Video Episodes:
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01:50:57 02/08/10
Coca Cola Reacts To Bad Press
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Coca Cola proves it is environmentally friendly and how it supports people in other countries
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19:11:04 02/02/10
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09:40:22 02/02/10
Mark Thomas Mtx 04 Debt Collector
[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 09:40:22 02/02/10
Mark Thomas, Debt Collector - Post war Iraq is bust. The country owes $383,000,000,000 to various companies, banks and countries from loans/credit which it took to build palaces, buy weapons and such. Mark Thomas decides to try and help out by taking it onto himself to try to raise money to help them out.
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07:53:57 02/02/10
Mark Thomas Mtx 03 Weapons Inspector
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 07:53:57 02/02/10
Mark Thomas, Weapons Inspector - Mark assumes the role of a weapons inspector and attempts to uncover British and American weapons of mass destruction.
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06:22:23 02/02/10
Mark Thomas Mtx 02 Secret Map Of Britain
[LESS INFO] 4 VIEWS | ADDED 06:22:23 02/02/10
Mark Thomas' Secret Map of Britain - Mark Thomas draws up a map of Britain that reveals the places the government and the establishment do not want the public to know about, disproves the claim that the government is an 'open' institution, and looks at the secret democracy that Britain really is.
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04:50:13 02/02/10
Mark Thomas Mtx 01 Thomas Country
[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 04:50:13 02/02/10
Thomas Country - Mark poses as a right-wing farmer who infiltrated genuine farming conferences to investigate the true aims and ambitions of the Countryside lobby.
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03:40:15 02/02/10
Mark Thomas Mtp 06 06 Arms Dealing
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 03:40:15 02/02/10
* How I became an arms dealer in 8 days o Mark brings on a Heckler and Koch MP5 sub machine gun o Used by the police at airports o Heckler and Koch is a German company owned by Royal Ordinance who are owned by BAE Systems o Britain has sold arms to all sorts of bad regimes and the Labour party in opposition were against it and were going to change things o 7 years later they bring through and arms control bill but it doesn't mention end-use monitoring of arms and it doesn't mention licensed export controls o The license to make Heckler and Koch rifles is licensed to other countries like Turkey and they can sell it wherever they like o Mark set up a font company and started to write to people o Phoned up Brugge and Thomme (sp?) in Switzerland they are an agent and distributor for Heckler & Koch trying to get guns to Algeria which has an arms embargo o They say they will quote but they never did o Tried some other companies but this time asked for export to Zimbabwe o The Turkish company agree at $850 a gun. o Then got a quote from Pakistan Ordinance Company at $550 a gun o And one from the Iranian defence company at $300 a gun o Mark phones the Pakistan company wanting an assurance on quality. They say to talk to their representative at their Embassy in London. o Go over to the embassy who assure them on quality and say they should talk to the export manager directly and they set up the phone call. o Give them a brochure, on the first page of which is an anti-personnel mine. o Phone up the Pakistan Ordinance Factory who say theirs is the best quality. They say there will be no problem exporting to Zimbabwe. o Approval will be a formality. o They ask to make sure the guns are not going to rebels. Mark reassures them they are going to the military, to Robert Mugabe. They say OK, you have to be careful who you sell to. o They say if they sell over 1,000 they could include a free gift of a free holding bag for each gun. o They also ask that not too much mark-up is put on the guns. + "We're looking for people who can promote our products, if you think you've got contacts and you think you'll be strong [in Zimbabwe] we'd be pleased to give you an authorisation in the future. We can also work on a small percentage for you..." o Mark phones the Pakistani Ordnance Factory from the back of a flat bed lorry on 29th April 2002 outside the Pakistan embassy in London. o He admits he is a Channel 4 journalist and confronts them. o They hung up. o Get back to the office and an email has come through from the Swiss company suggesting