Chat Ed : Hello everyone and welcome to tonight's chat with MARK THOMAS! And here's the man himself - welcome Mark Thomas everyone!
Mark Thomas : Hi, I fell asleep on the sofa and have only just woken up!
ballisticdan : excellent show as allways .......its nice to see someone gives a shit and keeps the suits and fatcats on their toes!
Beth : Mark, how can we expect the law to protect the public from company directors when it freely allows tem to pay their own wages, give themselves bonuses and appoint their friends to the board!!
Mark Thomas : Very good point. The point is that we can't automatically count on the law to protect people but obviously, the need for proper legal redress is absolutely crucial. There are 2 points here really. One is, how do we control company Chairmen and Chief Executives and what that says about the class system, and the other is how do we stop the 300 or so people a year being killed at work with no legal redress. In the absence of the revolution, for the time being, one solution would be to introduce a law of corporate killing.
jan : Do corporate directors actually have direct responsibility for health & safety or is that a job of a healh and safety officer?
Mark Thomas : It depends on the corporation but some companies actually state that they have an obligation to be responsible for policies that improve and maintain good health and safety. But at the moment the laws on health and safety, in the case of a fatality for example, has to prove a thing called a "controlling mind". This proves that the company director was aware of the problems and that they could result in a fatality but that they did nothing about it and continued to allow employees to work in that area. If a fatality occurred with the director knowing of the problems but insisting the work continue, then the director could be charged with corporate manslaughter. But that threshold is so hard to prove that it's virtually useless. The legal obligation for health and safety is with the company. What we want to see is the Directors in the company to be held more than just financially liable but to be held personally liable so that if they fail to create good health and safety they would go to jail. So basically, if the failure resulted in an accident or fatality the company director could go to jail.
Nick : At the end of the last series you asked for info on Bilderbergers. Are you going to do a show on them this series?
Mark Thomas laughs
Mark Thomas : No but any information is gratefully received and I did particularly enjoy Jon Ronson's stuff.
rob2 : Why did you feel it necessary to get a few cheap laughs out of the death of The Queen Mother, who is a celebretated and was a much admired person in the eyes of the british public.
Mark Thomas : I don't think that we did. The point is really clear. Everyone can hold the Queen Mother in such high esteem that they recall Parliament to pay tribute to her and yet, when they discuss corporate killing only 4 MPs turn up for the debate. I think that is disgusting. And the fact that the Queen Mother lived rightly to 101, no matter what Parliament says, they are not going to save anymore 101 year-old ladies, but they could actually save over 100 lives per year. If the memory of a state-funded, aristocratic, racist is more important than the lives of 300 people per year then I would suggest that people have got their priorities skewed.
steve_barclay : Have any of your investigations provoked answers from MPs etc. off the record, which you have not been able to display in any form answers?
Mark Thomas laughs
Mark Thomas : How long do you want to go back till?! We have always tried to reflect any answers that MPs have given. I'm trying to think of instances when we have got MPs to do things and it's very rare. The only one that springs to mind is the Ilisu Dam issue where several MPs were very committed and very vocal. There has been one instance where one MP was absolutely astounded but I'm sworn to secrecy on it I'm afraid.
Lawrence Stromski : Have you ever considered taking any of your cases (like corporate killing) to Tony Blair himself? His responses could be intresting, and he always seems like someone who would listen.
Mark Thomas : Yeah...right. The one time that I tried to talk to Tony Blair, I was blocked off by somewhere in the region of 30 Labour party minders plus a couple of special branch people. I did manage to traverse across a crowded room with a camera crew, working on the chaos theory that if we all split up and went in different directions one of us was bound to get to him. We got within about 2 yards. I think the only thing that Tony Blair listens to is money. If we all had a whip round we could probably, just about, pay for 15 minutes.
Raven : Considering how much it costs to run a successful election campaign now, do you think that there will ever be another large party who truely represent the working class who are not owned by big business through campaign donations?
Mark Thomas : Erm...no is the short answer! There are individual people at local and national level who are very good - like the Kidderminster result for example. The one thing that people do take notice of is the number of people who don't vote. But if you can't morally support something then I don't think you should vote just for the sake of habit. So it might be interesting if we all decided not to.
Suzy Hayton : Would u ever consider standing for parliament?
robert mayo : MARK START A PARTY,I'LL VOTE FOR U
Caff : Mark Thomas, Independent Candidate - sounds good doesn't it!?
Mark Thomas : I did! I stood for a by-election in Hemsworth. My slogan was 'Vote for me and I'll say anything you want, unless you don't want me to, then I won't'. I got 122 votes which was more than the Natural Law party and the Nazis. So, although numerically I lost, I did claim a moral victory. That was the nearest I've come and to be honest that brush with it was enough to put me off for life.
anth osborne : mark, respect on the prog.how is the campaign on drug dumping going?
Mark Thomas : Aah, really well and everyone should join in. Everyone should send their unwanted drug packagings to Gordon Brown, 11 Downing Street, London. The following things that I know of that have been sent to him : quite a lot of suppositories, sanitary towels, but my favourite 2 were from a friend of mine who had a motorbike accident and he sent Gordon Brown his old knee and when I was on stage the other night one guy claimed he had sent 12 beta blockers and 2 degraded tabs of "E". But one Liberal Democrat MP has picked up on it and is organising an "early day motion" asking for the W.H.O guidelines and a publicly available register of donations to be included in the changes of the law. But it is vital that people keep sending this stuff in.
adam knox : which topic out of everyone you have aired on your show did you enjoy working on the most,either in way of outcome or by impact made?
Mark Thomas : To be honest the one that we are working on currently is the one that I have invested a lot of time and emotional energy in. Tonight's is important because I have been involved in the Simon Jones Memorial Campaign for some time and have done benefits for the campaign and I hope to be down in Brighton when the campaign is launching some fun and games in remembrance of Simon. Overall, I have to confess a fondness for Indonesian Major Generals, Michael Meacher and anything to do with the Export Credit Guarantee Department.
Paul W : Now that the show is over what future action will you take to further the Simon Jones campaign?
Mark Thomas : The Day of Action on the 24th April in Brighton, but also other actions that are being taken against casualisation. I hope I will be of some use to Chris and Anne Jones and Stephen Wagg, whose son James was killed by the MOD, by the campaign to introduce the corporate killing law and the campaign against casualisation.
Chat Ed : OK, we're reaching the end of our half hour now, so here are the last 2 questions:
Damien : Are there any hints with what to expect in the rest of the series?
Mark Thomas : What shape that involvement takes - I'm not quite sure. I can't say, Damien.
ben_liverpool : Mark, will you be performing any 'stunts' where you require the use of the public, and where the viewers can get involved?
Mark Thomas : I'm always amazed at the types of visitors that we get to the websites (both official and unofficial) when the series comes on so I'm always wary of giving anything away.
Chat Ed : That's it! Thanks so much for being with us Mark, we all enjoyed it. You can contact the Mark Thomas Product by emailing them at theproduct@channel4.com
Mark Thomas : Thanks to you all for watching.
Joanna Sharples : Thanks mark you're a star!
shereef : take good care and stay out of trouble... as if
Andy ABERDEEN : Just to let u know im 100% behind your show
Mark Thomas : Thank you to all of you who have phoned up or written in to the show. It is really hard to find the time to get back to you all, but I will try my best :)
Adam83 : Keep up the good work channel 4 especially Mark Thomas
Jab : love you mark.. youre the best wahay!
Mark Thomas : Keep sending the stuff to Gordon Brown!
mike b : Thank you for helping people and entertaining us all!
Mark Thomas leaves the room
