Lunch time

Mark Walker: No questions today

Time for a pint of the black stuff for those of us not struggling with giving evidence to the tribunal.

Surprisingly, after being in Belfast for at least two days, Mark Walker was a no-show today, the hearing’s last day. The BNP describe Mark as having suffered a “bereavement”.

I woke up this morning to discover that Mark has also had some other bad news. The General Teaching Council has just banned him from teaching after Walker used “school computers to send a vulnerable 16-year-old former pupil a sexually explicit message”. I’m not really sure that Mark’s absence is going to spare the BNP that headline in Belfast either.

Clive “Rodney” Jefferson and Patrick Harrington were up this morning. I’m sure we must all be wondering how much this case has cost the BNP, a party crippled with debts. They have sent seven people to Belfast to fight this case.

Still, it’s kept all of us here in Belfast amused and is most certainly a timely reminder of the dangers that could face non-unionised workers.

The case finishes today (hopefully), and we should be getting a judgement in some six weeks.