FREE AS USED ON THE FAMOUS NELSON MANDELA: UNDERGROUND ADVENTURES IN THE ARMS AND TORTURE TRADE PDF

Mark Thomas | 352 pages | 28 Sep 2007 | Ebury Publishing | 9780091909222 | English | , United Kingdom As Used On the Famous Nelson Mandela by Mark Thomas - Penguin Books Australia

Mark Clifford Thomas born 11 April is an English comedianpresenter, political satirist and journalist from south London. Thomas describes himself as a " libertarian anarchist ". Mark Thomas was born in South London. His mother was a midwife and his father a self-employed builder and ex- lay preacher. He then won a scholarship to attend Christ's Hospital School, where he attained O-levels and A-levels in English, history, and politics and economics. During his time at Bretton Hall, he made his debut as a performer, co-writing and performing satirical sketches at Labour Club. After graduating, Thomas subsequently embarked on his comedy career, initially supporting himself through working on building sites with his father. Thomas' early exposure to comedy was through watching and listening to Dave AllenSteptoe and SonThe Goon Show and Tony As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade ; his biggest influence was hearing a recording of : "It was like someone had kicked the door in - just As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade to that tape and thinking that As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade could do this stuff". Prior to his most renowned vehicle, The Mark Thomas Comedy ProductThomas was a frequent guest comic on the BBC Radio 1 show The Mary Whitehouse Experiencewhere he would do a routine about a specific topic of the week and involve studio audience members in the discussions. He would also occasionally play parts in sketches written by the show's main performers. He then became the resident stand-up comic on Saturday Zooa comedy series first screened in and appeared on an episode of Have I Got News for You. His political comedy show, The Mark Thomas Comedy Product later renamed as simply The Mark Thomas Productto reflect its increasing political agenda on Channel 4 earned him criticism from politicians but was seen by critics as a crucial investigative tool. In one edition, Thomas investigated the practice of avoiding inheritance tax by declaring art, furniture, homes and land available for public viewing. After discovering that Conservative MP was claiming tax relief on a "three-tier mahogany buffet with partially reeded slender balustrade upright supports" on this basis, but without making any arrangements for the furniture to be inspected by the public, Thomas invented a 'National Soames Day' on which hundreds of people made appointments to see the furniture. It's not unusual to be able to get on with people despite what they are doing being awful. The only person I have met who I considered to be without any redeeming features was […] Nicholas Soames. Leaving Channel 4 was a mutual decision, following a series of disputes over how far the channel would go in its broadcasting, one of which concerned the channel's reluctance to support actions concerning corporate accountability and corporate manslaughter laws—a cause he had campaigned for—which coincided with the Queen Mother 's funeral. Thomas has appeared at numerous comedy benefit nights, and is a well established stand-up in the UK. Recently, [ when? The parliamentary committee which oversees weapons exports, the House of Commons Quadripartite Select committeecommended him for his undercover work, which led to official warning letters being issued to a number of companies. Whilst promoting this book on his latest tour, Thomas organised mass lone demonstrations, in protest of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade parliamentary act that prevents any demonstrations within London's zone without prior police approval. The last event attracted over individual protesters at the same time. Although he actually performed 21 protests the first and last took place at the same location, so it was agreed that only 20 would count towards the record. His record was later beaten in by the Freman College Amnesty group, who held 23 demonstrations. Inhe was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Bradfordfor services to peace and for his work as a comedian, political activist, presenter and investigative journalist, especially for his effective campaigning on the ethics of the arms trade. The university has a long-standing Department of Peace Studies. InThomas launched the Huddersfield Policy postcard campaign, petitioning the Queen with protests against the prospect of a state funeral for . For his 'It's The Stupid Economy' UK tour inThomas played 55 shows over 14 weeks between March and end July, and encouraged each audience to come up with their own policies silly or serious that would somehow make their lives better, forming a " People's Manifesto ". Each audience then got to vote on their favourite policy of that evening and the winning suggestion then formed part of his manifesto which he will then campaign for and attempt to actually make at least some of the suggestions become reality. He had been unlawfully subject to a stop-and- search without adequate cause, after speaking at an anti-arms rally. During Thomas decided to go rambling in the Middle East and walked the entire length of the Israeli Separation Barriercrossing between the Israeli and the Palestinian side. His touring show entitled "Walking The Wall" was shortlisted for the Freedom of Expression award [16] and his book Extreme Rambling recounted the story. Thomas revealed in that he had discovered, through a Data Protection requestthat he had been under police surveillance as a result of his investigative journalism for Channel 4 and the and put on the domestic