Founded in 1996, the club challenges the commercialisation, isolation and privatisation of modern life. We meet monthly on Saturday evenings.
Monthly meetings are held in the Church Hall of St. John the Baptist, Leytonstone, High Road, Leytonstone, London, E11 1HH (next to Aldi).
Meetings start with a buffet at 7:30pm followed by a talk at 8:00pm, then discussion at about 9:00pm.
All meetings are free of charge. Voluntary donations welcome. No need to book. If you can, please bring some vegetarian/vegan food and drink to share.
More info: https://newsfromnowhereweb.wordpress.com/
Saturday 8th February 2025 *** 6pm (or 7.30pm)
‘The most marvellous person of her sex since Joan of Arc,’ said Mark Twain
Arrive at 6pm to watch the film The Miracle Worker, starring Anne Bancroft. Or arrive as usual from 7.30pm. At 8pm, see a live performance of local writer Jennifer East’s play Helen, listen to excerpts from Helen Keller’s own writing about her extraordinary life as a child & an adult, hear about her surprising, seldom quoted political views and her friendship with Twain, & learn about SENSE, the charity for people with complex disabilities.
Saturday 8th March 2025
‘Spark2Life – Prevent Harm Promote Life’: One man’s journey from prison to purpose
Speaker: Dez Brown
Dez is the founder & CEO of Spark2Life, an award-winning ‘faith based not faith biased’ charity, working with medium to high-risk young people/adults. Dez has been through the criminal justice system. At 17 he was imprisoned for manslaughter, culminating in him finding faith & becoming an ordained minister. He has written an autobiography, Convicted or Condemned; is a qualified therapist; trains professionals on trauma awareness; served as a prison therapist and as a sessional prison chaplain. The charity’s main office is in Walthamstow.
Saturday 12th April 2025
The Shrewsbury 24 Campaign – We Never Gave Up!
Speaker: Eileen Turnbull
Eileen is the researcher & secretary of the Shrewsbury 24 Campaign, formed in 2006 to overturn a miscarriage of justice. The 24 were North Wales building workers, prosecuted in 1973-74 for alleged picketing offences during the national building workers’ strike. Six received prison sentences ranging from 4 months to 3 years; 16 were given suspended prison sentences. Through years of research, Eileen discovered the crucial fresh evidence that persuaded the Criminal Cases Review Commission to refer the case back to the Court of Appeal. In 2021 three judges quashed all the pickets’ convictions. Eileen will recount the manipulation of the original trials by the judiciary, politicians & media, which came to light only in the course of her research. This is an intriguing story, told with seriousness, passion & a touch of humour.
Saturday 10th May 2025
What can be done about the social care crisis?
Speaker: Anne Gray
Like many other ‘developed’ countries, Britain has an ageing society; more & more people need care in older age. Disability’s also increasing. 60% of us will experience caring for another adult some time in our lives – our partner, parents, another relative or friend. Disabled children often remain dependent on their parents till both generations are growing old. For years, successive governments have done little or nothing about this. Budgets for social care are just not keeping pace with need, so many people pay for their own professional care or do without. Some have relatives available to help but an increasing number don’t. Anne will explore some solutions to these problems from her book, A Radical Approach to the Care Crisis;Community, Solidarity and a National Care Service, to be published by Bristol University Press in April 2025. There will be signed copies for sale.
Saturday 14th June 2025
Broadwater Farm: Transformed!
Speaker: Clasford Stirling MBE
How is it that a notorious housing estate (‘one of the worst in the UK’) later had a waiting list? Crime rates on Broadwater Farm plummeted: by 2005, only 2% of residents said they felt unsafe there (the lowest rate in London.) In 1985, after Cynthia Jarrett’s death nearby when police raided her home, a riot took place; PC Blakelock was killed. Things had to change. Clasford, a life-long resident, has made huge contributions to the changes, creating a Youth Association, football coaching (making professional players), helping to unite residents (the Residents Association had been all-white on a multi-ethnic estate.) Broadwater Farm, run by LB Haringey, saw vast improvements physically, socially & economically. Clasford will explain how he & others achieved this miracle, & what it’s like to grow up & live there in 2025.
Saturday 12th July 2025
The Vi Gostling Memorial Lecture
Imagining a far better future – but how do we get there?
