Radical
Statistics
NEWS AND COMMENT
Minutes of the Radical Statistics AGM
24 February 2001
Minute taker: Christina Pantazis
Matters arising from 2000 AGM
Jay Ginn (JG) reported that the Troika had agreed to fund a Cuban project as suggested by Cecilio Mar Molinero. It was agreed that Janet Shapiro (JS) would contact Cecilio asking him to discuss his proposal with the Troika.
(1) Activities in 2000
Membership: report was agreed.
Finance: Helen Anderson (HA) reported that Radstats had made a loss in the last financial year of about £ 1500 mainly as a result of falling subscriptions. Ruth Balogh (RB) suggested raising the conference fee for people coming from institutions. HA suggested fixing a cost ceiling for administrative jobs. It was agreed that the Troika would ask Pete Latarche why the subscription income had dropped by £ 1000.
Newsletter: Christina Pantazis (CP) reported that Radstats had been approached by The Policy Press to discuss the possibility of turning the newsletter into a more academic journal. Following these discussions, The Policy Press had agreed that it did not think that this was a feasible option given the unique nature of the newsletter, but it was interested in fostering a closer relationship with the group, including publishing books for us.
It was agreed that the ISSN number 0268 6376 should be printed on the Newsletter (as it used to be).
It was agreed that authors whose articles have been refereed should be sent a letter to that effect (e.g. for use in RAE).
Books published: It was reported that the following books had been published: Tackling Inequalities (by Pantazis & Gordon) and Official Health Statistics: the Unofficial Guide (by Kerrison & Macfarlane).
Website: It was reported that CP and Mary Shaw (MS) had agreed to work on the website, along with Paul Hewson and Ray Thomas, to improve and update it.
It was agreed that new issues of the Newsletter should be place onto the website.
It was agreed to put timely and topical pieces onto the website e.g. press releases.
E-mail List: It was agreed to curtail discussion of email list policy, as it would be discussed under item 3, motions.
Group reports: Health Group: Alison Macfarlane (AM) reported that the book Official Health Statistics and various journal papers had been published by the group.
It was agreed to discontinue the Economics and Education groups due to lack of activity by these groups.
Other: John Martin (JM) reported that he had published some work on media coverage of statistics in STATSWATCH.
JG raised the issue of whether the group should produce a broad sheet in time for the general election. JM volunteered to work on a broad sheet on education if he could get some help.
(2) Motions
a) The statement about Radical Statistics (published in Issue 75) was adopted with some minor amendments to wording (e.g. removing "the members of" from the first paragraph). An amendment expanding the email list policy was proposed by Ray Thomas and agreed. The section on e-mail policy now reads:
'The purpose of the e-mail list is to stimulate open, lively and wide-ranging debate on issues of concern to listmembers. We hope that contributions will be polite, addressing issues and ideas rather than commenting on individuals. Contributors should conform to JANET acceptable use policy. Defamatory messages are unacceptable, as is material likely to cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety. In particular, Radical Statistics is actively opposed to discrimination in all its forms. We believe that the licence of one to make discriminatory assertions restricts the freedom of others. Therefore emails including racist, sexist, anti-semitic or homophobic material are unacceptable. The listowner will remove a member who unreasonably persists in posting such messages and will report the removal to the JISCmail team who may exercise a range of powers including permanent exclusion from the JISCmail system and contacting the institution or service provider of the offender.'
b) The motion to seek charitable status was withdrawn.
3) Elections:
Troika: Russell Ecob and Sue Easton (joining Jay Ginn & Ray Thomas)
Newsletter editors: Allan Reese & Colin Clark
Treasurer: Kath Moser
Auditor: Helen Anderson
Weborganisers: Ray Thomas, Christina Pantazis, Mary Shaw & Paul Hewson
Listowner: Alison Macfarlane
Dispatching Newsletter: Alison, Jay, Kath and Janet Shapiro volunteered to help Jane Ferrie
(4) Conference 2002: It was agreed to follow up Dave Byrne's offer to host the next conference at Newcastle University.
