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38 Degrees wins Privacy Award!
38 Degrees members have won the 'Human Rights Campaigner of the Year Award'! The award was given by Liberty, the civil rights organisation, and 38 Degrees shared it with Open Rights Group, a not-for-profit organisation who are experts in campaigning for people’s rights and freedoms on the internet.
The award is for the fantastic campaigning work 38 Degrees members have done so far to stop government snooping.
190,000 38 Degrees members signed the petition calling for the government to stop its plans to invade our privacy online. 38 Degrees members also met up in their local areas to hand the petition directly to their own MPs and explain why politicians need to stand up for our freedoms.
Together, we also sent nearly 20,000 messages to the Committee examining the government’s plans, and thousands of emails to MPs at key moments.
To read more about the privacy campaign click here.
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A Fair Price For Milk!
A petition signed by thousands of 38 Degrees members helped put pressure on Asda to increase the price they pay farmers for their milk.
38 Degrees members thought that Asda and other milk retailers should pay a fair price for the milk they buy from dairy farmers, and ensure that the price paid covers, at the very least, the cost to farmers of producing the milk.
After the petition was handed in, Asda increased the price of milk to 29.5p a litre. This win is proof that when we work together, we get results.
Click here to read how the campaign was won.
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Olympic Tax Dodging: We Won!
When 38 Degrees members first saw the tax breaks for Olympic sponsors exposed in a piece by the magazine Ethical Consumer it may have seemed unlikely that these heavyweight multinationals could be forced to back down.
But we were successful because we used our power as customers, and when we work together, we’re able to change the behaviour of even the biggest and richest companies in the world.
All of the companies we targeted said they wouldn't be using the tax break open to Olympic sponsors.
Click here to read how the campaign was won.
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Save our forests
We won!! The Government has scrapped the plans to sell-off our national forests to private firms.
Over half a million of you signed our petition. You raised money to put adverts opposing the sell-off in national newspapers. In your tens of thousands, you wrote to your MPs telling them to stop the sale.
The Government had to listen to us.
Click here to read how the campaign unfolded.
Here's a video of the campaign so far:
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VICTORY! MPS VOTE TO BAN CIRCUS CRUELTY
Success! MPs have backed a ban on circus animal cruelty. Now we need to make sure they keep speaking out so a ban comes into force as soon as possible.
Add your name to the people powered letter of thanks and support to the MPs standing up for a ban. Tell them to keep speaking out until it comes into force.
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Four campaign successes
Together we've won the Save our Forests, No to Mega-dairies, Tripping up Trump and Stop Human Trafficking campaigns!
You can read about how all four campaigns progressed on the 38 Degrees blog.
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We won! Cameron to back climate targets
Success! Following our campaign, David Cameron has agreed to accept the recommendations of the Committee on Climate Change.
Read all about the camaign and what this means here.
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Stop Human Trafficking
Success! After months of campaigning by 38 Degrees members and other organisations, the government has agreed to sign up to the EU directive on Human Trafficking.
These new guidelines require European countries to work together to prevent trafficking and make sure victims of trafficking are properly looked after.
Nearly 50,000 of us signed a petition to David Cameron and Nick Clegg, and thousands of us emailed our MPs. Read all about the successful campaign here.
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Spotlight on Tax Dodging
38 Degrees members paid for ads to keep tax dodging in the national media spotlight.
In January, we worked together to put the first Artful Dodger ads in the papers. The ads ran again on the day of the Budget announcement, keeping up the pressure on George Osborne.
And on the same day, a group of 38 Degrees members dressed up as George The Artful Dodger and were featured in live TV coverage of the Budget.
Read about the ads here, and watch a short video about the Artful Dodger stunt here.
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Let's stop Cow Factory Farming
We stopped the US-style mega-dairies!
By signing the petition, telling our friends, writing to the council and chipping in for ads in local papers we forced the companies behind the mega-dairy to cancel their plans.
We'll be watching in case the company behind the mega-dairy re-launch their plans but right now let's celebrate this win for people power!
Read more about the campaign here.
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Tripping up trump
Donald Trump has given up on his plans to evict families from their homes in Menie!
Together with local residents and campaign group Tripping Up Trump, we helped make Trump back down.
When we work together, we can win even when our opponent is one of the most powerful businessmen in the world.
Get more details here.
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Cap loan sharks
Thousands of us emailed Mr Lovitt about the important review taking place on tighter rules for legal loan sharks.
We've let him know how unfair these charges are and told him to make sure caps are put on how much these companies can charge. The review is closed and a response is on its way.
