Recent Events
=============

Last Tuesday's debate on a Universal DNA Database went very well - not
only were a majority in opposition to start with, but we saw a swing
further towards our side by the end of the debate. For the full story
see  http://manchester.no2id.net/node/55

Saturday's stall was very popular - Dave had to run off to print new
petition forms since the pile we brought with us were all filled! We
even had a few impromptu volunteers joining us in flyering passers-by.

Monday's screening of "Taking Liberties" by the OpenMedia society at the
University netted us an extra fifteen signatures for our own Students
Against ID. There were a lot of interesting and useful questions from
the packed audience which shows a high level of interest among the
student body in our campaign.

Ongoing Activities
==================

Matt is still looking into seetting up a bank account to keep better
track of our donations and finances.

* Matt to continue with this.

Our plan to put on a gig to raise awareness and perhaps funds has split
into two - a music gig and a poetry gig. Clare, Arthur and Tom
exchanged some ideas about doing a database state-themed poetry night,
and Tom and Kevin are still working on the music gig.

* Tom to suggest a database state theme to a local poetry night which
could have a NO2ID stall

Dave is working on our local election campaign, canvassing every local
election candidate in Greater Manchester for their opinion on ID cards.
Results will be made available at
 http://manchester.no2id.net/localelections as they come in. To save
costs, we will contact local parties via e-mail where possible and ask
them to forward the questionnaire on to their candidates. Independent
candidates will be contacted via post, since most electoral services
units do not provide e-mail addresses for candidates. Dave also has
drafted a press release which will go out to local media soon about how
candidates which support the Database State want to waste 200 quid of
everybody's council tax on integrating local authority systems with the
National Identity Register, and highlighting our questionnaire.

* Dave to continue contacting local parties
* Dave to draft and send press release

The student society still needs to be formed - Dave needs to get the
interim committee together to fill in all the paperwork. This close to
exams, our plans for the year should basically be to form the society
and book a stall at Fresher's Fair for September. Next year we will
look at campaigning in the University, getting an SU motion opposing ID
cards passed, and holding a public meeting. We should also look at
spreading our influence to other Manchester and Greater Manchester
universities.

* Dave to organise meeting of student committee
* Helen to submit paperwork

In the past, we made contact with Manchester and NW Unison then failed
to leverage our contacts with both. Given that Unite are opposing ID
cards, particuarly for airport workers, we should get in touch with
their Manchester and North-West branches and talk to them about
campaigning together, possibly involving events at Manchester Airport.
Clare has offered to contact Unite, and Dave will forward her the
contact details we gathered previously.

* Dave to forward Unite contact details to Clare
* Clare to contact Unite

Dave needs to chase up the NO2ID systems administration team about
giving our e-mail list a less confusing name. Currently the discussion
list is at  no2id.manchester@no2id.net while Dave's personal address is
 manchester@no2id.net; Dave wants to move the list to
 manchester-discuss@lists.no2id.net (and set up a manchester-announce
list too).

* Dave to contact NO2ID sysadmins

Summer And Beyond
=================

Once the Local Elections are done and dusted, and the students have gone
away for the summer, we would like to try to get *every* council in
Greater Manchester to vote on a motion opposing ID cards. We should be
able to get at least a few of them passed, and it would give us a good
indication of where we stand. Dave had hoped to achieve this ahead of
the local elections but time pressures intervened.

Over summer there will be various festivals around Manchester, such as
the Beech Road festival in Chorlton, which we should strive to attend
wherever possible.

In September, the Labour Party Conference will return to the Midland
Hotel in Manchester, and we will be waiting. The Convention of the Left
will be holding many fringe meetings, and it might be worth us doing
one too, perhaps alongside an organisation such as Liberty or Privacy
International.

General Discussion
==================

There was a brief conversation about support in principle and in
practice, with respect to us appearing at the conferences of parties
who support us. Dave pointed out that our support from local parties
comes mostly at the council level when proposing and passing motions,
and that there's very few instances of people offering us support at
stalls and meetings purely because their party opposes the Database
State. Attending the conferences of friendly parties gives us a
platform to remind them that there is an ongoing, successful,
nationwide grassroots campaign which opposes ID cards in public on a
regular basis, and that these parties should be encouraging their
supporters to get involved with NO2ID.

Some campaigning thoughts were discussed, about approaching banks and
the Student Loans Company to see how they feel about students co-opted
onto the National Identity Register to get student loans or bank
accounts. It was pointed out that banks such as the Co-Operative and
Nationwide might be more inclined to listen to their members than other
banks.

* Dave to pass this on to the main campaign office

We were also told a story about exchange of information on flight
passengers between the UK and the US, which indicates that there is
something pre-printed on the flight ticket which indicates whether
somebody "requires" extra searching when they arrive in the US.

Upcoming Events
===============

Sunday 27th April 8pm-11pm: FAB Café Film Night

Manchester NO2ID will be sponsoring a free dystopian film screening at
the FAB Café on Portland Street, Manchester. The film will probably be
Terry Gilliam's excellent vision of a bureaucratic database state gone
mad, "Brazil".

Join us to relax, enjoy the film and ask any questions you may have
about the NO2ID campaign against identity cards and the Database
State.

Saturday 10th May 2pm-4pm: Street Stall

We'll be running a Saturday afternoon stall in St. Ann's Square to
raise awareness among the public and engage people in discussion about
the National Identity Register. We'll be encouraging people to take
the NO2ID Pledge, and collecting signatures for the NO2ID petition to
keep people in touch with the campaign.

We'll meet in the square itself at 2pm to set up shop; feel free to
join us to lend a hand or just chat. You don't need any experience or
equipment, just a bit of time to spare and a friendly smile!

Wednesday 14th May 7pm-9pm: Monthly Meeting

Manchester NO2ID will be holding our monthly meeting in the upstairs
function room of the Town Hall Tavern, Tib Lane, Manchester. Sadly,
this venue is not wheelchair-accessible; please contact us if you have
accessibility needs.

At our monthly meetings we discuss the state of the NO2ID campaign,
what we've been up to recently and where we're going in future.
Everyone is welcome, newcomer or not, curious or committed.

The Town Hall Tavern serves reasonably-priced, good quality food until
9pm so you don't need to pop home for tea - you can even order your
meal brought up to the function room.