Research
Roots of the BNP’s appeal
Democratic Audit has published a report looking into the
appeal of the far-right British National Party (BNP), which doubled its
number of councillors in England to more than 40 this month.
A research organisation attached to the University’s Human Rights
Centre, Democratic Audit has undertaken a two-year study of the BNP.
It discovered that one in four people in London have said they would
consider voting BNP.
The report was published shortly before the recent local elections, in
which the BNP gained 11 seats in Barking and Dagenham, to become the
second biggest party on the council.
Its findings show that the BNP draws its support from areas with
skilled or semi-skilled workers, and not from places where the poorest and
most deprived people in British society live.
Focus group debates suggest that immigration and asylum have become
symbols for people’s frustrations and fears in working class areas. It is
among people who feel that they and their neighbourhoods are being
neglected that the potential for growth for the BNP lies.
At the general election in May 2005, the BNP won 4.3 per cent of the
vote across the 116 seats it contested, and polled 16.9 per cent in the
Barking constituency.
‘No far right party has ever achieved as much success at the ballot box
in Britain as today’s British National Party,’ said Professor Stuart Weir,
Director of Democratic Audit, and one of the report’s authors.
He attributes the BNP’s breakthrough to leader Nick Griffin’s attempt
to give the party a new respectable image and to rid it of the extremism
and violence that had made it virtually unelectable.
However, he says there is considerable evidence of racism, neo-Nazi
sympathies and criminality in its ranks. Professor Weir says local
authorities must provide firm leadership in areas where the BNP is making
gains, to dispel and correct the ‘racialised myths’ and distortions on
which the party feeds.
The Democratic Audit report, The British National Party: the Roots of its
Appeal, is available on the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust’s website,
www.jrct.org.uk.
Walton community shapes the Naze
During a consultation process designed by staff from the
Department of Biological Sciences, Walton on the Naze residents have made
their views known regarding a proposal for developing a visitor centre at
the Naze.
The Living Naze is a £4 million project to develop a visitor attraction
at the Grade II listed Walton Hall Barns. Cliffs at the Naze have a
worldwide reputation for fossil birds, plants and sharks teeth, while the
Walton backwaters are home to numerous rare species of birds, plants and
animals. The proposed centre aims to provide a facility which will raise
awareness of local coastal issues.
Residents were able to find out all
about the proposed visitor centre during the consultation process
As a leading authority on the use of participatory appraisal to assess
community needs, the Centre for Environment and Society was chosen to run
the consultation process and engage with those in the area. Rachel Hine,
of the Centre for Environment and Society, together with a team of local
people consulted over 200 people about the plans in 2005. The results of
the community consultation have now shown that many residents are in
favour of the scheme.
Rachel Hine explained: ‘The majority of the 200people who took part in
our consultation were local residents over 50. We did find that there were
some concerns relating to traffic, road access and parking issues, and
there were a few people who felt the Naze should be left alone without any
kind of human interference. However many local people of all ages are very
enthusiastic about the project as they recognise the benefits it will
bring to the area in terms of the local economy, jobs and tourism’.
‘It is important to involve the local community in the development
process from the outset as it develops a working partnership, encourages
support and helps identify potential uses and users. Many of the
participants came up with further ideas for the Living Naze project such
as alternative access routes and environmentally friendly power solutions.
It is issues such as these that will now be explored by the Living Naze
team.’
Laughing at the police
Continuing her research into the dynamics of the police
interview (which featured in the February issue of Wyvern)
Elisabeth Carter, a PhD student in the Department of Sociology, has turned
to the analysis of laughter of suspects and police.
Elisabeth explains: ‘Laughter may appear a strange choice of phenomenon
to analyse in the context of the police interview but it is the very
assumption that laughter has no place in such a situation that makes its
presence so interesting. The analysis of laughter in contexts in which it
is not expected or sought, such as institutional or morbid settings,
provides an insight into how it is used as an interactional device.’
Elisabeth’s research has found that not only is laughter present in the
police interview, it is highly structured in its production and
management. Laughter was also found to be used as a way of strengthening a
story; for instance the suspect laughing when the officer suggests an
alternative that incriminates them, for examply ‘Did you sell drugs?’ This
then lends an air of discreditation to the officer’s version of events
which, in comparison, makes the suspect’s version appear stronger. By
using laughter, the suspect is provided with an additional method of
expressing their innocence.
Elisabeth intends to undertake more research on this topic, by looking
at the role that laughter plays in the elicitation of confessions during
the police interview.
Also in the printed May edition of Wyvern:
- Bookshelf: New books by Essex academics
- Naturalism and the Renaissance