they get in touch with their agent in Finland. o Phone up Olli Salo of FinnRappel Oy about sending guns to Algeria. He says "not a problem". o Says it would be best to fly them direct to Algeria as then they only need an import permit. + "All the paper we need is an import permit from the country of the destination that's the only paper we want..." o They don't need export paperwork because it's trans-shipment. o They say they are not exporting, just shipping on. o Phoned up Brugger & Thomet to say how impressed they are with the Finnish agent. + "He's our agent for many parts of the world with stuff like this and the fact is that the regulation we have there it's very liberal and it's working very smooth.} o Phone up Olli and say that the client also wants to buy some British sniper rifles. They say not a problem.. + "It has to come from outside the European Union. If it comes from Germany we'd need a license but when it comes outside it doesn't. That's the trick." o Switzerland isn't in the EU. o The Swiss end doesn't know anything about this deal. o Asks them if they can also do the deal to Zimbabwe. "No problem". o Swiss say under current law they are not allowed to export any arms to Zimbabwe. o Finnish say that they abide by any EU sanctions. o Mark phones Olli on 29th April 2002 o Asks about the shipment. He says they'll just change the labels from "import" to "trans-shipment" o Phoned up Olli again from a flat bed outside the DTI and admitted he was a reporter. He denies everything he says "It's a joke". o We found this out in 8 days o Mark takes a stretch limo to BAE systems in Bristol and asks to speak to somebody about the guns he's been buying. Says he has Mr Mugabe in the car and "he's a bit anxious". o Takes a camel up to security and leaves it there while he goes off to get something from the van.
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02:40:06 02/02/10
Mark Thomas Mtp 06 05 Quango State
[LESS INFO] 4 VIEWS | ADDED 02:40:06 02/02/10
* Quangos o Mark stays away from politicians in the main as he doesn't like them. o Got an email from a bloke asking if he would be prepared to give evidence at a select committee in the House of Commons o Asked him to look at Quangos o In 1996 Tony Blair said he was going to "consign the Quango state to the dustbin of history" o Doesn't seem to be much in the dustbin. o There are about 1000 non-governmental bodies and millions are spent on them with very little accountability. o They even get to dictate some laws and in some cases have more powers than the MPs o There is government wine committee whose job it is to pick teh wines for state occasions o Some are in charge of massive amounts of money and have huge powers o Such as the Competition Commission or the Medical Research Council o Had a look at how accountable these bodies are o Lord Nolan did a report on sleaze and public life, published "the 7 principles of public life" + selflessness + Integrity + objectivity + accountability + openness + honesty + leadership o Lay out the behaviour of all public bodies + "Public bodies should make registers of interests open to the public. Board members should be required to update them as changes occur." (Guidance on Codes of Practice for Board Members of Public Bodies 1997 - Cabinet Office. + "This should include, as a minimum, personal direct and indirect pecuniary interests" (The Model Code of Practice for Board Members of Advisory Non-departmental Public Bodies) o So we look through 50 boards, nearly 1,000 people and go to Companies House and get their directorships and check the registers. o On average every committee had 2-3 people whose register didn't match the details from Companies House o Phoned up the Competition Committee and asked to see their Register of Members Interests. They haven't got one! Say they don't need one. Say they deal with it on an ad-hoc basis but are compiling a register o Euan Baird who is on the council for science & technology hasn't mentioned that he is a non-executive director of Scottish Power in the register o Tried to track him down, got hold of him in France. Says he has corrected it now. Asked him about his Companies House entry which is really confusing and his response is "What's Companies House?" o Phoned the Medical Research Council 4 times for their register, eventually resulting in an email from them which again does not match very well with what is recorded at Companies House. o Phone them again and point this out so they say they will send over the register. They actually send over the forms that they ask the members to fill in which looks like they haven't actually compiled a register from them yet o 7 people's registers don't match Companies House again. 