Manchester No2ID Logo
Meetings and Communications
Moving back to the Town Hall Tavern hasn't sparked some massive increase in attendance. However, it's cheaper for the group and a more relaxed atmosphere. Ed suggests that we highlight the availability of good, reasonably-priced food at the pub until 8pm, which means that people don't have to go home after work for food and then come back in.
There has been some understandable confusion between the Manchester list e-mail address ("
no2id.manchester@no2id.net") and Dave's personal contact address (" manchester@no2id.net"). Dave will talk to the No2ID tech guys about giving the mailing list a more sensible name; if this isn't possible then he might run e-mail lists from manchester.no2id.net directly.
Ed raised the question of why parties, unions and other groups don't suport No2ID. Dave mentioned the support that we've had from the 7/11 Truth guys, Anarchist Federation etc. and that we need to strengthen links with other organisations.
Students
We have missed the deadline for a guaranteed Fresher's Fair place at Manchester Uni Fresher's Fair. Dave will try to get something sorted over the summer so we can at least have some kind of presence. Some student societies have offered to run Students Against ID signup sheets on their Fresher's Fair stalls which may help. Unfortunately we're now pretty much in the summer holidays which will make things more awkward.
Media
We need a list of Manchester-centric discussion fora on the web on which we can mention ID cards among people who are clearly politically involved and have time on their hands.
There have been news stories which haven't received lots of press attention, such as the Brown Report, where the government broke the law to delay publishing of the massive cost increase of the National Identity Scheme on the day of Blair's resignation announcement. Also, the new-look Child Support Agency will have the power to confiscate ID cards from fathers who don't keep up payments, which could deny them access to healthcare and other services.
Interrogation Centre
The UKIPS Manchester interrogation centre for Authentication by Interview is supposed to be in Westminster House on the corner of Aytoun Street and Portland Street. However, it doesn't seem to be on the roster of organisations using the building; Dave will double-check this.
Dave will also look into submitting a Freedom of Information Act request to Manchester City Council's treasury department asking them to detail investigations into the cost to the Council of integrating their systems with the NIR.
Public Meeting and Film Nights
We've not made much progress on a July public meeting. We discussed instead putting more effort into the idea of a movie night.
One idea is "sponsoring" a Sunday film night at the FAB Cafe on Portland Street. We've discussed this in the past and the venue are up for it in principle. We decided that 22nd July would be the best date for this, and now need to talk to the venue to confirm this.
The other interesting thing is the release of the new film "Taking Liberties" ( http:/www/.noliberties.com/ ), an overview of a decade of New Labour assaults on our freedoms. The film's Manchester premiere is at the Cornerhouse on 28th July. Dave has contacted the Cornerhouse about arranging a special screening of the film complete with guest speakers and a Q&A panel, but hasn't heard back yet. If the Cornerhouse don't want to organise or promote the event, we could maybe do the guest speakers and Q&A at the Friends Meeting House, and organise a group booking for the film. It may well also be worth Manchester No2ID flyering the first showing of the film.
Video Shorts
We came up with the idea of a series of video shorts to be uploaded to YouTube etc. featuring an anonymous masked man, going about his everyday business in a surveillance state. These will be around 30 seconds long, very low-budget and light-hearted. Dave to start a discussion on the list to pool topics.
Moving back to the Town Hall Tavern hasn't sparked some massive increase in attendance. However, it's cheaper for the group and a more relaxed atmosphere. Ed suggests that we highlight the availability of good, reasonably-priced food at the pub until 8pm, which means that people don't have to go home after work for food and then come back in.
There has been some understandable confusion between the Manchester list e-mail address ("
no2id.manchester@no2id.net") and Dave's personal contact address (" manchester@no2id.net"). Dave will talk to the No2ID tech guys about giving the mailing list a more sensible name; if this isn't possible then he might run e-mail lists from manchester.no2id.net directly. Ed raised the question of why parties, unions and other groups don't suport No2ID. Dave mentioned the support that we've had from the 7/11 Truth guys, Anarchist Federation etc. and that we need to strengthen links with other organisations.
Students
We have missed the deadline for a guaranteed Fresher's Fair place at Manchester Uni Fresher's Fair. Dave will try to get something sorted over the summer so we can at least have some kind of presence. Some student societies have offered to run Students Against ID signup sheets on their Fresher's Fair stalls which may help. Unfortunately we're now pretty much in the summer holidays which will make things more awkward.
Media
We need a list of Manchester-centric discussion fora on the web on which we can mention ID cards among people who are clearly politically involved and have time on their hands.
There have been news stories which haven't received lots of press attention, such as the Brown Report, where the government broke the law to delay publishing of the massive cost increase of the National Identity Scheme on the day of Blair's resignation announcement. Also, the new-look Child Support Agency will have the power to confiscate ID cards from fathers who don't keep up payments, which could deny them access to healthcare and other services.
Interrogation Centre
The UKIPS Manchester interrogation centre for Authentication by Interview is supposed to be in Westminster House on the corner of Aytoun Street and Portland Street. However, it doesn't seem to be on the roster of organisations using the building; Dave will double-check this.
Dave will also look into submitting a Freedom of Information Act request to Manchester City Council's treasury department asking them to detail investigations into the cost to the Council of integrating their systems with the NIR.
Public Meeting and Film Nights
We've not made much progress on a July public meeting. We discussed instead putting more effort into the idea of a movie night.
One idea is "sponsoring" a Sunday film night at the FAB Cafe on Portland Street. We've discussed this in the past and the venue are up for it in principle. We decided that 22nd July would be the best date for this, and now need to talk to the venue to confirm this.
The other interesting thing is the release of the new film "Taking Liberties" ( http:/www/.noliberties.com/ ), an overview of a decade of New Labour assaults on our freedoms. The film's Manchester premiere is at the Cornerhouse on 28th July. Dave has contacted the Cornerhouse about arranging a special screening of the film complete with guest speakers and a Q&A panel, but hasn't heard back yet. If the Cornerhouse don't want to organise or promote the event, we could maybe do the guest speakers and Q&A at the Friends Meeting House, and organise a group booking for the film. It may well also be worth Manchester No2ID flyering the first showing of the film.
Video Shorts
We came up with the idea of a series of video shorts to be uploaded to YouTube etc. featuring an anonymous masked man, going about his everyday business in a surveillance state. These will be around 30 seconds long, very low-budget and light-hearted. Dave to start a discussion on the list to pool topics.
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