Together we've made sure that the people in charge of changing these rules know how urgently a change is needed.
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Stop Murdoch's Power Grab
38 Degrees members have had a massive impact at every step of Murdoch's BskyB takeover bid. Together we persuaded Vince Cable to launch an enquiry into the bid and made sure the Ofcom enquiry really looks into the effects the takeover would have.
The inquiry has taken place and together we've made sure that Murdoch's bid isn't just waved through but is properly scrutinised. We've already made it difficult for Murdoch and we'll carry on fighting the takeover.
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Don't Waste Money On Trident
We’ve persuaded the government to postpone plans to spend billions on replacing Trident. This shows that people power works, but Trident hasn’t gone away for good.
Together we changed government policy. We teamed up with Greenpeace. We built a huge petition, sent thousands of e-mails to our MPs, and thousands more e-mails to ministers.
David Cameron has said he’d spend the money in five years time. We will be ready to speak out next time they try to divert money from public services to nuclear weapons.
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Don't give Trump an award
Over 6,500 of us told Robert Gordon University it was a scandal that they were giving Donald Trump an honorary degree. On the day of the ceremony the pressure was obviously getting to Trump. We made enough noise to get the local and national press talking. The Scotsman said that there was "a storm of protest" and the BBC talked about how Trump tried and failed to shrug off our petition.
Trump still wants the Aberdeenshire council to give him special powers to force people out of their homes. 38 Degrees continues to work with Tripping Up Trump to stop his eviction plans.
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Crack Down On Tax Cheats
38 Degrees members first voted to make tax dodging a priority in August 2010. Back then, the billions we lost to tax dodgers every year was a bit of a secret. Since then, our ads, petitions, emails to MPs and stunts - together with the efforts of other groups - have made the headlines and helped expose the billions that are lost a year because of tax dodging.
38 Degrees members made sure the scandal of how much we lose to tax dodging couldn't be brushed under the carpet.
In January we branded George Osborne the “Artful Dodger” after Channel 4 highlighted his record on tax dodging. As George Osborne got ready to tell us that there's no alternative to deep cuts, our Artful Dodger adverts challenging him on tax dodging were splashed across the national newspapers. Thousands of us chipped in to put ads in the Mirror, Independent, i, Guardian, The Scotsman, Daily Record, South Wales Echo and Daily Post Wales.
38 Degrees members dressed as George Osborne Artful Dodgers posed for journalists as they arrived in Westminster to report the Budget. They also made a media splash, including a live appearance on BBC News and a two-page spread in the Daily Telegraph.
Here's a video of the campaign;
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Save NHS DIrect
38 Degrees members were worried about talk of slashing spending, cutting the number of qualified nurses on the other end of the phone, even scrapping the NHS Direct service altogether.
Thousands of us emailed our MPs and sent a strong signal that we want to support NHS Direct.
The Department of Health plans for its new 111 service to be available nationwide from 2013. But there are still concerns about the qualified medical professionals being replaced by quickly-trained telephone operators.
Together, we will continue campaigning to support the NHS and keeping an eye on the new 111 program as it develops.
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Save the BBC - what did your MP say?
Tens of thousands of 38 Degrees members emailed their MPs after the Conservative Minister, Jeremy Hunt, launched an attack on the BBC by announcing plans to cut the licence fee in 2012.
Click here to see what MPs have been saying and add your MP's reply.
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Lift the Gaza Blockade
38 Degrees members decided that Israel's attack on activists aboard ships taking aid to Gaza needed a response. More than 9,000 of us signed a petition to demand that David Cameron and Nick Clegg actively call for an international and impartial investigation into the attack and an end to the blockade of Gaza.
The Israeli government announced small changes in the rules of the Gaza blockade. But aid agencies such as Oxfam warned that a full lifting of the blockade is still urgently needed.
We’ll continue to pressure the UK government to do everything it can to put an end to the suffering in Gaza.
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Tell George Osborne to stand firm on Capital Gains Tax
Thousands of us called for the coalition to stick to their promise to raise Capital Gains Tax and make the tax system fairer when announcing the Emergency Budget in June.
Thanks to pressure from us, Capital Gains Tax was increased by 10% but this isn't enough. Together we will continue to campaign for a fair tax system that means that the wealthiest can't avoid paying their share of the deficit in a time of savage public sector cuts.
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Save Kiana Firouz
The 27-year old actress and lesbian activist Kiana Firouz faced deportation back to Iran, where she would have been at risk of torture and death as a result of her sexuality.
