More about the BN Annual Report (Long)

You may be interested to see a précis of some of John Paine's concerns which have been communicated to BN regarding the accuracy of the BN Annual report, giving you a chance to debate them prior to the AGM ( as I doubt if a full debate will be allowed, judging by the gagging of previous AGMs).
I get the feeling that the demonisation of John Paine in teh Annual report is out of all proportion to what he was saying to the EC at the time, unless of course they have something else to hide which they still feel they have to keep the lid on, by keeping him quiet, and out of office
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1. Lack of campaigning in early 2006

On page 3, first paragraph, the impression is given that little campaign action occurred until the end of the year when Malcolm Boura was appointed as RLO. In actual fact, in my term as RLO, I had been very busy campaigning on a number of issues, including having meetings with the police and local agencies at Ainsdale Beach.

It is also a fact that as RLO during 2006 I suggested a number of pro-active campaigning actions. After two meetings I held with Robin Hulf, the BN Parliamentary Consultant, I proposed several times to the EC that BN initiate high-level meetings with ACPO and the LGA on attitudes towards naturist use of beaches. Robin was very keen to actively assist BN in arranging high-level meetings. It was the EC that decided in June not to proceed with this initiative.

I also suggested to the EC in February 2006 that BN provide legal guidance to naturists on definitions. My RLO report stated:

"I am sure that I am not the only EC member who receives regular queries from BN members as to the legal position of being nude in open spaces, such as beaches. There is usually a concern at the possibility of the member being charged with an offence. I give a verbal response, but it would be helpful if BN had a published statement on this that could be used.

Questions are also asked about the status of beaches used by naturists, with so few having a legal definition of being 'an official naturist beach.' The queries also tend to link to questions about what legal support and action BN will provide to members."

It was the EC that decided to do nothing on this matter.

In my RLO Report to EC April 2006 I informed the EC of the views of a BN member, who is a lawyer, on the need for BN to provide legal advice. This was in relation to my previous Report on implications of the Sex Offenders Register.

"This was a wake-up call. I suspect that there is a real risk that bona fide naturists could end up on the sex offenders register if they are interviewed by the police after being reported for being naked somewhere. It occurs to me that they should be advised not to agree to pay any fixed penalty or accept a caution but to tell the police that they will defend any charges brought against them. As you and I have discussed more than once, section 66 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 requires the prosecution to prove the defendant's intent to offend by appearing naked anywhere. An acquittal should be enough to prevent a referral to the register.

This brings me back to what I said some months back - that BN should have access to advice from a solicitor or barrister with the appropriate criminal law experience standing by to deal with these matters as they are reported by members. At the moment I am not aware that BN has access to any such lawyer or any procedure in place for introducing members to solicitors local to them and having the appropriate experience, should those members ask for help in dealing with the police. Naturists arrested by the police will be entitled to free legal advice at the police station but the free advice stops there in most cases and it is unlikely that the adviser will have the relevant specialist experience."

It was the EC that decided not to do anything on this matter.

In my RLO Report to the EC in April I also said:

"I have previously suggested that BN should provide members with a useful 'facts guide' which they could carry and refer to when tackled about being involved in naturist activity in an open public space. In this respect I have for some time been gathering legal information, and opinion, which would be helpful."

It was the EC that decided not to do anything on this matter.

In my RLO Reports to the EC June and August 2006 meetings I again raised these issues.

It was the EC that decided not to do anything on these matters.

After my meetings, in July 2006, with Merseyside Police and local agencies at Ainsdale Beach I wrote a Report which was widely circulated in early August 2006. In addition I wrote a special Report for the EC, which was presented to the August EC meeting. Following the publication of my Report (public version) Sefton Borough Council offered to have a meeting with BN about setting up an official naturist section on Ainsdale Beach. I cannot be responsible for any BN campaign action on this matter, subsequent to the EC suspending me on 19 August 2006.

The EC decided to take no action in following up the initiative at Ainsdale.


2. False and defamatory information

I am particularly concerned at the last paragraph on page 4.

"John Paine wasted a lot of time at Executive Committee meetings....."

In 2006 I attended just 2 (and a bit) EC meetings, out of 5 held, therefore the EC spent far more time discussing issues in 2006 when I was not present. In those 2 (and a bit) EC meetings a lot of time was taken up with the EC discussing the suspension of myself, as initiated by Kelvin Roffe - not me! If the process had been handled competently by those EC members tasked with dealing with it then a lot less time in EC meetings would have been spent on it.

".......with proposals to sack the Chairman and the Commercial Manager......"

I did not attempt to sack Mick Ayers, as Chairman. I did present an argued case to the EC for the Suspension of Mick Ayers, under a process which the Constitution specifies. I provide a copy of that detailed case for you, which has been part of the formal record since February 2006. [see separate thread for details of this motion]

I did not make a proposal in 2006 to 'sack the Commercial Manager'. Like a number of other EC members I was critical of aspects of the work done by the Commercial Manager. I was also critical
of the management of that post contracted out to Sundial Marketing. I have looked very carefully at the official EC Minutes for 2006 and can find no mention of a proposal by me to 'sack the Commercial Manager'. If you believe that I did make a 'proposal to sack the Commercial Manager' then you will need to provide the evidence to the AGM.

"He did not respect confidentiality and he wrote letters and articles damaging to BN."

I freely admitted at the February 2006 EC meeting to writing a letter in November 2005 which was critical of the EC for not acting on the AGM requirement (the month before) to produce a balanced budget for 2006. That letter was actually published by H&E Magazine in early 2006. You are quite aware that the supposed letters on which the case for my later Suspension was based have never been produced in evidence. You will also be aware that a subsequent BN Investigating Committee report, in August 2006, stated that l had not broken any BN guidelines on the matter of Officers writing material for publication. That fact is part of the official record.

If you have any evidence of letters written by myself as RLO in 2006 - that you consider were damaging to BN - then you will need to provide that evidence to the AGM in October in order to substantiate the statement published in the BN 2006 Annual Report.

"He did not heed the vote of no confidence in April...."

The Annual Report is glaringly inaccurate. The vote of No Confidence took place in the February EC meeting. I was not even present at the April EC meeting. This is a totally incorrect and personal perception by the author of the Report. As such the author cannot know what my thoughts on the matter were at that time.

I did acknowledge the vote of No Confidence at the February EC meeting, and carried on doing my job as RLO and as a responsible member of the EC. That vote took place, unannounced, in the early part of the busy February 2006 EC meeting, immediately following discussion on my formal motion to suspend Mick Ayers. As such I had no advance knowledge that a vote of No Confidence was to be presented by EC member Richard Morris at that point, unlike the formal advance notice that I had properly given on the Suspension motion.

At the February EC meeting I regarded the action by EC member Richard Morris as a clear attempt to try and intimidate me as a BN officer, and to stop me working as RLO. You will know that there is no provision in the BN Constitution for any specific action to follow a 'vote of no confidence'. Therefore I was not obliged to do other than continue to work as RLO for the remainder of my term. The fact that Kelvin Roffe decided to subsequently move for my Suspension at the April EC is a matter of record.

John Paine

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I wonder if the members will bother to even ask what their EC is up to?

.

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