women and children’s campaigner, craftswoman and parliamentary assistant
Venice is a campaigner for women and children. In 2017 she organised a series of panel discussions called We Need To Talk UK and Ireland, with expert speakers on sex, gender and feminism. She was also part of the women’s collective that in 2020 started regular meet ups at Speakers’ Corner in London, which went on to become Let Women Speak. During last year’s General Election, Venice joined the What Is A Woman? campaign, asking prospective candidates their stance on these issues. She currently works as a research assistant in the House of Lords for Baroness Claire Fox.
North West chair for the SDP and co-host of the Take Me Home podcast
Sebastian has spent most of his adult life working in education having taught English abroad for many years. Originally from Dorset, he moved to Manchester in 2022 and fell in love with the city. He joined the SDP the following year, drawn by its alignment with his values and agreeing on the need for a new economic model. He is the North West Chair of the party and stood as the SDP candidate for Manchester Central in the General Election. Sebastian is focused on strengthening the party’s presence in the North West and co-hosts the SDP’s Take Me Home podcast. He’s passionate about geopolitics, languages, and reading.
Mark Iddon is the principal architect at Urbanization Architects which he established in 2011. The firm specialises in domestic architecture, in extending and / or altering homes to adapt to the family needs and the enjoyment of the property. Located in Eccles, Salford, Urbanization Architects works throughout the North West Region.
Prior to this, Mark was the housing team leader at Urban Vision in Salford, Pozzoni PLLP (prioritising new build housing developments) and Harrison Ince Architects in Manchester.
Tyler Robinson is an independent researcher based in North West England who writes on social theory, heterodox political economy and intellectual history. Tyler has a particular interest in exploring alternative frameworks in political economy and sociology, his work engages with debates on how ideas are shaped by broader social forces and attempts to make canonical works of political economy more accessible. An alumnus of Living Freedom, Tyler is committed to promoting intellectual diversity and engaging in thoughtful, open dialogue.
Lynne grew up in Manchester and has a wide range of experience teaching and working with community groups. She worked for more than 30 years as a teacher and trainer in Community Education and has a particular interest in engaging young people as volunteers within community – especially intergenerational – projects.
She undertook a Masters in Social Science at Bradford – Dissertation title ‘Women and Citizenship’. She has always been interested in the Voluntary sector and worked as a regional Project Manager for Community Service Volunteers managing Barclays New Futures Schools Citizenship projects all over the North West. This scheme very often reached schools in great need and involved working with groups to share their particular vision to build a strong sense of identity and ownership through volunteering.
Natasha is a Senior Associate lawyer in Healthcare Litigation, specialising in professional discipline and regulatory law with over a decade of experience gained in private practice and in-house at the General Medical Council (GMC). She has represented clients such as medical defence organisations, doctors, nurses, and teachers in disciplinary proceedings and inquests, and acted for professional regulatory bodies in the healthcare and education sectors (including as part of a secondment). Natasha has assisted corporate investment clients and start-up or expanding businesses with regulatory compliance and due diligence when expanding operations, refinancing or acquiring organisations in the education, health, and social care sectors (e.g. care homes, children’s care services, private clinics and hospitals, and independent nurseries, schools and colleges) to ensure regulatory standards are met (including in respect of Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission and their respective UK counterparts).
Natasha is a former Blackburn College A-Level student, having grown up in Blackburn and Darwen. She went onto study law at Keele University before completing her post-graduate legal qualification at the University of Law in Manchester.
Paul grew up in the North East steel town of Consett. He studied Chemistry, at first at Durham University, then for a PhD in Nottingham.
He joined Imperial Chemical Industries in the late 1980’s in new product development (R&D).
He has worked for ICI, AstraZeneca, Fujifilm and other companies as a researcher, manager and director. He is inventor on approximately 100 patents and other publications and his interests are in materials for specialty electronics and consumer electronics, and for the past 10 years, new antibacterial and antiviral materials.
He now runs his own business doing contract R&D developing new products and helping clients bring them market as well as bringing on the next generation of scientists and product developers.
public and social policy specialist; author, Bricking it (forthcoming) on the UK’s housing crisis
Charlie works in public and social policy development with a specialism in housing and the built environment. Prior to that he worked as a political advisor for the directly elected Salford Mayor. His forthcoming book on the UK’s housing crisis, Bricking It, will be published by Policy Press next year.
Charlie is an alumna of Blackburn College and Debating Matters. He took part in the competition in 2008 and, when Blackburn College didn’t make the final, he turned up on his own and contributed from the audience, taking away the Best Individual prize of the tournament!
doctoral researcher, University of Cambridge | Public and Social Policy Specialist
Tallulah Eyres is a PhD candidate in Sociology at the University of Cambridge, funded by an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Widening Participation Studentship. As one of the first recipients of this award, she embodies the low horizons and high aspirations of individuals from underrepresented and socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Born and raised on a council estate in Salford, Greater Manchester, one of the most deprived areas in England, Tallulah attended a secondary school identified as needing improvement by Ofsted. Her journey mirrors Pierre Bourdieu’s “miraculous” ascent into academia, reconciling the worlds of a working-class Salfordian and a first-generation academic navigating elite institutions. This dual perspective fuels her commitment to amplifying voices often marginalised in academic, political, and policy discourse.
