Dear HP Readers
We’re sure many noticed over the long weekend that the comments facility at Harry’s Place was disabled. We’re sorry for this interruption in normal service. It was as frustrating for the writers who value your feedback as it must have been for those who enjoy debating the issues raised here.
Unfortunately – as our regulars are aware – this blog rattles more than a few cages and unsettles those who would rather lurk in the shadows when it shines a spotlight on their activities. As a result, the blog is coming under increasing attack. Unfortunately those who cannot reply by marshaling their facts and presenting rational arguments resort to more devious means.
You may recall that last month efforts were made to shut down our YouTube channel and material was removed following a dishonest and vexatious complaint to YouTube which, sadly, they did not take the time to properly investigate.
But there have been more serious attempts aimed at the blog itself.
We can now reveal that a group around a BNP leadership figure, Lee John Barnes was behind concerted efforts to have this blog taken down over the past month. I do not want to drive traffic towards his own blog, but their scheme was revealed in this exchange in their comments. Click though only if you really must. [Update: you can click through to the Google Cache instead.]
It was, unfortunately necessary to disable the comments feature over the long weekend while we secured our database and completed the upgrade of our server platform. For obvious reasons, we did not want to make too big a deal of it so we apologize to our readers for not being able to keep everyone in the loop.
No doubt Mr Barnes and his chums will be crowing that they have caused us some inconvenience, some disruption and some expense, but ultimately it is an own-goal for them. For us, it was, in the larger scheme of things, a minor setback and we’re back, more robust and more determined to expose them for what they are.
But because he has abused our hospitality and tolerance in the interests of open debate, from here on, Lee John Barnes will be deleted on sight. Indeed, since he is a BNP office holder, any BNP supporter/sock puppet will be deleted. We want to be clear: this is not censorship. They were allowed to put their point across until they abused our hospitality. They cannot expect to be granted free speech on a blog they tried to shut down. Free speech is a two-way street: something fascists of all stripes need to be reminded.
For others who would like to pull this stunt, you may as well not bother. Harry’s Place is registered and hosted in the United States, the editor and publisher too is a US citizen based in the United States and asserts his First Amendment rights.
As you can imagine, though, all this has been quite expensive for an amateur, self-financed blog. If you enjoy and value Harry’s Place and would like to make a small contribution to its upkeep and maintenance so we can continue doing the job we’re doing, please consider making use of the PayPal ‘donate’ button we’ve added to the main menu. Every single $, £ or € will be very much appreciated to defray the costs of keeping Harry’s Place online… and kicking!