Something Rotten in the State of Belgium

Nick Griffin, in an Australian TV programme compares the BNP to The Sex Pistols. "...and we've just got a number 1".

Funny, when I think of the BNP I tend to think of a Number Two! Can't wait for the next album from Nick Vicious and the boys. The Great Red, White and Blue Swindle? Griffin in the Rigging?

Well, you get the idea...

Charity Box

One of the more insidious trends in the charity sector is the cut-throat operations carried out in their name. Charities will of course be under enormous pressure as people tighten their belts (though it is often the less affluent who give more proportionally).

We've all been stopped by chuggers in the High Street. One of the strangest aspects of this form of raising funds is their unwillingness to accept one-off monetary donations; they only want you to sign up for monthly direct debits despite your pleas of 'well, I already give half of my income to that talking donkey off the TV'.

This makes sense as the charity can make financial projections based on what it knows will be coming in. However, it does seem to be irritating beyond the 'end justifies the means' aspect.

Does there not come a time when charities should ensure that money is obtained ethically. In this regard I'm thinking of Christmas cards (ha! not yet September and the X Factor creeps into the blog - wait until the banning stories!) which give a minuscule percentage to charity whilst making a healthy profit. Why not just give it straight to the organization?

I was thinking about this when hearing of the disappointing news that the Royal British Legion has backtracked and decided to accept a donation from a BNP member, Rachel Firth who was sleeping in a cardboard box in Yorkshire to highlight the plight of homeless ex-soldiers. A good cause one would say. Of course, only half of the proceeds of this stunt will go to the RBL; the other half goes to the BNP.

The RBL defended the volte face by saying that it had originally thought the donation was being made on a political basis — and the money could therefore not be accepted but had now concluded that this was a personal gift.

Not surprisingly, this personal fundraising effort has found its way to the BNP site where the Fascist acolytes queue up to give us the real story behind it all:

• Well if BNP members money such as mine isn't welcome then I guess they can pass the hat around some gangbangers or jihadists & see how far they get on that!
  I think they realise a BNP member is more likely to be a BL supporter than not & so are the people that they help.

• What a lovely gracious person Rachel is, a credit to her country and the BNP.
  Unlike the Royal (?) British(?) Legion who, via the press, gave her a slap in the face then held their politically soiled hand out for the money.

• Well done Rachel keep up the good work, shame the RBL dont have the strength of conviction the BNP do, like Steve Gray said I Bet they dont get much money from the enrichers,

• Well done Ms firth we need people like you to highlight are housing shortage and the fact immigration is still allowed no end when we cant even home the population now,

• As the for the Royal British Legion, I would be tempted to tell its officials where to stick their magnanimity.

• What Rachel has done is a formula that cannot fail. Creative peaceful protests and civil disobedience work. It's time for all of us to sleep in cardboard boxes or do something else which will raise public opinion for the BNP cause.

• When i donate money to the poppy appeal this year i will write on the £10 note BNP in marker pen, but not on the queens side , lets see them refuse that .

• I reckon Rachel really should'nt bother giving it to them but instead should give it all to the party, as it seems we are clearly closer to the grass roots ex service personnel and more serve their interests than the Royal British Legion

• For the first time in my life I will deliberately not be buying poppies this year, I am disappointed with the RBL and, unless they totallly change their attitude, they have lost my support completely. Sorry, that is just how I feel, all charity is now corrupt. I give nothing to any of them now.

• I noticed last year in Worcester a lot of the news agents , and petrol forecourt shops didn't have collection tins on the counter, these outlets were usually run by asians

• The Royal British Legion had better learn not to bite the hand that feeds it as they have a decreasing number of patriots who care about their own and who are willing to collect money for their cause as this country is overrun by aliens.

I therefore believe that the RBL has made a mistake here. Whilst it is proper for it to remain non-political and independent, it needs to distance itself from clear attempts - like the poppy wreaths with BNP stickers - to use it to garner respectability for this party full of Nazi admirers. It is part of the BNP's attempt to gainsay the Fascist tag. Taking money like this gives publicity to these purveyors of hate. The Mersey BNP also has this story on their site and I still recoil with horror at the thought of Nick Griffin defacing the war memorial in Liverpool with his presence. Without being too hyperbolic it was tantamount to seeing Adolf himself parading through the Arc de Triomphe.

