Owen Jones gave a party, and nobody came. Or reported it.

Professionally outraged journalist Owen Jones, 17, made a guest post on Nick Lowles blog yesterday

No, that is the crowd. Behind
the mascot.

praising the 'Colchester Comes Together' event at Wivenhoe Town FC.

Despite the event's name, this was not a shoot for the 'British Dogging' website, but Hope not Hate's latest feeble attempt to convince people that allowing 200,000 people a year into the country to work for minimum wage is somehow good for us all rather than just being good for the richest 1%.

Jones talks about the significance of their game as a 'local derby', neglecting to mention that as they play in the Thurlow Nunn Eastern Counties League, almost every game is a 'local derby'. Stanway is so local that it is further away then the footballing might of other teams in the league, such as Clacton FC. Still, as Carl Morphett ably demonstrated by mistakenly thinking Albania was an EU member, geography is not a strong point at Hope not Hate.

Jones continues, using the name of murdered soldier Lee Rigby to push a rather tired political point just as cynically as Britain First would. He went on to say,

"Colchester has been benefited (sic) from various cultures choosing to come to the town and make it their home; embracing the local ways of life while living (sic) their own mark on the community. Children participating in fun village fate (sic) style games, where they won Chinese Spring Festival gifts, presented in the custom (sic) red envelope to bring good luck. Later in the evening while people tucked into some delicious Indian curry, made just around the corner from ingredients all scored from within the town" (We haven't inserted mistakes, it was published like that - Ed)

So how many people attended this first class event organised by 'Colchester Together', the local campaigning arm of the Labour Party?

According to the match report on Wivenhoe FC's website, attendance at the game was 173. To put that another way, 'Colchester Together' brought together less than 0.1% of the 176,008 residents of Colchester. That's under 0.003% of the population of the Eastern Region.

With a turnout like that, UKIP - who are polling over 50% regionally, and who the event was targeted at since Hope not Hate have given up on fighting racism - should be quaking in their boots.

Jones finishes his report by saying "Hopefully as HOPE not hate’s campaign heads into the final straight of the European Elections, ripples from this event will disperse within the town reminding people of that the subconscious tolerant and peaceful town must be defended".

We're not quite certain what the end of that sentence means, but his ripples appear to have dispersed already. The event was held not last weekend as might be thought from the tone of the article, but on the 21st April, some 3 weeks ago now. A quick scan of the local media reveals that this event was so important to Colchester that not a single local media outlet covered it, and it isn't mentioned anywhere on the Wivenhoe Town FC website.

Quite what Wivenhoe Town thought of being used as a propaganda tool by a load of middle class posh kids is not mentioned. Having an additional 50 people in the crowd who were united in their complete disinterest in such a working class game as football must have proved bemusing at best, but we wish them good luck in what has proved a difficult season, and hope that they benefitted from it.

As for Owen Jones, we feel obliged to include the YouTube video of his car crash interview on This Week. We can't stop laughing.

HnH 'Infographic' worst example of deliberately misleading propaganda

Hope not Hate continue to cash in on the death
of Lee Rigby with dishonest infographic

Hope not Hate continue to attempt to cash in on the death of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich with the
launch of their new 'infographic' and its claim that it is a representation of anti-Muslim violence across the UK since May's events.

For some reason, HnH have also seen fit to include on their graphic not just marches by those it classes as 'far-right', but also wreath-laying ceremonies in memory of Rigby accompanied by what it claims are the number of those attending such ceremonies.

We can not see what the supposed link between the two is supposed to be. A quick glance at the map shows that there is no obvious link, with many areas which held wreath laying ceremonies experiencing no anti-Muslim events, and such events happening in areas where there was no wreath laying.

Hope not Hate also appear to have left off inconvenient wreath-laying events, such as the one in Woolwich attended by Labour MPs Stephen Timms, Saddiq Khan and Nick Raynsford. We assume that only events which cash in on Rigby's death in the correct fashion are approved by HnH: that is has ignored Labour organised events is understandable, as it will itself hope to share in the proceeds.

Then there are the 'anti-Muslim' incidents. Of the 31 they list, 13 related to either spray painting of graffiti or the leaving of bacon and pork at mosques. Included among the list is the vandalism at the Newport cemetery, where those who painted 'BNP', 'NF' & 'UKIP' on graves carefully avoided doing any other damage, and thoughtfully used a water soluble paint: we have discussed previously whether these were the actions of a far-right thug or a UAF/HnH supporter, and the same applies to these other incidents - it is in UAF and HnH's best interests to stir up religious strife.

Also featured are the arrests of Kevin Carroll and Tommy Robinson/Stephen Yaxley-Lennon in East London - nowhere near a mosque - and the threats sent to BBC political presenter Andrew Neill following his interview of Robinson/Yaxley-Lennon. The latter are more 'anti-Neill' than 'anti-Muslim'.

There are some outbreaks of honesty in their infographic, although perhaps unintentional. The supposed 'suspect device' left at a Liverpool mosque - which subsequently turned out to be a worshippers laundry - does not feature on the list.

