2009-05-12T13:58:00.000+01:00

have just realised I have neglected to keep this updated. I will give details of past activities if required. The biggest thing was our participation in the Convention on Modern Liberty.
We are going to man stalls at Portobello Green ( under the flyover) on 24th May. At the British Constitution Group meeting on 13th June at Friends Meeting House, Morning Star Conference at Congress House on 20th June and the Earl's Court Street Fair on 21st. Any and all help would be gratefully received. We will be back in Portobello in July probably the second or third Sunday.

04:00:00

by PJM

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Our next events

2008-02-17T13:18:00.002Z

We are going to show Taking Liberties perhaps at St Jude's Courtfield Gardens SW5 if the Electric Cinema proves too expensive. I had wanted Shirley Williams to talk to us but she had to drop out twice . I will invite her again and try and combine it with the film. This is not in the immediate futre but will I hope be quite soon.

Is anyone prepared to come to Burford on 17th May and help with a stall on Levellers' Day?

We are helping Judith of Southwark with a stall in Camberwell at a respect meeting on 27th February would anyone like to assist?

NO2ID Stall At Kula Shaker Gig

2008-02-17T12:30:00.009Z

RBK&C members manned a NO2ID stall at the Kula Shaker gig at the Shepherds Bush Empire on Friday 8th February at the invitation of Crispian Mills, the group lead singer, who is a NO2ID supporter.

The stall was set up at 6.30 and manned till closing time at 11.00 pm by three RBK&C members, including Sheila McGuirk (pictured left), and supported by NO2ID Chair Phil Booth and three supporters from Brighton. £43.78 in donations and sales proceeds were collected and 52 names/addresseson the petition. (Sales were one mug and 7 beer mats donated by members,and T shirts made an eye-catching display but remained unsold.) All proceeds were sent to central NO2ID funds to cover the cost of printed materials.

Large numbers of badges and 3-part flyers were distributed and numbers of pledges, though none were signed on the spot. Given the zero cost of the stall and the impassioned plug for the cause and for the film Taking Liberties by Crispian Mills, these concerts are a major benefit to the NO2ID campaign.

Next Meeting

2007-12-06T12:33:00.000Z

Our next meeting is on December 10th at 7.30-9.00 pm in South Kensington (nearest tube Gloucester Road). Please email for details of the venue.

Hope to see you there.

Report, Meeting 21st November 2007

2007-11-29T11:37:00.002Z

In the Chair, (JM)

Present:
(SH) Westbourne Park
(TS ) Bayswater
(CS) Ladbroke Grove
(CB) Earls Court
(CD) Ladbroke Grove
(SNM) Cromwell Road
(GJ) Earls Court
(JH )organiser Southwark
(DF) Notting Hill/Holland Park
(DS)

1) Formation and History of Kensington NO2ID (Agenda items 1 and 2)

JM had become de facto organiser for the area following an early offer to help the central office. Several people present at the meeting had become regularly involved since then. JM explained that she had organised two general meetings in K&C over the past 2 years.

A) The first was held in the Autumn of 2005 at St Mary Abbot’s Hall where the speakers were Guy Herbert, Secretary of NO2ID; Gerard Batten, MEP for UKIP; Jonathan Fryer for the Liberal Democrats, Harry Phibbs of the Evening Standard. That meeting was chaired by Brian Mooney of Hammersmith and Fulham NO2ID. Approximately 30-40 people attended. (At this stage the ID legislation had not yet been passed and the objective was to galvanise support to oppose the legislation).

B) The second general meeting was at a Lecture Theatre in Imperial College and the speakers were Henry Porter, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, MP for K&C, and Professor Ross Anderson of the NHS OptOut campaign. (This was after the legislation had been passed, and addressed primarily the risks arising from large databases, hence the linkage to the campaign to Opt out of the NHS central database). Roughly 100-150 people attended, which was not particularly impressive considering the calibre of the speakers and the publicity, which included several days of leafleting outside the local tube stations:Gloucester Road, South Kensington, High Street Kensington, and Imperial College.

