The Abingtons | The Partridge Group - men's discussion group

The group, open to any man who can drink beer (or other beverage) and talk religion at the same time, usually meets in the Three Tuns public house in Abington on Wednesday evenings, in January and February. To find the Three Tuns, use postcode CB21 6AB.

For 2021, due to the Corornavirus pandemic, we plan to use the Zoom video-conferencing platform.

You are of course welcome to continue the tradition of drinking beer!

We will look for interesting material on the web, and one or two live speakers, to spark off our discussions. We plan to have a 40 minute session, a short break, and then a further 40 minutes as necessary.

Some talks may use a short video online but there may be some that use a longer video or other material for study in advance. A briefing will be sent out in advance by email.

The schedule below will be updated as the planning progresses.

Date	Speaker / Author	Topic (link to summary where available)
06/01/2021	Lord Martin Rees Astronomer Royal, Fellow of Trinity College and Emeritus Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics, University of Cambridge	Our world faces many perils, but we will prevail Format: Brief introduction before discussion about a short article, sent out for reading in advance.
Tuesday 12/01/2021	Matt Bothwell (in person on Zoom) Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge	Searching for Earth 2.0 The hunt for habitable exoplanets. Format: Hosted lecture and discussion by returning favourite of the Partridges
20/01/2021	Sophie Howe the world's only future generations commissioner (in Wales)	Lessons on leaving the world better than you found it - Format: Short TED talk video followed by discussion (total of 40 minutes) (url of talk will also be sent out in advance)
27/01/2021	Andrew Shepherd (in person on Zoom) Andrew has a degree and background in engineering with Courtaulds and an MBA. He is now a Business Strategy consultant and an Angel Investor in Nova Pangaea	Batteries vs Bio-fuel for the transport of the future? With a need for a drastic reduction in carbon emissions and a ban on new fossil-fuelled cars after 2030, good alternatives are now urgently needed. A fuel to power existing vehicles might be one option. Andrew will explain the thinking behind the new Nova Pangaea plant at Wilton on Humberside which is demonstrating the fractionation of waste biomass into valuable chemicals and ethanol precursors.
03/02/2021	Barry Brooks Discussion based on a BBC news item by Amol Rajan	Are the Californian Tech Giants becoming the 'editors of the internet'?? Please look at the attached file before the session - it includes an audio file of the item and a transcript
10/02/2021	Barry Brooks Discussion	Green Energy – Yes we can.......!! We have heard a lot about tipping points, burning bridges and points of no return – but is there a solution? According to Bill Gates .....“There is a solution - We already have some of the tools we need to reduce greenhouse gases and we have the commitment and scientific IQ - we need to develop the rest” .......... Bill Gates Breakthrough Energy - Established in 2015 by Bill Gates and a coalition of private investors concerned about the impacts of accelerating climate change, Breakthrough Energy supports the innovations that will lead the world to net-zero emissions.

Please feel free to contact the organisers with any offers or suggestions for future speakers...

Page maintained by Peter Brunning - partridge@brunning.org.uk