For people interested in having a debate over the latest in environmental initiatives, I recommend you attend the following event:

Bin the bag?

The Devonshire town of Modbury introduced a ban on plastic bags in April 2007, and 80 British towns have followed suit. Bag-bans are already in place in San Francisco, Uganda, Taiwan and Bangladesh. Ireland has a ‘plastax’, and London’s councils have proposed a similar scheme for the capital. Prime Minister Gordon Brown described single-use plastic bags as ‘the most visible symbol of environmental waste’, and has committed to eliminating them from the UK altogether.
The first Manifesto Club ‘Club Night’ of 2008 will ask how on Earth plastic shopping bags have caused such controversy. The evening's speakers will include a designer, an arts journalist, a political commentator, and almost definitely a representative of the plastics industry (really!). Questions they will seek to address include: is the plastic bag a consumer convenience of a senseless waste? Is there a more convenient alternative? Is it it really time to bin the bag?
Join us for a drink, to find out more about the Manifesto Club, and help us answer perhaps the most pressing question of our times: what does the plastic bag really mean to contemporary culture?

Date: Tuesday 29 January 2008
Time: Bar opens 7pm for drinks; discussion starts around 8pm and goes on until you all dry up
Where: Upstairs in The Old Queen's Head, 44 Essex Road, Islington, N1 8LN : http://www.theoldqueenshead.com/
Nearest tube: Angel
Cost: Free to Manifesto Club Members, £5 non-members (pay on the door).