3 people hadn't declared they were directors of Isis Innovation, an Oxford company that connects with R%D in the colleges and industry, some of which is medical. o Professor Fitzpatrick doesn't mention that he is a director of the BUPA foundation o Went round and pointed these out the them and they sent someone to talk to Mark about why these disclosures were not considered to be conflicts of interest (Nicholas Winterton, Executive Director of the Medical Research Council) on 17th April 2002. o Sir Anthony Cleaver (the chairman) hadn't included the fact that he was a director of Lockheed Martin and Bermuda Asset Management in the register * House of Commons o At the Public Administration Select Committee hearing Mark is introduced to the committee as a "comedian activist" and an "uncoverer of things that people don't want uncovered" by Tony Wright MP o Mark presents his findings on Quangos to the committee and states that public bodies are "rotten to the core" n the issues of accountability and transparency o Tony Wright asks Mark if his show is a current affairs programme as if he says "yes" then the film of the show can be used for broadcast o Mark says "yes". o One of them says Mr Thomas, thank you for turning up, I hope you haven't brought an ice sculpture with you." o Mark quite liked some of them. o Tony Wright reads out Mark's opinion of MPs from a New Statesman article which mark has to respond to. o Had a nice debate about Quangos. o Sir Sydney Chapman MP (Tory) says he is very grateful and doesn't disagree with any of Mark's 11 recommendations and suggests an amendment. Mark had suggested that all committee members interests be registered within one month of anyone taking up a position. Sir Sydney suggests they should register their interests *before* taking up their position. o Mark organises a "Quangathon" at the Regus Telemarketing Suite in London on 18th April 2004 to phone up all the people in the report to find out why their interests aren't registered. o Bernie Clifton, Howard Marks and Jo Guest turn up to help call people. o They ask for apologies and get a few (7). o DTI have now launched a declaration of interest procedures probe following the evidence given to the select committee.
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01:40:10 02/02/10
Mark Thomas Mtp 06 04 Yusufeli Dam
[LESS INFO] 8 VIEWS | ADDED 01:40:10 02/02/10
* Ilisu Dam o Mark had previously helped the campaign to prevent the building of the Ilisu dam in Turkey o After the show a woman called up asking for Mark to speak about Ilisu at a public meeting in the House of Lords o Mark plans to tell them exactly what he thinks but it didn't quite go like that o Mark asks the first lord he speaks to (Eric) why he isn't finding out more about human rights abuses in Turkey. Asks why he isn't going out there o He says he'd love to but he's been banned by the Turkish authorities for writing articles about human rights issues in Turkey o Mark says it needs a concerted campaign. He agrees and suggests that Mark is the right person to organise it. o So Mark helps organise the Ilisu Dam Campaign worked with loads of people o Buy shares in Balfour Beatty and go to their AGM o Giles Smiles came along who is The Big Issue seller at Clapham South. He said what right have they got to make 78,000 Kurds homeless. o Lord Avebury (Eric) came along too. o The campaign won, beating three mutinationals, the Turkish government and a Swiss Bank * Yusefeli Dam o Find out about another dam in the back of a Trade & Industry select report + "We are seeking ECGD Buyer Credit support for up to
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00:40:21 02/02/10
Mark Thomas Mtp 06 03 Corporate Killing
[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 00:40:21 02/02/10
* Why aren't there more company directors in jail? o All of the preventable accidents, such as Bradford football club, The Marchioness, Southall, Paddington, Piper Alpha. o Not one company director has been sent to jail o This is because the law is completely inadequate o There is a corporate manslaughter law. There have been 5 prosecutions, 3 successful. There are more trials for bestiality! You have more chance of getting justice if you are a goat! o Over 300 people are killed at work each year and no proper law to deal with it o You have to prove a "controlling mind", that the director knew about the problems and allowed the problems to continue. o Labour government said they'd introduce a law called "Corporate Killing" o It was in the Queen's speech: + "A bill will be drafted to provide for safer travel on