Cat Litter

As I've mentioned before (many times - as Lord Denning would say) the odious BNP and the loathsome Daily Mail have a very strange and symbiotic relationship.

As the boy Anton pointed out the other day, Melanie Phillips has another attempt at distancing herself from the party despite her constant Londonistan bile which would not be out of place on official BNP literature. Perhaps they'd let her be their second Jewish member now that Herr Griffin is about to open the borders.

Today's example comes courtesy of a cute, furry creature (no, I'm not talking about Beckham's latest style) whose name may well be Eric, Eric The Cat.

According to The Daily Moir, this cat was the reason that a Bolivian immigrant was allowed to stay in the UK. Of course, with all these 'cor blimey, guv, you can knock me darn with a fevver' stories, there is more to it than that.

As MacGuffin demonstrates, the original story in The Telegraph mentions a couple of salient facts the Mail found no space for.

The Telegraph explains that whilst the cat aspect was taken into consideration 'as one detail of many' in the original decision, upon Appeal the judge declared that it was an error to rely so much on the fact.

• "It was made clear by the initial judge and then by Senior Immigration Judge Gleeson that the appellant should benefit from that policy and be granted the right to remain," he said.

  "Furthermore, it was accepted by the Home Office representative at the hearing before Judge Gleeson that the policy should apply and any other errors in the initial decision by the judge, including too much detail on the cat, were immaterial."

The Mail doesn't tell its readers that and therefore opens up its own floodgates to a tidal wave of spew:

• Come on, let's change the rules a bit.
  If you marry a non british resident you take his or her nationality and move to thier country.
  Simple change in the law, doesn't change your human rights but does stop the convenience marriage.
  After all if you don't want to live where vyour partner comes from then perhaps you are making a mistake,

  - Johnrs65, Norfolk, 19/10/2009 7:

• And politicians wonder why there is so much support for the BNP!

  - Sara, Sydney, Australia, 19/10/2009 3:04

  I sometimes think that I should give up my British citizenship and then immediately claim asylum, what a wonderful life I'd have if I did; everything I want on a big fat silver plate without lifting a finger for it! Better make sure I buy a cat first though, just in case!!!
  
  - Mike, London, 19/10/2009 3:00
  
  I will vote for anyone who gets rid of the illegal immigrants
  
  - Eileen, Notts . G.B. ( or was once ),
  

It is noticeable that not only are the commenters largely aghast at the inaccurate story, they also show that they don't like immigrants at all. In the Mail story the man is also referred to as an illegal immigrant just to press the matter home.

Eileen's comment sets us thinking. Who could she mean? Over to another version of the story (complete with picture of another cat who has obviously signed up with Max Clifford for an exclusive in Pussy Monthly [waits for inappropriate googlers to arrive]):

BOLIVIAN INVADER ALLOWED TO STAY IN BRITAIN - BECAUSE HE HAS A CAT

• * An invader from far off Bolivia has won an appeal against deportation from Britain because he has a “settled family life” here

• *The decision is one more example of how Britain has become the dumping ground for the world’s scroungers — all courtesy of a corrupt system put in place under decades of Labour and Tory rule.The quotes and headline are, of course, from the BNP official site. The BNP has decided - because it does not know the unnamed person from Bolivia - that he is a scrounger. Interestingly the BNP borrows from the Telegraph article in referring to other cases, but like The Mail, chooses not to emphasise the facts when reporting it.

The story also surfaced in The Sun and Irish independent who both ensured more publicity for rentaquote Migrationwatch buffoon, Andrew Green, who, did not warrant a mention in the BNP propaganda.

There was an interesting discussion on Black History month in the Radio Merseyside studios earlier. If ever it needed punching home why we need such a venture then a listen to the articulate voices here on BBCi player, together with the cat story and the racism found in Bristol by the BBC's Panorama should answer that.

Original hat-tip via Twitter to Duncan Stott.

UPDATE

Tabloid Watch has further points to make now that the lie has been repeated by Richard Littlejohn and the lawyer involved may have got in contact.

In another example of the Mail's odd relationship with the BNP, we see Littlejohn referring to Nick Griffin as 'unsavoury'. Yet he still claims the cat was the real reason the man was allowed to stay and then proudly announces:

• Sir Andrew Green, from Migrationwatch, said: 'I despair. This is symptomatic of the attitude held by many members of the judiciary, in complete disregard for the impact of such decisions on the future of our community.

  'Drawing pets into the consideration of such important issues is so utterly absurd that you could not make it up.'

  That could have been me speaking.