extremist database. More importantly if the police are keeping tabs on a lightweight like myself then they are doing the same and more to others. This is more than supposition as I know of other NUJ members on the database. Has quantity of cress on rear of his cycle. In JanuaryThomas returned to the stage with his new show 'Mark Thomas: 50 Things About Us' where he states little-known facts about the UK with his trademark mix of stand-up, storytelling and research. In addition to being recognised for his comedy career, Mark Thomas has been awarded various citations for his political campaigning, including:. He was also made an honorary Doctor of Letters by the on 3 Decemberin recognition of his peace campaigning and services to comedy. As a part of his television series, Thomas stood as an Independent candidate for the safe- Labour parliamentary seat of Hemsworth in a by-election. He came eighth of ten candidates with votes as the election was won by Labour's . Prior to the UK general electionhe was one of several celebrities who endorsed the parliamentary candidacy of the Green Party 's . In Decemberalong with 42 other leading cultural figures, Thomas signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party under 's leadership in the general election. The letter stated that "Labour's election manifesto under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership offers a transformative plan that prioritises the needs of people and the planet over private profit and the vested interests of a few. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Redirected from Thomas, Mark. English comedian. This article is about the comedian and activist. For other uses, see Mark Thomas disambiguation. This article's lead section does not adequately summarize key points of its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. April LondonEngland. Jenny Landreth. . Retrieved 17 January Archived from the original on 13 January . Retrieved 25 October Retrieved 29 April As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade News Online. Retrieved 23 May The Independent. Action Network. Archived from the original on 4 January Archived from the original on 23 May BBC News. Archived from the original on 27 September Retrieved 18 April Retrieved 30 March Mark Thomas info. Retrieved 5 June Mark Thomas Info. Retrieved 19 May Retrieved 30 January Press Gazette. Retrieved 3 February Retrieved 18 March The British Library. Mr Sands. Retrieved 9 February . 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Taking up the baton from Michael Moore, the UK's foremost political comedian has written a corruscatingly funny expose of the As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade trade. Mark Thomas is one of the UK's most effective and best-known political activists, as well as being a highly successful stand-up comedian. Amazingly, this is his first book. As Used On the Famous Nelson Mandela is a deeply funny, deeply disturbing account of Mark's rampage through the arms trade. Under a fairly flimsy disguise and with the use of some worryingly poor accents, Mark set off on a journey of discovery in the company of arms dealers, torture victims, politicians, cops, crusties and geeks. The result is a shockingly entertaining read. Embedded within the sharpness of his humour is the truth of an industry fraught with loopholes, complacency and greed; that allows corrupt regimes to kill, maim and displace, but whose deals are often subsidised by the British taxpayer. Hard-hitting, laugh-out-loud funny and extremely unsettling, As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela is never anything less than compulsive. Mark Thomas. Mark Thomas has worked as a comedian for over twenty years. His activist, campaigning brand of comedy has been a thorn in the side of many politicians and corporations. However, recently he has been invited to give evidence at various government select committees. His three-year campaign to stop the building of the Ilisu dam in was ultimately successful and saved 78, from being displaced. Thomas, in essence, is a brilliant investigative journalist disguised as an angry, shouty comedian His outrage translates brilliantly on the page Profoundly disturbing, even moving but ultimately the main thing is it's a hugely entertaining read. His self deprecating humour laces a blistering criticism of the network of government fibs and gaping legal loopholes facilitating horrific acts. Search books and authors. View all online retailers Find local retailers. Taking up the baton from Michael Moore, the UK's foremost political comedian has written a corruscatingly funny expose of the arms trade Mark Thomas is one of the UK's most effective and best-known political activists, as well as being a highly successful stand-up comedian. About the author Mark Thomas Mark Thomas has worked as a comedian for over twenty years. Also by Mark Thomas. John Pilger with laughs Guardian Thomas, in essence, is a brilliant investigative journalist disguised as an angry, shouty comedian A humorous yet heartfelt polemic Thomas' revelations are riveting Independent Thomas's investigations are gripping Daily Telegraph A As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade readable account Time Out His outrage translates brilliantly on the page Profoundly disturbing, even moving but ultimately the main thing is it's a hugely entertaining read City FM funny and daming expose Glasgow Herald Intelligent, funny and disturbing TNT Magazine Deeply funny, deeply disturbing Brilliantly explained Jason Byrne Rude, funny, furious New Internationalist His self deprecating humour laces a blistering criticism of the network of government fibs and gaping legal loopholes facilitating horrific acts Observer. Related titles. The Space Between. Zara McDonaldMichelle Andrews. Grown Ups. Just Like You. More Than a Woman. Wreck This Journal. Anxious People. Book With No Pictures. NovakB. Everything I Know About Love. In Order To Live. The Twits. Rising Strong. Trixie and Katya's Guide to Modern Womanhood. Trixie MattelKatya Zamolodchikova. The Diary of a Young Girl. Ned Kelly. The Gulag Archipelago. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Down Under. Queen Bee. Our top books, exclusive content and competitions. Straight to your inbox. Sign up to our newsletter using your email. Enter your email to sign up. Thank you! Your subscription to Read More was As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade. To help us recommend your next book, tell us what you enjoy reading. Add your interests. Nelson Mandela, Signed - AbeBooks

Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. As Used On the Famous Nelson Mandela is a deeply funny, deeply disturbing account of Mark's rampage through the arms trade. Under a fairly flimsy disguise and with the use of some worryingly poor accents, Mark set off on a journey of discovery in the company of arms dealers, torture victims, politicians, cops, crusties and geeks. The result is a shockingly entertaining rea As Used On the Famous Nelson Mandela is a deeply funny, deeply disturbing account of Mark's rampage through the arms trade. The result is a shockingly entertaining read. Embedded within the sharpness of his humour is the truth of an industry fraught with loopholes, complacency and greed; that allows corrupt regimes to kill, maim and displace, but whose deals are often subsidised by the British taxpayer. Get A Copy. Paperbackpages. Published April 5th by Ebury Press first published July 6th More Details Original Title. Other Editions 1. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Aug 12, Raj rated it really liked it Shelves: non-fiction. This book details Mark Thomas's adventures as an anti-arms and torture campaigner, showing us how shamefully easy it is to buy, sell and broker arms anywhere in the world, including to countries on the EU and UN banned lists. Thomas is somewhat aware that he can be a bit pompous at times and writes in a self-deprecating manner that is humorous and easy to read, but with his righteous indignation never far from the surface. He grudgingly acknowledges that Britain probably does have one of the tou This book details Mark Thomas's adventures as an anti-arms and torture campaigner, showing us how shamefully easy it is to buy, sell and broker arms anywhere in the world, including to countries on the EU and UN banned lists. He grudgingly acknowledges that Britain probably does have one of the toughest arms trading regimes in the world, and to show just how tough that is, he gets As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade group of schoolkids to set up a front company and broker arms and various torture devices all over the world, including to Zimbabwe. Some of the stories are wonderful, my favourite possibly being the free bus that he charters to take delegates to an arms fair and then makes them donate to anti-war causes in the countries most ravaged by arms before he lets them off. Either that, or the Irish nun he gets to help him set up another front company to prove just how inadequate the British and Irish laws are. He shows a special contempt for BAE Systems formerly British Aerospaceciting many situations showing just how much they have the ear of ministers right up to Number 10 and how Government will bend over backwards to help them out and to ensure that they get the contracts. And after reading it, the reader can't help but join him in that contempt, and save some of it for the politicians who are their accomplices. But despite all his pessimism, he still manages to end on a somewhat positive, or at least hopeful note, after providing evidence to a Parliamentary Committee to strengthen Britain's arms trading rules and a possible international arms trading treaty. I'm glad that we have Mark Thomas and people like him fighting for these sort of very important issues and As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade I'm not likely to get directly involved myself I'm very glad that we have people willing to expose the dodgy dealings of the defence industry and their cosiness to the highest levels of government. Jan 14, Beorn rated it it was ok Shelves: politics. For anyone unfamiliar with the various shows or stand-up sets Mark Thomas has performed, this book pretty much encapsulates his work. Equal parts investigative journalism, comic observation and wry sarcastic whimsy, this feels like the kind of banter you get from serious journalists down the pub. It's certainly an interesting approach to a subject, but it won't have the same adrenalising or righteous zeal inducing effect of a John Pilger or Noam Chomsky book, nor even a Naomi Klein. After a while i For anyone unfamiliar with the various shows or stand-up sets As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade Thomas has performed, this book pretty much encapsulates his work. After a while it does start to feel like it's a hundred or two pages longer than it needed to be, which all starts to drag by the time you reach the end, sucking what remaining power or impact the book had. Overall an okay book but As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade no way essential or the most memorable insight into the arms trade. Aug 02, Simon Wood rated it it was amazing. I don't think I even picked it up. In the library the other day I did- there was nothing much else around that I hadn't read already. What a total surprise. Marks writing is extremely funny in a totally self depreciating way with a constant stream of surgical strikes on my laughter spot. One anecdote relating to Australian