Talk 2013-10: HS2 and economic development

Café Economique talk given by Bettina Lange
When: Thursday 24th October 2013, 7:30-9:30pm
Where:  Vat & Fiddle pub, Queensbridge Rd NG2 1NB (in the Visitor Centre room, ground floor, left end of pub – wheelchair accessible)

Copy of talk: HS2 and Economic Development

 

Do the economics of High Speed Rail stack up ? The talk will

• investigate the claim that HS2 will regenerate the local economy and steer economic activity away from London and the South East and towards the Northern English regions
• examine the claim that people around the HS2 station proposed at Toton will benefit economically
• have a look at the model for financing the HS2 project
• outline uncertainties and risks regarding who will fund development and infrastructure associated with HS2 (for example addtional road capacity or public transport links)

Bettina Lange chairs the East Midlands Transport Activists’ Roundtable, is a member of the Nottinghamshire Campaign for Better Transport committee, has many years experience of transport campaigning and policy work, and has co-ordinated and written reponses to the emerging HS2 plans for East Midlands and Nottinghamshire Campaign to Protect Rural England.

 

She will be presenting her own take on HS2.

Talk 2013-09: Islamic Banking

Café Economique talk given by Bushra Merghani
When: Thursday 26th September 2013, 7:30-9:30pm
Where: City Gallery, 14a Long Row East, Oriel Chambers Courtyard NG1 2DH

Copy of talk: Islamic Banking

Does Islamic Banking offer a solution to the problems that have blighted western banks in recent times?

A growing number of Islamic, state-owned and private banks in Asia, Middle East and Africa are offering a range of ‘sharia-compliant’ financial products (business loans, mortgages and hire-purchase finance) without charging interest or up-front fees and are still making huge profits. Deposits into these banks have been growing at the rate of 30% per annum. Currently, it’s estimated that almost $200 billion transactions take place through these banks every year.

This talk by Bushra Merghani will discuss the benefits and limitations of Islamic banking and to what extent western banks can benefit from their experience.

Talk 2013-05: Skills Exchange and Time Banking

Café Economique talk given by Helen Rigby of the Partnership Council Skills Exchange
When: Thursday 16th May 2013, 7:30-9:30pm
Where: Upstairs room at the Peacock, 11 Mansfield Road, Nottingham, NG1 3FB
Attendance is free although a voluntary collection will be taken to help with the group’s future expenses
Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/events/551430484877185/

Helen Rigby, with the assistance of members of the Skills Exchange, will explain what it is, what it does, and how people benefit from it.

Skills Exchange is a Time Bank. The principle behind Time Banking is very simple, for every hour that you help someone else you will receive one time credit, you can then go on to swap these time credits when you want something doing for you. One hour’s work equals one time credit no matter what skills are used. All skills have equal value.

It does what it says on the tin. It is a chance for people in the community to swap skills with each other.

From the Skills Exchange Weblog

This Skills Exchange has been going almost 6 years now. There is a network of Time Banks, there are other such schemes around including one in West Bridgford, and the ‘LETS’ principle is a similar one: enable members to provide services for each other without the need for money. This is particularly useful for people on lower incomes or during times of hardship. These schemes also encourage community cohesion and neighbourliness at a time when people often feel distanced from each other. There are frequent socials, trips and outings, craft sessions and fundraising drives such as the recent Spring Bazaar.

Come and hear testimony from those who run and use the Skills Exchange on how well it works for them.

Talk 2013-03-21: ParEcon – Participatory Economics

Café Economique talk given by Jason Chrysostomou of IOPS
When: Thursday 21st March 2013, 7:30-9:30pm
Where: Upstairs room at the Peacock, 11 Mansfield Road, Nottingham, NG1 3FB
Attendance is free although a voluntary collection will be taken to help with the group’s future expenses

As discontent for current forms of socio-economic organisation grows around the world, the pressing question arises, what do we want as an alternative?

Participatory Economics, or ‘Parecon’, is an economic model developed by Robin Hahnel and Michael Albert that seeks to address this question. The model describes how workers and consumers can co-operatively, equitably and efficiently plan a complex modern economy themselves and in a way that produces more desirable humanitarian and ecological outcomes.

This session will present the goals, key institutions and strategic implications of the participatory economics model, followed by a Q&A session.

