On BBC coverage of the British National Party

As a Labour Party supporter I would like to play devil’s advocate as we all recognise that internal party debate is important.

We have a long established tradition of neutrality and impartiality in the broadcast media in this country – in contrast to print journalism and, notably American TV Networks (Fox News anyone?) I do not believe that the BBC would be fulfilling any public service by attacking the BNP. In fact, I think it would be welcomed by the ‘Fascists’. They love being underdogs and unpopular because it allows them to position themselves between ‘ordinary folk’ on one side, and the ‘old gang’ (the three major parties) as they put it, on the other. At best the BNP would denounce the BBC as ‘Marxist’ if they were attacked on air. At worst, they could turn it into a propaganda coup by telling their potential voters that the BBC are running scared because the BNP are the only party committed to doing what they promise in manifestos. Either way, they could paint the BBC as nothing more than an arm of the state used to smear the enemies of the sitting government. This is something that I am totally against regardless of the party.

I think the BBC needs to be respected for its impartiality. Louis Theroux does this magnificently for the corporation. In his time as a documentary maker he has interviewed black nationalists, white nationalists and even Baptists who said that deaths the Iraq War was divine retribution for America’s tolerance of homosexuality. Not once in any of these documentaries has Theroux passed any form of judgement on these clearly obnoxious individuals or their ideas. However, through clever questioning he has enabled Joe Public make an informed and enlightened opinion. Such opinions are much more powerful if they are formed by the individual. If the BBC teaches us to hate the BNP it becomes superficial.

We are all ‘liberals’ with a small ‘l’. John Stuart Mill taught us to give a platform to lies because under public scrutiny, or ‘the court of public opinion’ as it is these days called, they will quickly fall apart. It is far more effective to show the BNP for who they are and their questionable ideologies will fall apart well before June 4. Engage in ‘mud slinging’ and the BNP will only throw it back with much greater vigour.


The above post was in response to a letter to the BBC written by local Labour Party activist Kevin Peel:

I am shocked, disgusted and sickened at your coverage of the BNP on prime time news. It is bad enough that they get the oxygen of publicity at all, but your report was not even close to strong enough on attacking their policies of hatred, fear and division.

Impartiality can only go so far - when you are giving credence and legitimacy to a racist, homophobic, fascist party who would see homosexuality re-criminalised, non-white Britons deported and have rioting on the streets of this country, you are at best guilty of complicity in incitement to hatred and at worst positively promoting fascism.

I object in the strongest possible manner to my license money being spent in such a way and I would plead that you at least try to apply the same scrutiny to this bunch of monsters as you do to other political parties. Surely preventing fascism from rising in Britain is more important than the amount our MPs are spending on accommodation?

21st Century Breakdown

I remember when the last Green Day album was released. Monday 20th September 2004 was the first day of Fresher's Week. Back in those hazy days I lived in Woolton Hall in Fallowfield and remember strutting down to Sainsburys to purchase my copy of American Idiot. I'd already seen Green Day the summer before; this had prorbably been one of the last opportunities anyone had had to see GD again before they achieved a 'renaissance' with what was a very accomplished Grammy award winning concept album.

I think Green Day fans fall into two camps - those who were fans before 2004 and those who have become fans afterwards. I must say I liked the new experimentation on American Idiot and the opportunities it afforded the band to produce an ever more expansive live show (I've seen them twice since, once at the MK Bowl, and they were fantastic on both occasions). However, like many I long for a return to the Insomniac days of angst and three-chord driven punk energy.

I don't have a lot of time for those who say that Green Day 'weren't punk' in the 90s. Anyone who expects 90s punks to sound like their 70s counterpart seriously misunderestimate the evolution of music. Insomniac was a dark, disturbing album based on issues such as drugs, panic attacks, depression and boredom. 'Masturbation' has become the watchword for Dookie-era GD - the truth is that it was merely 'alluded to' on one song on album. No, GD of the 90s was proper punk, not quite as hardcore as Rancid - but with just as many credentials and passion. Both bands grew out of the California punk circuit. Yes, Green Day played to 5 kids, they carried their own amps around in a van and sang about everyday life. They did it the proper way.

GD had always been political. 2000s 'Minority' was a sign of things to come and by the time American Idiot came around I was happy because I had always been impressed by their ability to stay ahead of the game at a time when Sum 41 was churning out second rate versions of GD songs from 5-7 years previously. The new grandiose statements and Springsteen-influenced ballads and pianos fitted perfectly with BJ's skills as a show man - a modern day Freddie Mercury and a man whose energy on stage went some way to explaining why his rounder frame had seemed to disappear.

Over the last week I have been listening to 21st Century Breakdown. The last GD material I'd listened to was their alter-ego offering 'Stop drop and roll' (Foxboro Hot Tubs). Although in a chugging 50s garage rock style, this record offered a hint that the insomniac days were returning. However, what we get with 21BD is a more ambitious, dare I say it *better* version of AI. The pianos and melodies are there a plenty. As talented as GB and BJ may be, I can think of few other artists who sport as many creative influences - Clash, Springsteen, Beatles - they're all here. In fact, one song - Horseshoes and Handgrenades sounds *far* too similar to Main Offender by the Hives. Nevertheless I certainly think that the lyrics put GD into a league of their own and are better than AI:

American Eulogy, part a) Mass Hysteria

Red alert is the color of panic
elevated to the point of static
beating into the hearts of the fanatics
and the neighborhood's a loaded gun
Idle thought leads to full-throttle screaming
and the welfare is asphyxiating
Mass confusion is all the new rage
and it's creating a feeding ground
for the bottom feeders of hysteria

American Eulogy is my favourite song on the album - probably because it reminds me of a more ambitious 'Westbound Sign' from Insomniac. Looking at it this way and considering the range and lyrical improvements that have been made you would expect it to be a much better album than 1995s. I don't think it's quite as simple as that. 21BD is a great album, it will become a great addition to the back catalogue and will once again confirm GD's position musically - nevertheless, I think that it will still leave old fans unsatisfied. GD have built a new genre for themselves - 'stadium punk', the days of small sweaty moshing to Platypus (I have you) or Jaded seem to be over. Bands grow up, I just home that when I see them for the fourth time in October that they find time for these early punk classics, because what I'm hearing today, however great it is, just ain't punk, despite the lyrical quality.