5 Quid for Life? In Search of a Campaign Name January 16, 2011
Posted by Phil Groom in Appeals, Death, Life, Mental Health.Tags: 200 People to Save Ali Quant, Ali Quant, Benefit Cuts, Beyond Benefits, Campaign Name, facebook, Follow-on, madosphere, Mental Health, Social Networking, Stop the Suicides, Suicide
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FOLLOWING ON from my 200 People to Save Ali Quant post — to which the responses and enthusiasm have been amazing: thank you all — we’re now looking at a wider brief, at Ali’s request…
How about if, instead of making this a let’s help Ali thing, how about a more general let’s help everyone thing? … let me explain my thinking: the reality is, as many of you will know, that I’m not the only one who’s made a deletion plan in case I fail my assessment. Over the past year or so (and obviously more in the past few days) I have heard from different sources of literally hundreds of people who feel the exact same way I do, this is just from people coming and directly telling me “I feel like this” or “I have a friend who says…” there must be thousands more that I haven’t had direct contact with. I’m nothing special, I’m not some kind of extreme case and I haven’t done anything to deserve to be singled out. All I did was write a blog post out of sheer despair, I thought I was so near the end that I had absolutely nothing to lose so I may as well write about it. So why not make some kind of central fund, not necessarily asking for a monthly donation to support people in that way but just a fund that could be used for anyone in my situation? It could be used to help people if they fall over at any stage of claiming benefits, to give people a safety net for example to help out while they’re appealing or if they haven’t been able to attend all the work-focused interviews and get sanctioned.
… and over at the facebook group we’ve been having all sorts of discussions about how to take the idea forward. The first thing we need is a campaign name, a name to grab the public imagination. This post is your invitation to help us choose one: the poll below lists some of the names suggested so far but please feel free to offer other suggestions in the comments. If you’re wildly enthusiastic about a particular name, tell us why in a comment or — even better — post about it on your own blog/facebook/twitter and link to us here to encourage your friends to join in.
The poll will remain open for three days initially, but I’m happy to review that depending on how the conversation goes. Now get voting, please:
- Special thanks to Kate White, who suggested most of these.
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I like the Real/True Big Society (well I would, I came up with it) because it gives the finger to the government, but I have voted for 5 Quid for Life as it is catchier and gives the point of this project in a succinct way.
I need to think about this before I vote Phil; getting it right is very important to me. But I am reading and supporting, as always 🙂 ❤ xxx
I went for ‘Real Big Society’ in the end, for basically the same reasons David has outlined.
voted for Real Big Society because I believe in a society that looks after everyone and I think it’s time to appropriate the term “Big Society” which the Tories are attempting to smother us all with by selling the lie that they care about the “tired, poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”
btw http://realbigsociety.co.uk/ belongs to HOYLAKE VILLAGE LIFE, the other realbigsociety permutations are still available; as a not-for-profit/charity our name suffix should be .org or .org.uk
all truebigsociety permutations are still available
Voted for Real Big Society, but do prefer ‘true’ rather than ‘real’ …..!
A True Big Society was the original title.
I like true big society.
This is such a great idea. I am unable to financially contribute I am sorry. I am scared of Facebook so not joining there, also sorry. But I am very much in awe of this campaign and fully supportive in my pathetic way x
Hey mememe – you’ve expressed your solidarity with the cause: thank you! I’m well aware that lots of people aren’t in a position to contribute financially; I’m counting on those who are and am grateful to everyone else for expressing their support … and you’re not the only person out there with facebookphobia!
Take care and thanks again for standing with us 🙂
truebigsociety domain names all still available, https://secureuk.net/billing/cart.php?a=add&domain=register&token=7832b5454af7e08b106fa84dd13b751dc7380f92&sld=truebigsociety&tld=.org
😀
I went for 5 quid for life. I like True Big Society, but I didn’t vote for it because I don’t like one of the government slogans being used, however ironically, when it is them causing this damage in the first place. The whole point of their Big Society is that they want to make enormous cuts and for others to pick up the slack, which is essentially what we are doing, and whilst I think it is vital that we do do it, I don’t like the fact that essentially we are doing what they would want us to.
fair point Bippidee but part of the government’s cleverness/manipulation is that it is counting on good people to pick up the slack, damned if we don’t damned if we don’t. I don’t think that adding ‘True’ to ‘Big Society’ implies support for the government and it would help any interviewee when a journalist asked the “why the name?” question.
‘quid’ is short but that particular word, although in common usage, has an offensive to some origin.
I think we have to go with consensus. We have a couple of days left before Phil closes the poll.
