open Democracy News Analysis - Mashing up the BNP, Tom Griffin - Comments

Toque on "Mashing up the BNP"

Toque — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:49:30 +0000

The BNP are always banging on about our Christian heritage, so maybe it's not that surprising. But then I say that as a committed agnostic, insofar as one can be committed to being an agnostic.

Paul Kingsnorth on "Mashing up the BNP"

Paul Kingsnorth — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:51:37 +0000

I'd be interested to know how this breakdown compares with that of other parties. Is the massive preponderance of men, for example, unique to the BNP, or is it typical of party membership across the board? How does the educational background differ from those of other parties? I have no idea. Any thoughts from anyone who knows about these things?

More pertinently, who the hell are those five vicars?! Are they CofE? Maybe the Archbish's comments about sharia law pushed them over the edge! I'm not going to carol service this year just in case.

Blue Porcupine on "Mashing up the BNP"

Blue Porcupine — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:53:10 +0000

@Toque. I have the list. You have the knowledge of premiership football. Alas!

Toque on "Mashing up the BNP"

Toque — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:04:04 +0000

One blog is claiming that there's a premiership footballer on the list.

Mashing up the BNP, Tom Griffin

Tom Griffin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:32:14 +0000

Tom Griffin (London, OK): As the Guardian 's Michael White notes, the leak of the BNP's membership database raises many of the same issues as recent losses of personal data by the Government. If anything, it has provided a much more dramatic illustration of the potential impact on individuals.

The episode has also proven to be a true 'wikileak', in the sense that it has highlighted the power of Web 2.0, with a Google Map of the data briefly appearing before its creator decided to take it down in favour of a somewhat less informative heatmap.

openDemocracy's own Tony Curzon-Price has produced an analysis of the titles of individual BNP members which provides an interesting social snapshot of the party:

Number of BNP members by Title

Mr   11688
Ms   556
Mrs   1419
Miss   410
Prof   1
Rev   5
Sir   1
Cllr   74
Capt   2