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Diary Diary
(4 days later)
• With their party in laughable disarray, most members of Nick Griffin's far-right BNP seem content to keep their heads down. But others have careers to build and division to sow. Thus, even in this period of hibernation, they seek a profile. One such is Carlos Cortiglia, who needs to put himself about, not least because he is standing as the party's mayoral candidate for London. But platforms are hard to find. What to do? His solution has been nothing if not canny; he has been blogging on the Jewish Chronicle. It was easy, for until recently the paper had a system where any reader could set up their own blog and publish their thoughts. He penned at least three blog posts there, all moderate by the standards of JC bloggers, in fact "completely innocuous" as described by editor Stephen Pollard. Unacceptable nevertheless. For although it boasts a Jewish councillor in Essex, the BNP never seems far from the whiff of antisemitism. Griffin, we know, received a conviction in 1998 for distributing material likely to incite racial hatred, and in the course of the prosecution made statements denying the Holocaust. Recently antisemitism appeared to fuel a row between activists on the south coast. "Hitler had a purpose with the Jews," tweeted one local organiser approvingly. That's the least offensive quote I could find. The BNP and the Chronicle were never a good fit.• With their party in laughable disarray, most members of Nick Griffin's far-right BNP seem content to keep their heads down. But others have careers to build and division to sow. Thus, even in this period of hibernation, they seek a profile. One such is Carlos Cortiglia, who needs to put himself about, not least because he is standing as the party's mayoral candidate for London. But platforms are hard to find. What to do? His solution has been nothing if not canny; he has been blogging on the Jewish Chronicle. It was easy, for until recently the paper had a system where any reader could set up their own blog and publish their thoughts. He penned at least three blog posts there, all moderate by the standards of JC bloggers, in fact "completely innocuous" as described by editor Stephen Pollard. Unacceptable nevertheless. For although it boasts a Jewish councillor in Essex, the BNP never seems far from the whiff of antisemitism. Griffin, we know, received a conviction in 1998 for distributing material likely to incite racial hatred, and in the course of the prosecution made statements denying the Holocaust. Recently antisemitism appeared to fuel a row between activists on the south coast. "Hitler had a purpose with the Jews," tweeted one local organiser approvingly. That's the least offensive quote I could find. The BNP and the Chronicle were never a good fit.
• Cortiglia's blog project endured until Wednesday when the Muslim Public Affairs Committee put out a story claiming that the BNP man had been hired as a columnist. He never was. But a screenshot taken that morning shows his name at the top of the list of JC bloggers. Google's cache records that his words were still available then. One blog was dated 23 November. That conflicts with Pollard's account that he became aware of Cortiglia's blog and deleted all trace of it "last September". Still, by Wednesday afternoon the purge was indeed complete and the site amended to explain that only approved people can blog for the Chronicle. Exposed and discarded, Carlos is silenced. But not for long. • Cortiglia's blog project endured until Wednesday when the Muslim Public Affairs Committee put out a story claiming that the BNP man had been hired as a columnist. He never was. But a screenshot taken that morning shows his name at the top of the list of JC bloggers. Google's cache records that his words were still available then. One blog was dated 23 November. That conflicts with Pollard's account that he became aware of Cortiglia's blog and deleted all trace of it "last September" [see footnote]. Still, by Wednesday afternoon the purge was indeed complete and the site amended to explain that only approved people can blog for the Chronicle. Exposed and discarded, Carlos is silenced. But not for long.
• We know him. For isn't this the same Carlos Cortiglia quoted in the Argentinian newspaper La Nación in 2006 saying "Y me siento muy ligado emocionalmente a la República Argentina. En 1982 me ofrecí como voluntario para ir a las Islas Malvinas"? Which means, as we pointed out last September: "I feel very connected emotionally to Argentina. In 1982 I volunteered to go to the Falkland Islands." That sort of comment means he is unlikely to win a British election or score very well as regards his patriotism. Still, he would probably get along with Sean Penn.• We know him. For isn't this the same Carlos Cortiglia quoted in the Argentinian newspaper La Nación in 2006 saying "Y me siento muy ligado emocionalmente a la República Argentina. En 1982 me ofrecí como voluntario para ir a las Islas Malvinas"? Which means, as we pointed out last September: "I feel very connected emotionally to Argentina. In 1982 I volunteered to go to the Falkland Islands." That sort of comment means he is unlikely to win a British election or score very well as regards his patriotism. Still, he would probably get along with Sean Penn.
• Meanwhile, we can go live to the United States for the results of the Embassy Games, the diplomatic tournament staged by the British embassy to bookmark the fact that the Olympics are fewer than 100 days away. Everything, we hear, went entirely as expected. We, as hosts, were trumped by a smaller, unfancied nation (Switzerland). We took part in a football penalty shoot-out. We lost. Oh, and it rained continuously. Yes, we're ready.• Meanwhile, we can go live to the United States for the results of the Embassy Games, the diplomatic tournament staged by the British embassy to bookmark the fact that the Olympics are fewer than 100 days away. Everything, we hear, went entirely as expected. We, as hosts, were trumped by a smaller, unfancied nation (Switzerland). We took part in a football penalty shoot-out. We lost. Oh, and it rained continuously. Yes, we're ready.
• Who, finally, will be the next governor of the Bank of England? Probably won't be football manager Harry Redknapp, or Gordon Brown, or the guy from the Bank of Canada. But the bookies are having a field day because none of the likely contenders provokes excitement. Time, perhaps, to consider Nick Leeson, the former trader whose activities so famously transformed the fortunes of his former employer Barings, London's oldest merchant bank – and not in a good way. Having caused that momentous collapse with his dodgy deals, Leeson now sees himself as expert on the Irish economy. On Thursday our man, who lives in the west of Ireland, was finger-wagging at the Republic in his column on the news site TheJournal.ie. His solution to the Irish deficit: "Get a bunch of hard-nosed business people to assess the waste and root out value for money." He may well see himself as one of them. And, who knows, the Irish, in their distress, may snap him up. They won't be able to if we get there first.• Who, finally, will be the next governor of the Bank of England? Probably won't be football manager Harry Redknapp, or Gordon Brown, or the guy from the Bank of Canada. But the bookies are having a field day because none of the likely contenders provokes excitement. Time, perhaps, to consider Nick Leeson, the former trader whose activities so famously transformed the fortunes of his former employer Barings, London's oldest merchant bank – and not in a good way. Having caused that momentous collapse with his dodgy deals, Leeson now sees himself as expert on the Irish economy. On Thursday our man, who lives in the west of Ireland, was finger-wagging at the Republic in his column on the news site TheJournal.ie. His solution to the Irish deficit: "Get a bunch of hard-nosed business people to assess the waste and root out value for money." He may well see himself as one of them. And, who knows, the Irish, in their distress, may snap him up. They won't be able to if we get there first.
• This article was amended on April 23 2012. In the item about the presence of blogs by Carlos Cortiglia, the BNP's mayoral candidate, on the Jewish Chronicle website we stated that the blogs were still available on November 23. We went on to say that this "conflicts" with the editor of the JC, Stephen Pollard's, account "that he became aware of Cortiglia's blog and deleted all trace of it 'last September' ". To clarify: he told the Guardian's reporter that "in September we were alerted to the fact that Cortiglia had set up a user blog and the moment we were told, we blocked him and changed [the] entire system". Mr Pollard has asked us to point out that this was not meant to imply that all traces of the blogs had been deleted in September – in fact the measure he took at that time was to block Cortiglia's access. He ordered the blogs to be deleted more recently.
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