If there’s a consensus cool but I really had just intended the ideas to start a conversation so if there are more suggestions, even better.
5 Quid was just a play on quid pro quo/the govt theme and Aussie slang for pound. A Fiver for Life might be better? I do like True Big Society though. Hrm. Am torn now. May abstain. LOL
I shouldn’t like to think things would be starting off on the wrong foot with an offensive name, though.
Quid is Brit slang for pound too, btw… 🙂
”If you cut us, do we not bleed?” … A bit long, but it’s got Shakespeare, which is instantly recognisable to most people, and thus would be memorable… (besides, I’ve wanted to use that quote for ages now since I heard the student cuts ages ago, but it was finished before I could get the design ready to press on t-shirts and ready on eBay…)
[…] It’s hardly radical. As a member of the disabled community, I have been privileged to meet many generous-hearted people who are going out of their way to assist one another. Some live in mutually supportive arrangements such as the one I had with Danni. Others spend a lot of their time raising money for disability charities or advocating on behalf of disabled friends who struggle to get their needs met. Now that DLA and other benefits are under threat, I have been moved to tears (literally) by the number of disabled people who have stepped forward to offer money and other forms of practical support to those in the community who lose benefits that they will struggle to cope without. And the funny thing is that none of these people are fabulously rich. If anything, they’re quite hard up. But that doesn’t stop them caring. Go here and see for yourself: https://philgroom.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/5-quid-for-life-in-search-of-a-campaign-name/ […]
now fixated on ‘True Big Society’ but will go with whatever the consensus is
the objection to quid stems from its British English origin where quid was rhyming slang for yid i.e. Jew
I’m not keen on anything with “Big Society” in it just because it’s one of those hazy impossible-to-argue-with terms that I feel needs to be rejected in favour of stark honesty. How about “The Desperate Society”, or “The Anti-Big Society”, or “The Big Society is a Crock of Shit”? 😛 😀
Sorry, I’m being silly. I think it’s good in principle. I’d go for One in Four Against Suicide just now as it highlights the fact that the Government doesn’t give a toss about suicide. All good though, kudos to everyone who’s comeup with an idea.
What I really wanted to call it was “Up yours, George Osborne!” but I figured that was a tad too political…
How about something like “The Ali Quant Foundation” in honour of our remarkable First Lady?
There’s also no reason why we can’t combine a couple of names … maybe something like:
5 Quid for Life: The Real Big Society
5 Quid for Life: The Mental Health Safety Net
Just thoughts that occurred to me as I was shoving the pot noodles out on the shelves last night…
I don’t think we should have Ali Quant in the name. And if it does have the real big society in it, I would prefere true instead of real.
I like either of the two Phil just offered.
Oh well, that scuppers what I just dreamt up in the bath:
“The Ali Quant Foundation: A Mental Health Safety Net” with the strapline, “Real People, Real Lives: The Real Big Society”
Don’t worry, just thinking out loud here…
I still think we should be wary of having Ali’s name in the title, even though it is a pseudonym.
However, I love Mental Health Safety net.
Oh. I’m in a state of shock now. Ali Quant is a pseudonym? 😉
No worries, I’m not adamant we keep Ali’s name in it … but as our primary enabler *grin* well, y’know 😀
Lady? Haaahaha how little you know me 😉
I agree it shouldn’t have my name in the name [even though it’s not my name… =D] and I do like Safety Net. But then I also like 5 Quid for Life [though I had no idea quid was offensive!] and True Big Society.
I’m sorry I have no idea, totally distracted by the thought of all those Pot Noodles…
OK Ali, you win this one 🙂
*goes off to sulk in a dark corner somewhere in a quantum phase of a parallel universe*
Huzzah! Pot Noodle Campaign it is! 😀
For internet domain name purposes, as short and succinct as possible is best 🙂
quite, nowadays organisation naming, of any sort, needs to be web wise
yeah, could always go for the name + tagline option? include the best of everything that way.
Spot on Kirrus & warriet: we need to keep that in mind: it’s gotta be both memorable and easy to type.
Hey,
sorry to butt in but I was thinking maybe something along the lines of:
Small voices, big impact: A mental health safety net
Looking beyond the cuts: A mental health safety net
sorry if they aren’t great, but this is a fantastic cause, well done 🙂
Whoa — don’t apologise, K-L! Big welcome 🙂 — all input/suggestions appreciated.