1,942 of us wrote to Theresa May, the Home Secretary, telling her that this must be stopped. Together we showed that we will not sit back in cases like this, and as a result Kiana was granted asylum. You can read her thank you message here.
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Fair Votes Now!
Our old “winner takes all” voting system is broken – some people’s votes count more than others, and many of us have to vote tactically to get the result we want. Governments can win massive majorities in parliament simply by targeting certain key constituencies during the election campaign.
That’s why in May 2010 more than 48,000 38 Degrees members signed a petition to the party leaders, telling them we wanted a fairer, proportional voting system to give us a parliament that truly represents the British people.
By making sure the politicians couldn’t ignore us, we pressured them to take the first step towards fairer votes by announcing a referendum on changing the voting system.
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Secret lobbying: we need new rules
Great news - we had a big breakthrough in our campaign to ban secret lobbying. 38 Degrees members has been demanding a ban against secret lobbying ever since the MP expenses scandal.
Together we:
- Teamed up: we worked with SpinWatch and the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency who have been campaigning to ban secret lobbying for years.
- Targeted party leaders: thousands of us signed petitions to the Labour government last summer and in March we targeted David Cameron and Nick Clegg.
- Launched local and national campaigns: 38 Degrees members increased the pressure on their local candidates in the final weeks of the election campaign.
After months of campaigning by 38 Degrees members the new government announced plans to introduce a register of lobbyists in the coalition agreement. We'll be able to see who is meeting whom, who they're working for and how much they're being paid.
Our friends at SpinWatch said "this would not have been possible without the thousands of 38 Degrees members across the country who campaigned for the register". Together we've come a long way.
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Hung Parliament Scare Story Generator
During the 2010 General Election scare stories about a hung parliament were bandied around by the right-wing media in an attempt to sway voters. Media moguls, such as Rupert Murdoch, made it clear that they thought they had the right to decide the outcome of the election.
But thousands of 38 Degrees members showed that they wouldn't be won over by myths and scaremongering, and got their creative juices flowing with our "Hung Parliament Scare Story Headline Generator".
Together we stood up for the right of the electorate to make an independent choice when casting their vote.
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Guardian debate - listen again
We teamed up with the Guardian to get the authors of the three main parties' manifestos on the phone for a people-powered debate. Thousands of us chose the questions they faced about issues we care about.
Click here to listen again on the Guardian website.
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Demand a Cleaner Energy Bill
In February 2010 the Government promised that new laws on energy would put first tackling climate change. But when they created a new law, the Energy Bill, it didn't set standards for the carbon emissions of new power stations.
About 5,000 38 Degrees members campaigned to add proper standards for new power stations to this law, but our amendment was defeated in parliament by just eight votes.
Now the Liberal Democrat and Conservative MPs who supported the campaign might be planning to break their promises. We'll be campaigning to remind them of their commitment to clean energy.
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Support Free School Meals
At the moment many children living in poverty are not eligible for free school meals because one of their parents is employed. We're fighting to make sure that every child gets at least one hot, nutritious meal a day. Email your local Parliamentary candidates now asking them to support free school meals if they are elected.
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Put voters in charge of MPs
At the moment an MP can lie, cheat, even get suspended from parliament, without losing their privileged position.
Following the expenses scandal in 2009, we heard MPs call for a cleaning up of politics. A Recall Law would support this clean-up and mean that if our MP broke their promises, we could call for a fresh vote and replace them.
More than 11,000 of us signed a petition to the party leaders to call on them to urgently pass a Recall Law. The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, has since announced that he has "commissioned work on introducing the power of recall" and said "it is going to happen". We'll continue to keep a close eye on events to make sure we get the Recall Law we badly need.
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Blair at the Iraq Inquiry
When Tony Blair appeared before the Iraq Inquiry on 29 January 2010, 15,000 of us took action to make sure he faced tough questions. We targeted the members of the inquiry panel to make sure they wouldn’t give Blair an easy ride - our top questions for Blair were on billboards on the way to the inquiry and we delivered our petition to a panel member’s house.
By acting together, we turned an inquiry that was originally meant to be private into a chance for ordinary people to hold Tony Blair to account. The panel may call Blair back to answer further questions, and 38 Degrees will work together to make sure our voices are heard.
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Climate question time: listen again
Just before he left for the Copenhagen climate change conference the Minister for Climate Change, Ed Miliband, took part in an hour long phone conference with 38 Degrees members. In what was the first ever nationwide phone conference with a Minister Miliband faced questions on the Government’s climate change policy and on the prospects for a fair and binding deal at Copenhagen. Listen again here.
