28 September 2010: is it time to call a truce on the 'war on drugs'?

We all know how to respond to the threat of drugs in our communities, don’t we? All we need to do is stop them entering the country whilst encouraging our children to just say ‘no’ – drugs are evil and dangerous and drug-users equally so.

Yet we also know that this is a war no one is winning, a fact increasingly acknowledged by politicians, law enforcers, policy advisers and governments around the world. Despite billions of pounds spent annually, worldwide, in trying to control drug production, supply and use, cocaine and heroin consumption has been rising consistently.

Darryl Bickler, a former criminal law and human rights solicitor and co-founder of the Drug Equality Alliance, believes that sensible use of drugs can benefit the individual and society and that we must stop misusing both the law and the language to create the fear and prejudices that continue to restrain any sensible change in attitude and policy.
Paul Peart of Lifeline Kirklees, a local drug and alcohol treatment service, will be talking how the organisation works with people who are badly affected by substance misuse, and explain some of the issues surrounding the drugs debate.

Come along, join the debate, and tell us what you think.

The details:

Tuesday 28 September 2010

Doors open 6.00
Debate starts 6.30

Café Ollo
The Media Centre
7 Northumberland Street
Huddersfield
HD1 1RL

£2.50 or donation

08 June 2010: 'The Right to Offend?'

Sticks and Stones Do we have a right to be protected from those who would offend our values, or is it our right to free speech that matters?

Tim Black from Spiked Online visits from London to passionately defend freedom of speech. He argues that, for a democracy to thrive, for ideas to be thoroughly and rigorously debated, there can be no right to freedom from offence. He believes that no value or idea, if it is to be worth anything, should be beyond questioning, no matter how offended some might be. To claim offence, as it stands right now, simply closes down debate.

He is challenged by local lass, Fakhara Rehman who is coordinator for The Kirklees Faith Forum. Fakhara urges caution and says that with the right to freedom of speech comes responsibility. She suggests that the media shapes our view of the world - what we 'know' about current affairs and what's going on in the world is through the news. But is the news really a source of information? Or is it a manipulation tool and we’re not really as free in our minds as we think we are?

Enough to get you started? Come and join us for a lively debate!

Refreshments available.

'The Death of Democracy?'

Date: Tuesday 30th March 2010, 06:00pm - 08:30pm

Venue: Cafe Ollo, The Media Centre

Provocative udeas and a stimulating debate in Cafe Ollo. March's events looks at 'The Death of Democracy?'

Please watch this space for more information.

Are we training enough creatives -- or too many?

Are we training enough creatives - or too many? Are degrees in the creative arts a passport to the future or just conning the kids?

Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw recently visited the Huddersfield Media Centre. He has said that: "Our cultural and creative industries have been a British success story in recent years. They have continued to grow strongly during the global downturn and will provide a lot of the future jobs and growth the country needs."

This optimism has driven a massive increase in the number of people being trained in creative subjects in British colleges and universities. But when they graduate are they what the industry wants… and can there ever be enough jobs to employ more than a fraction of them anyway?

Andrew Blake, Associate Head of the School of Social Sciences, Media and Cultural Studies at the University of East London says the rhetoric around the creative industries, skills and education is getting way out of hand. He believes we are educating far too many people for jobs that will not exist and that the best many people can look forward to is a life of self-exploitation followed by abandonment of their vocation for a more sustainable career. Unless, that is, they are the scion of the comfortable classes who are prepared to subsidise their offspring indefinitely in unpaid internships for a callous and increasingly exclusive industry.

Opposing this viewpoint will be Emma Hunt, Dean of the School of Art and Design at the University of Huddersfield.

Huddersfield Salon, Tuesday 26 January 2010

Doors open 6.00

Debate starts 6.30

Café Ollo

The Media Centre

7 Northumberland Street

Huddersfield

HD1 1RL

£2.50 or donation