The RBL might also wish to ponder the point that many homeless people come from ethnic minorities (whether ex-armed forces or not) or are failed asylum seekers. The BNP repeat the lie that there is a housing shortage due to immigration when official figures prove this to be a distortion.

Mathew Street Festival

The Greets (Argentina)

Nube 9 (Argentina)

Penalty Clause

This is for my friend, Andy who did not make it to witness this late goal via the penalty spot by Everton.

Dogs For Life

I remember a man who had been in the Labour Party since its inception; he had been involved as a suckling in the Independent Labour Party of 'O' Level History fame. He fought the good fight and eventually he was rewarded with - I think - a gold badge and life membership.

Now, the labour Party can be bought as much as any political organization, but i thought the patriots of the BNP were a bit different. After all they used the 'pigs in the trough' motif throughout the Euro elections.

Yes, another begging letter from Nick 'The grief' Griffin:

• Fellow Patriot,

  I am delighted to inform you of a very special invitation now open to you: the British National Party 'LIFE MEMBERSHIP' offer.

Ooh! Tell me more, Nicky, babe.

• This honour is being extended to a carefully selected group of British citizens, stalwart BNP members like you, and I would like to be the first to personally congratulate you for being among that special chosen group of people.

This is sounding like a Reader's Digest letter. Congratulations Mr ERICTHEFISH for being selected out of all the other blogs in T'INTERNET. Complete the enclosed form acknowledging your Aryan supremacy and post to us immediately. Just imagine that Golden swastika outside ERICTHEFISH TOWERS. Don't delay send them back today!

• Even our brave young soldiers, heroes all, cannot have a homecoming parade without being spat at on our streets by Muslim fanatics or Marxist UAF traitors.

This obviously happens every day in BNP world. No evidence just smears.

• Despite the tremendous progress we have made this year, we are still not strong enough to make a full assault on the corridors of power at Westminster, but soon we will be. You see, at this critical, early stage in our rise to power, it is more important than ever for friends, patriots and members like you to demonstrate your support. The more LIFE MEMBERS we have, the stronger our voices will be in defence of all we hold dear.

Assault on Parliament? Tanks on the lawn? Tell me more. But surely, like the gold membership scheme from a few months back, this won't be available to just any old Nazi. As you say in the initial paragraph 'carefully selected group of British citizens' (and not just crazies like me who signed up to the mailing list for a laugh).

• We have set the fee for LIFE MEMBERSHIP at £500, but if you respond to this written invitation right away, you can take advantage of this offer for the special invitation price of £395. This massive reduction is a token of my deep appreciation for your loyalty and hard work for the party.

Sounds too good to miss. Where's my cheque book? What else do we get?

• FREE top quality, exclusive, engraved watch, his or hers.
  FREE exclusive LIFE MEMBER pin badge to wear with pride and dignity.
  FREE lifelong subscription to new IDENTITY magazine 64pp. (£4.99)
  FREE lifelong 'annual party reports'. (£6.95)
  FREE complimentary copies of the party's magazine, Hope and Glory
  FREE prestigious LIFE MEMBER certificate parchment scroll for framing.
  FREE limited edition signed portrait of Party Chairman Nick Griffin MEP

My pen seems to have dried up! Parchment scroll? Imagine finding that when the grime busters break into the rat infested flat covered in animal faeces. A picture of Griffin? Mental.

But time is of the essence. This really is a once in a weektime offer.

• May I request that you respond to this offer as soon as possible, indicating whether or not you will be accepting my offer of LIFE MEMBERSHIP. (If you have to decline, please email us to notify us. This will allow us to keep our records up-to-date.)

BNP: the party that just keeps giving.

Is this best way to say Goodnight, Mister Tom?

My mother still gets letters addressed to my late father. Most of the time this is just irritating; other times it's laughably ironic - life insurance offers etc. It happens. Administrative errors are rife. I once (almost) allowed a letter to be sent to a person in the Everton district of Liverpool with the address 'SHITERTON' because I'd discovered the auto correct facility on MS Word and my secretary was an EFC* supporter (as was my father).

I'm reminded of this when seeing another bash the NHS story. (Source Yahoo)

• Tom Milner, 76, was not given his prescribed pain-relieving morphine for terminal leukaemia in his last two days, his family say.

  They claim he was left in agony and lay in his own urine and blood at the NHS Palliative Care Ward at Sheffield's Northern General Hospital.

  Mr Milner's case was highlighted earlier this week by the Patients Association in a report on the treatment of the elderly by NHS nurses.