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Tell President Obama to show real global leadership at the climate talks
During the climate talks in Copenhagen in December, thousands of us contacted President Obama and the US Ambassador to the UK, to convince them to fight for a better deal at the summit. Together, we made sure the US President knew how many people in the UK wanted a fair, ambitious and binding deal at the talks.
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Brown: don't give up on Copenhagen
As climate negotiations in Copenhagen reached crisis point, 38 Degrees campaigners took action together to send a clear message to Prime Minister Gordon Brown that we wanted him to do everything he could to convince the international community to come back from the talks with a good deal to tackle climate change.
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Act now for a tax on bankers' bonuses
When the Chancellors plans to introduce a one off windfall tax on bankers bonuses leaked out bankers lobbyists went into overdrive to get the Government to back down. 38 Degrees members flooded the Chancellor's desk urging him to stand firm and make the banks pay their fair share after they received multi-million pound bailouts from the taxpayer. People-power won, the Chancellor imposed the tax.
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The general election
In the run up to the general election we asked you what our priorities should be during the campaign. Thousands of you got in touch and helped to shape 38 Degrees plans during the election period. 38 Degrees campaigned to open up politics to make politicians answer to us, break through the spin and get more people involved in the election. We also responded to events as they happened during the coalition negotiations, campaigning for fair votes.
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Don't Top Slice The BBC
Together, we persuaded the government to think again on controversial plans to cut the BBC's funding by handing some of the license fee to rival, commercial providers. 7,677 emailed the minister in charge, Ben Bradshaw, who had said he was determined to push the policy through. After our pressure the government backed away from this decision. We saw off this threat together, but threats to the BBC's funding and independence remain. Stand up for the BBC now.
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Action on child poverty
In 2009, we took action alongside dozens of other organisations to support the End Child Poverty Coalition's Recessions Recovery Package. Amongst other things, we called for an increase to the programme offering free school meals to children from low income households and we were successful in getting the government to extend the scheme. We'll continue to take action to protect children from the worst consequences of the recession.
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10,000 for 10:10
In the hours before a key vote 10,000 38 Degrees members urged their MP email to vote in favor of committing the Government to reduce its carbon emissions by 10% in 2010. With the vote looking like it would be very close in thousands of us flooded Parliament with phone calls to try and sway the vote. The vote was very close and we lost by a handful of votes. Our efforts ensured the government announced millions of pounds to tackle climate change ensured that the issue was forced up the Government agenda.
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Mandelson: Don't rush through extreme internet laws
When Lord Mandelson announced plans to give himself the power to order internet cut-offs without trial for suspected file sharers we teamed up with Open Rights Group to launch an urgent campaign. After thousands of people joined our campaign Mandelson backed down. When the general election was announced we and the Open Rights Group tried a last ditch effort to stop the Digital Economy Bill becoming law. Over 20,000 people contacted their MPs opposing the bill and calling for a proper debate. We forced the issue up the agenda but it has now become law.
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Keep your promise on Rape Crisis Centres, Boris
When it looked like London Mayor Boris Johnson wasn't going to honour his election pledge to fund big improvements in rape crisis centre provision, we joined with the Boris Keep Your Promise campaign to make sure he did. Thanks to our work, Boris finally agreed to provide funding for three new centres in London.
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Action to Protect Green Jobs
In summer 2009, thousands of us took action to support the campaign to save the green jobs at the Vestas wind turbine factory in the Isle of Wight. We weren't successful in protecting the factory from closure, but we did manage to send the government an overwhelming message that we want green jobs to be a big part of the recovery from the recession.
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Tell Gordon Brown We Need A Public Inquiry Into The Iraq War
When the Iraq Inquiry was first announced, the government was keen to keep it behind closed doors. Rather than take responsibility for their decisions publicly, politicians decided they'd rather have the Inquiry in private. But we took action in our thousands to make sure that every MP in Westminster saw a copy of our petition, calling on them to make sure the Inquiry was public. A few days later, it was confirmed the Inquiry would be open to everyone.
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Stop repossessions
Our campaign to stop repossessions was one of the first campaigns we ran. Working with the Big Issue, thousands of us asked the government to stop banks kicking increasing numbers of families out of their homes. While the recession lasts, the threat of repossession is a real worry for thousands of people around the country. An end to repossessions until our economy is in recovery would bring widespread peace of mind.
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Suggest A Campaign
Can't see the a campaign think we should have been involved with? Let us know.
We're a people powered movement, so if there's an issue you think we should be involved with please suggest a campaign now.
