The Common Sense Club, Thetford’s popular lecture and discussion group, formed in the wake of the Tom Paine Bicentenary Celebrations, is back in session this month.
The first of three meetings will be held on September 30 at 8pm in the Old School of Thetford Grammar School, where Sheffield academic Linda Kirk will put the great man under the spotlight.
Dr Kirk will consider Thomas Paine’s indifference to female subordination, alongside the use by his contemporaries, Mary Wollstonecraft and the Marquis de Condorcet, of Paine’s own political arguments in their support of women’s emancipation.
Future meetings see the return of Alan Cardew from Essex University on October 14, to talk about political clubs and their influence and, on November 4, a Question Time with speakers from across the political spectrum, among them former MPs Michael Carttiss (Conservative), Labour’s Dr Ian Gibson and the sitting member for Cambridge, Liberal Democrat Julian Huppert.
? The meetings are open to all, at no cost, with tickets at the door. However, to help organisation on the night, people are invited to book in advance by calling the Grammar School Office on 01842 752840.
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