Meet up with friends and set the world to right. If you are not getting the mental stimulus you crave, need to try something different or the Nintendo is starting to get stale start up a Discussion Circle or come to ours.

Start your own Discussion Circle

All you need is a room(pubs will often provide a room for free), from 6-16 people, a subject to talk about and some notes on that subject. A good chair person is a great asset. see Notes on Chairing meetings.

Want help?
Want ready made notes?

 

HEADLINES

More success! A residential weekend examining the learning process during informal discussions has exceeded participates expectations. read more

If you want ready made notes to start a discussion or are just curious what we talked about in our discussions then an achive of notes is available here

'Socrates' residential weekend at Burton Manor has been a great success  click

Two more venues have been added. One in Cheadle Greater Manchester and the other in Leicester. These are part of the Liverpool network.

There is another group like our own operating in the Liverpool area Click here to view their website.

Click " Discussion notes" in the side menu to access the latest notes for a particular venue.

The Open Democracy Discussion Circles

The Open Democracy Discussion Circles are discussion groups that circle of headsmeet regularly in pubs.
Open to all; everyone who attends is a member; non-party & non-sectarian.
Some sessions are based on Melvyn Bragg's Radio 4 programme 'In our Time' (IoT). We also use as a resource the Open Democracy.net (odn) and the BBC's Thinking Allowed(TA) plus, occasionally a specific book, poem or art work.
Usually free of charge, although an occasional £1.00 donation may be requested.
Very flexible - attend when you can - each week is self-contained
Notes provided in advance for each meeting to all members (by e-mail or post and also in this website).
The aim is to explore the topic, sharing views and ideas in a very informal way. The evening is relaxed and everybody gets a chance to have a say. The idea is not to get on your soap box but to share your views and also learn from the views of others.
Most evenings there are between 10 and 16 participants. We sit roughly in a circle and contribute informally and, hopefully, reasonably concisely.

Normally minutes on the discussion are not published.

If you want ready made notes to start a discussion or are just curious what we talked about in our discussions then an achive of notes is available here