Following on from a great autumn series, the University of Kent’s Q-Step are excited to be celebrating a year of pubTALKs and to announce the line-up for our spring series:

• Monday 6 February – Paycheck to Paycheck: Lone parents as members of the “working poor”
  Recent reforms in the UK place increased pressure on lone parents to work.  In this talk, Q-Step director Tina Haux outlines the rationale for these reforms, before discussing the challenges lone parents face in finding “good jobs” and avoiding joining the growing group of “working poor” in the UK. The talk concludes by discussing the way forward for the government.

• Monday 6 March – Negotiating with Terrorists: Is it ever an option?
  State leaders have repeatedly told us that they would never, ever negotiate with terrorists. Despite secret talks being held in numerous conflicts across the world, the rhetoric remains strong. Why can’t state negotiate with terrorists? Harmonie Toros has spent a decade investigating negotiations with terrorist groups and argues that such talks may, in some cases, represent the best way out of terrorist violence.

• Monday 3 April – Diagnosing Down’s Syndrome
  Melina Malli will be leading a discussion on the non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) which will be rolled out by the NHS from 2018. Details TBC.

• Monday 15-Wednesday 17 May – Pint of Science Festival
  The University of Kent will be participating in the Pint of Science Festival for the first time. Details coming soon!

The talks take place at the Jolly Sailor in Canterbury from 19.00 onwards. The evenings are free to attend (although you do need to pay for your own drinks!) and all are welcome to stay behind to continue the discussions afterwards. Please feel free to pass on the information to other people who may be interested in coming along or you can get up-to-date information via our website or mailing list.

We hope you will join us for some great evenings of drinks, discussions and debates!

Keli Jenner/ Joe Warriner
Kent Q-Step Centre, School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research