the railways, in the air, at sea and on the roads, and will take forward proposals for revitalising health and safety at work." (The Queen, 6 December 2000) o Was also in the labour party election manifesto 2001, backed by Jack Straw, Stephen Byers, David Blunkett and John Prescott o 3 important bits to this + 1. Get rid of crown immunity + 2. If companies were found at fault they would be fined a percentage of their profits and their directors would be fined a percentage of their bonuses + 3. Directors duties - if someone was put on the board to make them know about health and safety issues and the directors heard about it, did nothing and a fatality occurred, the directors could go to jail o Labour party said they would introduce this "when parliamentary time allows" o Not introduced yet, but they found time for a soccer hooliganism bill and a debate on Christmas cards! o Why have labour delayed on this? Maybe their corporate friends aren't too impressed by the idea. o In response to British Safety Council Survey on Corporate Killing a company director replied: + "If you tell me there has to be someone on the board who is ultimately responsible as a fall guy, we can put someone in place in order that they can be easily fired and replaced" o Of the 300 fatalities a year, about 100 occur on building sites. Part of this is down to casualisation of labour. o Mark went up to Cricklewood Broadway, where if you line up at 6am there are vans looking for casual labour * Shareholder's rights o As a company shareholder you can go along to their AGM but you can also phone up and ask for the Chief and Executive and Director's contracts. o So Mark does o Went to George Wimpey and they let them in. But the real reason for going was to insert a "corporate killing clause", asking for the directors to sign up to it, including the phrase: + "In the event of an employee being seriously or fatally injured, due to non-compliance with any of the above, I am happy to go to prison if convicted." o No-one has signed it yet o Spoke to Mike Whelton of Balfour Beatty about it and he said "we don't want to turn it into a blame culture" * Crown immunity o A lad called James Wagg was working in the central reservation of the A1 using a strimmer. o An army landrover hit the barrier, caught the strimmer, dragged him 29 metres and killed him o Because of Crown Immunity the CPS could not prosecute the army o The guy driving the landrover had just completed exercises in Arizona, had flown over from there, has a 4 hour coach journey and had been asked to drive from Lincoln to Portsmouth by the army o When the court case was brought the driver was charged as a civilian despite the fact that he was on duty o Because the MOD cannot be charged by the CPS because they have Crown immunity o Mark went up to the 22nd Regiment Royal Artillery Barracks in Lincoln with James' father, Stephen to try and get some answers o Put up some "Tiredness can kill" signs on the road to the base o Put up an impromptu rest stop o Get to go in to speak to the "media controlling ops" o Then get a phone number for the Senior Press Officer, 2nd Division Forward, Alison Potter-Drake. The next day they call back and she says there is no such thing as crown immunity for the MOD o James' dad could bring a civil prosecution, but that would cost thousands and put a huge strain on him. They say they can't answer any questions because Stephen could bring a civil prosecution. o Alan Whitehead is one of the MPs in charge of "re-vitalising" health and safety. Went to visit him with Ann and Chris Jones, Simon Jones parents. o Simon was killed in 1998 at Shoreham Docks by Euromin o He worked in the hold of a ship for the first time and a crane driver got part of his clothing caught in the controls causing Simon's head to be crushed by a 2-ton grab o Went To Alan Whitehead's Office in Southampton with an urn containing the ashes of the Labour party's corporate killing election pledge and a wreath o He won't speak to them o When they discussed corporate killing in the House of Commons there were 4 MPs present. One was the speaker who had to be there, one was Alan Whitehead who also had to be there. So that makes 2 MPs that cared about the issue! o Wanted to put 100 white crosses on College green to represent the people that had brought cases to court and would have benefited from a corporate killing law on the day of the Queen Mother's funeral o Channel 4 said no. o 300 lives a year could be saved if proper legislation was brought in. o Simon Jones' Memorial campaign have done a lot to promote their cause + Occupied the DTI + Occupied Euromin's dock forcing them to shut it down for the day + HSE wouldn't speak to Chris and Anne so they occupied Southwark Bridge and wouldn't let the traffic move until the HSE came and talked to them o George Wimpey's directors have not signed our Corporate Killing Clause. They have signed their own comprehensive Health, SAfety and Environmental Policy Statement o Alan Whitehead has now agreed to meet Chris & Anne Jones
