonable grounds to believe there has been a breach of reporting requirements," said a spokesman.
The BNP, Mr Griffin and Mr Brons yesterday declined to comment or answer questions about the use of their allowances.
Chris Davies, a Liberal Democrat MEP for the North West, said: "The BNP's MEPs are shown to be less than open and transparent about their own financial affairs."
As well as staff allowances, both BNP MEPs, who earn a salary of £84,000 a year, receive a "general expenditure allowance" worth over £44,000 annually. While working in Brussels or Strasbourg, the two places where the parliament sits, MEPs pocket a £265 daily cash subsistence payment, worth over £40,000 tax-free every year.
The Telegraph
BNP members will not be banned from teaching
The government commissioned the report last September after a leaked list identified 15 BNP members as teachers.
Review author Maurice Smith added his recommendation should be reviewed every year, which ministers have accepted.
The BNP has not yet commented on the review's findings. Members are barred from the police and prison service.
Mr Smith, a former chief inspector of schools, said a ban would be "taking a very large sledgehammer to crack a minuscule nut".
Schools Secretary Ed Balls welcomed the report, saying the case for a ban would be kept "under active consideration and reviewed on an annual basis".
The schools secretary has now asked for a further review of the measures in place in independent schools to prevent the promotion of racism.
Legitimate organisation
Mr Smith said: "I do not believe that barring teachers or other members of the wider school workforce from membership of legitimate organisations which may promote racism is necessary at present."
Such a move would be a "profound political act", he said, and there was no consensus on the issue.
He said existing measures to protect children and young people from discrimination or political indoctrination were comprehensive enough to mitigate the risk, although some could be improved upon.
Mr Smith said there was currently "insufficient evidence of risk" to justify a ban on teachers joining organisations such as the BNP.
He said: "Although police and prison officers are banned, to ban more than half a million teachers - or six million public servants - from joining a legitimate organisation would take this to a different scale of magnitude."
He also said any ban was likely to have been challenged in the courts by the BNP.
Concern has been raised about independent schools staffed by unqualified teachers. Mr Smith said there were no details on how many staff in independent schools were unqualified.
Mr Balls said he wanted to know if the current situation struck "the right balance between allowing independent schools autonomy, operating in accordance with their ethos and values, and protecting the young people attending those schools from teachers displaying racist or intolerant views or behaviours that could be harmful".
He said there was "no place for racism in our schools" but that the report made it clear that incidences of teachers promoting racism were "extremely rare".
Mr Balls said last year he wanted this review to see if there were sufficient powers available "to keep racism and BNP activity out of schools".
British National Party leader Nick Griffin said at the time his members were victims of "political oppression".
Racist remarks
The NASUWT union, which has campaigned to have BNP members banned from schools, said it was disappointed by the review's findings.
General secretary Chris Keates said: "Maurice Smith has squandered a golden opportunity to advance the cause of ensuring good race relations in schools.
"The report is woefully inadequate and littered with contradictions."
She said too much attention was paid to the number of incidents in schools, saying "one incident is one too many".
Only six incidences of BNP membership by members of the teaching profession or governors were brought to the attention of the Department for Children, Schools and Families in six years, the report said.
It also found only nine incidents where teachers making racist remarks or holding racist materials had been referred to the General Teaching Council for England.
"The idea that a person who signs up to membership of the BNP can simply leave these beliefs at the school gate and behave as a 'professional' when they walk into school is risible, " said Ms Keates.
But the Association of School and College Leaders welcomed the findings.
Its general secretary Dr John Dunford said: "Of course people with racist views should not be working with young people in schools. However, it is much less clear that there should be a blanket regulation on the issue.
"The aim should be genuinely to challenge young people to think for themselves and to form their own opinions rather than to promote a particular ideology."
The review into independent schools will report in September.
BBC News
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