The Adam Curtis Party Conference
About this Event
Photo Steve Rhodes, Flickr
The British party political conference season begins in September 2026, and nobody has an alternative vision, only repackaged versions of the past.
Step forward Adam Curtis, Britain's most famous advocate for an alternative future.
It's ten years since , the BBC documentary that revealed how our society has been financialised, narrativised and medicalised to create the illusion of political stability and maintain 'rational' control.
Curtis showed how public relations, algorithms and technocratic management combine to keep us all in a state of confused passivity.
While all around us chaos and corruption proliferate.
Party conference season is when we're supposed to have open debates and discussions about the future direction of the country.
But most of us feel revulsion at the way our political parties are organised.
We want nothing to do with them.
And yet Adam Curtis points out with monotonous regularity, nothing will change until we can imagine an alternative future and then act collectively to grasp the levers of power.
If you're interested in ideas and thinking about ways to take action, this weekend is for you.
Let's unite around a thoughtful figure whose appeal transcends political divisions.
Let's restore the best of BBC light entertainment values to our culture, while enjoying high-brow references to Max Weber and crafting sophisticated stories linking superficially unconnected events.
This get-together is a chance to meet other fans of Adam Curtis and have conversations and debates about his documentaries and ideas.
Could it be the start of a new political mass movement led by genial middle-class people with a sense of humour and an excellent taste in music?
We hope so.
Come to the spiritual home of party political conferences to dance, debate and reject the dark forces of rational control.
The first Adam Curtis Party Conference will be the pretext to launch the new Adam Curtis Society*, which will celebrate the BBC documentary maker's work.
We will have an evening event on the Friday, which will be announced later.
SPEAKERS
Paul Mason
Paul is an award-winning journalist, author and former Economics Editor of BBC Newsnight and Channel 4 News. He has reported on major global political and economic events for more than three decades and is the author of several influential books, including PostCapitalism. His latest work, Reds: A Global History of Communism, explores the history, ideas and legacy of communism from antiquity to the present day.
Izabella Kaminska
Izabella is the founder and editor of The Blind Spot, a new media venture that aims to shine a light on stories being missed by the wider journalistic pack. Izabella is an alumni of the Financial Times, where she spent 13 years in reporting roles, most recently as the editor of FT Alphaville. She spent time in the former Soviet Union at the Caspian Business News, which took her to Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Charlie Waterhouse
Charlie is a co-founder of Absurd Intelligence. Its projects include Hard Art, a cultural collective standing in solidarity in the face of climate and democratic collapse and the Fête of Britain, an arts movement to drive the making of a new world. Charlie helped start Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil.
Tobias Ellwood
Tobias is a seasoned politician, military veteran, and strategic thinker dedicated to shaping a secure and prosperous future. With a career spanning pivotal roles in defence, foreign affairs, and national security. His new book, Ten Steps To Prevent World War III was published in July.
Joanna Moncrieff
Joanna is Professor of Critical and Social Psychiatry at UCL and an NHS psychiatrist. She has conducted research on the treatment and politics of mental distress. She is author of Chemically Imbalanced: the making and unmaking of the serotonin myth (Flint Books).
Pierre d’Alancaisez
Pierre is a writer, curator and researcher working with the multiple politics of the arts.
He is the resident art critic for the English magazine The Critic. His writing has appeared in outlets such as ArtReview, The Spectator and Compact.
Mark Howell
Mark founded a local political party, Poole People, in 2010 which has secured the election of candidates (including Mark) in 5 elections to the Borough of Poole and Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council. He is also an author, lawyer and abstract artist.
Brian Jenner
Brian is the founder of the UK Speechwriters’ Guild. He is a former journalist who has written for the Guardian, Daily Mail, The Oldie and The Spectator. He has worked as a professional speechwriter for over 25 years and has been involved in setting up several political organisations.
CONTEXT
Why Bournemouth?
Seaside resorts have historically attracted not only holidaymakers but also mystics, eccentrics, health reformers, artists and political visionaries.
Bournemouth has long hosted religious conferences, esoteric groups and political gatherings for precisely this reason.
