We are midway through the party conference season.
Each year since 2005 we have tried something different. Last year, for example, Forest organised two conference events – one at the Cavern Club in Liverpool (Labour), the other at the Comedy Store in Manchester (Conservative).
Every event has an element of risk but none more than Stand Up for Liberty! at the Comedy Store. A 60-minute drinks reception was followed by an hour of stand-up comedy that had some people walking out (I underestimated the amount of swearing!) while others went on Twitter to say what a fantastic event it had been ("By a very substantial margin, the best fringe event of the last 10 years").
Although the Cavern Club event was a great success as well we decided to give Labour a miss this year. Instead we are putting all our efforts into two events at the Conservative conference in Birmingham.
First up is The Liberty Lounge on Monday 8th October. This is an abbreviated version of our original concept so instead of a six hour, multimedia extravaganza (we couldn't get the space) The Liberty Lounge is now a two-hour event about tobacco, food and drink. Tag-line, 'Free food, free drinks, free speech'.
Guest speakers include David Nuttall MP, Angela Harbutt (Hands Off Our Packs), Chris Snowdon, Rob Lyons (deputy editor, Spiked), and John O'Connell (research director, TaxPayers Alliance) but the star of the show is writer and comedian Timandra Harkness who will act as compere.
The Liberty Lounge will also feature a short film – co-written and presented by Timandra – entitled Your Days Are Numbered: The Maths of Death – plus the Hands Off Our Packs video Plain Packaging? No Minister!.
This is the first time we have hosted an event inside the secure area (which means you need a conference pass to attend) so it will be interesting to see who (if anyone!) turns up. Anyone attending conference is welcome to come.
I'll post details about our second (invitation only) event next week.
PS. Click here to download The Liberty Lounge flyer.