HnH's Nick Lowles uses the opportunity in a blog posting to sell copies of his latest magazine, and he quotes liberally from his own editorial, saying:

"More importantly, ordinary people refused to let the extremists win. Most people understood that the actions of two people do not reflect the views of the British Muslim communities. "

Sadly, he seems to forget that while the actions of the two individuals in Woolwich may not be representative of their community, the actions of those who commit anti-Muslim vandalism or violence are not representative of theirs either. He then goes on to defend the 'Tell MAMA' organisation, despite the withdrawal of its government grant for massaging its own figures:

"It is disappointing then, amidst this hatred, that some journalists have attacked Tell MAMA, an organisation established last year to monitor and encourage reporting anti-Muslim hate crime, and even the very concept of Islamophobia. It is easy, sitting in their comfortable offices, to pick faults with Tell MAMA (an organisation HOPE not hate is proud to support) and downplay the level of violence. It is not they who are greeted by a nail bomb going off as they go to their place of worship or have to be woken from their beds in the middle of the night because someone has maliciously started a fire.
None of the journalists who attacked Tell MAMA and the concept of Islamophobia, have made a comment about Tipton."

Still no mention of
Karmani's positive
initiative

In the absence of any arrests or public comment on who the perpetrators of the Tipton event may be, it is difficult to make any informed comment beyond deploring all such violence. That Tipton
occurred does not however make 'Tell MAMA' right, and Lowles and Hope not Hate have consistently failed to deal with accusations that 'Tell MAMA' has deliberately lied over many months, in the process stirring up rather than damping down community divisions. To attempt to tie the two together from his 'comfortable office' is just more hypocrisy from HnH's head.

The article finishes with the usual publicity for groups and initiatives linked to Hope not Hate. Readers will be unsurprised to discover that there is still no mention of Imam Alyas Karmani's anti-grooming campaign nor any other event or initiative which is designed to improve community relations unless it is organised by an associate of Hope not Hate. Remember, only Hope not Hate are allowed to cash in on a soldier's death.

After cashing in on Lee Rigby's death, HnH now attack the late Sir Patrick Moore

Fresh on the heels of using the atrocity in Woolwich to sell copies of their latest magazine, Hope not Hate blogger Carl Morphett (also known as Simon Cressy) has just posted an attack on the late Sir Patrick Moore.

Posting a picture of Moore overlaid with a phrase they have attributed to him, Morphett wrote:

"Patrick Moore was a regular face on British TV for decades and was loved by many. Unfortunately, Moore had a dark side, he was a bigot and also a huge supporter of UKIP, which probably comes as no real surprise.

In the 1970s, Moore was the chairman of the anti-immigration United Country Party and was also a huge fan of the racist MP Enoch Powell.

This interesting little quote was posted to me the other day by one of our supporters.

Funny, but I don't remember UKIP ever condemning Patrick Moore for such blatant racism. But when it comes to racists within their party UKIP have a habit of closing their eyes."


Sir Patrick was quite clearly talking about 'parasites' - ie benefit scroungers - as opposed to all immigrants, even assuming that he actually said the words attributed to him.

The only slight consolation is that at least Sir Patrick is dead and in the ground. Lee Rigby's body was scarcely cold before they started trying to cash in on his death, and they announced the sale of the 'Woolwich Special' magazine just an hour before Rigby's funeral was scheduled to begin.

New Hope not Hate magazine now out - read our round up!

Unlike Hope not Hate, we don't have a magazine - or any other cheap tat produced by slave labour in the Far East - to flog to readers of our blog and Facebook page.

We see that Hope not Hate are busy trying to flog issue 9 of their magazine through their website and their Facebook page. It features such delights as:

• Woolwich Report - We are the MANY (but not too many, as reflected by HnH meeting attendances). A special feature trying to cash in on the death of a soldier, while linking it to their political aims - exactly what they accuse the EDL and BNP of doing, in fact.
• Putting Extremists in the Spotlight - featuring a token picture and a sentence condemning Anjem Choudhary, and then focussing on the EDL while ignoring Mohammed al Arefe and Yasser al Habib.
• International News - where they demonstrate their lack of historical perspective and attack the Baltic states for viewing the Nazis as liberators from Soviet rule
• Let's talk about UKIP - the results of their 'consulation' on UKIP in which - surprisingly - they decide to attack UKIP despite it being neither racist nor fascist. Still, they've gotta keep the money rolling in somehow from their Union and Labour paymasters.
• Also Featuring - page after page of turgid, poorly written hypocrisy
• Not Featuring in this issue - Anything to do with Imam Alyas Karmani's anti-grooming initiative, the 'Together Against Grooming' campaign, any of the Labour politicians accused of racism, Denis McShane and his theft, Unite fiddling Labour selection processes, anything to do with HOPE.

We bring you this round-up as a public service, and to save you the cost of buying it. There's nothing new, nothing which wasn't pre-decided, just 48 pages of hate and no visible sign of hope as they continue their slide into irrelevancy.

Perhaps next time they could print it on soft paper though - maybe two ply - and make it less slippery?