Opus Independents

💥BIG NEWS 💥 Here's your full lineup for Festival of Debate 2025! 🎉 Join us in Sheffield for the UK's biggest politics festival, with more than 50 events exploring responses to some of the most urgent issues of our time Discover the programme ➡️ festivalofdebate.com #FofD

💥 22 May - KEHINDE ANDREWS Malcolm X is a titanic figure in political history, but also one of the most misunderstood. Kehinde Andrews, the UK’s first professor of Black Studies, argues that in a world shaken by decades of injustice and racism, Malcolm’s political mission is more urgent than ever. In his new book Nobody Can Give You Freedom, Kehinde reveals the real revolutionary programme of a man who, if he were alive today, would tell us to overturn this wicked system for good. Join us for an in-conversation with Kehinde, followed by a panel featuring local anti-racist activists. More info & tickets ➡️ https://loom.ly/oFYeouY

💥 16 May - LAURA BATES New AI-driven technologies, with misogyny baked into their design, are putting women in danger. In The New Age of Sexism, author and campaigner Laura Bates takes us deep into the heart of this rapidly evolving world. Join Laura in conversation with Helen Mort, as she explores how our lives are being infiltrated by easily accessible technologies that are changing the way we live and love. More info & tickets ➡️ https://loom.ly/ckmuBoU

Your seventh headliner(s) ✨ ANDY BURNHAM & STEVE ROTHERAM Britain is more unequal than ever before. If we're ever going to fix this, we must take the power out of Westminster. For the very first time, Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram, the Mayors of Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region, share their combined experiences on the frontline of modern British politics – and their ambitious vision for the future. In their new book Head North, they discuss challenges and lessons from throughout their lives, including how the Hillsborough disaster shaped them, their time as MPs in Westminster witnessing its systematic flaws, leaving to become mayors up north, and battling Boris Johnson during the Covid-19 pandemic. Building on this, they also offer a comprehensive ten-point plan to rewire our country beyond the Westminster bubble. Join Andy and Steve as they outline how we can spread political and economic power throughout the UK and push forward for a fairer future. Info and tickets ➡️ https://loom.ly/8umHW-M

Our next headliner, with just two days until we release our full programme on Wednesday 🎉 JOYCELYN LONGDON Joycelyn Longdon is a University of Cambridge environmental justice, AI and bioacoustics researcher and educator. Her new book, Natural Connection, illuminates the wondrous awe of the natural world and reveals how marginalised communities and ancient wisdom help us create a sustainable mindset and future for generations to come. At this event, Longdon will celebrate the histories and extraordinary acts of ordinary people who have paved the way for today’s environmental change, such as the Chipko women of India – the original ‘tree huggers’, who pioneered direct action in their communities to combat deforestation – and Nigeria’s Ogoni 9, who fought the threat of fossil fuel extraction in the Delta region. Bringing together inspiring stories from marginalised people from the US to the UK, Brazil to Iran, Ghana to Ethiopia, Longdon roots us in our intrinsic connection with nature and celebrates the power of community. More info & tickets ➡️ https://loom.ly/CqxllcU

Here's your fourth headliner for Festival of Debate 2025 ✨ JASON HICKEL If we want to tackle global and social injustice, and the climate and ecological emergencies together, we need to transform the current political and economic system. Our current obsession with growth is driving dangerous climate change and ecological breakdown. World-renowned political economist Jason Hickel and his team have shown how the wealth from economic growth is captured for the benefit of capital accumulation, rather than addressing the needs of people and the planet. Join Jason as he exposes the reality of worsening inequality, which will increase in this next phase of oligarchic capitalism, and how environmental breakdown will only become more devastating. The conversation will be chaired by Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, and we will discuss a plan for an eco-socialist future: keeping resource use within earth’s ecological limits, using technology that benefits people rather than profit, and through politics that enhances community wellbeing. More info & tickets ➡️: https://loom.ly/orcxbGw

Announcing your second headliner for Festival of Debate 2025! 🎉 Born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, Lanre Bakare is an arts and culture correspondent for The Guardian whose writing focuses on the intersection of art, race and culture across multiple disciplines. His first book, We Were There, is about a Black Britain that for too long has been unknown and unexplored – the one that exists beyond London. In the 1980s, Britain was in turmoil. With anti-immigration policies in the political mainstream, Black lives were on the frontline of a racial reckoning. It was also a time of unrivalled Black cultural creation, organising and resistance – not just in London but across the UK. Join Sheffield writer and broadcaster Désirée Reynolds for a conversation with Lanre, as he sets out a compelling portrait of modern Britain that weaves Black stories far away from the capital into our national narrative. Info and tickets ➡️ https://loom.ly/PTNOEzw

BIG NEWS 🚨 Excited to announce our first headliner for Festival of Debate 2025! 💥 Kate Raworth is a self-described "renegade economist" and pioneer of 'Doughnut Economics' – the idea that the great challenge of the 21st century is to meet the needs of all of us while staying within our planetary boundaries. On 25 April, Kate will be in conversation with systems change practitioner Indy Johar at Sheffield Hallam University. Join them as they explore the scale of the challenges we face, their complexity, and how understanding their entanglement is critical to our future. Tickets ➡️ https://loom.ly/PtCuHu8

👋 We're hiring - join Opus as our Operations Manager! We're looking for someone with operations experience to join our worker-owned company, engaging in complex and stimulating projects. If you think that might be you, we'd love to hear from you. Apply here: https://loom.ly/F162FqQ

💥 Job Opportunity - join Opus as our Sheffield Transition Finance Facility Coordinator. We're looking for a passionate strategic thinker to contribute to our upcoming 'Demonstrators' systems change project, and bring this transformative work to life. Apply here: https://loom.ly/IIbeoeQ