Report From the Glasgow Meetup

17 people came to the Meetup in Glasgow on 20th July, which took on a different format from the London meeting.

Held in the centre of Glasgow, at an accessible office premises, the first half hour was sandwiches and light refreshments as people got to know each other. After we gathered in the main room, everyone briefly introduced themselves and how they came to hear of Positive Money. Then the organiser, Alistair, spoke about the Money Reform movement over the past 15 years and how he had discovered what is now Positive Money.

He emphasised that he was not speaking in a formal capacity for the organisation since he was simply a supporter, like everyone else, albeit one who had followed PM since its inception.

Then he spoke about the basic proposition which Positive Money is taking forward, and he especially concentrated on the Bank of England (Creation of Currency) Bill, which as he said, is laying out, for the first time ever, in proper legislative language, just exactly “what we want”.

He explained what PM is doing at present and, as far as he knew, what it wants to do in the future.

Group discussion was interspersed throughout the talk, and some of the questions really helped to identify which areas of the message need refinement. For example, while “money for the people and by the people” is good rhetoric which sums up the democratic advance that would be made by the Positive Money policy, the question remains how that would be physically experienced by each person. How can we make that real for each person? And there were several useful insights. For example, while “finance” may be a dry area for many people, “money” itself is something everyone is very interested in and we can build upon that. Suggestions were also made about how we can take the message forward here in Glasgow.

6 DVDs were sold of “all about the money”. As Alistair said of the video, “PM has taken the massive Money Reform animal and distilled it to its concentrated essence. It’s taken the cow and turned it into an Oxo Cube!”

No date was set for another meeting, but rest assured, everyone will be informed of the next one. If you haven’t yet signed up as a supporter, please do so today. This will ensure you hear about everything that is going on in your area.

If you want to organise a Meetup in your own town, please get in touch.

There are at least 2 ways you can go about arranging a Meetup. For example, you could simply meet up at the bar and mingle – like we did in London.  It’s free, and cheerful, but the downside is you can’t have any kind of presentation or speech, and some bars might be too noisy for some people.

Alternatively, you can have a more structured meeting, with an introduction and talk – like we had in Glasgow. Perhaps with a buffet and light refreshments. In that case, the venue needs to have room for 20-50 people, and be cheap to hire. It needs to be central and easily accessible – and not noisy. For example, a room above a pub usually fits the bill, or in a club or hotel.

If anyone knows of any suitable venues in Edinburgh, then please suggest them. If you can arrange it, we can help with speakers.