  His daughter, Janet Brooks, of Emsworth, Hampshire, emailed the National Patients Safety Agency outlining her concerns about his treatment.

  Mrs Brooks, 54, said: "They responded with 'Dear Tom'.

  "It's an example of the careless and shambolic attitude by the NHS towards my father and our family. We wanted his last days to be as peaceful and dignified as possible but at one point he was twisting and turning, laying in blood and urine. There was no compassion."

Now, nobody would doubt that this would be a particularly disturbing matter for Mrs Brooks, or that Mr Milner was poorly treated, but to use this as a battering ram against one of our proudest achievements does nothing to serve the memory of her dear father.


*I will be at Goodison Park tomorrow so there is a heightened sense of irony.

Sweet Nothings

Another indication of me selling out is the fact that I took a complimentary pen, Bundesliga fixture list and post-it notes from the nice CDU man who was canvassing in Duesseldorf. I explained in my basic German that I was a bloody foreigner and would support the SPD. Nonetheless he let me keep my pen. Mischievously I put the pink post-its to good use later!

Anyway, a few years back in the former DDR I was given a condom and packet of gummi bears by a nice young CDU activist. Not sure what message that was sending out. Matters were made worse by the fact that I thought it was a matches book and proceeded to open it in the presence of my (then) German girlfriend's mother. My face was like one of the gummis.

What's this got to do with the price of Fisch I hear you call. Well, it reminds me of the latest fail by The Daily 'we don't bother to check stories' Mail. Others including The Quail and Heresycorner have covered this in great style so I'll be brief.

Haribo are launching a new product. the packaging has two fruity characters getting...well, fruity. That is, according to a mystery correspondent to the Mail.

A supreme piece of churnalism and free publicity for Haribo. Mr. O'Leary of Ryanair must be thinking up a crazy idea to top this one.

Sara Nelson actually puts her name to this crap. Your parents must so proud Sara.

The Mail story is here.

As you will see from comments on the article gets a bit of a kicking as even Mail readers aren't that thick.

Selling Out

Just putting together a report from my sojourn in Duesseldorf, which is proving difficult as I lost my notes. How I miss my Palm Tungsten mate. Anyway, I just wanted to say I'm still excited at having my first go on a Segway. I was careering around the track like Schumacher. I noted loads of people videoing so maybe it'll end up in a 'geek on Youtube' moment set to Scritti Politti. It was gear. Unfortunately, I've just seen the price of Segways. Cheaper to buy a car, or Tranmere's back four.

So if Segway people are reading, I'm willing to take sponsorship and advertising in return of a free one. That name again, Segway. Available from all good shops selling Segways.

They are cool to drive/ride/lean but will they be like the Sinclair C5. There was a lad in our area who had one and got so pissed off with the laughter that it ended up being sold after 3 weeks.

BNP Lies: Part One Googol

There was a post on the BNP main site and also on the Merseyside BNP blog of hate about a single parent in Ely, Wales who claimed she was refused service in a Post Office run by an Asian Muslim because 'her son was serving in Afghnistan'. The BNP released a video on Youtube featuring an interview with the woman conducted by a BNP councillor.

After sterling work over at Lancaster Unity, it seems the story is not all it seems. Over to Denise:

• No fools either are we, so when the screaming words Muslim Post Office Manager Bans Woman from Sending Parcel Because Her Son Serves in Afghanistan headlined an article from Welsh regional organiser Brian Mahoney on the BNP's interminably slow website, we could be fairly certain that a Muslim Post Office Manager Did Not Ban Woman from Sending Parcel Because Her Son Serves in Afghanistan.
  
  Now had the headline appeared in the Daily Mail there might just have been a kernel of truth to the story, twisted and sensationalised out of all proportion to be sure, but distantly predicated on a fact nevertheless. But this story originated with the BNP, a party which considers facts to be an optional extra.
  
  The gist of the story is quickly told: the mother of a soldier serving in Afghanistan took a parcel addressed to the said son to a Muslim-owned Post Office, and was told in no uncertain terms that she could not send it due to the fact of her son serving in Afghanistan.
  
  As Mahoney puts it: "A Muslim post office manager in Cardiff has refused to serve a British soldier’s mother — because her son serves in Afghanistan."
  
  You would have thought that something like that would - rightly - create something of a stir. Wouldn't the local press have got on the case? Wouldn't the Daily Mail have stopped the presses? Wouldn't local councillors and MPs have got involved?
  
