Reaching For The Dictionary

So, farewell then to the BNP's Cultural Officer, Jonathan Bowden.

Mr Bowden has taken his bat and ball home after getting fed up with Internet sniping in his direction from other players on the far-right. What illuminates this little episode though is Bowden's very pompous resignation letter to Nick Griffin, which ends with this classic quote:

"The stench of this rabble, lumpen and canaille is displeasing to me. I shall devote myself to the world of the arts from which I originate and to which I shall return."

I am not ashamed to say I had to look up canaille in my dictionary. It seems so appropriate as to how the BNP's leadership views its members (and I suspect the working class in general) its meaning is below:

noun ( the canaille) derogatory the common people; the masses : the haughty contempt of a grandee sneering at the canaille.