Stop talking about the BNP!

With the leaking of the party's membership list, the press has taken the bait like a fish would a juicy grasshopper

If it's true that a disgruntled former BNP member is behind the online publication of the party membership list, you've got to question the motives. Were the leaked details a traitor's attempt to embarrass the leadership? Were they, really? Because as far as betrayals go, this is no Julius Caesar material. The BNP spokesperson said that "someone out of malevolence or treachery has published it", but the press has taken the bait like a fish would a juicy grasshopper. The BNP, in fact, is receiving press coverage like never, literally NEVER, before.

Worringly, the amount of interviews their leaders are being given is now reaching the Cheryl Cole threshold. And the BNP are doing what they do best, posing in their usual concoction of victimhood and self-satisfaction. On the surface, they're moaning about privacy issues, human rights, threats and abusive phone calls. But they are pleased to announce that "the range of ages and occupations of [its] members disproved the caricature that the typical member was a 'skinhead oik'".

Paradoxically, the two papers that are covering the story like there was no tomorrow are the Daily Mail and the Guardian. While the former are repeating that the BNP are vile and all the rest, they're also echoing the opinion that "[a]lmost every shade of opinion, every walk of life, is said to be represented among the party's 12,000 members". As if the presence of one university lecturer, a vicar and a few former soldiers were shocking material. Two royal servants at Buckingham Palace? What were you expecting, Socialist Workers' material?

In the Guardian, you get Lola Adesioye writing this: "While I find BNP ideology abhorrent, the publishing of this list has brought home the fact that the people who belong to the party are ordinary British citizens [...] more understanding of the party and those who belong to it is, therefore, vital. This could be an opportunity for some open engagement and dialogue".

Really, Lola? You may start by watching this then. It's a BBC documentary called BNP exposed. As far as I'm concerned, the only type of coverage the BNP deserves.