THE Sunday Herald is teaming up with some of Scotland's leading thinkers to further encourage the grassroots debate unleashed by the independence referendum.
Next weekend the paper will take part in a festival of culture and politics based on Common Weal, the left-wing blueprint for a new economy and a fairer society under independence.
The Sunday Herald has also become the media partner of Imagination, billed as Scotland's first Festival of Ideas, which runs on Glasgow's southside from September 5 to 7.
Sunday's Common Weal event at the Arches in Glasgow will include music and comedy, as well as discussion sessions and a talk by Sunday Herald editor Richard Walker on the media and the referendum.
Developed by think-tank the Jimmy Reid Foundation, Common Weal advocates radical economic reform and a move away from what it sees as the broken UK model of low pay, low skills and over-reliance on the retail and finance sector.
Established last year by a group of academics and economists worried about the lack of vision in the referendum debate, the project has grown exponentially, and recently issued a manifesto for a new Scotland based on 50 academic papers. Robin McAlpine, the foundation's director, is this weekend speaking about Common Weal at the Glastonbury festival.
The Imagination event is a partnership between the University of the West of Scotland and PAL Labs and will explore culture, history and politics in "dynamic and accessible public conversations".
Among those taking part are economist Will Hutton, musician Billy Bragg, Sunday Herald columnist Iain Macwhirter, polling expert Professor John Curtice, playwright David Greig, and Alex Bell, former spindoctor to Alex Salmond.
Author Gerry Hassan, founding producer of the festival, said: "It brings together a stellar range of speakers, topics, films, live music and a range of perspectives across a number of venues at a pivotal moment in Scotland's history."
PAL Labs artistic director Roanne Dods said: "There could not be a better time to create a Festival of Ideas … We hope this will create a deep, lively and fun way to engage with ideas that can shape our worlds."
www.cwfest.com
www.imaginationfestival.co.uk
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