View source for The People's Manifesto

{{Short description|Political satire book by Mark Thomas}}
[[File:Mark Thomas Parkteateret (163517).jpg|thumb|[[Mark Thomas]]]]
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2014}}
{{Italic title}}
'''The People's Manifesto''' is a [[comedy|comedic]] and [[satirical]] political [[manifesto]], based on an idea by the British satirist and [[political activism|political activist]] [[Mark Thomas]], and created by his [[audience]]s. The manifesto is made up of policies suggested and voted for by members of the public who attended Thomas's stand-up performances. Thomas himself would then go and campaign on the winning policies. As well as forming part of his stand-up shows, the idea transferred to [[radio]], being broadcast as ''Mark Thomas: The Manifesto'' on [[BBC Radio 4]]. A book of the best policies was published on 28 January 2010, entitled ''Mark Thomas Presents The Manifesto''.<ref name="BCG">{{cite web|url=http://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/radio/mark_thomas_manifesto/buy/|title='Mark Thomas: The Manifesto' Merchandise|website=[[British Comedy Guide]]|accessdate=4 January 2009}}</ref> Thomas then announced a contest to find someone to stand in the [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010 UK General Election]] based on the manifesto policies.<ref name="Official">{{cite web|url=http://www.thepeoplesmanifesto.co.uk/|title=The People's Manifesto|publisher=The People's Manifesto|accessdate=2 February 2010|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100204080428/http://www.thepeoplesmanifesto.co.uk/|archivedate=4 February 2010|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The winner of the competition, Danny Kushlick, stood in [[Bristol West (UK Parliament constituency)|Bristol West]] and finished sixth out of seven candidates, winning 343 votes, which was 0.6% of the vote.<ref name="Result">{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/election2010/results/constituency/a73.stm|title=Election 2010, Bristol West|publisher=[[BBC]]|date=7 May 2010|accessdate=7 May 2010}}</ref>
==Tour==
The Manifesto formed a part of Thomas stand-up tour entitled ''It's The Stupid Economy''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Thomas|first=Mark|authorlink=Mark Thomas|url=http://www.markthomasinfo.com/section_newsblog/default.asp?monthyear=March%202009|title=Newsblog - March 2003|publisher=markthomasinfo.com|date=26 March 2009|accessdate=4 January 2010}}</ref> Before the show and during the interval people wrote down their ideas for policies, with help from the campaign group [[NO2ID]]. Thomas would then go through the policies, deciding which ones would be considered for the manifesto and which ones should be immediately rejected. At the end of the show, the public were asked to vote for the best policy by shouting out loudly in support of the policies, the winning one being formed as part of the manifesto.<ref>{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Mark|authorlink=Mark Thomas|title=Mark Thomas Presents the People's Manifesto|publisher=[[Ebury Press]]|date=28 January 2010|location=[[Reading, Berkshire]]|pages=6|url=http://www.thepeoplesmanifesto.co.uk/|isbn=978-0-09-193796-6|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100204080428/http://www.thepeoplesmanifesto.co.uk/|archivedate=4 February 2010|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
Thomas said in an interview with ''[[The List (magazine)|The List]]'': "People innately have lots of solutions. It sounds like an obvious thing, but everyone thinks that they can be [[British Prime Minister|Prime Minister]]; everyone thinks that they can do a better job. They certainly think they can do a better job than [[British House of Commons|their MP]]. Everyone has opinions, and that was how the manifesto show was born. Instead of politicians telling us what we should do, it should be the other way round."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=McKay|first=Kenny|url=http://www.list.co.uk/article/23234-the-peoples-manifesto-mark-thomas-interview/|title=The People's Manifesto - Mark Thomas interview|magazine=[[The List (magazine)|The List]]|date=18 January 2010|accessdate=19 January 2010}}</ref>
The tour began on 27 March 2009 and finished after the 2010 General Election. Amongst the policies included in the manifesto are:
*"[[Margaret Thatcher]] should pay for [[Death and funeral of Margaret Thatcher|her own funeral]]."
*"The introduction of a [[maximum wage]]."
*"Introduce a [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|USA-style 1st Amendment]], to protect free speech."
*"Party [[political manifesto]]s should be legally binding."
*"Anyone in favour of banning [[Immigration to the United Kingdom since 1922|immigration]] should sign a register and they will be banned from travelling abroad."
*"On the voting card there should be a box that says '[[None of the above]].'"
*"That [[Windsor, Berkshire|Windsor]] be renamed Lower [[Slough]]."
*"We should build 100,000 [[council house]]s a year."
*"The ''[[Daily Mail]]'' should have to declare on the masthead 'The newspaper that supported [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]]!'"
*"There should be a [[Referendums in the United Kingdom|public referendum]] before going to war."