… [that’s the sound of me thinking: dangerous business, y’know?] … [cogs grinding] … just for the record, until we get sorted, I’m tending to refer to us as the 200 People campaign, but the more people the better, of course: imagine 2,000 … 20,000 … each giving £5 per month … plus tax reclaimed via gift aid if we can register as a charity … providing a safety net not just for Ali but for so many others, as she’s mentioned…
Yeah, OK, so I’m a dreamer…
It’s a good dream =]
[…] read about the campaign here https://philgroom.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/5-quid-for-life-in-search-of-a-campaign-name/ and join our facebook campaign here […]
The Cut Throat Oddballs suddenly pops into my mind, and it gives an excuse to wear pirate costumes… Okay, sure, it’s got little to do with the thing itself, but it’s funny…. which probably isn’t the right image to portray, I guess.
Okay, seriously, I actually think something with the word net in it is good if you’re going to make it have its own domain, simply because you can omit the word net in the url and use it as the suffix… something like, oh, for example… http://www.thesafety.net ? It’d be simple and easy to remember… (actually, that redirects to a american internetty site that’s really badly designed and has some ancient links that don’t work for the most part… a dormant site that’s died a while ago, possibly back in the dial-up age… the domain might actually be for sale, I’m not sure how or where to check…)
[Edited to remove spurious but amusing URL, flying,squirrels,flyingthroughtheskylookingsuperfly,flying,squirrels,theironlyenemyisthebudgiewhostealstheirnuts,stopitbudgie,youdon’tevenlikethem,oh,oh,budgiesdon’tlikenuts — Ed]
That’s a good idea, I like that =]
http://www.blackfoot.co.uk provides a reliable domain name lookup but most ISPs offer some sort of service
Appears to be registered by a company:
USAtek, Inc.
154 Columbia Ave.
Vandergrift, Pennsylvania 15690
United States
More than likely that it’s been registered on behalf of someone else, and you’d need to ask USAtek to pass a message on.
Contact details are as follows:
hostmaster@usatek.net
7245689969
@David, I use linux tools, so I can make domain info (whois) requests from the command line, but a good website with lots of handy tools online:
http://geektools.com
Does one of the public faces want to contact them?
@kirrus – thank you for the link, added to my toolkit, exploring a little now (Linux newbie and lazy git here, tend to use gui rather than command line)
I voted for ‘5 Quid for Life’. Like the sound of the combined name Phil suggested on Facebook “5 Quid for Life: A Mental Health Safety Net”, but if we went down that route, I suggest getting Bank A/c set up so as cheques etc can be made payable to ‘5 Quid for Life’ – short name is good, less chance of mistakes being made etc.
My second choice is ‘The Real Big Society’, but share the concern expressed above, re using terminology primarily used and promoted by Gov – not good :(.
The names which include ‘One in Four’ – would we run into trouble adopting one of those names in light of the Mental Health Magazine of that name? Just a thought.
Another thought – is there a way we can check out that whatever is chosen is not already taken, say if it is part of a slogan for an existing charity, would we run into problems? Is ‘£5 for life’ used by a charity already in their publicity? Maybe this is not a problem – just raising it as it occurs to me as I do not know.
A thought that occurred to me, what about “5 quid for a life” rather than for life? Push the aim?
You will need to search on the Charity Commission website for the details of any name chosen to see if it is in use either as an official charity name or “working name”.
Also agree with checking for domain name availability – get a .org.uk definitely to use as the main domain and probably the .co.uk just because everyone automatically assumes that first.
I have been using compila.com for Linux web hosting and domains recently (used them for 2 charity websites to date) and would recommend them.
I wanted to vote for the name, but it appears to have closed.
I don’t really like 5 Quid for Life although I like the idea of it. I just don’t like the word “Quid” – it sound cheap and unimportant. Also some people may want to donate more or less than £5 – Money for Life? I like True Big Society too.
@intothesystem come on over to the forum mentioned above
[…] own safety nets for people such as Ali who may drop out of the benefits system. That’s what my ’200 People’ campaign is about, providing a safety net, in this case specifically for mentally ill people. I say […]
i thought ‘5 quid for life’ meant you were campaigning against someone getting £5 for benefits for the rest of their lfie (in teh same vein as the american lotteries that give away a million a year for the rest of the person’s life.
Is ‘5 quid to save a life’ clearer but still catchy?
Maybe we should stress the ‘for’? Anyway, when you see our tagline, it’ll be clear! 🙂
[…] challenge of my 200 People to Save Ali Quant post a couple of weeks ago, to everyone who voted in the poll to choose a name; exhilarated by the enthusiasm people have shown for getting the bigger project envisaged by Ali […]