  But none of that happened.
  
  The first, and only news of this putative cause celebre appeared on the BNP website - the BNP had scooped the world!
  
  To quote from the BNP's version of events:
  

  “Mrs [Maria] Davies’ 21-year-old son is a soldier in a Welsh regiment who recently began an eight month tour of duty in Afghanistan,” Mr Brian Mahoney, BNP leader in Wales, said.
  
  ...
  
  “Imagine, then, Mrs Davies’ shock when the owner of her local post office in Wilson Road, Ely, Cardiff, a certain Mr Khan, asked her where her son was serving.
  
  “When she told him Afghanistan, he informed her that she was not welcome to send him anything from her post office, either packages or money,” Mr Mahoney said. He also instructed his staff not to serve her.
  
  “All this took place publicly in the shop in front of witnesses,” he continued. “It left Mrs Davies astonished, frustrated and upset.”
  
  Even a neighbour who later offered to post her parcel was refused service because they had identified from whom the parcel was being sent.

  Accompanying the article was a video interview with Mrs Davies, in which Mrs Davies confirmed to Mahoney that Mr Khan had told her she was banned from the Post Office "because my son was in Afghan" (sic).
  
  The video left a number of us unconvinced that this was the whole truth, mostly because of Mrs Davies' uncomfortable demeanour throughout, but more tellingly her assertion that "I know he [Mr Khan] can do bad things", which suggests that Mrs Davies and Mr Khan have a history.
  
  And so, it turns out, they do.
  
  Mr Anjum Alam Khan owns or manages a number of shops in the same road as his Post Office in Wilson Road, one of them being a Nisa convenience store, at which Mrs Davies was a customer. Earlier this year a technical fault with the store's electronic payment system led to several Nisa customers being repeatedly debited for items they had previously purchased, and among their number was Maria Davies, who lost £200.
  
  Mrs Davies, who is unemployed and lives on benefits, was rightly aggrieved, particularly when her bank charged her for going overdrawn. “I can’t buy any food or anything,” she told her local paper. “This has taken my child support money, my tax credit, my child benefit, my income support and a portion of my next child support payment.”
  
  Nisa promised to repay its serially charged customers, and to refund any bank charges incurred. There was no suggestion of impropreity on the part of Mr Khan.
  
  We cannot help but to believe that the bad blood between Mr Khan and Mrs Davies might have something to do with this, and is the fount of Mrs Davies' statement that "I know he can do bad things", and that whatever passed between them is perhaps the reason Mrs Davies is banned from all of Mr Khan's premises.
  
  Whatever did pass between them we'll probably never know, but we do know that Mr Khan felt provoked enough to impose a ban, and that the ban has nothing to do with Mrs Davies's son serving in Afghanistan.
  
  In fact Mr Khan supports the British operation in Afghanistan, and his Post Office has collected on behalf of British troops. He is considered a hard-working member of the community.
  
  But, as an Asian Muslim, he is everything the BNP hates, and naturally the party has maliciously published his contact details, which can be for one purpose only.
  
  For their part, Mr Khan, and Post Office Manageress Mrs Thomas, have issued the following statement:
  

  “There is absolutely no truth in the allegation made to the British National Party that the Post Office in Wilson Road, Ely, Cardiff will not accept parcels for British troops in Afghanistan.
  
  It should not be repeated and we reserve the right to pursue legal action against any person or body repeating the allegation and call for its removal from any website or other publication.
  
  The Wilson Road Post Office has always accepted and continues to accept such parcels. Indeed the Wilson Road shops including the Post Office recently held a ‘Heroes Collection’ for British troops.
  
  The allegation is false and malicious and related to a separate dispute with a customer.
  
  As a result that customer is not welcome at these premises but our services can be accessed by someone else on their behalf if they so wish.”

The articles and videos have now been removed. Wonder why. As I know the Mersey mob come here, let me just say...well you can guess. This is a family show and I don't want to offend regular reader, Miss Haversham of Hemel Hempstead.

UPDATE

I managed to find a link to the video on Youtube here.

Councillor Cooke and the British Way

Our dear friend councillor Chris Cooke of Tamworth has being venting his considerable spleen in the Daily Mail (a paper he once complained about to the PCC). In a story about a Muslim leader (who was subject to an arson attack in July)being kidnapped in the Epping Forest area, the elected representative for Glascote ward, leaps to the defence of the BNP. Regular Cookewatchers (twatchers?) will recall that Cllr. Chris, an independent member of Tamworth Council, helped the local BNP candidate by delivering and printing leaflets for her. He maintained he was still independent on his nifty website (warning: not safe for eyes).

