Leeds Salon

Leeds Salon is a discussion group founded in early 2009 by Michele Ledda and Paul Thomas, inspired by similar initiatives they had attended and, in particular, their participation in the Institute of Ideas sixth-form debating competition Debating Matters.

The aim of Leeds Salon is to establish a public forum for debate around contemporary political, cultural and scientific issues and, hopefully, challenge any orthodoxies along the way. Writers, academics and experts in their field are invited to present their ideas and to have them debated and held up to scrutiny by the audience. The Salons are lively, informal and open to all - but please let us know you intend to come along, and request to be added to mailing list by completing the contact form.

We are also interested in suggestions for debate and establishing fraternal links and joint events with other debating organisations in West Yorkshire and beyond.

Salon Organisers

Michele Ledda

Michele qualified as a secondary school English teacher in 2001.  He runs two subject-centred Saturday schools for the think tank Civitas.

Michele campaigns for higher standards in education.  He has written articles for the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian, spiked, Culture Wars, Quest, the journal of the Queen's English Society and other publications. He has written the chapter on English teaching for the Corruption of the Curriculum.   He is a memeber of the Institute of Ideas and a judge for the sixth-form Debating Matters competition.  A member of the Manifesto Club, in September 2008 he launched the Hands Off Poetry petition against examination board AQA's ban of Carol Ann Duffy's poem Education for Leisure, which is being signed by hundreds of angry students, teachers, writers and poets, including George Szirtes and former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion. In his latest article for Freedom in a Puritan Age, he explains why the banning of a poem from the school curriculum is a freedom issue of our times.

Paul Thomas 

Paul has worked as a civil servant in Leeds for over 20 years. He's a graduate of the Open University and is a qualified FE teacher. He is a regular judge in the Insitute of Ideas sixth-form Debating Matters competition, and is a member of his union's branch executive committee. He writes regularly for the online journal Freedom in a Puritan Age, and has also written for Culture Wars and Spiked. He took part in the panel-debate 'Recession Proofing: From Union Militancy to Reskilling' at the Battle of Ideas 2009.

Wes Brown

Wes is a 24 year old writer and editor based in Leeds. His poetry and prose has appeared in numerous journals online and in print, including Route Compendium, Culture Wars, Roundtable Review, Poetcasting.co.uk and Freedom in a Puritan Age. His debut novel, Shark, will be published by Fruit Bruise Press in 2010. Following successful work placements with Penguin and Route, he launched Cadaverine Publications where he is Editor-at-Large and has since become Regional Coordinator of the Arts Council's "Young Writer's Hub". Wes is also a Debating Matters judge.

Katherine Sansom

Katherine founded Freedom in a Puritan Age (see her latest article The Depoliticisation of Prostitution).  She is a playwright and has won a number of prizes, including the BBC Northern Exposure prize and had her play, As Good as a Rest, performed at Bradford Theatre-in-the-Mill and the West Yorkshire Playhouse.  She is a graduate of Sheffield Hallam University with a master's degree in creative writing.  She is based in Sheffield and works as the manager of The Poetry Business. 

Mark Wanstall 

Mark has been a lecturer in Childhood Studies at Leeds Metropolitan University since 2004. He previously studied Film & Photography at the Polytechnic of Central London in the early 1980s, and Geography at Leeds University from the late 1980s to early 90's. He obtained a PhD from Leeds University in 1997. Mark has recenty written the article What We Can Learn From the World's Strictest Parents for Freedom in a Puritan Age, and has also judged in Debating Matters.

Charles Brickdale

Charles has been a secondary school teacher of English and Religious education.  He has written for the Salisbury Review and for Freedom in a Puritan Age.  Charles is a judge for the Debating Matter competition.  He campaigns for a return to a knowledge-based curriculum in schools and for right-libertarian causes. 

The meetings are open to the public but please let us know you intend to come along, and request to be added to mailing list by completing the contact form.