Enemies of Reason Poundshop potshots at the media moral maze.

I’d rather eat a dog turd covered in Marmite than vote BNP

BNP Marmite? Surely it's too black for them anyway. But ugh. I mean, just ugh. I suppose the idea from the BNP, when likening themselves to a yeasty waste product, is that you either love or hate Marmite - and so they're a bit like that. But this isn't some question of polarising people through a salty black goo that you spread on toast; this is polarising people by being repulsively awful, hateful, racist and disgusting. You either love or hate the BNP because you either love the idea of repatriating immigrants or you hate it. This is more than just a question of taste.

I suppose it's almost verging on clever from the BNP, which is a bit of a first for them. Calling themselves a 'wholesome family favourite' is laughable, of course - they'll not be your family's favourite if you're any shade other than light pink - but the big heart and the union flag are something other than inept. It's bordering on a slickness that we haven't seen before - and of course the reaction to it, the discussion of it, the humour in it, will create a kind of marketing in itself; though I don't think it's going to be tremendously popular.

I can't see us all chuckling away: "Ho ho, look at those racists with their plan to bring back the death penalty and deport immigrants, aren't they a card?" - though of course I could be wrong. If you just look at some of the things their supporters (and parliamentary candidates) come out with, you start to see them for what they are.

The truth is that if you do love Britain, you won't be voting BNP. And the idea of being divisive is just what they want - they love positioning themselves as the Marmite of politics, loved and hated in equal measure. But that's not quite the reality; they're widely hated and despised, and rightly so, because their poisonous policies stand directly opposed to the values of freedom that most British people enjoy and cherish.

It's an interesting new strategy, though. I dare say it's got the BNP more coverage than they would otherwise have got; and there's an argument that says that this is precisely what they're after. But I don't think all publicity is good publicity. The more that people find out about the BNP and their policies, the more they will be correctly held in contempt by the vast majority of British people. A couple of clever slogans and an attempt to hijack a much-loved brand won't change that.

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