In The Mail's report of the story, he says,

• The whole tenor of this article is that the BNP leaflet somehow caused the tension which led to this man being abducted. I don't suppose for one moment people might consider that the tension was already there - in the form of mass immigration, cultural clashes, perceived crime levels of immigrants, in particular hate crimes against whites which go studiously unreported in all the media? I don't suppose people might just consider that the BNP is the correct and proper political answer for opposition to this happening? Whereas this kidnapping is something the BNP themselves would condemn. It is the government and their immigration policies that have brought this mess on us. If they get their way they will ban the only party giving measured, proper political opposition to their folly. You may hate me saying so - but ban the BNP and the tension has nowhere to go - except into street riots and civil disorder. So please - lay off the BNP smears, the job they do is vital to democracy.

  - Cllr Chris Cooke, Tamworth, UK,

So, that's clear then.

The article also provides us with further evidence of the symbiotic relationship between the Mail and the BNP. Whilst there is no proof that this event was directly linked to the BNP, readers are quick to make clear that the whole thing is either a hoax or just a smear.

• So who says it was the BNP. I think Gormless has something to do with this they keep on blaming the BNP for everything.. Election coming up Gormless running scared the BNP might do well.

  - jacqui weems, Southampton, 27/8/2009

Good to see Jacqui back on form there. Barely literate and barking mad. BNP supporter, J?

• Do we actually have ANY proof that this man was actually kidnapped? It is not out of the realms of possibility that we will find that this event never happened and was merely a ploy to further slur the BNP after previous attempts have not washed with the people. UAF anyone?

  - Mike Parsons, Exeter, UK, 27/8/2009 15:39

Mike had this to say about the torture of Binyam Mohamed:

• I've said many, many times, WHO CARES?

  - Mike Parsons, Exeter, England, 31/7/2009
  

So, a bit of a pattern emerging there, Mike. Look forward to more compassionate and rational comments in the future.

• This is what happens when the dynamics in a community are disrupted by mass immigration.

  - Steve N, Birmingham, UK, 27/8/2009 14:29

• Steve believes it happened but thinks it's the chap's own fault. Probably calls himself a Christian.
  

• This is what happens when you people to the limt. I belivee this kidnap wasx nothing then a hoax to try and portray BNP party of justice and equality as a nazi style party.

  - Neil, Birmingham, Uk, 27/8/2009 13:48

Is Neil a friend of Steve? If not, maybe they should meet up sometime. Note that Neil is so confused that in his first sentence he seems to believe it but by the second illiterate one, he's taken on board Steve's conspiracy theory.

There are positive comments but notably voted down into the red. Daily Mail you must be very proud of your boys.

• Just goes to prove that the BNP are the party of choice for the sub-intellectual thuggish elements of our society. The leaflet shown above serves no other purpose other than to stir up racial hatred.
  
  Those commentators who state this has nothing to do with BNP supporters are seriously deluded.
  
  Cllr Richardson states the British way is a "brick through the window." - say no more.

  - Aljardi, Worcs, UK, 27/8/2009 13:51

• Mr Cooke - I find the inference behind your statement to be repugnant. To actually blame the government for this vile act of violence and hatred is akin to a man beating his wife and then saying to her "look what you made me do". The fault is with the evil people who perpetrated the act and with no-one else. I am white, live in whitechapel (quite near to the mosque) and have absolutely no problem with any of the community, nor feel threatened in the least. Any such "tension" as you put it is in the mind of the beholder, and a more linked to the prevailing attitudes of their parents than any societal factors. Bigots are bigoted by definition because they have intractable views based on hearsay, and not evidence. Fearing the strange (xenophobia) sadly seems to be a common trait, but using it as a pretext to attack people because of some perceived yet paranoid "threat" they represent, is disgusting behaviour, only slightly more so than seeking to justify it in the way you have done.

  - James, London, 27/8/2009 13:57

Finally, if anyone was in any doubt about the attitude of the BNP to this, let them look at a proper BNP councillor's comment:

• Epping Forest BNP group leader Councillor Pat Richardson defended the leafleting campaign, which took place in late July.

