what do we do to get it stopped? ( from saturdays show )

[mickyv]

Nice one Luke, it will be interesting to see what sort of response you’ll get.

I’ve been too preoccupied lately, with boring things like earning money to keep the bailiffs away, to work further on this boycotting idea. However I’ve just noticed that Amnesty international has just launch a new campaign against human rights abuses in the so-called War on Terror;

http://www.unsubscribe-me.org/


As you see it’s called “unsubscribe me”, which is really another way of boycotting, so maybe we are on the right tracks; also I noticed that on the Scott Ritter article you posted on the other thread, somebody had written the following comments;

“Individuals: Boycott gasoline. Boycott plastic. Boycott gas and coal fueled electric power. Shift your exchange/association away from power centers and toward local communities. Help build food, materials and energy self-sufficiency, and help starve the beast capital into submission to the public will.”

It seems more & more people are thinking along the same lines, so promising.

[luke]

Cash (6650 donations) totaling: £ 94,912,824.98
Non cash (661 donations) totaling: £ 2,867,809.52
Exempt Trusts (created before July 27th 1999) (1 donations) totaling: £ 6,148.88
Permissible donor exempt trust (1 donations) totaling: £ 3,000.00
Public funds (2 donations) totaling: £ 457,997.00
Impermissible donor (1 donations) totaling: £ 1,000.00
Unidentifiable donor (2 donations) totaling: £ 900.00

labour donors - click here

i've had a quick look through, and it doesn't appear that the plan we had, boycotting their donors, is really going to work - as its mostly unions, which i'm shocked at really.

from my quick look though, i think we'd be better off with the original plan, just stop participating in the economy. stop buying everything except what you need to live.

[mickyv]

Do you always get disheartened so quickly Luke ! I presume that the reply you received from labour, was basically to direct you to the electoral commission site ?

So yes the proportion that comes from the Unions is a lot bigger than I was lead to believe; presently around 70% if this article is correct;

“The unions give money by the lorry-load to the party: in 2006, Labour received donations of more than £12m – of that figure, £8.5m, or 70pc, of the total came from the unions.”

(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/09/24/cchope124.xml)

However leaving the Unions aside for the moment, if you filter the search engine on the electoral commission site so that it searches for companies under the Donor Status field, up come hundreds of companies, including so very big well known ones. I think that these sorts of companies will be more worried about bad publicity rather than any financial losses, that will result from an organised boycotting campaign. I also think that it’s probably correct just to target Donors who contributed after the attack on Iraq.

Also very useful is the list of individuals who make/made donations; It seems many are actual MPs. Other are well known people such as Mr Eddie Izzard; Lord David Sainsbury of Turville; Glenys Kinnock; and others turn out to be owners of businesses (at random I looked up Stefanos Stefanou, to discover he owns & runs the John Doyle Group, a major building & property business.)

Another thing to consider is that the Donors to the Conservative Party should also be included as they were just as gung-ho on Iraq as Labour was.

The Trade Unions should also be tacked, as they are also not immune to bad publicity, but more importantly their members can be targeted directly, as they have a right to stop their subs if they want, and without any repercussions.

[Mandy]

This thread should merge with "Party Funding" thread http://couchtripper.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?t=5699

[mickyv]

Mandy, I think that a Thread about how politiical parties are funded, and a threat about how the anti-war movement can try to achieve it's aims, although can be very related, are also two different subjects, and merging them might cloud the issues a bit.

Going back to the electoral commission site that Luke provided, as I mentioned above the search filter on Donor Status can be used to filter out companies, trade unions, individuals, etc. The data can be cut & pasted onto Excel worksheets, so it can be sorted & manipulated as needed, but it takes a lot of time cutting & pasting the various fields into separate cells, but it's something I can do when listening to the GG shows ! Once that is done, an initial sweep can be made to pick out all the different the companies & trade unions, and all the well known individuals. The other individuals will then need further research to find out who they are & what they represent, like I did with the Stefanos Stefanou example.

Any ideas, thoughts or assistance with the above will be much appreciated.

[Mandy]

You are right Micky. I should have just cross-referenced them since they both were touching on the same issue of party funding & I was jumping between the two threads to see what was said in each.