Some quotes on Parecon:

“It merits close attention, debate and action” – Noam Chomsky

“an imaginative, carefully reasoned description, persistently provocative, of how we might live free from economic injustice” – Howard Zinn

“Parecon is a brave argument … for a much needed, more equitable, democratic, participatory alternative economic vision” – Arundhati Roy

Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/events/492916110745554/

Talk 2013-04-18: “Workers of the world, unite?” Globalisation and the quest for transnational solidarity

Café Economique talk on Thursday, 18 April 2013
Time: 7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Where:  Upstairs room at the Peacock, 11 Mansfield Road, NG1 3FB
(Attendance is free although a voluntary collection will be taken to help with the group’s future expenses)

Our speaker will be Andreas Bieler, Professor of Political Economy, School of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham, http://andreasbieler.net

From a 1911 issue of the Industrial Worker, newspaper of the International Workers’ of the World

Against the background of globalisation, trade unions have found it increasingly difficult to represent the interests of their members and wider society. And yet, they are not powerless. Two main strategies of transnational solidarity initiated within the World Social Forum spaces will be explored:

a) The approach of  ‘Decent Work, Decent Life’ headed by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and related organisations and focusing on side agreements to free trade treaties;
b) Initiatives by the Labour and Globalisation Network to increase co-operation with social movements.

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/events/153407088147503/

Talk 2013-02-21: Living on Benefits

Café Economique talk by Matthew McVeagh (group member)
When: Thursday 21st February 2013, 7:30pm – 9:30pm
Where: Upstairs room at the Peacock, 11 Mansfield Road, Nottingham, NG1 3FB
Attendance is free although a voluntary collection will be taken to help with the group’s future expenses

Matthew McVeagh, who has extensive experience of living on social security benefits in the UK, will give a talk on what it is like and how it affects your life and involvement in society. Areas covered will include how come we have a benefits system at all, how the system works and how it treats claimants, practical day-to-day living, psychological effects and self-identity, relations between claimants and the rest of society, coming changes, help, resistance and prospects for a better situation.

Matthew welcomes contribution to this talk from others, especially those with similar first-hand experience; please get in touch and we can arrange a sharing of time. The talk will be 45 minutes and after a break there will be 45 minutes for question and answer and discussion. Discussion will also probably continue later into the evening.

Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/events/287125941413008/

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Report on the talk

This talk went well and was well received by the 20 or so attendees. I would like to expand the material to create a better future talk and one with attractive visual aids such as a projected presentation rather than just text read put and expanded upon. Several attendees said they had learnt quite a lot from the talk and the discussion afterwards was lively. It could be useful to repeat it and encourage others to do similarly. There were no immediate practical steps towards organising Nottingham benefit claimants.

Matthew

Talk 2012-10: Introduction to the Zeitgeist Movement

October’s talk for 2012:

Subject: Introduction to the Zeitgeist Movement
Where: Room 2, International Community Centre, 61B Mansfield Road, Nottingham NG1 3FN
When: 7:30 to 9:15, Thursday October 25th 2012

Grant Williams, locally active in the Zeitgeist Movement, will give a presentation on what it is all about, including the Resource-Based Economy.

The meeting will start at 7:30 and finish at 9:15 when we have to leave the building; we will continue the evening at a local pub. A collection will be taken to cover room hire and other costs.

More information to follow.

Facebook page for this event: https://www.facebook.com/events/363678297051564/

Talk 2012-08: The Roots of Economics in Moral Philosophy: What has gone so wrong?

Meeting on “The roots of Economics in Moral Philosophy: What has gone so wrong?” on Thursday 30th August at 7.30pm. A room has been booked at the International Community Centre, 61b Mansfield Road (near the junction with Woodborough Road and Mansfield Road, slightly up the hill from the Victoria Centre).

In the early 1970s the history of economic thought was dropped as a topic carried by the important academic journals and as a topic for teaching economics students. Many economists probably think that Adam Smith was the first economist. In fact economics goes back as far as Aristotle and was taught at Universities in Europe as early as 1250. This was an economic thinking developed by monks who had taken a vow of poverty and it covered issues that subsequently got forgotten or relegated to the small print and footnotes. Economists nowadays piously tell us that their subject – positive economics – describes the world as it is, not the world as it should be. In this discussion Brian Davey will show how economists strive to represent what is no more than a patently ideological belief system as a neutral “science”…

Talk 2012-06b: Sustainable Development?: Rio 2012

Café Economique Session, Thursday June 28th 2012
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: International Community Centre, Mansfield Road, NG1 3FN

Sustainable Development?: Rio 2012

Amanda Smith of Nottingham Trent University will explore the recent Rio 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. She will explore the history of this conference (which was first held in Rio in 1992) and will comment on the problems associated with trying to implement sustainable development across the globe. In particular, she will pick up on the key outcomes of the conference and facilitate a debate on these issues.

Talk 2012-06a: Euro Crisis

Café Economique Session, Thursday June 7th 2012
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: International Community Centre YMCA, Mansfield Rd

Euro Crisis

Brian Davey will give a talk and lead a discussion on the current contexts of the Euro Crisis.