  She said of the prayer group: 'It shouldn't be in a community centre and I don't think it's appropriate in a BNP ward.

  'It brings all sorts of problems and we don't want problems in this area.

  'It's not really natural for the area because there are so few Muslims.

  'I was wondering whether it was a ploy to attract more Muslims to the area to try and vote out the BNP councillors.'

  She said her party was not behind the attacks on Mr Ramjanally.

  'Firebombing is not a British method. A brick through the window is a British method but firebombing is not a way of showing displeasure,' Cr Richardson said.

  
  
  
  

Grilled Grayling

When I worked in one of the most deprived areas of Liverpool, some of the residents referred to it as Beirut. Sure there were problems but those who lived there were merely using black humour rather than making any astute political analogy. Similarly, when I was best man at a friend's wedding, I caused a few chortles when using the same, tired analogy about the local nightclub where the condemned pair met.

However, none of the exponents of the cliche were expecting to be a senior member of the next government as Chris Grayling is.

His ridiculous, sensationalist claim that living in Moss Side in Manchester was akin to being a bit part actor in The Wire will hopefully backfire. His grilling by Gordon Burns on BBC NW Tonight showed him to be insensitive at best. His views may play well with the Cheshire set in Altrincham as it creates a sense of self-satisfaction at avoiding the broken Britain down the road, but it has - like Sarah Ferguson's patronising interference into Northern Moor (also in Manchester) - provoked a reaction.

As yesterday's story about the bumptious Brain Sewell shows, proud cities can admit failings but take umbrage at outside hyperbole for effect from outsiders.

A Sewer Full Of Noise

Returning from Germany, I see that Brian Sewell - a man beyond parody - has been having another dig at Liverpool. One knows that one should not respond to such pristine examples of artistic crassness, but one cannot help it. (try that last sentence in Sewell dialect)

Of course, the plum-voiced doyen of the condescendi (sic) has previous; in 2004 he described the city as 'Britain's armpit'. Ah, the attention-seeking of the Dilettante Tendency knows no bounds.

Ironically, Sewell also has form in relation to armpits:

In Dirty Dali (A Private View), he waxed lyrically about his relationship with Salvador. In one excruciating passage (no pun intended, but please feel free), he outlines how he once lay prone before the great painter in the armpit of a sculpture of Christ (as one does) with trousers down and carried out a not-so-discrete Sherman whilst the mustachioed one fiddled in his own pants.

Whether this gave Dali the inspiration for his work, The Great Masturbator, is not clear.

The Crap Pub Guide

Celebrating our great 4-2 victory over Gillingham, I ventured over the water and had a good time. I had hoped to see the light show at the Pier Head but the weather wasn't looking so good (it did brighten later) so I had to console myself with a few scoops in the Pool's fine pubs.

However, given a particularly unsavoury serving in one pub, I'm minded to record the crap pubs that do not deserve to exist. With so many of our pubs closing (all being turned into mosques according to the racist BNP, whose website is down at the moment - ha!) those pubs where service and quality is at the head of the menu should be trumpeted. That is why many people come to my website looking for cheap car insurance...er beer...or fish sex.

Many tourists come to Liverpool; there are many bars in town touting for the foreigner's dollar. I rely upon good reviews when planning my ventures abroad so I will use my webby power to point people in the right direction.

So, let's name and shame the culprits. This is based on personal yet unbiased opinion and in no way dependent on whether the barmaid laughed at my sub-Carry On innuendo, matron.

HALL OF SHAME

1. The SWAN, Wood Street

This used to be a favourite many years ago. It had one of the best selections of real ale including Old Peculier ( I once witnessed a hairy biker throwing up in the toilets and asked if he was OK as he looked very ill, only to be told he was making room and two minutes later he returned to the bar for another Wobbly Bob pint @ 6%).

My last visit was a bit of a downer. I'd returned to Liverpool from a flight from Poland and in need of sustenance. The first pint was acceptable but the second was vinegary. When I took it back I was met with the demeaning mantra of 'well, no-one else has complained' from a barmaid whose age should have her taught her better. When a second opinion was asked for, the pony-tailed manager was called into action. I assume he was the manager but he could easily have been the delivery man enjoying a brew. He tasted the beer from the pump and declared that it was AOK. It was just me. I offered him a taste of the concoction in my cloudy glass but he declined.

This used to be a great pub with the best juke box in town. Now it is being run by people who do not care about custom (there were about 5 people in at the time).

