meeting held on Wed 15th April 2026
Four people were present, five sent their apologies.
During an initial conversation about the geopolitics of the wars in the Middle East, it was observed that perhaps most members of the public were more interested in addressing potholes in the roads than thinking about wider political issues.
But we questioned this view of public disinterest in politics. There are different sorts of politics: the politics of Westminster’s concern about who is up and who is down within and between the parties; politics as a profession occupied buy a narrow range of the ‘ruling classes’; the politics of an active engagement in social issues at home and abroad. The disenchantment with the major political parties might account for the rise in fortunes of Reform and Green parties. Some of those attracted to these parties are just fed up with the failure of the major parties to fulfil their promises; others might be attracted by specific political concerns (such as the war in Gaza, or immigration). Perhaps people are becoming more interested in politics, while less interested in the major parties
Reform is funded by billionaires funding publicity such as George crosses on lamp-posts, while the Greens party has attracted mass followings in a similar way to Corbyn. Polanski was very articulate and generates massive interest. But there was some doubt about whether he could fulfil, for example, his promise to redistribute wealth. We also considered his views about UK membership of NATO. We wondered whether more should be spent of defence, but favoured an approach which reassesses the role of UK armed forces and Britain’s role in the world; takes account of the rapid changes in the technologies of warfare (such as the prominence of drone warfare); and re-examines UK defence procurement which appears to be so wasteful.
Discussion of wealth redistribution acknowledged different ways of taxing the wealthy, ring fencing taxes for such as the NHS and the possibility of a wealth tax. Greater equality could also be achieved, we thought, by nationalisation, especially of water.
Finally we very briefly considered the plans to pipe carbon dioxide from works (such as the Hope Cement Works) to be buried in an empty natural gas reservoir, which have attracted some local criticism.
The next meeting will be on May 20th.