author and educational consultant
Joe is an author and educational consultant whose books on poetry are used by some of the leading schools in the UK. Unusually, his twenty years of classroom experience has ranged from teaching in the highly selective UK private sector to tutoring in challenging, inner city schools for Teach First. He was director of learning evolution with Digitalbrain, senior educational specialist with RM, the UK’s largest educational business and principal consultant with The Education Development Trust.
He currently works for a range of major commercial and NGO clients as Lead Writer, and as an essayist writes for a wide range of magazines including: The Spectator, The Critic, Areo, Quillette, The Country Squire and Spiked magazines and wrote a fortnightly column for TES for four years. He has authored books on Milton, Donne and Shakespeare; and his most recent book, Teaching English for the Real World, was published by John Catt in May 2020.
You can follow him online @JoeNutt_Author
co-founder, Leeds Salon
Paul is a civil servant who has lived and worked in Leeds for over 35 years. He has a degree in social sciences, an MA in British history, and is co-founder of The Leeds Salon public discussion forum. He has been involved in Debating Matters since 2008, first as a judge and then helping to chair and run competition events in the north of England. Paul also runs school debating competitions in Leeds and beyond, including Leeds Salon’s own annual Years 10&11 competition, using the Debating Matters format.
TV presenter, financial commentator, entrepreneur, author
Jasmine Birtles is a TV personality, ‘money guru’, presenter, speaker, freelance journalist, author of 38 books and founder of popular consumer money web site MoneyMagpie.com.
A regular commentator about all things money on TV and radio, she can be seen on BBC, ITV News, Channel 5 News, Sky News, This Morning, BBC’s Inside Out and heard on UK-wide national and regional radio including BBC Radio 4 You & Yours, Money Box, Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio Wales, LBC and TalkRADIO; amongst many others.
A personal finance, property, fintech and lifestyle contributor for various publications including The Mail on Sunday, The Sun and Closer; Jasmine also has a monthly column in Platinum magazine for women over 50.
Jasmine broadcasts, writes and speaks about all aspects of personal finance including investments, pensions, mortgages, credit cards, banking and apps, savings, debt, utilities, FinTech and cryptocurrencies.
She is Patron of the charities Fair for You and Community Money Advice; and is an Ambassador for National Empathy Week.
businesswoman and former civil servant
Claire Smith worked for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, now FCOD, for 27 years in London, China, Germany, and Pakistan. For the last 12 years, she has run her own business, been a non-executive director of an international engineering consultancy, chair of governors at a London primary school, visiting professor, lecturer and speaker at a number of universities, a member of a UK government appeals panel and chair of an educational trust. She speaks German, Mandarin and French, enjoys old-fashioned detective novels and travel.
gentleman, scholar, acrobat
Simon is Chair of the Scotland Salon. He is an experienced Youth Work team leader and sleeps under the stars while supervising and assessing young people participating in Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expeditions.
His PhD at the University of Strathclyde was in Education. His thesis focused on how past childhood experiences, freedoms and licences contribute to emerging selfhood in young people.
Simon organises charity open water swims off the Scottish coast in aid of the RNLI. Next year he is planning to raise money for the rescue efforts in the Mediterranean by swimming between Italy and Sicily. In what little spare time remains, Simon chases his 14 year old son and 11 year old daughter about, but has now retired from playing football.
associate professor, University of Leicester School of Business
Glynne is interested in the changing meaning of fairness and merit in working life. Recent research has included the impact of continuous performance management, the ‘Millennial’ employee in management thinking, and the unintended consequences of age equality legislation. He is currently writing about the resurgence in support for a ‘universal basic income’ on the left.
architecture, urban development, and town planning professional
With 35 years extensive, practical experience working between local authorities & businesses in the realms of architecture, urban development, town planning & construction, Shelagh McNerney is now also writing & undertaking the highly regarded MA in architectural history at Bartlett School at University College London. She is focussing on developing her engaging, provocative and open approach to personal, political and creative themes.
As well as leading the delivery of development & regeneration, Shelagh has undertaken research & written for think tanks, academic institutions, developers, construction & architecture companies & local authorities within the political & economic context. She is pro-development, actively involved in contemporary debate about the built environment & economic growth in the UK & believes how building comes about is “the ultimate form of human self-expression”.
She has led professional teams of property experts, developers, planners, architects, artists & businesses in many towns & cities alongside politicians working within Manchester & Salford City Councils along with over 10 years in the private sector. She is a fervent advocate for quality in architecture & socio-economic improvements for communities.
She trained as a town planner in the mid 1980’s at Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London gaining an M.Phil. & was the winner of the Holford Travel Award. She also has a postgraduate diploma in Built Environment Research from the University of Salford (2017) & continues academic interests, studying for the renowned M.A. in Architectural History at University College London. Shelagh is a design review panel member for RIBA “Places Matter” & occasionally teaches in Higher Education & also undertakes consultancy work as well as a regular judge on construction & property awards in North West England.
senior lecturer, Canterbury Christ Church University; associate, Centre for Parenting Culture Studies
Dr Jennie Bristow senior lecturer in Sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University, an associate of the Centre for Parenting Culture Studies, and a writer and commentator on the ‘generation wars’. Her recent books include: The Corona Generation: Coming of age in a crisis (with Emma Gilland, Zero Books 2020); Generational Encounters with Higher Education: The Academic–Student Relationship and the University Experience (with Sarah Cant and Anwesa Chatterjee, Bristol University Press 2020); Stop Mugging Grandma: The ‘generation wars’ and why Boomer blaming won’t solve anything (Yale University Press 2019); and The Sociology of Generations: New directions and challenges (Palgrave Macmillan 2016).
SDP candidate for Mayor of London, managing director, Alphaprobe consultancy; Whistleblowers UK
Steve is a working class entrepreneur with 20 years experience in foreign exchange investment banking, and 15 years as in financial consulting. He is currently running for Mayor of London for the Social Democratic Party (SDP). Steve is a father of five, a school governor and a cricket coach, as well as being a political activist and the lead singer in a ‘dad band’
freelance journalist and editor
Michael has worked in the media since leaving school at 18 to train as a journalist on his local newspaper. In a 30-year career he has worked for everything from Heating & Ventilation News to Sky TV, and now works freelance for a variety of business-to-business magazines and websites, and has recently moved into book editing. Outside of work, he is happiest walking one of the UK’s long-distance footpaths, or at the opera.