2. THE EXCELSIOR, DALE STREET, LIVERPOOL

Again this used to be a great pub. If you tsake a look at the old website you will see that the previous landlord was forced out by brewery greed and is now running the great Vernon Arms.

I'd watched most of the Everton match in the Vernon and ventured into this pub on seeing that there were more than 5 people there (something rare since its re-opening) and chose a pint of Old Speckled hen (the only cask ale on offer). It was off. I asked the twentysomething barman to have a look at it. Guess what? ' Nobody else has complained.' This shows complete ignorance. A barrel can be OK right up until the next pint poured. Anyway, my plight was not helped by the lager-drinking idiot next to me. At first I thought he was enjoying some banter by claiming I just wanted a new pint (after consuming 5%). He wasn't. He was a moron. I realised that after 30 seconds. I would never claim that beer tastes like gnat's piss; I leave that to drinkers of Carling like our idiot here.

Barman proceeded to pour scorn (if not a full pint) on my complaint. He asked if I wanted my money back. 'No, I'd like a drinkable pint.' He then disappeared to seve another mug. Eventually - after again asking if I wanted my money back: in hindsight a good deal) he offered a switch. I went for Guinness. Half way through the pint he asked, curtly, if it was OK.

Avoid this pub if you want decent beer and want to be treated like a human. This used to be a great pub and raised money for worthy causes. Thankfully, the landlord is now just a short walk away on Dale Street at The Vernon Arms.

A WORK IN PROGRESS...

Danny: Chumpion of the World

Watching actress Kim Cattrall's visit to Liverpool to trace her ancestry in Who Do You Think You Are? (available for UK only or proxy)(YouTube Link) reminded me of my own delving into genealogy some years ago. It was triggered by the death of my father and recent discovery of a number of half-siblings. Every family is capable of unearthing skeletons and scandals; when they involve celebrities - whose personal lives we think we know - it makes for fascinating TV.

One aspect of trawling through censuses and registers of births, deaths and marriages is the revelation of how far we have come. Families - even non-Catholic ones like mine - traditionally had very large families. My father's traditional greeting to someone with, say, four children was to venture that they didn't have a TV! A less glib appraisal shows us that working class Britain a century ago was subject to such hardship and high mortality rates, that in such families, necessity was the motherhood invention.

Many entries saw children born and dying within the year; other names would disappear from the next census. So, it does not take a sociologist to conclude that health has in the main improved since the creation of a welfare state 'from cradle to grave'. A visitor from could pick holes in that - citing the outbreak of mass obesity -but that also affects the USA in particular.

You can see where I'm going.

Tory MEP Daniel Hannon may be dismissed by Cameron as having a few eccentric ideas, but his views are not atypical of the Tories. The NHS may not be perfect but without it, how many of us would be in a position to ponder who do we think we are?

Getting Better

Renewed hope of a glorious European campaign next year as Tranny thumped Grimsby 4-0 in the Cup. We can but dream and recall those heady days of 2000 when we reached Wembley and were a couple of Matt Elliott headers away from the UEFA Cup.

I'm also upbeat having learned of this fascinating report of a BNP meeting in Birmingham where Marlene Guest was an erm, guest (see her masterful insight in the Youtube video below).

Apparently, BNP members are so repulsive (again see the Marlene off the wall video) that they have been using unusual means to secure a bride:

• During the brief interval where we enjoyed yet another excellent buffet, provided by organiser Tanya Lumby, I chatted with several supporters who had travelled some fair distances to see the two guest speakers, including Nuneaton & Bedworth councillor Martyn Findlay who had bought his wife, Debbie, and their four children along to this oratory treat.

The mind boggles.

News also reaches me of Wirral Borough Council's annual competition to get in the Richard Littlejohn column in The Daily Mail. According to my source (a relative so don't trust 'em), their block of houses had been left out of the bin collection. Upon one of the householders calling WBC, they were told that the bin lorry would attend for the missed bin, but that they would only collect the other ( 7 or so) missed bins if each individual (most of whom were at work) called individually. No doubt this is the work of one moron rather than council policy but it does irk when you do your best to defend public bodies from unjustified attacks by ignorant journos like Littlejohn and then come across this craptastic display.

Finally, if anyone is still under the misapprehension that the BNP has distanced itself from the hardcore Nazis of the past, let them look at Simon Darby's latest quest for martyrdom. Like Noel Edmonds and a host of Daily Mail liars before him, he's refusing to pay the BBC licence fee (although Simon thinks it should be 'license'). Why's that, Herr Darby?

