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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. From October 2013 we will be meeting on the fourth Thursday of the month at the Vat & Fiddle pub, Queensbridge Rd NG2 1NB (in the Visitor Centre room, ground floor, left end of pub – wheelchair accessible). 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:

HS2 and Economic Development – talk by Bettina Lange

7:30-9:30 Thursday 24th October

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.

Co-operative Commonwealth for the 21st Century – talk by Ian Hewitt

7:30-9:30 Thursday 28th November

The Co-operative Commonwealth has been the vision of co-operative and labour movements for over 150 years but remains largely overlooked by contemporary activists. The Co-operative Commonwealth presents a liveable alternative to ruinous capitalism and the strictures of state socialism; with an emphasis on ‘the common’ and socially useful production/consumption it provides a basis for hope and security in our common futures. The renewed interest in the co-operative movement despite recent failings of the largest retail society could be the catalyst to re-imagine our co-operative commonwealth for the 21st sentury.

See Topics page for a list of past topics and suggested future topics

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.

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