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23:43:52 02/01/10
Mark Thomas Mtp 06 02 Drug Dumping
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* Subsidising the richest companies o If we were Carlton TV we'd e calling this show "Capitalists from Hell!" o Dumping useless drugs and pharmaceutical in 3rd world countries o Normally in the middle of a crisis o Phoned some doctors in Malawi and asked if they had ever had any inappropriate donations. o They were sent a box of about 30 silicon breast implants, worth about
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22:33:52 02/01/10
Mark Thomas Mtp 06 01 Organophosphates
[LESS INFO] 3 VIEWS | ADDED 22:33:52 02/01/10
# Norfolk * Story starts in Norfolk. Andy Lincoln was delivering treated seeds and breathed in some of the chemicals (Dichlofenthion) they were treated with and also had it on his hands. * Farm workers were alarmed and advised him to wash his hands. About half an hour later his hands started to burn he went to A%E but the hospital at Norwich didn't have any information as the chemical is not registered in this country. * Treated with pesticides # Organophosphates * Developed by the Germans in WWII as a nerve agent now used as pesticides * HSE said that the seed was coated with Aatifon which is not licensed for use in this country and was imported from France * "Dichlofenthion not on UK approved list, spoke to Pesticides Safety Directorate, position is that seed is a product ready to use and so long as Maximum Residue Level respected there is no problem importing" - Health & Safety Executive 'Investigations Overview' 31 May 2001" * Got someone to table a question in the House of Lords * Lord Larry Whitty, who is a bit cheeky asked the question on 6the Feb 2002 o "We understand that the product Aatifon (containing thiram and dichlofenthion) is marketed in France".
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18:40:14 02/01/10
Mark Thomas Mtp 05 07 Updates
[LESS INFO] 5 VIEWS | ADDED 18:40:14 02/01/10
* Data Protection o Loads of people wrote in o David Shayler has applied to the Home Office o 8 year old requested his personal data from his school o Jonathan Ross helps Mark out with and advert for the CCTV competition o 5 ex-miners did the full Monty in front of the Bank of England have requested the footage o An art student has decided to do the threepenny opera on CCTV as his dissertation o Mark went on Ned Sherrin's Loose ends radio 4 show. He got six ladies to help him, 4 of them with sombreros and guns and two with little hats and guns and re-enacted the last scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid outside broadcasting house * MEPs Interests o Got a letter from Glyn Ford, MEPs solicitor complaining that his repuation had been damaged by the website as it said he was a communist, not a columnist. o Had to take the site down and double check some stuff. Same woman was there from the first time. o Wanted to put the site back up and are emailing the details to all the MEPs asking if it is correct o Had a letter from a Tory MP about the plastic animals saying that he thought the piece was very funny, "shame you didn't use the cockerel first" o Another Tory wrote in saying how much he enjoyed the shows "especially the excellent stitching up of Meacher and of course who could forget Roger Helmer sucking that cock". o Started looking up what had been said in the European Parliament about the show "I also regret that a British comedy programme sought to make light of the Parliament. I think the sooner this is on the internet, the better." * Meacher o Mark's mum showed him the front page of the newspaper which said about Rudy Vaz having 5 houses, believed to be second only to the environment minister Michael "8 homes" Meacher o At the Channel 4 political awards Jon Snow said that Michael Meacher would be popping in later too "pick up the rent" o Back in Oldham Dave Hibbert was quoted in the Oldham chronicle asying that Meacher had asked him to "make it clear to his constituents that he has 3 properties; one in the Cotswolds which was left to him by a family member, one in Chatterton for the overnight stays and a house in London. He has simply invested in 2 properties in Wimbledon. o Phoned Dave Hibbert up and he said he would post