==Radio show==
A two-part radio series based on the People's Manifesto, entitled ''Mark Thomas: The Manifesto'' was broadcast on [[BBC Radio 4]] on 25 June and 2 July 2009. The winning policies in these shows were, "Reform the role of Whips in parliament",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/radio/mark_thomas_manifesto/episodes/1/1/|title=Mark Thomas: The Manifesto - Episode 1.1|website=[[British Comedy Guide]]|date=25 June 2009|accessdate=4 January 2010}}</ref> and, "Banning [[bottled water]] and making [[drinking fountain]]s etc more wide-spread via [[standpipe (street)|standpipe]]s."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/radio/mark_thomas_manifesto/episodes/1/2/|title=Mark Thomas: The Manifesto - Episode 1.2|website=[[British Comedy Guide]]|date=2 July 2009|accessdate=4 January 2010}}</ref> A second series began on 4 February 2010. Winning policies so far include "Re-instate [[Saint Monday]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/radio/mark_thomas_manifesto/episodes/2/1/|title=Mark Thomas: The Manifesto - Episode 2.1|website=[[British Comedy Guide]]|date=5 February 2010|accessdate=5 February 2010}}</ref> By 2013, there had been five series.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qckmd/features/peoples-manifesto|title=BBC Radio 4 - Mark Thomas: The Manifesto - The People's Manifesto|publisher=[[BBC Radio 4]]|date=9 May 2013|accessdate=22 June 2013}}</ref>
==Book==
A book containing a selection of the policies, entitled ''Mark Thomas Presents The People's Manifesto'', was published by [[Ebury Press]] on 28 January 2010, ISBN 978-0091937966.<ref name="BCG"/><ref name="Official"/>
==2010 UK general election==
To promote ''Mark Thomas Presents The People's Manifesto'', a competition was organised by Thomas and Ebury Press to find a person to stand in the 2010 general election as an [[Independent (politician)#United Kingdom|independent candidate]], based on the policies listed in manifesto. The person selected as the candidate would be paid their £500 [[Deposit (politics)#United Kingdom|deposit]] to stand in the election, in addition to £500 to cover campaign expenses, and would be supported by Thomas during the campaign.<ref name="Official"/><ref>{{cite web|last=Thomas|first=Mark|authorlink=Mark Thomas|url=http://www.markthomasinfo.com/|title=A funny thing happened on the way to the publishers...|publisher=Mark Thomas Info|accessdate=2 February 2010}}</ref>
It was announced on 1 April 2010 that the winner was [[Danny Kushlick]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Thomas|first=Mark|authorlink=Mark Thomas|url=http://www.thepeoplesmanifesto.co.uk/nominate.html|title=The Nominee|publisher=The People's Manifesto|accessdate=1 April 2010}}</ref> the founder and director of [[Transform Drug Policy Foundation]]. He stood in the constituency of [[Bristol West (UK Parliament constituency)|Bristol West]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Thomas|first=Mark|authorlink=Mark Thomas|url=https://twitter.com/markthomasinfo/status/11416143711|title=The Manifesto candidate Danny Kushlick is standing in Bristol West.|publisher=Mark Thomas's Twitter|date=1 April 2010|accessdate=1 April 2010}}</ref> The policies that Kushlick campaigned on were:<ref>{{cite web|last=Kusklick|first=Danny|url=http://thepeoplesmanifesto.org.uk/manifesto/|title=Manifesto|publisher=Danny Kushlick: The People's Manifesto|date=9 April 2010|accessdate=10 April 2010|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100503163618/http://thepeoplesmanifesto.org.uk/manifesto/|archivedate=3 May 2010|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
* "Drugs will be legalised and their production will be nationalised (and Mark Thomas will become the 'Drug Tsar')."
* "If it pisses down with rain on a [[bank holiday]], it will be considered a [[National Lottery (United Kingdom)|rollover]]."
* "[[Trident (missile)|Trident]] will be scrapped."
* "[[Newspaper]] retractions will be printed in the same font size and on the same page as the offending article."
* "A [[Market capitalization|cap]] will be put on [[Affordability of housing in the United Kingdom|house prices]], relative to the average wage in the area (and more [[council house]]s will be built in these areas)."
* "People who complain there are too many immigrants will be banned from restaurants serving anything other than [[British cuisine|British food]]."
* "The [[Rail transport in Great Britain|railways]] will be [[Nationalization|re-nationalised]]."
* "The introduction of a 'maximum wage'."
* "The introduction of a [[Tobin tax]] on all currency transactions."
* "All ministers will have had experience of their ministry prior to taking office."
Kushlick finished sixth out of seven candidates, losing to [[Stephen Williams (British politician)|Stephen Williams MP]] of the [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]], Paul Smith of [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]], Nick Yarker of the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]], Ricky Knight of the [[Green Party (UK)|Green Party]] and Christopher Lees of [[UK Independence Party]]. Kushlick received a total of 343 votes, winning 0.6% of the share of the vote. He defeated one candidate: Jon Baker of the [[English Democrats Party]].<ref name="Result"/>
==References==
;General:
*{{cite web|last=Thomas|first=Mark|authorlink=Mark Thomas|url=http://www.markthomasinfo.com/policies.asp|title=Winning manifesto policies from Mark's 2009 tour|publisher=markthomasinfo.com|date=2 October 2009|accessdate=4 January 2010}}
;Specific
{{Reflist|2}}
==External links==
*{{BBC programme | title=Mark Thomas: The Manifesto}}
*[http://thepeoplesmanifesto.org.uk Danny Kushlick's Campaign site]
{{DEFAULTSORT:People's Manifesto}}
[[Category:British political satire]]
[[Category:Political satire books]]
[[Category:Politics of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:British books]]
[[Category:2010 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:BBC Radio comedy programmes]]
[[Category:BBC Radio 4 programmes]]
[[Category:2009 radio programme debuts]]
[[Category:Satirical radio programmes]]
[[Category:Ebury Publishing books]]