Not-just-Sunday Activities

Article Club is where the Sunday Assembly London community read a diverse range of articles, share them with like-minded people and deal with our anxiety that we aren’t reading books.

This was our 69th meeting but it’s never too late to join! Just like at our assemblies, we love welcoming new members and their unique opinions.

It was also the first meeting after Article Club’s 10th anniversary (10th May 2025), so thank you to everyone who joined us as we embark on our next decade!

The two articles we discussed

New York’s Promising Experiment in Making the Subways Safer
Nicole Gelinas – New York Times, 14 August 2024

Why public schoolboys like me and Boris Johnson aren’t fit to run our country
Richard Beard – The Guardian, 8 August 2021

How Article Club works

1. We meet every six weeks or so in the National Theatre building in Central London by the river. We go for the round seats in the Lyttelton Theatre bar on the first floor.

2. We vote in advance and pick two articles from a short list to read before we meet. Usually one relates to politics/current affairs and the other to history, culture or science.

3. We talk about each one for around half an hour. The beauty of Article Club is that we can think more deeply about the broader themes of a topic, and how well the article gets to grips with them.

4. We each give a score out of 10 for the articles that have been discussed.

5. We set the date for the next Article Club and sometimes adjourn to the pub.

Our next three Article Clubs will be:

• Thursday 26 June at 7:30pm
• Thursday 7 August at 7:30pm
• Thursday 18 September at 7:30pm

And to meet more of the Sunday Assembly London community while learning about a new or familiar topic, you’re always welcome at our Sunday Assemblies too!

Our Sunday Assembly London band had great fun playing pop songs at Enrich Festival on Sunday 27th April, alongside a brilliant and inclusive line-up of talented performers.

How the festival describes itself:

‘Enrich Festival is an inclusive Arts festival showcasing the immense talent of disabled and neurodivergent artists and performers in the UK. It is produced by Herts Inclusive Theatre, an award winning charity that aims to break down barriers about disability through the Performing Arts.

Enrich Festival is delighted to return to Watford Palace Theatre on 26th & 27th April 2025. Join us as we showcase the immense talent of neurodiverse and disabled people in the Arts through drama, dance, film, art, comedy, music and poetry; complemented by inclusive and fully accessible arts-based workshops for all ages and abilities, there’s something for everyone across this weekend extravaganza!’

Our live band (which includes exceptionally talented neurodivergent musicians) made it their mission to get the whole theatre singing along to well-known pop songs. In true Sunday Assembly style, the lyrics were on a big screen so everyone could sing along if they wanted to.

A typical Sunday Assembly has four songs; the Enrich audience got ten songs! They included:

• A Little Respect – Erasure
• Let It Go from Frozen
• Flowers – Miley Cyrus
• What Makes You Beautiful – One Direction
• It’s My Life – Bon Jovi
• Grace Kelly – Mika
• This Is Me from The Greatest Showman
• Mamma Mia – ABBA

Well done to our band, thanks to everyone who came along and congratulations to Sunday Assembly London’s Tanya Byrne for making such an amazing festival happen!

Find out more at enrichfestival.org

(And yes, we know we marked this as a non-just-Sunday event, but we don’t have a category for not-just-Sunday-Assembly-Sunday events!)

Thanks to everyone who came to our comedy fundraiser with Quantum Leopard!

Ever since Sunday Assembly was founded – by two comedians – our three tenets have included Live Better and Wonder More. (We’ll get to the other tenet later.) Comedy nights are great for both: the uplift of shared laughter and the marvel of well-crafted comedy.

And what’s better than two comedians?

Four comedians! They entertained us on 10th April.

Our host was James Ross, whose Quantum Leopard comedy nights have won awards for showcasing stand-up that doesn’t punch down. He put together a fabulous line-up for us:

• Mark Thomas: Mark’s been performing comedy on stage and screen for over 35 years. He mixes theatre, journalism and the odd bout of performance art
• Ben Pope: From Cambridge Footlights to Edinburgh Fringe to London clubs, Ben’s been called ‘one of the best storytellers in comedy’
• Jamie Mykaela: A comedy-cabaret artist who’s been described as ‘bawdy, brassy, vulnerable and intense’, with performances fuelled by 12 years of opera training
• Alex Franklin: Acclaimed in 2024 for being ‘winningly weird’, Alex’s performances have blended musical comedy, science and the joy of being trans

The details for this not-on-a-Sunday spectacular were:

Thursday 10th April from 7:30pm to 10pm (doors open at 7:30pm; show starts at 8pm)
COLAB Theatre, 22 Southwark Bridge Road, London SE1 9HB

What happened to the ticket fees. None of it went to our host, thanks to his amazing generosity; the performers didn’t want a cut either. Every penny went to Sunday Assembly London, at a time when we really need it to ensure we have a future.

So while the audience were laughing to keep our lights on, they were upholding our other tenet: Help Often. And we’re so grateful to them.

What did you think of the comedy night? Let us know on our social media!

The point of Article Club is to challenge ourselves to read a diverse range of articles, share them with like-minded people and deal with our anxiety that we aren’t reading books.

Here is a recap of how the club works:

1. We meet every six weeks or so in the National Theatre building in Central London. We go for the round seats in the Lyttelton Theatre bar on the first floor.

2. We vote in advance and pick two articles from a short list to read before we meet. Usually one relates to politics/current affairs and the other to history, culture or science.

3. We talk about each one for around half an hour and the beauty of Article Club is that we can think more deeply about the broader themes of a topic, and how well the article gets to grips with them.

4. We each give a score out of 10 for the articles that have been discussed.

5. We set the date for the next Article Club and sometimes adjourn to the pub.

Our articles this time were…

The Fantasy of Addiction

There’s a Term for What Trump and Musk Are Doing

The point of Sunday Assembly Article Club is to challenge ourselves to read a diverse range of articles, share them with like-minded people and deal with our anxiety that we aren’t reading books.

How Article Club works

1. We meet every six weeks or so in or near the National Theatre, hosted by Alistair.
2. We vote in advance and pick two articles from a short list to read before we meet. Usually one relates to politics/current affairs and the other to history, culture or science.
3. We talk about each one for around half an hour and the beauty of Article Club is that we can think more deeply about the broader themes of a topic, and how well the article gets to grips with them.
4. We each give a score out of 10 for the articles that have been discussed.
5. We set the date for the next Article Club and sometimes adjourn to the pub.

The articles we chose

Does Labour still despise the working class?
Paul Embery, 22 December 2023

Has London reached peak toxicity?
David Mitchell
The Guardian, 2 April 2023