I hope a sociologist or 2 will manage to perform some detailed analysis of the data.

Two things stuck out in my mind, the non London nature of the BNP (from the membership records) and the amount of women in it.

Obviously, they do family membership (smart move) but it does give a different balance to things, as if you looked at groups on the Left you’d probably see a majority male membership, no where near as many female members.

I just searched the South Essex postcodes (my homeland): I think “hobby: shooting” was the one that really jumped out of me. Some bloke in Barking. I wonder if he crossed, erm, not swords, exactly, with Frank Warren,

I was genuinely shocked at the number of members living in Leigh-on-Sea (which I like to think of as the Stoke Newington of Essex, only less poncy: nice tearooms, antique and craft shops, and second hand bookshops, with great views from the cliffs as a bonus), as it is probably both the most cultured/civilised and agreeable, and most Catholic, town in the (pre-1990s boundaries) county

a Golf Club professional, someone who lives in California, another in San Diego and in Minnesota, a former GM shop steward, a retired solicitor. A Freemason, a librarian, graduate, very keen on books (burning?), a private eye, a Texan claiming to be a Knight, a few parish councilors, English bloke living in France, a few linguists, another retired teacher and cricket fan.

A Quaker attender (whatever that is), a few Nurses, a web designer, a School Governor, a bloke in UAE, IT consultant, author and lecturer, cartoonist, a Landscape artist, retired GP, English bloke living in the Netherlands, someone living in Kerry, tax consultant and Edinburgh’s BNP email is managed by an MA Philosophy and Sociology. Someone claiming to be a practising Catholic, retired RAF Squadron Leader, another composer, possible ex-Labour Party member or supporter

Listening to the Radio they suggested that the overall list includes 15 teachers and more.

See post by Johnny Diamond

Yes, exactly Joseph K. Especially as he can speak pubically. Last thing your average Islamic footsoldier wants is to be showered with a volley of pubics.

On the other hand, for people in areas where they might fear intimidation, e.g. where ethnic communities are more mixed the leakage might make the potential costs of membership seem too high.

But in areas like most parts of Essex, where the BNP thrives on suspicion of mostly absent, or tiny minorities, this is unlikely to be a problem. Combined with the assurances of the party to tighten security, and their so far convincing utterances over the leakage being an inside job (not systematic incompetence, as the loss of data by various branches of the civil service indicated), it’s likely that people who were sympathetic to the BNP are going to be attracted by the publicity rather than deterred.

Hm anyway, I guiltily used a search on the list and found 1 activist in my Essex village (pop. 1500), and 4 in the next village (pop. 10,000). There are barely any ethnic minorities round here, and in fact, race-related issues appear to be so distant that last year, the friendly woman behind the counter of the only newsagent in my village had no problem blithely telling me that the country was going down the pan and only the BNP had the answers (she also added she was emigrating to the south of Spain. some nationalist)

why? because it puts the fascists under scrutiny, and hopefully makes people think twice before joining such a nasty pile of racists, as the BNP are

(We should have so many flocking visitors…)

And there is something about their announcements that tells me they are very confident they know who, apparently in breach of an injunction, published the data.

This could not be better for them, if they had arranged it themselves.

Now tell me again, why was this disclosure such a flocking wonderful idea?