• 1. The fact that the BBC continue to libel me on their Panorama - Under the skin of the BNP falsely accusing me of wearing a t-shirt that advocates and supports terrorism.
  2. The BBC is in breach of its charter by surreptitiously accepting European funding.
  3. The threatening and intimidating manner in which TV licensing goes about demanding money from the British public.
  4. More women are imprisoned in this country for non-payment of the TV license than for any other reason.
  5. The BBC conspired to send Nick and Mark to prison in an undercover operation which spectacularly backfired in 2006. Further to this I firmly believe that the corporation played a part in hounding John Tyndall to his death.

Still mourning Tyndall at the BNP. No change. Fascist brothers forever.

Cheeky Beggars!

Another day, another begging letter from BNP Fuehrer Nicholas Griffin. This time it's only £700 his Sturmabteilung needs to raise. Apparently little Nick is excited at this new-fangled internet thingy what with its twitters and bebos and such.

• Social networking is the future

Not garlic bread then?

• We need a mere £700 to pay for the creation, by an industry standard computer-programmer, of an application that can be downloaded and installed on any social networking site. This will be a dedicated BNP application, complete with a box to sign-up to our email bulletins and other features.

So how do the faithful patriots help, Nicky baby?

• Have you got a Facebook, Myspace, Twitter or Bebo page of your own? Imagine displaying a BNP application on your page! That is what we want to achieve!

Oh, I see! Next to your friends from the local KKK and membership of Zioinist conspiracy groups and Nazi avatars, you can proudly put your BNP badge on. These, of course, are the kind of social networking sites the BNP hierarchy warned against as they exposed the kind of bedfellows the average BNP member had. Now the election is over it's all systems go.

Talking of the Euro elections, didn't Mr Griffin come into a nice little salary as a result? Surely, the man himself will start the ball rolling?

• Our target for this project is £700. I consider this project so important for the future that I am personally going to donate a gift of £25 towards it.
• So please send whatever you can: £15, £20, £50, £100, even £500 if possible! Every penny helps

I think the BNP members should be asking some serious questions here. Why aren't the party's accounts available and why is the wealthy Griffin asking for pitiful donations by the day?

If I was one of those conspiracy theorists (9/11 or even 'Paul Is Dead') I'd be wondering why Mr G was after bank details and what was in this wondrous Facebook application.

And In The End...

Today being the 40th Annivesary of Abbey Road, it would be amiss of me to forget to put up something connected with the album. I'd like to do a lengthy critique of the album but I don't do love stories. Been a while since I visited and had my photo taken (by a Japanese guy) on the famous zebra. Here are some other snaps scanned in.


ABBEY ROAD WEBCAM

Not Long Now

Just a quick note to the Guardian - despite what you think, the football season starts this weekend, not the following one - however good your little booklet available on Monday is.

Good luck to The Mighty Whites at Yeovil tomorrow. Don't count on a big report in the papers though. Also, annoying that The Guardian does not consider the sad plight of Chester City to be a major story.

And so apropos of nothing - here is a charming snap of Eric The Frog found escaping the lawnmower.

The guardian may have a page for non-Premier types: GUARDIAN HATES NON PREMIER

Duesseldorf und Dortmund

Getting excited about my trip to Germany in a couple of weeks. I've done some basic research and know the kind of places I'll likely visit but if any natives end up on this site, then feel free to leave a message with recommendations.

The proposed places are: Duesseldorf, Dortmund, Bremen and Hamburg. I've looked at Ron Pattinson's Euro beer Guide so there are plenty of possibilities for beery goodliness. I'm also hoping to catch the Borussia Dortmund v Stuttgart game. Therefore, I'm going to use this post to add links and guides so if I'm stuck I can access then easily.

Anyway, in the meantime, some photos of nearer home.

See How They Lie

Despite evidence to the contrary, the BNP still wishes to keep on with the lie that immigrants take all social housing. Simon Darby, on his blog, states:

• People who actually have to live in these areas know exactly what is happening with regards the allocation of housing, that's why they are voting for the BNP. You can't go about a systematic programme of replacing the locals with Labour-voting migrants without expecting them not to notice.

Here we see the importance of the BNP tactic of feeding lies and perceptions and creating hatred.
The facts do not back up Darby so it is obvious as to why he needs to repeat such lies.