A map that's real and a smear that's not

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Tuesday, 14 April 2009, 23:30

Excuse me if I’m missing something here but I thought that a smear was a lie told to discredit someone. If that’s the case then why is BNP deputy leader Simon Darby complaining at being the victim of an establishment smear?

“Labour's toxicologists and their little helpers in the media have been up to their dirty work again today,” he writes on his blog.

The dirty tricks, so Darby would have us believe, is the reporting of his trip to the fascist conference in Italy a week ago. To help poor Simple Simon understand, here are a few basic facts about the story:

Fact 1: Simon Darby went.

Fact 2: Darby was greeted by people giving fascist salutes.

Fact 3: The event was organised by a convicted Italian fascist.

Fact 4: Darby shared a platform with a convicted Holocaust denier.

And I shall add a further fact. The presence of Darby at this fascist gathering is proof, if it was needed, of the BNP’s real politics.

Anyway, enough of Darby’s whining. I’ve had another busy day. For some time I kept thinking that Easter signalled the beginning of a new intensity to the campaign – and how true it is proving to be. It really has been non-stop and I can’t see it slowly down before June. At least we managed to sign off two Euro leaflets and some new sign-up cards, and organised a few key meetings around the country.

This afternoon I discussed our media strategy with our press officer and caught up with Sam to get the latest on our Student Sunday campaign. I had a couple of conversations with the guys at Blue State Digital and this evening I met up with the people from Hackney TUC, who once again are building another exciting campaign. Sam has got his work cut out if he thinks that Dagenham’s campaign will be the biggest in the capital. For the second year running Hackney TUC are ordering 40,000 newspapers, though this time they will be customised for the borough.

Before I sign off for the night I must tell you about the highlight of my day, which was a quick visit to one of my favourite shops, Stanfords – the map and travel shop – in Covent Garden. For anyone who doesn’t know the shop, it is truly fantastic. It is rammed full of every map and guide you could imagine. I bought a huge map of the UK (well, two actually) and when I next have a spare moment I’m going to enjoy marking up our Days of Action across the country.