Are the police helping the BNP?

I sense I'm not alone in wondering if we have a police state. My mind tells me not. I do think, though, that they are interfering where they should not. The House of Commons is not the only place for unwarranted intrusion. In Northumbria, a publican has had his pub raided by the New Labour thought police. It was Peter Mailer, the landlord of the Black Bull Hotel in Warkworth. Following a formal complaint over newspaper clippings, political cartoons and other items displayed on his bar-room walls, he got a visit. Rather pompously, a spokeswoman for Northumbria Police said, "A 52-year-old man from the Alnwick area was arrested on Tuesday, November 25, on suspicion of committing a racially-aggravated public order offence, and has been bailed."

I've been into countless pubs where landlords shove stuff up on the walls. A lot take pride in saying who has visited, such as George Clooney, to make people think of who sat where they sat. Mr. Mailer put up copies of the Daily Mail (probably they were looking for puns too!). Now this front page headline was displayed all over the country in newsagents, supermarkets and corner shops. The police didn't object then. Surely one officer must have seen the "offending" tabloid? Or even read it! Plenty of policemen without a self-righteous trigger mechanism?

What I find so sneaky about this is that the complainant was an off-duty senior police officer from Nottinghamshire, who was on holiday in the region when he paid a visit to the Black Bull the previous Friday night. Mr Mailer said, "This chap was in with a friend and their respective wives for a drink, and I had a chat with them. It was their first time in Northumberland. There was absolutely nothing said about the so-called racist items on my wall. About 90 per cent of them were clippings taken directly from national newspapers. On Tuesday night two Northumbria officers turned up and arrested me, took everything off the walls and I had to go to the station to give a taped interview."

So he has had his DNA taken to be held on file. Thank goodness he will be able to cite the court case in Europe which has outlawed this practice. The police are only fools to themselves. Why did ?this senior officer not mention his discomfort at seeing the offending literature. I think it is because he is a spineless man who has to go behind peoples backs. He was probably the sneak at school. If he thinks for one minute this helps to confront the BNP he is living in a fantasy world.

The police may want BNP types out of the force, but this kind of entrapment only fuels the fire. The officer is wantonly stupid, but we seem to have an afflication cast upon our police currently.

It's called HUMBUG!