Stop the Database State

Thanks again to Helen for taking and typing up minutes.

Manchester NO2ID meeting, Wednesday 10th March 2010, 7pm. Lass O'Gowrie, Charles St, Manchester.

Minutes of Meeting

The contents of the recent national NO2ID newsletters were discussed, and the minutes of the previous meeting were approved.

Action points from last meeting

Thanks to Alan for emailing James, who is here tonight to help us with campaigning.

Adam now has guinea pig flyers for the stall on Saturday.

Tom has set up a Team email list.

ACTION: Dave to email NO2ID HQ about the Power 2010 campaign.

Street Stall

Matt has the table and publicity items needed for this Saturday's street stall in Manchester city centre, but is unable to make the stall. Tom has sent an email to the public mailing list to inform and remind supporters of the stall.

ACTION: Tom and Adam to get items needed for stall from Matt, and set up the stall on Saturday.

Students Against ID (SAID)

Thanks to Benji for taking on the role of Chair. SAID has been very quiet as of late, as the students who are against ID have been very busy studying. Only Sarah (previous Chair) and Dave (and NO2ID sysadmins) have posting rights to the SAID mailing list. Benji and Helen (Secretary) also need permission to post to the list.

ACTION: Dave to sort out SAID mailing list posting permissions.

General Election

We need to produce a questionnaire on database state issues, and ask candidates in advance, so they have chance to prepare a response.

ACTION: James to produce and organise.

Manchester/Gorton Constituency will be holding hustings in Platt Fields Park, in association with Friends of Platt Fields Park.

We are a non-partisan, single-issue campaigning group, not a political party! We need to contact candidates with all political parties. Dave has a list of local election candidates, not a list of prospective parliamentary candidates (PPCs) for the general election. Can NO2ID HQ provide a list of the PPCs for the 28 constituencies in Manchester? It may be better to contact candidates directly, rather than via their political party. By law, any promotional material that may influence who people vote for must contain an imprint. This contains details of the name and address of the publisher, printer and promoter of the material (these can be the same person). A physical address (not a PO box) is required.

Press releases can highlight what candidates have said regarding ID cards and database state issues, rather than “don't vote for X because
he/she is pro-ID”.

There is a section of our website - “What can I do?” - with details of how local campaigners can help in the fight against the database state.

ACTION: James and Dave to update website.

A reminder: we oppose database state issues as well as ID cards.

Local Publicity

We could persuade general election candidates to wear NO2ID badges at hustings. These events may be televised. Jumping onto other groups' hustings, instead of holding our own, may be a wise use of our time and resources. We may even recruit some new anti-ID campaigners at these events. Unlocked Democracy will be holding hustings soon, details tbc.

ACTION: Mark to provide information to mailing list.

Power 2010 are also holding hustings. Rob, their North West Co-ordinator, may be organising this. If so, we could perhaps support the event, like our event in 2008 that was co-hosted with the British Computer Society. However, it is inappropriate for us to put Power 2010 publicity materials on our street stall.

ACTION: James to liaise with Rob regarding hustings.

TV show “Question Time” will be filmed in Manchester on Thursday 18th March. We need people to volunteer as members of the audience and ask ID-related questions.

Upcoming Events

Street stall: Saturday 13th March, 2010, 2-4pm St Ann's Square, Manchester.

Power 2010 activist meeting: Thursday 18th March, Sackville St Offices, Manchester.

Unlocked Democracy meeting: Saturday 20th March, Friends Meeting House, Mount St, Manchester.

Meeting: Wednesday 7th April 2010, 7pm Salmon Rooms, Lass O'Gowrie, Charles St, Manchester (near BBC).

Street stall: Saturday 10th April 2010, 2-4pm St Ann's Square, Manchester.

Special post-election meeting: Saturday 8th May, 12:30pm, The Moon Under Water, Deansgate, Manchester.

Street stall: Saturday 8th May, 2-4pm, Manchester, location tbc.

AOB

We are very concerned about confidentiality of medical records. It is possible to opt out of having one's summary care record uploaded to the insecure primary care records database known as the NHS Spine. People are not been given an informed choice about opting out. Press releases may be needed.

We should try to work more with the local media and perhaps the BBC's Politics Show. Local radio station Manchester North FM have shown interest in attending one of our monthly street stalls.

When we meet in the Salmon Rooms of the Lass O'Gowrie, we should put something (signs or posters) to let new supporters know that the meeting is upstairs. Dave has some posters for this. The Snug downstairs is accessible, but we are unable to use this room when the football is on.

Also, those renewing their passport will be added to the National Identity Register from 2011 (next year).