Archive Alphabetical Index

These notes have been used to aid Circle discussions and are being made available to anyone who wants to make use of them.

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Abstract painting – ‘Anyone can do that’
All Art constantly aspires to music – According to Walter Pater
Appreciating wine, poetry and art - a plain wo/man’s guide to avoiding bunkum
Art and Impact – Examining the impact of three pieces of art
Artificial Intelligence – will it exceed human intelligence?
Binge drinking – Britain leads Europe, why?
BNP success in EU elections is a boost for British democracy – Will the electorate wake up?
Book to Film – Do they work well?
Buddhism - why has it captured the spirit of the age?
Chinese Capiltalist revolution - will they rule the world?
Citizenship 2 – A second shot at this huge subject
Citizenship 3 – A third shot at this huge subject
Citizenship-5 - A fifth shot at this huge subject
Climate Change - an up-date on facts and arguments
Climate Change and the Supply of Power – How will we power the world
Confidence – A look at the importance of confidence in human relationships.
Consciousness 1 – What is consciousness?
Consciousness 2 – More on this difficult subject
Consciousness 3 – The mind body problem
Convention on Modern Liberty – erosion of freedoms?
Cuba – a unique political system.
Culture is Ordinary – based on the essay by Raymond Williams
Do we get the Politicians we Deserve? – Do we expect too much of our politicians?
Dubai - Cities of the future?
Englishness and the British State - which way English nationalism?
Feminism Reviewed – Are we all feminists now?
Fibonacci Sequence and Symmetry - maths in nature.
Football - is it more serious than life and death?
French revolution – did it go wrong?
Future of the British Pub - Last orders:  calling time on pubs
Global Economic crisis – comparisons with recessions of the past.
Grandparents - more important than ever?
Guilt - what is it good for?
Heidegger – A look at the work of this influential Philosopher
Heroes – what are they?
History is Bunk – Do we use history well?
Hobbes - An influential British Philosopher
How to talk about things we know nothing about - Intrigued?
Humour – and Stand-up Comedians - just a laugh?
Hysteria – also the stress of modern life
Individual Freedom in the UK – Are our freedoms being eroded?
Inequality in Society – Can we ever be equal?
Is Public Art worth it? – It is expensive but is it uplifting?
Is the USA a spent Force? – Is the dominant power of the 20th century on its way out?
Islam – consideration of some concepts of this huge religion.
The Jaguar  - appreciation of the poem by Ted Hughes
Jean Paul Sartre - a modern philosopher
John Milton – Poet or Politician?
Karl Marx – Suddenly he is back in favour
Leek History, Culture and Heritage
Left versus Right – an analysis of quotations by some famous names
Local Government – Why was Democracy for Stoke needed?
Paine and poverty – looking at what Thomas Paine had to say about poverty.
Persistent Change – Life’s so complicated!
Pets as Kin – Do we attach too much importance to pets?
Poems from Paintings
Popper and Science – the theory of falsification. Popper’s social and political ideas.
Rape – Only 6% of reported rapes end in conviction.
Should we get out of the EU. - This question keeps coming up.
Socrates - Perhaps the most influential philosopher
Target Culture and Performance Management
Teenage pregnancy – the Uk has one of the worst records in Europe
The Body - Images and cultural constructs
The Future of Books and Libraries - do they have a future?
The Law - should it be used to protect us from ourselves?
The State of India - is India in a state?
The Under Class – Class and the poor.
The Precautionary Principle – Will it kill science?
Triviality – What is trivia?
USA. How’s Obama doing? – Now he’s in how’s he doing?
USA, an update - Barack Obama:  hope, fear and advice…
Visions of the Future – some views of the theoretical physicist Michio Kaku
What are the limits of parental control? - state intervention?
What are Universities for? - should they be reformed?
What is poetry? – also an appreciation of Slyvia Plath’s poem ‘Mushrooms’
Women and Domesticity - what's changed?
World Food Emergency – How do we feed the world?