[mickyv]

Ok, I now have the post Iraq War Labour Donors data on spreadsheet form. Aside from the Trade Unions, which I haven’t sorted yet, the Donors seem to fit under three general categories; Companies, Individuals & Associations/Unincorporated Associations.

There are about 200 hundred odd companies, perhaps less as I counted similar but not identical names separately. The Individuals fall under three sub-categories, with most being MPs, which I have taken out the ones I know, leaving Businessmen & Celebrities. Much to my surprise I only noticed three Celebs/VIPs (Eddie Izzard, Glenys Kinnock & Mick Hucknall), but I’m not too good on Celebrities. All the business men need to be identified to find out what businesses they represent. The smallest list is the Associations; this is because most of them are Labour Clubs, which I have already eliminated.

Here all the three lists, and I would be grateful if anybody can identify any of the names, before I start to slowly go through the list on Google, and of course any thoughts or ideas are welcomed


Companies:
Aagaard Hanley Ltd
ADA Marketing Resources Limited
Airtricity - Sponsorship
Airtricity Holdings (UK) Limited
Alan Watt & Co. Ltd - Sponsorship
Anglia (NW) Ltd
Ask Property Developments
Association of Scotland's Colleges - Sponsorship
ATH Resources plc
Aventis Pharma Ltd
B & E Boys Ltd
BAA
BAA - Sponsorship
Beattie McGuinness Bungay Ltd
Bestway Cash and Carry Limited
Bestway Limited
Bet365 Ltd
Betterworld Ltd
Bird & Bird Limited
Birmingham International Airport
Black Country Chamber of Commerce - Sponsorship
Bloomberg Tradebook Europe Ltd
Bloomberg Tradebrook Group
Bloomberg UK
Bramall Construction
British Land Property Advisers Limited
Broome & Wellington
Browell Smith & Co
CABLE Ltd
Canary Wharf Group
Canary Wharf Group Plc
Canary Wharf Limited
Canary Wharf Ltd
Canary Wharf Ltd - Sponsorship
Careandhealth Ltd
Castle Point Gas and Heading Co.
Castle Point Heating and Gas Co Ltd
Central Midland Estates Ltd
Central Midlands Estates
Chelgate Ltd
Christine Lee & Co (Solicitors) Ltd
Citigate Public Affairs Ltd
City Refridgeration Holdings Ltd
Cleartech Water Solutions Co Ltd
Clifton Packaging Ltd
Clyde Valley Drilling Ltd
Collinson Associates Limited
Crosby Homes Special Projects
D1 Oils Plc
DCD London and Mutual Plc
DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary Uk Ltd
EDF Energy
EDF Energy PLC
Eligo International Ltd
English Welsh & Scottish Railways Limited
EUK Consulting Limited
EUK Consulting Ltd
European Fire Sprinkler Network
Exeter Labour & Trade Union Premises
Exeter Labour and Trade Union Properties
Faisaltex Manufacturing Ltd
Fellow's Associates
Finsbury Limited
Fitness Industry Association
Flanagan Group Limited
Fluor Ltd - Sponsorship
Focus Consultancy Ltd
Forbes Campbell (International) Ltd
Ford Motor Company
Freud Communications Ltd
Global DVD Ltd
Global Financial Marketing Plc
GNER
GNER Holdings Ltd
Gregory Rowcliffe Milners Ltd
H H Associates
H H Associates Ltd
HBL Media Limited
Helius Energy Plc
HH Associates
Holland Park Homes Limited
Hundred Percent Management
Icici Bank UK Ltd
IGTL Solutions (UK) Ltd
Inclusive Technology Ltd
Irwin Mitchell
Irwin Mitchell Solicitors Ltd
Ivor Caplin Consultancy Limited
John McCarthy & Co. Ltd
Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust
Kelda Group Plc
KPMG LLP
KPMG UK Limited
