NEC/Minutes/7th March 2011

From Pirate Party UK Wiki

NEC Meeting Minutes 7th March 2011

Attendees

Loz Kaye, Peter Brett, Phil Cooke, John Barron, Finlay Archibald, Miah Gregory

Apologies

Graeme Lambert

Minutes

The minutes of the previous meeting have been approved.

Miah Gregory commented on the slow release cycle for minutes.

SP 2011

Scottish nominations

John Barron noted that there are two weeks remaining before the opening of Scottish parliament nominations. John has recently realised that he has specific responsibility for this, in contrast with constituency or local elections. John has already delegated specific responsibility for this to Finlay Archibald.

John plans to have a phone conversation this week, first with Finlay Archibald, then with each of the other lead candidates, so that everyone is clear on what has to happen for validly nominated candidates.

John also has an action for Pete Liddell, regarding deposits. These need to be ready for four regions by the 22nd March.

Action: Pete Liddell to prepare and obtain four banker’s drafts prior to the 22nd March, for £500 deposit for Scottish candidates.

Action: Finlay Archibald to check/confirm how banker’s drafts need to be made payable.

John noted that the rules regarding party name on the ballot were very specific, and restrictive. They effectively state that we will have to use “Pirate Party UK”, however in addition to this we can use one of the further descriptions relevant for Scotland.

Action: John will discuss the options with Finlay Archibald.

Ordering first batch of material

Finlay Archibald fed back the summary of an IRC meeting on this topic.

The team would like £300 per region to spend immediately, to cover basics like a stall, merchandise to put on the stall to raise money for their deposit on the ground.

They then felt that the regions which raise enough for a deposit would get to run.

Miah Gregory commented on the Paisley by election and how running stuff at the last minute is not a good idea.

John Barron noted generally that regardless of the criteria for picking go/no-go regions, all of the documentation/paperwork should be ready to go on the Monday. There is a week from then to get the forms etc submitted.

Finlay Archibald noted that the biggest stumbling block for him was the ability to get things purchased as required.

Loz Kaye spoke for a little while about sharpening up and getting the message right.

Action: Loz Kaye will send Finlay Archibald a list of people to get in touch with regarding this.

Campaign Launch (23rd March)

Individual candidates should have their own websites up and running.

Loz Kaye offered his services in any way he can manage to help with the launch.

John Barron noted that by the 29th March we will know who the candidates are and that list will be set in stone.

Phil Cooke also noted that printed materials etc can all be prepared in advanced for this.

Finlay Archibald is hoping to have a press conference and make a big deal out of the dissolution of parliament, which happens on the 23rd March. He is also hoping to run other events as well, for example a talk in Glasgow University.

Web team

Peter Brett noted that it’s really important for the web team folks to get in there and make stuff happen. John Barron seconded this point, and noted that the web team should fire in and do stuff, if they see something that needs doing. John also noted that he has a list of things he’d like to get addressed at some point once the team is operational.

Phil Cooke provided some feedback on this process. The team are trying to collate access details and get things moving forward as soon as possible. A centralised password database is being organised.

PPI Conference

Delegates

Finlay Archibald has booked flights now, so will be heading over for this. Pascal has offered him a lift when he gets over there.

Finlay believes that Will Tovey is interested in being a delegate, albeit a remote one, so Finlay expects to be collaborating with Will on this.

The party needs to register Finlay Archibald as the official PPUK delegate. All NEC members present gave their support for this.

Action: Finlay Archibald will try and organise the registration, and get back to the NEC if there are any problems.

Sponsoring Andrew Norton for PPI board

A number of people have noted their interest/support/happiness for this happening.

All NEC members present agreed that PPUK should sponsor Andrew.

Action: Loz Kaye will formally sponsor Andrew Norton.

Bradley Manning

Loz Kaye feels that this issue is something that the party should take a position on, and is planning to blog on this subject shortly.

AOB

Finlay Archibald re-raised the issue of delays in the treasury process, which are costing him money personally. The NEC had a lengthy discussion on this topic. Miah Gregory suggested that the next newsletter asks for people to get in touch if they are, or know, a PPUK friendly accountant who could help with this process.

Miah Gregory asked whether the NEC would be happy to give him permission to allocate funds as he sees fit in the absence of Peter Liddell. All NEC members present (John Barron and Loz Kaye) agreed that this was acceptable in order to get things sorted.

Peter brett added the following feedback via the mailing list: Approved, subject to you letting us know whenever you allocate funds (just to help us keep track of what's going on).

Loz Kaye has recognised that his time is in short supply, and plans to cut back on some of his teaching work in order to spend more time working on/with the party.