It’s a gentle place.
It feels different to other urban areas.
When you get here, you breathe the clean air, you're struck by the green of the pine trees and when you get to the beach, you're overwhelmed by the huge panorama of sea that stretches from the Isle of Wight to the Purbecks.
We live in a liminal space on the edge of land and sea.
Like Hay-on-Wye, it’s great for a weekend event.
Arrive on the Friday evening. Check in to your hotel.
Join us for the 9/11 Watch Party in Boscombe.
Then get up early. Then walk along the beach to the Freemasons’ Hall.
Our event is designed so you go to a couple of talks, have a coffee, chat to some people, then set off with a group for a light lunch in Boscombe (we’ll recommend some venues and warn them that there will be a bigger influx than normal.)
Then come back for the afternoon sessions, go for a meal in the evening and then take part in our night-time entertainment before returning to your hotel.
On Sunday morning, have breakfast and then come along to one of our remaining events, before heading back to where you came from in the afternoon.
Boscombe, the nearest suburb to our venue, is an edgy place.
It has all of the problems of modern Britain: loneliness, apathy, retail decay, inequality, homelessness and junkies.
Bournemouth was founded as a health resort - people came here to recover, rest, or reinvent themselves.
Adam Curtis constantly reiterates the importance of alternative ideas.
With its many rehab centres, Boscombe has an underground 12-step culture.
There are people here who have been addicted to drugs and alcohol, but they have come back from the brink.
You overhear their conversations in cafés, you see people leaving church halls after meetings, or at the school gates you’ll spot an AA tattoo.
What can recovering addicts teach us about politics?
Addicts discover the limits of 'rational' control.
Their recovery depends on giving up 'rational' control.
They have to acquire a new discipline and optimism based on faith.
This faith is expressed through service to other recovering addicts.
The ideas behind the 12-steps are widely available in the mainstream thanks to the internet and the testimonies of celebrities.
They are a rebuke to the economistic, managerial and technocratic ideologies that prevail in Britain today.
Boscombe has all the problems of modern Britain. It is unique because it also has a solution.
Give up trying to have 'rational' control. Instead accept that many of our problems are beyond 'rational' control.
The conference will examine what that might mean.
If you live locally, we host regular supper clubs and conversations groups throughout the year which you are welcome to join.
Political Knights meets regularly at Chaplin's & The Cellar Bar and Indaba Club meets at Wild Café.
PROGRAMME
Friday 11 September
9/11 Watch Party @ Wild Café
nineeleven.eventbrite.co.uk
Saturday 12 September
@ Freemasons’ Hall
10.00am - Brian Jenner, Music, Language and Politics
10.30am – Mark Howell, The Irrelevance of Political Parties
11.00am – Coffee Break
11.30am - Joanna Moncrieff, Medicating our Minds: how our medical system suppresses debate
12.00pm -
12.30pm - Lunch break in Boscombe
2.00pm – Izabella Kaminska, Everything was Forever
2.30pm – Tobias Ellwood & Paul Mason – New Books: World War III & Reds
3.30pm – Coffee Break
4.00pm – Lisa Moro, The Illusion of the High Street
4.15pm – Charlie Waterhouse, Extinction Rebellion and the future of Social Activism
5.15pm - Drinks at Chaplin’s.
8pm – Adam Curtis Disco
Till late…
Sunday 13 September
10am Breakfast @ Wild Café
Whether you're paranoid, perplexed or passionate, book your hotel by the seaside and celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Hypernormalisation.
We'll be in Bournemouth's grand Freemasons' Hall, where members of international cabals rub shoulders with conspiracy thinkers and lovers of a well-stocked bar.
We welcome proposals and ideas for extra sessions.
We will announce speakers and publish a full programme in due course.
There will also be an event on the Sunday for the very committed.
*Purchase of a full-price ticket will entitle you to a one-year membership of the new Adam Curtis Society.
For more information call 07545 232980 or email: [email protected]
Supported by:
Where is it happening?
GBP 0.00 to GBP 100.00