KPMG UK Ltd.
Lawford Kidd Solicitors
Liddell Thompson
Lionel Cooke Memorial Fund
Lothian Buses plc - Sponsorship
LPC (Parmaceuticals) Ltd
Lynnet Leisure
McGarvies Morrison Media Ltd
McNiff Civil Enginering
Media Strategy
Mersey Film Ltd
MGN
Microcom Training
Microsoft Ltd
Midlands Co-Operative Society
Morgan Allen Moore
Morgan Allen Moore Ltd
Motion Picture Partnership LLP
Mountgrange Ltd - Sponsorship
Muir Homes Limited
Nam Ploy Restaurant
National Express
National Express Airport Holdings Limited
National Express Group Plc
National Express Group plc - Sponsorship
National Union of Labour & Socialist Clubs
Network Rail Ltd
Northumbrian Water
Northumbrian Water Ltd
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Ltd
NPL Estates
Opal Property Group Ltd
PA Consulting Group Limited (sponsorship)
Park Lane Properties (Leeds) Limited
Penmarric PLC
Peoples Car Dealer
Peoples Ltd
Pheonix Car Company
Philip Gould Associates
Philip Gould Associates Ltd
Phoenix Car Company
Phoenix Honda Ltd
Picsel Technologies Limited - Sponsorship
Picture Production Company Ltd
Powergen
Premier Waste Management Ltd
Progress
Progress Ltd
Rainbow Fostering Services Ltd
RB Ltd
RDK Construction Ltd
Reddington Finance Ltd
Resource Limited
River Front Properties Limited
River Front Properties Ltd
Robert Wiseman Dairies plc
Romag Plc
Ruobal Properties Limited
Ruobal Properties Ltd
S M Namana Ltd
Scottish Co-operative Party
Scottish Daily Record and Sunday Mail Ltd
Scottish Power
Scottish Power Plc
Service Graphics Ltd
SIGMA Pharmaceuticals Plc
Smart Office Systems
Southend-on-Sea Labour Club & Institute
Southend-on-Sea Labour Club & Institute Limited
Southend-on-Sea Labour Club & Institute Ltd
Sovereign Strategy
Sovereign Strategy Limited
Sovereign Strategy Ltd
St Cloud Club
Sterling Capitol Plc
Stewart & McKenna Limited
Strathvale Holdings
Stroud Divisional Labour Club & Institution Ltd
Stroud Divisional Labour Club and Institute
Stroud Divisional Labour Club and Institute Limited
Stroud Divisional Labour Club and Institute Ltd
Stroud Divisional Labour Club and Institution Ltd
Swan Hunter (Tyneside) Limited
Swan Hunter (Tyneside) Ltd
Tait Communications
TBWA London
TBWA London Ltd
Tesco
Tesco Plc
Tesco Plc - Sponsorship
The Coal Exchange
The Co-operative Group
The Co-operative Group Ltd
The House Builders Federation
The Leisure Database Company Ltd
The Middelton Greeves Consultancy Ltd
The Old Vic Theatre Company
The Publishing and Licensing Agency Ltd
The Video Meeting Company Limited
The Village Shopping Centre
Thompsons Solicitors
Thompsons Solicitors - Sponsorship
Toon Media Ltd
Trinity Mirror Shared Services Ltd
United Co-operatives Limited
United Co-operatives Ltd
United Co-operatives UK ltd
Vauxhall Motors
Veetee Rice Ltd
Venson Automotive Solutions Ltd
Venson Automotive Solutions Ltd - Sponsorship
Vertex
Vertex Data Science Ltd
Vertex Data Science Ltd - Sponsorship
Vitabiotics Limited
Vitabiotics Ltd
W M Donnelly Co Ltd
Waging Peace
Warwick Emanuel PR Ltd
Watchacre Limited
Watford Labour Halls
Watford Labour Halls Ltd
Weber Shadwick Ltd
Weber Shandwick
Weber Shandwick Limited
Webworx
Western Power
Westminister International Consultants LLP
Weymouth Labour Club
Weymouth Labour Club Limited
Weymouth Labour Club Ltd
Workers Beer Company Ltd
Yeovil Labour Institue Society
Yoevil Labour Institute Society Ltd



