Tag: Paul Burnley’s Skinhead Diaries

Paul Burnley: Skinhead Diaries 1980–1986. A Coming of Rage Story

This book is the first part of the autobiography of Paul Burnley – in reality Paul Bellany, son of the famous painter John Bellany. As most readers will know, Burnley was briefly the vocalist of the National Front skinhead band Public Enemy from Maidstone, and later the singer of the London-based No Remorse – one of the most self-consciously extreme nazi bands on the Blood & Honour scene. This volume, however, covers his teenage years before he joined No Remorse – roughly 1980 to 1986 – when he became a ‘rudeboy’ and then a skinhead, quickly drifting to the far right under the influence of his mates and various formative experiences.

Skinhead Diaries is self-published through Amazon, so much of the dosh is going straight into Burnley’s pockets. You may ask why I handed over my cash for the book, and why I’m helping promote it on this blog? To answer the first question, curiosity got the better of me. All things considered, I found it unlikely that my money would go on to fund some far-right terror cell. More plausibly, I’d be buying a retired ex-nazi a few pints. If that makes me morally complicit, so be it.^[1]