NO2ID: Top comics say 'no' to ID cards

When 10 of the sharpest acts from the stand-up circuit [1] turn out on a Sunday night to support a two-year-old pressure-group it is a sign that something big is happening.

Connoisseurs of comedy are in for a treat at the Hackney Empire on 1st October [2], as Daniel Kitson MCs a very special benefit gig for NO2ID - the national campaign against ID cards and the database state [3] - entitled “Who Do You Think You Are?”

Featuring lightning-witted TV favourite Dara O'Briain (host of Mock The Week and Have I Got News For You) and no less than four Edinburgh award winners, it would be a great bill at any club, or for any cause - but it has been pulled together in a few short weeks. So why are they (and all the supporting staff) doing it for nothing?

Guy Herbert, General Secretary of NO2ID says:

“This is a huge political issue, but not a party-political one. When your life is put on a database, you lose your liberty along with your privacy - whoever you are. NO2ID is completely non-partisan which makes it very easy for people to support us without feeling they might be committed to a hidden agenda, but we’re still astonished and encouraged by the generosity of all these performers with their time.”

“If you read about how you’re going to be on this database, that database, and the other database, the cumulative effect is ludicrous. By numbering everybody and everything, the world is going to be a better place? Unless you’re a bureaucrat, that’s a laughable idea. So why not laugh at it?”

Lucy Porter, a well-loved comedian appearing on the night says:

“ID cards go against the fundamental principle that the state's job is to serve us. It is the electorate that holds the power, not the officials and spokesmen.”

- ENDS -

Notes for editors:

1) Line-up: Dara O’Briain, Paul Sinha (Perrier nominee 2006), Josie Long (Perrier best newcomer 2006), Kevin Eldon, Lucy Porter, Wil Hodgson (Perrier best newcomer 2004), Gary Le Strange (Perrier best newcomer 2003), Andrew O'Neill, Ben Norris. MC: Daniel Kitson.

2) Venue details: Hackney Empire, 291 Mare Street, London, E8 1EJ.
Sunday 1st October 2006, Doors 7.30pm. Tickets: £12.50.
Box Office 020 8985 2424 or book online at www.hackneyempire.co.uk

3) All proceeds to NO2ID - the national campaign against ID cards and the database state. NO2ID is a non-partisan campaign group supported by all sorts of people from a wide range of political viewpoints, and none. Find out more at www.no2id.net


For more information, future or immediate interview contact Guy Herbert, NO2ID General Secretary (07956 544 308) or Michael Parker, NO2ID Press Officer (07773 376 166).

Please don’t contact performers’ agents in connection with this event
- they aren’t getting paid. We expect Lucy Porter, Ben Norris and others to be willing to speak about this in a personal capacity.