Chair: Andy Littlechild
We have a panel of representatives from political parties & groups with their sometimes overlapping but often vastly different philosophies & practices. Prepare to hear from, quiz or challenge activists: we’ve invited the Communist Party of Britain, the Green Party, the Labour Party (possibly with local MP Calvin Bailey), the LibDems, the London Anarchist Communist Group, the Revolutionary Communist Party, the Socialist Party, the Socialist Party of Great Britain, the Socialist Workers Party, Workers’ Liberty & the Workers Party of Britain.
Saturday 9th August 2025
Resisting racist and state violence in east London
Speaker: Kevin Blowe of NetPol
Last summer, thousands of people gathered in Walthamstow, as riots erupted around the country, to resist threats of far-right protests against local immigration advice services. This counter-demonstration was widely praised in the media & by politicians, in marked contrast to the relentlessly negative portrayal of ordinary people offering a similar kind of solidarity to besieged Palestinians in Gaza as ‘hate marches.’ One reason why so many felt the need to oppose the far right was the chaotic, inadequate way police in other parts of the country had responded to anti-migrant violence: in Bristol only days before, local people had been forced to physically protect a hotel where asylum-seekers were staying. There was a strong sense the police were more concerned with the government’s demands to crack down on Palestine protests than with violent racist groups. Kevin, campaigns coordinator of the Network for Police Monitoring, was an activist for 26 years with the anti-racist & police monitoring group, the Newham Monitoring Project. He argues the idea that ‘the police don’t protect us’ is deeply embedded in the struggles for justice by black & Asian communities in east London & that there’s much we can learn from the history of these struggles: about how to sustain opposition to both the far right & state violence for longer than just one warm summer evening.
Saturday 13th September 2025 (Part of E11 Festival)
Ignatius Sancho: from Slave Ship to Westminster
Speaker: Chris Harrison
Among many prominent black 18th century British citizens, Ignatius Sancho is distinguished for the breadth of his interests & the range of his social contacts. A writer, composer & owner of a small business, he was acquainted with many important figures of his time, including Laurence Sterne, David Garrick, Joseph Nollekens & the Montagu family. He is one of the first black Britons to have voted in a general election – a considerable achievement for someone thought to have been born on a slave ship crossing the Atlantic. Chris Harrison, musician & educator, has done much to raise awareness of Sancho’s life & work & will tell the story of how Sancho made this remarkable journey, illustrated by a live performance by members of the Hackney Community Orchestra (of which Chris is musical director) of some of Sancho’s music.
Saturday 4th October 2025 ** 1st. Sat. of October
The Invention of Essex: The making of an English county
Speaker: Tim Burrows
Tim’s book had reviews so enthusiastic that his visit to us is a must. Born & still living in Southend, his book, to quote reviews, is ‘a love letter to a county whose variety & richness is so often overlooked.’ He’s written ‘the most insightful, thorough, hilarious & poignant investigation of place, of people, of history. The way Tim weaves his own family & experience into such a detailed, well-researched narrative of geography, sociology & history is masterful.’ ‘Lucid & erudite; one of our greatest living writers.’ Come & hear about utopians, rebels, travellers, gangsters, eccentrics – and you can buy the book, signed by Tim.
Saturday 8th November 2025
The Housing Scandal: What to do about it
We’ll look at many aspects of the appalling current failure to ensure that everyone has a decent place to live. Speakers have been invited from the London Renters Union, Advisory Service for Squatters, Residents Assns., Pavement, DOPE & Big Issue magazines, Action on Empty Homes, Housing Action Groups, Social Housing Action Campaign, & Butterfields Won’t Budge/Focus E15 campaigns. They will discuss how they are trying, & have tried, to do something serious & bold about it.
Saturday 13th December 2025
CLR James: An Unexpected Life
Speaker: John L. Williams
John will be talking about his biography of the great Trinidadian historian, radical & cricket-lover: CLR James. His book brings this extraordinary 20th century life into brilliant focus as it moves from Trinidad to London to Lancashire to the USA & back again. ‘CLR James was decades ahead of his time in challenging our thoughts about empire, colonialism, black history &, not least, in writing brilliantly about cricket. He finally has the biography his extraordinary influence deserves’ (Barney Ronay). John is a Cardiff-born novelist & biographer; his subjects range from American crime fiction to Dame Shirley Bassey. Benjamin Zephaniah described John’s account of the Cardiff 3 case, Bloody Valentine, as his favourite book.
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