Snail. "There is no point in effing and blinding at the BNP nor in trying to engage them in debate"

This isn't a theory I've had the opportunity to test and I hope I'll know more after September. That is when Matthew Goodwin's book on the BNP is due to be published.

However, my impression is that the BNP consists of a hard core of nasties, possibly only several hundred in number, who are surrounded by a much larger inactive mass of floating card carriers; people who've joined and pay their subs as a gesture of solidarity, but don't actually do anything. If such a body does exist it is likely to be comprised of people who are thick, politically naive, racist, chauvinist and pissed off with the major parties.

In other words, they've joined the BNP because they don't realise the true nature of the beast. Such people wouldn't make the most sparkling of company. But a bit of careful explaining to some of them might work wonders.

"The one I encountered seemed genuinely interested in traditional song; he just saw it as part of his repulsive views."

There is a long history of people exploiting and faking folklore for racist and nationalistic reasons. I don't want to get too heavily involved in a debate, here at any rate. However, I would strongly recommend anyone wanting to know more to take a look at Locating Irish Folklore by Diarmuid Ó Giolláin.

Also, E.J. Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, eds. The Invention of Tradition.

Plus Georgina Boyes' excellent study, the Imagined Village.

Personally I am extremely interested in British traditional song, and have been for most of my life. Amongst other things, discovering a wealth of traditional song and music right here on my doorstep was the engine which eventually led me to explore the musical traditions of just about every other nation on earth. In other words, where the BNP seek to use traditional song to isolate the British from the rest of the world's peoples, for me it was a stepping stone towards understanding the rest of the world's peoples, and to empathising with them.