Past events

Here is a recap of how the Club works:
1. We meet every six weeks or so in or near the National Theatre.
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 first article for this meet up is: I’ve got news for those who say Brexit is a disaster: it isn’t. That’s why rejoining is just a pipe dream | Larry Elliott | The Guardian

And the second one is: The UK’s forgotten ‘fifth nation’ – BBC Travel

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. Article Club was set up by Ross Bailey in 2015 who did a fantastic job at running it. Ross was followed by the equally fantastic Claire Ferraro and I (Alistair Baker) have been in the chair for the past six years.

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.

Vote from a small selection of articles here: Article Club #63 voting form – Google Forms

I Scream, You Scream!! To mark the closing of our Summer season, this week we have been paying homage to that oh-so-sweet, delectable and enduring symbol of Summertime to both young and old – the mighty ice cream cone!

Following our Sundae Assembly special, in which ice-cream scientist Tom Boulton will have taken us through the history and culture of this most iconic sweet treat, we invite you to join us on a delectable ice cream crawl through East London, where you and fellow enthusiasts can savour the local delights and pick your FLAVOUR-ite!

We will be departing from the Backyard Comedy Club immediately following the Assembly at 1pm, where we will follow the rocky road onto:

1. E5 Bakehouse – Home to the famous Softy & Swirly Expect grown-up flavours such as loganberry and sheep’s ricotta as well as salted black sesame, honey with lemon and cardamom, and malted vanilla. They also have La Grotta ices, a selection of seasonal frozen treats with an emphasis on fresh-tasting fruity combos – think pomegranate and leafy orange, pear and myrtle, wild fig and watermelon, or quince and bramley apple pie. 

2. Soft Serve Society – There are four basic flavours (vanilla, matcha, charcoal and coconut), but the thrill is in the photogenic toppings, which are arranged in Petri dishes on the counter ready for sprinkling.

3. Darlish – Luxury ice cream inspired by natural botanicals and the magical flavours of the Middle East, including black tahini halva chunk, honey rum, date mollases & raisin, and Turkish coffee.

The crawl will cover approximately 3 miles and last 2 hours

Join us after the Assembly for lunch and board games! Keep an eye on the weather and event listing in case we need to change venue. Bring a picnic mat and food from home or the nearby shops. And if you have any portable games, bring them too. Newcomers are very welcome. We generally play short, easy to learn, fun games.

Join us at our second in-person boardgames meetup for July. If the weather is warm and dry we will picnic and play boardgames. If not we’ll be indoors. Newcomers are very welcome. We generally play short, easy to learn fun games.

Join us after the Assembly for lunch! Keep an eye on the weather and event listing in case we need to change venue. Bring a picnic mat and food from home or the nearby shops. We usually get others jump in last minute at the Assembly so there will be more people than are showing on the event.