Politics in Pubs is growing!
Politics in Pubs is growing with two new groups in Newcastle and Sheffield and one in Ilkley starting soon
A warm welcome to our new members
The Newcastle group has met a couple of times to discuss Following the politics, not the science and Is the Monarchy becoming too political? Their next meeting is on the 6th June when they will be discussing Low Traffic Neighbourhoods.
The Sheffield group is hosting its first meeting at 7-9pm on 14th June 2023, at the Old Kings Head Pub and will be discussing the UK housing crisis. Everyone welcome.
The Ilkley group is currently arranging a venue and will be discussing topics including Clean Air Zones, Net Zero and free speech. Watch out for notifications but the meeting is likely to be in June or July.
More people attending the Manchester group
At the same time, attendance at the Manchester meetings has been increasing, and this includes younger attendees. We have met several times since the New Year to discuss a wide range of topics:
- Following the Politics, Not the Science – this talk was led by Dr. Martin Evison (co-author of https://dailysceptic.org/archive/follow-the-politics-not-the-science) looked at how government lockdown policy was shaped more by political expediency than hard data.
- Gender identity ideology – a fascinating discussion let by Cath from the Women’s Rights Network covering gender identity ideology and the impacts on the rights of women, children and same sex attracted people.
- 15 Minute Cities – a talk by Daniel Zsubko Zlupko, Manchester ambassador for the Together Declaration covered the growing policy of everything you need being within 15 minutes of where you live. Sounds like a great idea but many people have major concerns.
- City Mayors: Why do we have them? – was introduced by our guest speaker Nick Buckley MBE, the independent mayoral candidate for Manchester in 2024. He has committed to holding a referendum on whether we really need city mayors if he is successful.
- The Cashless Society – found that there would be some support for the benefits of a cashless society if banks, authorities, institutions, politicians and the elite were honourable and diligent in their responsibility to serve the people rather than themselves. In the end, the opportunities for abuse outweighed that support.
A common theme running through several of these meetings was disquiet over the way government is imposing increasing control over our lives with little accountability or opposition. If you have the same concerns, please come and join us.
Next Manchester Meeting
Our next meeting is on Wed 28th June, 7.30 to 9.30pm when the topic will be Is NATO membership a threat to national independence?
Networking with other Free Speech Groups
We have also been attending meetings of Cancelling Cancel Culture after their introductory guest talk in Manchester last year. This group evolved from a Jordan Peterson meet-up group and regularly gets 30 to 50 people attending. It meets once a month on Sunday afternoons in The Britons Protection pub in Central Manchester.
Like our group, this group is committed to free speech and open debate. A recent meeting on NetZero Policy was attended by a broad range of people with a wide variety of views. This is one of many topics where people can have strong opinions on both sides of the debate but it was great to see how everyone got a chance to speak and make their voice heard. Everyone was extremely polite and welcoming.
Would you like to start a new group in your area?
We have also seen a significant uptick in the number of subscribers, suggesting that there is a real need for the sort of free speech and open debate that we encourage. Several subscribers have asked whether they could join up with others in their area to start their own groups.
In particular, we have a request from a member in Shaftesbury (in Dorset on the border of Wiltshire) and another from South Devon (anyone in the TQ PL or EX postcodes). If you are in either of these areas or would like to be put in touch with others in your own area, simply email us at info@politicsinpubs.ork.uk and let us know where you would like to meet up and whether you would be prepared to start a group yourself, or in combination with others.
To help you get started we have created a new guide to running your own group which tells you everything you need to know about setting up and running your own group. Once the group is up and running it doesn’t take a lot of effort, particularly if you can share the burden between 2-3 people in the group. It’s also a fantastic way to make new friends.