campaigners against the arms trade is painfully funny and worth the purchase fee alone. I wont spoil it by giving anything away. Fantastic as the quality of the writing is, its also heartening to see the range of people that Mark is involved with while campaigning against the arm trade: Irish Nuns, school kids, some army bloke called Angus "Mod pass, official escort, this is Mark Thomas, writing a book, permission to film! Mark forms a variety of arms dealerships with the Nuns, the school kids but not Anguschains himself to a bus, gives evidence to a select committee in parliament and becomes HumInt for customs and excise. The arms dealerships he forms with the kids and the Nuns manage to trade in a variety of arms from AK's to thumb restraints and leg manacles. Some mad Israeli bloke with a stone throwing machine turns up at one point. His writing is more than funny, it is also sharply observes the people he meets and the places he finds himself in. Totally recommended As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade - should be a few copies in every school in the land. Sep 25, Sanidhya Nautiyal rated it really liked it. A pretty good book and As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade informative as I didn't had any idea regarding the arms industry. The writer has a expressed the downsides of the industry in a very satirical way. It is a must read for anyone who wants to explore how arms and ammunition companies are supported by the Government and how they exploit the loopholes in the system. Sep 21, Jamie rated it it was amazing. The comedian and political activist takes on the gun trade in this book and shows how a good mind for Cluedo, a knowledge of legal loopholes and a telephone is all he needs to sell arms to Zimbabwe or any other dispicable regime. It's so easy in fact that as part of his experiment a bunch of school kids and a Catholic Nun also set themselves up as arms dealers and can ship mines and grenades across the world. As one of the reviews on the back of the book says this is "John Pilger with jokes" and The comedian and political activist takes on the gun trade in this book and shows how a good mind for Cluedo, a knowledge of legal loopholes and a telephone is all he needs to sell arms to Zimbabwe or any other dispicable regime. As one of the reviews on the back of the book says this is "John Pilger with jokes" and the book is laugh out loud funny, though it is laughter tinged with despair given the seriousness of the topic at hand and murky grey morals of the world Thomas manages to infiltrate. In between chaining himself to buses or embarrasing politicians he manages to trick As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade generals into admitting to war crimes on camera or flog torture equipment and manacles with the tagline "As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela". His righteous anger is suffused throughout and yet to his own surprise he grows fond of the minder sent to keep an eye on him at an Arms Fair, feels doubt about shopping a dealer who lives in Brockley! Thought provoking and eye opening. I look forward to, especially as someone with Colombian heritage, the next one in which he turns his gaze towards the Cola industry. May 14, Richard rated it really liked it Recommends it for: People who like their politics to be mixed with comedy. Shelves: politics. The flier promised a free copy of this book. His passionate fury against those who wrong us is both funny and energizing. This book is the story of Mark's experiments in how permiable the rules on international arms de At the Edinburgh Festival in I was handed a flier for Mark Thomas' show. This book is the story of Mark's experiments in how permiable the rules on international arms dealing actually are. The events veer between the comic, the surreal and the baffling. Such an enjoyable book that it brought back to mind the energy and laughter of the live show that it accompanied. And the live show was so enjoyable that I'm going to see it again closer to home in Cambridge this month May :o Apr 08, Sean rated it really liked it Shelves: socio-cultural. He's sorta the UK equivalent of Michael Moore, only a lot funnier and a bit less of a blowhard. In "As Used He does this by infiltrating an arms fair with a fake PR firm, setting up false arms trading companies I won't go into too much detail, but he catches a few dealers out and even high-level military personnel from dodgy regimes. In the end, he gets a few laws changed and leaves a few dealers with egg on their faces. I wish I could say that the arms trade was dealt a huge smack in the head. Unfortunately, the death industry shuffles on, but Thomas's book gives you a lot to ponder. Dec 16, Miquixote rated it really liked it Shelves: 4-gr-battle-royalemilitarismleft-libertarian. Incredible real-life story about how Mark infiltrated the arms trade Jul 15, Guy Rintoul rated it really liked it. Well known for both his stand-up comedy and his human rights campaigning, Mark Thomas uses a combination of his trademark humour and investigative journalism in this polemic about the arms trade. Critically examining the laws surrounding the transfer of weapons around the world — and the abundant loopholes — Thomas takes aim and fires at governments, arms dealers and global corporations. In an increasingly globalised world, where cross-border trade is inseparably intertwined with the global finan Well known for both his stand-up comedy and his human rights campaigning, Mark Thomas uses a combination of his trademark humour and investigative journalism in this polemic about the arms trade. In an increasingly globalised world, where cross-border trade is inseparably intertwined with the global financial system, the arms trade signifies free trade at its worst.