Welcome to the website for Café Economique Nottingham.
We are an informal discussion group for ordinary people to learn and talk about economics and politics in the city of Nottingham, UK.
We currently have a monthly talk, which anyone is welcome to attend. We are meeting every third Thursday of the month in the upstairs room of the Peacock pub, 11 Mansfield Road, Nottingham, beginning at 7:30pm. Attendance is free, although we do ask for a voluntary donation to cover the cost of future speakers and other expenses, as we are completely self-supporting and do not receive any funding.
Coming up in the next few months we have:
“Workers of the world, unite?” Globalisation and the quest for transnational solidarity
7:30-9:30 Thursday 18th April
Andreas Bieler, Professor of Political Economy at the University of Nottingham, will explore two strategies of transnational solidarity initiated within the ‘World Social Forum’: ‘Decent Work, Decent Life’ headed by the International Trade Union Confederation and related organisations, and initiatives by the Labour and Globalisation Network to increase co-operation with social movements.
Skills Exchange and Time Banking
7:30-9:30 Thursday 16th May
Helen Rigby of the Partnership Council Skills Exchange, will explain what it is, what it does, and how people benefit from it, with the assistance of some of its members. “For every hour you help someone you will receive one time credit, you can then swap these when you want something doing for you. It’s a chance for people in the community to swap skills with each other.” Such schemes enable the provision of services without the need for money, useful for those on lower incomes; they also encourage community cohesion. Come and hear from those who run and use the Skills Exchange how well it works.
What is ‘alternative economics’ anyways?
A few days after the G8 Summit – hosted by PM David Cameron 17-18 June in Northern Ireland – when we will all have heard their communiqué / plan to get the world out of its deepening recession, Café Economique thinks it will be a good time to ask: what is ‘alternative economics’ anyways? What are the assumptions of ‘alternative economics’? How different are they from those that govern the existing national and global economic systems? Are they just leading us into a proverbial cul-de-sac? It will be an open, no-holds-barred discussion and we expect a lively debate.
Keep the Parasitic Banking Sector Alive and the Economy Dies
7:30-9:30 Thursday 18th July
Open facilitated discussion following listening to an interview with Australian economist Steve Keen recorded in June 2012. Keen was one of the few economists to predict and explain the financial crisis before it happened. Issues raised include: economists’ models ignore the impact of money, banks and debt; banks profit from creating debt and reducing the debt reduces GDP and causes austerity; an alternative to austerity is a ‘Modern Debt Jubilee’ – putting money into people’s bank accounts to write down debt.
Also in the pipeline tho not yet scheduled:
- The local currencies movement
- The co-operative movement
- The economics of aging
- Cyclical consumption
If you would like to be part of the group come along to a talk, subscribe to this blog and/or join the Facebook group. You can get some ideas from the Getting Involved page, Upcoming Events will tell you about our confirmed schedule, and Topics gives a list of the subjects we have covered and aim to cover. If you have an idea or suggestion for a future talk please get in touch. Elsewhere on this website you can read the group’s full Aims, find our contact details, read posts about past and future events, find resources supplementing the talks, and links to other groups with things in common with this one.
