[davidjay]

He might be referring to Mad Mel and Ian Austin.

And he'd be right.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Indeed.

Here's another contender, by the look of it.

[Tubby Isaacs]

They've taken something down. Must have been bad.

[Philip Marlow]

And now you’ve beaten me to it. Was going to post yesterday.

After a quick glance, they appear to have removed their initial, wildly out of whack Muslim population figures. The following paragraphs do remain.

Right before the general election’s second round, Arfi joined Chief Rabbi Haim Korsia and two other communal leaders to warn French Jews against voting for France Unbowed or alternatively for the right-wing National Rally, the party that replaced the National Front more than a decade ago and whose leader is Marine Le Pen, Jean-Marie’s daughter.

However, many French Jews, including former Crif chairman Richard Prasquier or Serge and Beate Klarsfeld, the famous Nazi-hunters, don’t subscribe to such a parallel. They point to the National Rally’s transformation under Marine Le Pen into a law-abiding, democratic conservative party, that has repudiated antisemitism thoroughly (and expelled Jean-Marie in the process).

I can’t find the quote now, but I think it was Bardella who stated that overt antisemitism was the one thing seriously holding Le Pen’s party back. It’s more-or-less what Nick Griffin was trying to do with the BNP for a while, and makes me wonder what might have been achieved had he been a smarter political operator.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I wonder what would have happened had Griffin not blown his (totally unwarranted) chance on Question Time. His strategy was right, but he wasn't going to be able to forget his past. Even Dimbleby pitched in with an exasperated "we've seen you saying this stuff on the internet". Before too long, the EDL had eclipsed him by not bothering with council seats in Epping Forest. And then UKIP, of course.

[Andy McDandy]

As long as it was called the BNP, he'd never be able to distance himself from the more blatant racism of John Tyndall etc.

Good point about the EDL - Griffin was in this really odd position where he didn't want to come across as a thug, but wasn't slick enough to present as vaguely normal, as per UKIP. Too wimpy for the boot boys and too lower class for the Kippers.

[Philip Marlow]

I think the death knell was a combination of the party getting an absolute doing in the next elections - losing the seats they’d got rather than building on initial gains as planned - and the entire membership list being leaked online twice in the space of a few months.

In the first instance, members who’d been willing to put the fascist salutes away in public provided Griffin’s project was going somewhere got a wee bit tired of minding their language. In the second, there were teachers, soldiers and serving police who were not at all amused about what their support becoming public could mean for their jobs.

[davidjay]

Griffin was Farage without the charm and his supporters were the old NF hooligans, a few years older and wearing their best clothes. His grifting and their core belief was never going to last long but it did show that there was a market for thinly-veiled racism from someone with a nice smile who was used to wearing a smart suit while saying more than "I do" and "Not guilty". I don't doubt that Farage watched their rise and fall with interest.

[Bones McCoy]

As long as it was called the BNP, he'd never be able to distance himself from the more blatant racism of John Tyndall etc.

Good point about the EDL - Griffin was in this really odd position where he didn't want to come across as a thug, but wasn't slick enough to present as vaguely normal, as per UKIP. Too wimpy for the boot boys and too lower class for the Kippers.

I seem to recall there was also a court case that effectively defunded either Griffin or the BNP.
I cannot recall the details, whether it was a libel, or some contractural wrangle between various groups on the far right.

I do recall being told that Griffin was pretty much broke when he did QT, and hoped it would be a springboard for further fundraising.

Sorry I can't recall more.

[davidjay]

As long as it was called the BNP, he'd never be able to distance himself from the more blatant racism of John Tyndall etc.

Good point about the EDL - Griffin was in this really odd position where he didn't want to come across as a thug, but wasn't slick enough to present as vaguely normal, as per UKIP. Too wimpy for the boot boys and too lower class for the Kippers.

I seem to recall there was also a court case that effectively defunded either Griffin or the BNP.
I cannot recall the details, whether it was a libel, or some contractural wrangle between various groups on the far right.

I do recall being told that Griffin was pretty much broke when he did QT, and hoped it would be a springboard for further fundraising.

Sorry I can't recall more.

There was an equalities case that ruled they had to let darkies in, which upset a few of them, but the big implosion was based around whatever happened to the money. There were also a couple of industrial tribunals concerning employees in Belfast, which had Griffin and his family doing it in their trousers at the prospect of getting mixed up with proper bad lads.

[Philip Marlow]

The JC, living its best life once again.

[Philip Marlow]

The JC has issued a fabulously inadequate response to Reiff’s investigation, withdrawing Elon Perry’s articles from the website but with not a word on how they came to publish him and them in the first place.

I know Rivkah Brown is #problematic, but I find it hard to disagree with a single word of this.

[Bones McCoy]

Columnists quit Jewish Chronicle in Gaza articles row

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgnn153zg1o

Three prominent columnists have resigned in protest from the Jewish Chronicle, as a row deepens over the publication of allegedly fabricated articles on Israeli operations in Gaza.

Jonathan Freedland, Hadley Freeman and David Aaronovitch announced they were quitting their columns over what Freedland described as a "great disgrace" at the London-based newspaper.

It comes after the JC said it conducted a "thorough investigation" into one of its freelance journalists, Elon Perry, "after allegations were made about aspects of his record".

TL/DR: Three Guardian aligned columnists have quit the JC following Walt/propagandist articles.

What is it with folk called Elon?

[Philip Marlow]

In terms of reactions there’s a sharp divide between vaguely guilty liberal contributors who are perhaps just a little uneasy about the sort of paper the Chronicle is increasingly becoming, and the more right wing types like Josh Howie and Zoe Strimpel who are fully on board.

In terms of resignations, it does feel a bit much that what’s finally prodded these columnists of principle overboard is the publication of articles bad enough that an actual IDF spokesman is asking ‘What is this crap?’

[Youngian]

In the pre digital days as a reporter you would scan all major national publications every morning for relevant news. Two publications I'd set the clock to for grammar queries and thorough polemic free reporting was the Telegraph and Jewish Chronicle. That's now a laughable proposition as their ownership has now passed to the same hard right circles with no interest in maintaining those traditional high journalistic standards.

[Philip Marlow]

Whole thread’s solid, but #2 is a good point in particular.