a correction as the one in the Cotswolds wasn't inherited, and that he actually has more than 2 flats but won't say how many it is, but also said that the people of Oldham don't care how many properties he has. o So on 9th February 2001 Mark went to Oldham and held a poll. 75% said they did care. o Mark calls Meacher on his mobile and asks the question. He hangs up o Mark was sitting outside Tory office and someone came up to him syaing how good the item on Meacher was it was good to see the other lot get it for a change. Then he asked Mark "What are you doing outside Tory central office?" * William Hague o In the register of member's interests William Hague says "Any fees received from speaking engagements will be paid into The William Hague Charitable Trust." It's been there for 2 years. o Phoned up the charity commission and asked if there was such a thing and it doesn't exist. o So where has the money been going o They say they never got around to it. o Next day (9th February 2001) went down to Conservative Central Office with a coach with 50 temps and offered for them to help with the office work o They get a written statement + "The reason the trust was not registered with the Charity Commission was that the trust was never established. It was registered in the register of member's interests in advance of establishing it on advice of the registrar. However since the trust has not been set up, it will not be included in future register of member's interests. Any speaking fees are therefore given to local charities." o Got through to Adrew Skaddins who is the Press Officer there. Mark asks if they are saying that the statement in the register is not misleading? o He won't add anything to the statement a number of times o Mark asks William Hague if it's OK if he registers the Trust and they have applied to. * ECGD o Phoned up the OECD talked to Marc Pieth the chairman of the committee for the implementation of the convention on bribery and corruption o He says there are 34 members 28 of which have ratified and implemented the convention. They find that one third are "spic and span", one third are doing relatively fine and one third are substandard. o There is one country that has "flunked the exam" and that is the UK o Mark asks who Britain's peers are when it comes to bribery and corruption. o The response is Turkey, Argentina and Brazil. o Could result in sanctions from other member states * Adidas o One of the students was talking via a software translation program with some people in Cambodia about trying to source the materials used by Nike and GAP o They are hoping to webcast their findings o Heard of the Thomas A'Becket school in Worthing who had been offered some money by Allied Dunbar matched funding for sports equipment on condition that 40 families attended a presentation about the work of Allied Dunbar. o Only 16 households volunteered to attend so Allied Dunbar withdrew the money. o Went down to Swindon with 24 people to make up the numbers o They are a male voice choir and sing in while Mark asks Debi Isaac, External Affairs Consultant if they would give the money to the school if they could give their presentation to the choir. o They say they will start talking with the school again and goes off to see what they can do while the choir gets a cup of tea o They agree to giving the school the
1 Views
17:59:55 02/01/10
Mark Thomas Mtp 05 06 Tube Privatisation
[LESS INFO] 1 VIEWS | ADDED 17:59:55 02/01/10
* Tube privatisation o This is a flagship policy engineered by John Prescott o Met Danny McNichol who had an accident working on the railways o When he was well enough to go back to work Balfour Beatty said they couldn't find him a job but they couldn't sack him. Every week they sent him a pay cheque for
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17:22:24 02/01/10
Mark Thomas Mtp 05 05 Balfour Beatty
[LESS INFO] 7 VIEWS | ADDED 17:22:24 02/01/10
* ECGD o Mark offered Richard Caborn half of one of the shows to promote the ECGD if they would provide one bad example of ECGD o They declined + Ukraine - replacement for Chernobyl + Turkwell Gorge Dam - Kenya # Only one tender + Iwaso Nero Dam - Kenya # 5x the proper cost - World Bank + Dams - Lesotho # BB bribery and corruption #
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16:00:32 02/01/10
Mark Thomas Mtp 05 04 Pester Power
[LESS INFO] 9 VIEWS | ADDED 16:00:32 02/01/10
* Jazzy Books o Pizza Hut sponsored a Russian rocket o Advertisers want to advertise in places where you don't expect o School exercise books now covered in adverts, the books are provided for free o Jazzy books say they have saved the schools about
02/02/10