C) In addition members of K&CNO2ID have held two stalls on Fridays in Portobello Green; handed out leaflets at 2 RISE festivals; participated in stalls/petition-signing exercises at the Earls Court Festival and in Swiss Cottage. We also had an expedition to the Levellers’ Day Commemoration in Burford with the help of the Swindon group.Market stalls are expensive and need to be funded by the sale of merchandise, which comprised mugs (JM), beer mats (SNM), T shirts (Central Office). The badges, postcards and tripartite flyers are free hand-outs. The Portobello Green stalls covered their costs and all of them resulted in useful contact names/addresses being on the petition sheets but the overall impact is small. Respondents fall into 4 broad categories: those totally against the ID national register of data on civil liberties grounds; those who think it is a good idea because they “have done nothing wrong so have nothing to fear” and do not understand about the underlying issues of privacy and freedomthose who think it is a good idea because they think it will prevent terrorism, benefits fraud, illegal immigration etc and are part of the establishment (civil servants etc) so want their lives made easier in tracking and chasing us those who are generally dis-engaged.

D) CS has set up an RBK&C NO2ID blog/website. This could be very useful for promoting RBK&C NO2ID events and communicating between members. Next steps to maximise the benefit of this site are:

a) Central NO2ID to be advised of existence of this site and a link created from the central site to Claire’s site.
b) Members may choose to post items to the site by taking out a Google account, or
c) Members may ask CS to post items by emailing her the information.

2) What should RBK&C do next

The object of the meeting was to discuss future plans, particularly a possible event in January 2008 in the Notting Hill area of K&C, which was also of interest to the NO2ID Central Office. Matters to discuss were Format, Content, Venue.

A) SH explained that her Church, which is on the corner of Ledbury Road and Westbourne Grove, was organising a major Civil Liberties week in September 2008 (around 19th). There would be opportunities for NO2ID to participate, distribute literature, hold a merchandise stall and generally use the occasion at no charge. This was welcomed by RBK&C NO2ID members present who look forward to working with Susan on this initiative.

B) There was general discussion of a SPEAKERS meeting. Possible celebrities (local and otherwise) who might be prepared to speak include Tony Benn, Baroness Williams, Joanna Lumley but there are likely to be others. GJ pointed out that the lead time was really too short to organise such a meeting.

C) There was general discussion of VENUES. Variables are:CostSize eg 30-40 people or 100-150 peoplePurpose, ie speakers versus film showingIt was agreed that members would investigate the price and availability of various venues:Unitarian Church Hall, top of Vicarage Gate – SNM The Tabernacle – Portobello – SNM Kensington & Chelsea College, Wornington Rd – JMCommunity Church – SH (Subsequent to the meeting SH advised that the Church would make only a nominal £10 charge for use of a hall accommodating 50 people) Ladbroke Grove Library – CD Church Hall above Lazy Daisy café, Portobello – DF St Mary Abbot’s Hall – JM

D) Given the time constraints the meeting also discussed a showing of “Taking Liberties” for the January 2008 meeting; the producers have agreed that NO2ID can do this.Best venues for this would be: The Gate, The Coronet, The Electric, Cine Lumiere? But others of the previously mentioned venues might need to be considered due to cost issues, except SH’s church as they would be showing “Taking Liberties” there in September. CD suggested a showing of Power of Nightmares. Members were not sure about copyright issues. (Anyone following up?)

E) Publicity would be key to any January 2008 event, whether speakers or film showing. The following possibilities were discussed:

a) Notices stuffed in envelopes, addressed and delivered through letter boxes in the catchment area. An eye-catching tactic might be to label the envelope “Final Demand for cost of ID” or something.
b) Letterbox leaflet drops NOT individually addressed; general feeling that these tend to be binned immediately.
c) Posting on our website - DF was concerned that we have no clear target market.

JH felt one important aspect to emphasise is the COST of the ID/national register of data programme. GJ felt that in RBK&C the CIVIL LIBERTIES issues are the key attention grabbers.Both these issues would need to be emphasised in any publicity material.DF also wondered how we could make an IMPACT, which CD pointed out would usually come through TV, but perhaps a mock-up ID (like the one of George Orwell on the flyer) of Gordon Brown and/or Alastair Darling might grab attention. There was a sense that RBK&C alone could not make a splash but to enable the Central NO2ID office to do so required funds. So the more members we could sign up who paid a £40 per annum subscription to the campaign the better chance the Central campaign co-ordinators would have of buying advertising or whatever.

The meeting ended at around 9.30.

The date of the next meeting will be communicated by email.
26 November 2007 10:19

Kensington & Chelsea NO2ID

Our next events

NO2ID Stall At Kula Shaker Gig

Next Meeting

Report, Meeting 21st November 2007