Individuals;
Abdul Amejee
Adrian Friend
Ahmed Noor
Alan Clinton
Alan Wyatt
Alexander Mitchell
Alexander Murray
Alice Mahon
Allan Stewart
Allen Brett
Amir Bhatia
Andrew Bennett
Andrew Dundas
Andrew Hill
Andrew Smith
Andy McCormick
Ann Cryer
Ann Limb
Anthony Browne
Baroness Mary Goudie
Barry Angel
Barry Townsley CBE
Bernard Jones
Bernard McElholm
Bertram Wilson
Brian Abbs
Brian Gilda
C Campbell
Captain E K White
Caroline Pennington
Charles Peel
Charles Skene
Chris Black
Chris Wright
Christine Borgars
Christopher Turner
Claire Flynn
Colin Shrive
Cormac Hollingsworth
Cyril Dove
D Browne
D Clayton Jones
D Davies
Dave Anderson
David Grugeon
David Kidney
Denise Gleeson
Derek Johnson MBE
Derek Tullett CBE
Donald Roy
Dr Brian Iddon MP
Dr Cormac Hollingsworth
Dr Ved Prakash Bali
Duncan Bannatyne
Eddie Izzard
Elaine Hunter
Elizabeth Pyne
Eluned Morgan
Emanual Davidson
Felix Dennis
George Saville
Gerald Kelly
Geraldine Jeffrey
Gerry Bermingham
Gerry White
Glenys Kinnock
Gordon Dalyell
Gordon Jamieson
Graham Jones OBE
Gulam Noon
Helen Drewery
Hemlata Patel
Hina Ansari
Hugh Henry
Huw Edwards
Iain Gray
Iqbac Desai
Iqbal Khan
J Jonas
James Forbes
James Jonas
James Malloy
James Purnell MP
James Sinclair Doulls
James Wray
Jane Moores
Janet Dean MP
Janet Kidd
Jeanette Johnson
Jeff Zitron
Jeffrey Leaver
Jenifer McClelland
Jerry Suenson-Taylor
Jessie Thompson
Jimmy Duncan
Joanne McCartney
Joe Donnelly
John Barlow
John Boyle OBE
John English
John Lyons
John McCarthy
John Milligan
John Mills
John Moores
John Reynolds
John Roberts
John Taylor
Johnny Hon
Jon Aisbitt
JR Milligan
Judy Mallaber MP
Jules Pipe
Kartar Lalvani
Ken Wills
Kevin Craig
Kevin Hutchens
Kevin McGrath
Kitty Ussher
Lakshminiwas Mittal
Laurence Embra MBE
Leroy Wright
Leslie Butterfield
Lindsey Thomas
Lord Alli
Lord Mitchell
Lord Waverley
Lord Amirali Bhatia
Lord Carter of Coles
Lord David Evans of Watford
Lord David Sainsbury of Turville
Lord Paul Drayson
Lord Paul Hamlyn
Lord Sushantha Bhattacharyya
Lord Taylor of Blackburn
Lord Toby Harris of Haringey
Lord Tony Young of Norwood Green
Lord Waheed Ali
Lord Waheed Alli
Lord William McKenzie
Luther Pendragon
Lynnet Leisure
M Jamieson
M McLaughlin
Mahmoud Khayami
Malcolm Chisholm
Manubhai Madhvani
Margaret Mary Robinson
Marie Ferguson-Smith
Marion White
Mark Foster
Martin Tupper
Martyn Spore
Mary Hannaford
Mary Hill
Mary Rainey
Maureen Hendry
Maureen McMillan
Maurice Millward
Michael Aldrich
Michael Edge
Michael Frayn
Mick Hucknall
Mike Lynch
Mohammed Sarwar MP
Mr Alan Davidson
Mr Alan Teasdale
Mr Alf McCarthy
Mr Andy McCormick
