Dogs, Horses, Pigs and Other Animals

The BNP have had a bit of a kicking today. Not that they would agree. Firstly, their much trumpeted 'celebrity' candidate, Angela Reid, daughter of Eastenders actor Mike, has decided not to stand as a candidate for the odious zealots. The Mirror carries the story:

• Angela Reid cold-shouldered the far-right political party shortly before the midday deadline for nominations.

  Her sudden withdrawal will be a huge blow to the BNP, which had been boasting about hooking up with Mrs Reid because of her celebrity links. Her husband said yesterday: "She has cancelled her candidacy because she is Mike Reid's daughter and people would call her a Nazi and slag her off."

  The BNP has been desperately trying to rebrand itself in recent years as a respectable political party and play down its Neo-Nazi sympathies.

As Simon 'pretty much' Darby explained on his blog of bilge here,

• Last week I indicated that after the brother of England football legend Stuart Pearce, Dennis was revealed to have stood for the BNP on the London Assembly list by the Sunday People, there would be another relative of a household name who would be standing as a candidate.

• Speaking to Angela today, she sounds like an excellent candidate with a lot to say about where this country is going wrong.

The Mirror fails to mention - so kudos to the Mail for once - that Mike Reid and wife were living in Marbella, Spain at the time of his death. The Sun helpfully educates its dim readers to the fact that General Franco (or FranKo as they pun) came from Spain!

Sounds like the typical hypocritical ex-pat we hear from in the Mail and Express - how this country is going to the dogs while sipping sangria on the beach. It is not known whether Mike shared his daughter's less-than-t'riffic views on foreigners but Mike was unlikely to say on children's TV show, Runaround, G-G-G-G-G-G-GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM.

Secondly, Simon '2 Wardrobes' Darby was a guest on Asian Network where he refused to accept that presenter Yasmeen Khan, born in Yorkshire, was a native Englishwoman. The conversation can be listened to in the UK on the BBCi site at Nihal at about 30 minutes in. It should be available for 7 days. I'll hopefully have time to transcribe some of it later.

When I heard Obama seemingly refer to Sarah Palin with the 'lipstick on a pig' gibe (as McCain seemingly did with Hilary Clinton) I immediately thought of the oft-quoted BNP mantra as seen on their official site -

• viii. Do you accept or deny that blacks/Asians born in Britain are totally British?

  People are partly the product of their environment, but mainly of their genes. Spike Milligan and Joanna Lumley were born in India – do you think they are Indians? It was the Duke of Wellington who said that just because someone is born in a stable that doesn’t make him a horse.

THIS IS THE REAL BNP.