Mr Andy Taylor
Mr Anthony Bailey
Mr Anthony Gormley
Mr Bernard Jones
Mr Bill Kenwright CBE
Mr Brian Abbs
Mr Brian Gibbons AM
Mr Brian Gilda
Mr Charles Skene
Mr Chris Black
Mr Chris Wright
Mr Christopher Connor
Mr Colin Foster
Mr Daniel Truell
Mr David Cleevely
Mr David Sharpe
Mr Derek Johnson MBE
Mr Derek Tullett CBE
Mr Donald Roy
Mr Dorian Jabri
Mr Duncan Bannatyne
Mr Emmanuel Davidson
Mr Emmanuelle Davidson
Mr Eric Walker
Mr George Crawford
Mr George Toulmin
Mr Gerald Kelly
Mr Gerald O'Hare
Mr Gerald Patrick Kelly
Mr Graham Jones OBE
Mr Ian Harrison
Mr James Jonas
Mr Jeff Zitron
Mr Joe Donnelly
Mr John Chan
Mr John McCarthy
Mr John Mills
Mr John Moores
Mr John Reynolds
Mr Joseph Edwin Waugh
Mr Kenneth Graham
Mr Kevin McGrath
Mr Leslie Butterfield
Mr Michael Jones
Mr Michael King
Mr Michael Stephenson
Mr Michael Watts
Mr Nic Dakin
Mr Nigel Doughty
Mr Patrick Cosgrove
Mr Patrick Stewart
Mr Peter Cameron
Mr Peter Carpenter
Mr Peter Coates
Mr Peter Humphries
Mr R Truelove
Mr Ray Ridgley
Mr Raymond Ayscough
Mr Raymond Ruddick
Mr Richard Williams
Mr Robert Latham
Mr Ronald Kennedy
Mr Russell Duncan
Mr Russell Sullman
Mr Simon Hall
Mr Sonny Leung
Mr Stanley Arnold
Mr Stanley Arnold (dec'd)
Mr Stanley Wickham-Arnold
Mr Stefanos Stefanou
Mr Steve Sampson
Mr Stuart Wall
Mr Tim Leaver
Mr Tom McGee
Mr Trevor Beattie
Mr William Archer
Mr William Bollinger
Mr William Bottriell
Mr William Haughey OBE
Mrs Anne Sacks
Mrs Grace Montgomery
Mrs Joan Morgan
Mrs M Milligan
Ms Aileen Button
Ms Anne Shillcock
Ms Barbara Williams
Ms Joan Morgan
Muhammad Junejo
Nadim Saifi
Nancy Jess Berry
Nat Purewal
Neil Gillam
Nick Childs
Nicky Gavron
Nigel Doughty
Nigel Morris
Norman Timmins
Omar Megerisi
Patrick Cosgrove
Paul Flynn MP
Paula Stewart
Pauline Brett
Perceval Johnson
Peter Carpenter
Peter Thompson OBE
Phyllis Starkey
Praful Vadgama
Professor Alex Reed CBE
R Ruddick
Ranjit Singh Baxi
Ray Ruddick
Raymond Ridgley
Reg Race
Richard Dobbs
Richard Walker
Rick Binning
Robert Greener
Robert Wann
Roger Bristow
Ron Kennedy
Ronald Cohen
Ruth Harding
Sadhu Biring
Sandra Aldrich
Simon Kime
Sir Christopher Ondaatjie
Sir David Garrard
Sir Frank Lowe
Sir Gerry Robinson
Sir Gulam Noon
Sir Maurice Hatter
Sir Ronald Cohen
Sir Sigmund Sternberg
Siraj Haq
Sonny Leong
Stefanos Stefanou
Sudaram Rai
Sukhdev Sandhu
Sylvia Sheridan
Tahir Alo
Terry Hands
Thomas Marsoner
Tony Langham
Valerie Kaye
Vandana Shah
Vanessa Fry
Vivienne Manheim
William Bollinger
William Bottriell
William Haughey
William Hopkin Joseph
William McClements
Winifred Sweeney
Zahid Hussain


Associations;
Arthur Palmer Memorial Trust
Bromwell Smith and Co Solicitors
Browell Smith and Co. Solicitors
City of Chester 1000 Club
Contact Club
DLA
Elm Park Share and Loan Club
Greek Cypriot Brotherhood
H G Wells Centre
Leagrave Trust
Lincoln Co-op
Manningtree Socialist Society
Mobile Operators Association
Morris Hall Trustees
Muslim Friends of Labour
Muslims for Labour
National Union of Labour & Socialist Clubs
Newcastle Borough Labour Group
Newcastle East Parliamentary Association
North Thanet Building Fund Trust
North Thanet Building Trust
Progress
Ruskin Hall Trustees
Sheffield Local Government Committee
Stevenage 500 Club
SWELL
Thompsons Solicitors
Turkish Cypriot Democratic Association
Tynemouth Rose Draw Fund

[Mandy]

To donate, individuals have to be UK resident (on the electoral register), and if companies then they must have a UK presence, which means the companies are likely to be registered at "UK Companies House" where you can get the company's registered address for free via : http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/WebCHeck/fastrack/

Also, you might be able to visit Companies House (they have an office in London somewhere) where you can search all company records .. and possibly even go from a director's name to list every company he is a director of. You can then put pressure on the company & the director (using the address listed at companies house -- since this generally lists both the director's address & the company's address).

An angle is to see if you could see which companies (either direct donors or donation via directors) might benefit, or have benefited, from government actions (proposed or actual) , e.g. :

+Likely to benefit from the recently approved cross-rail link
+Likely to benefit from Heathrow expansion
+Likely to benefit from the recent bailout of Northern Rock
+Likely to benefit from the invasions of Iraq, Afghanistan
+Likely to benefit from the threat of attacking Iran
.. the list of Labour policies must be long {and can be trawled from their manifesto as well)

Then the issue is to ask : Did these companies donate the money without benefit ? (Cash for honours scandal rings a bell)

Imagine approaching a company and explicitly asking : Is there a connection between your donations to Labour (or Tories) and any benefit you may get from these government actions (or proposed actions) ?

[mickyv]

Thanks for your thoughts Mandy. The basic idea was really just to produce a list of mainly companies that could be use in a name & shame boycotting campaign. And now as it turns that most of the donations still come from Trade Unions, I thought that maybe a parallel campaign aimed at getting individual anti-war union members to cancel their automatic subscription/donations to the Labour Party, might be worth undertaking. The same applies to some of the Associations members, (why are two Muslim groups funding a Party that targets Muslims both at home & abroad ?!), and while we are at it, maybe a few letters to high profile Celeb Donors might make some reconsider their funding of war & destruction.

I appreciate the info re Companies House, and this may prove very useful later on, but for the moment I think that I should not get involved into any cash for honours scandal type issues (although the number & type of companies that donate do indeed suggest entwinement with specific Government policies). I will now concentrate on the Individual List, to try & convert more of the names into Companies to add to the sHit List, as I envision this to be both the easiest & most media attention catching first phase of any organised boycotting campaign.

[Mandy]

Thanks Micky -- your efforts could lead to something really big.

I totally agree that the trade unions should immediately stop all donations. They are only supporting an anti-trade union party.

Regarding Muslim backing, there is a spectrum of opinion in any religion, including some who support the Tories. The mainstream clearly wouldn't support new Labour.

[luke]

nice work micky

so now we need to go through that list of individuals and associations and try and work out who/what they represent? i can see this is going to be quite a mission!

maybe we could split the list between the people who are up for helping?

i could post the individuals/associations to the medialens forum, see if anyone recognizes any of them - maybe others could do it if they're on other forums they think could help?

[mickyv]

Thanks for the replies Mandy & Luke.

Yes splitting the work would be much appreciated. While I work on the Unions List, can I leave the start of looking up of the Individual Names to anybody who has time to run some names through Google ? The objective is to find out if any Names represent companies or are owners/heads of business. I think we should try going through the list ourselves first, and only then when we are really stuck, to approach others like Medialens for help.

(I forgot to remove Stefanos Stefanou from the Individual List, and to add his John Doyle Group business to the Companies List, being the one name that I easily found details on).

[luke]

thats cool micky, i'll start going through them tomorrow

[faceless]

The best way to sort this would be using a pre-set Access template. Micky, if you've got a start on one already, then you can attach it as a rar or zip file here. With this amount of information it would mean a lot more work later if the information gathered wasn't centralised from the start.

If you're up for developing the database as the need for fields grows it should work out well.

[mickyv]

I agree Faceless, that putting all the data into an Access database would be ideal, but it I hardly know how to put one together. If you are interested in helping out I could send you (if let me know how) the complete worksheet.