Latest Press Release
BEWARE THE IDES OF MUSK - TIME TO PUT THE BRAKES ON ELON?
Altered State, the Southville live talk event, announce their second talk of 2025 with BEWARE THE IDES OF MUSK - TIME TO PUT THE BRAKES ON ELON? At 7.30pm on Thursday March 27th at the Hen & Chicken, 210 North St, BS3 1JF.
“The richest man on the planet now occupies a position within the US Government that’s seeing him described as potentially the most powerful private citizen in history. It would be complacent to assume that the threat is confined to the USA. How do we make sure that Musk and other members of the multi-billionaire super-elite, are unable to buy control of European democracy?” Colin Gavaghan, Professor of Digital Futures at Bristol University.
Starting with an ugly narrative about ‘remigration’ following the Southport tragedy last summer, Musk has been rapidly ramping up his interest and interventions in UK politics. Raining down misinformation from his algorithmic pole position on X, Musk has embraced Reform - and flirted with giving them £80 million, ten times the previous biggest British political donation – he has eulogised openly racist British operators like Tommy Robinson and called for regime change in number 10. We will talk about how he has attained power like no other before him, how he is utilising that influence and ask what recourse we have to counter it.
As well as Colin Gavaghan’s ethics expertise and knowledge of where the law meets new tech, our panel comprises Cllr Cara Lavan, the deputy leader of the Green Party group on Bristol City Council and Dr. Marcus Gilroy-Ware, author and SOAS lecturer on new media and misinformation. Our host will be Rudy Millard. Cara notes “it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed and powerless in the face of Elon Musk’s power grab in the USA. But there are things we can do to prevent a similar state of affairs from happening here in the UK.”
Al Farquhar of Altered State says “he’s unelected, he’s unaccountable and now he’s over here,” Patrick Irwin of Altered State adds “don’t be fooled by the spat with Nigel Farage, Musk means to intervene in UK democracy. We need to talk”
Tickets including discounts for students, are available from https://www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/checkout/altered-state-tickets
Previous Releases
HEALTH AND HAPPINESS – THE MAGIC PROPERTIES OF CHOCOLATE AND MUSHROOMS
​
Altered State, the Southville live talk event, introduce their programme for the new year with HEALTH AND HAPPINESS - THE MAGIC PROPERTIES OF CHOCOLATE AND MUSHROOMS at 7.30pm on Thursday February 6th in the Hen & Chicken, 210 North St, BS3 1JF.
​
A panel of specialist Bristolians will talk about just why we need artisan chocolate and medicinal mushrooms in our lives. They’ll get into the science behind their unique properties, go deep on health benefits and explain the mood enhancing capabilities. We will hear about the nature of their sourcing and production in comparison to the methods of Big Food and there’ll be a free mindful tasting led by yoga practioner Miranda Shaw.
​
Bristol can rightly claim to be the home of the chocolate bar, Fry’s having set up shop on the harbourside in the 18th Century. Radek’s Chocolate are a local maker of ethically sourced and sustainably produced artisan chocolate. Joe McDonnell from Radek’s joins our panel and says “Cacao boasts a powerhouse of bioactive compounds which work synergistically to support heart health, enhance cognitive function, regulate mood, and reduce inflammation.”
The Bristol Fungarium are ‘Bristol born and science led’ and they clone and grow medicinal mushrooms. Tom Baxter is a torch bearer for the rapidly expanding interest in the healing opportunitues that mushrooms offer us, he notes "It's a joy to be able to share with you some of the knowledge that has helped build the very foundations of Bristol Fungarium, and the ways in which mushrooms can help add joy and vitality to our lives."
​
The talk will be hosted by Eliz Mizon, Strategy Lead at the Bristol Cable. Eliz will lead the conversation for an hour and following a break, take a half hour of audience questions. As always, the night will end with The Toolbox, where the panel will give their best advice for achieving HEALTH AND HAPPINESS.
Emily Eccles of Altered state adds “I’m really excited for one of our first lifestyle talks, helping us uncover the mysteries of mushrooms and the mood enhancing wonders of chocolate.”
Tickets, including student discounts are available from https://www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/checkout/altered-state-tickets
A LIFE LESS ORDINARY - TALES OF INNER STRENGTH AND RESILIENCE.
​
Altered State, the popular Southville talk event started by Patrick Irwin and Al Farquhar at the beginning of this year, have announced their final talk for 2024 and promise to be back with more grown-up conversation in 2025.
At 7.30pm on Tuesday November 19th they are hosting A LIFE LESS ORDINARY - TALES OF INNER STRENGTH AND RESILIENCE in the Hen & Chicken, 210 North St, BS3 1JF. A panel will tell the audience how they have coped when they are up against the wire - on a raft out to sea, in war zones or dealing with severe mental health issues.
The panel will comprise Douglas Roberston, whose family of 6 set sail round the world when he was a teenager in the 1970s. Their boat was holed by killer whales and sank rapidly in the Pacific Ocean, they abandoned ship onto a raft and survived for 38 days, finally being rescued by a Japanese ship. When asked what makes a life less ordinary, Douglas says “having been shipwrecked and cast adrift aged 18, my life was neither hindered by the fear, uncertainty and doubts that people normally feel, nor the adoption of norms. I’ve lived several lives in one and I put that down to my experience on the Pacific.”
​
​Dr. Rachael Craven is a senior anaesthetist for Bristol Royal Infirmary. She is a trustee and UK President of Doctors Without Borders. Rachael specialises in the set up and operation of surgeries in active war and disaster zones. She’s smuggled an entire operating theatre into Syria, she’s worked in Libya and Haiti and dedicated her summer holidays this year to operating in Gaza. Rachael insists “going into war zones was never the aim, the challenge was providing good care with limited resources and eventually stetting up emergency surgical field hospitals. That inevitably meant spending most of my time in conflict zones where these surgical facilities are needed most.”
Dan Beaumont is an endurance athlete and mental health advocate. Growing up on a council estate with an alcoholic father and parents that divorced when he was 6, Dan battled alcohol and then depression. He found his salvation in extreme sporting activity and he’s now a passionate advocate for men’s mental health; he says "adventure and endurance sport have given me a way to handle life’s challenges, showing that moving forward, step by step, is sometimes all we need.”
The host for the night will be award winning author and documentary maker Polly Morland. Polly’s book ‘The Society of Timid Souls: or How to be Brave’ was a Sunday Times book of the year and her last book ‘A Fortunate Woman’ was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford book prize.
“We’ll hear extraordinary stories from ostensibly ordinary folk” says Paddy and Al adds “we’ll be inspired to be the best version of ourselves when we hear these varied and astonishing tales”. After the talk, the audience can ask questions and the evening concludes with ‘the toolbox’ where the panel will give their most salient piece of advice on how to life a life less ordinary.
​
Our host Eliz Mizon is the Strategy Lead at The Bristol Cable and a freelance organiser for nonprofits. She leads a well versed panel:
Natalie Fée is an award winning environmental campaigner, author and speaker, she founded City to Sea, an organisation to prevent plastic pollution at source. Natalie is the author of ‘How To Save the World for Free’ which looks at sustainability campaigning and how to get involved in activism at no personal financial cost and ‘Do Good, Get Paid’ which explores green career paths that pay. Natalie’s environmental campaigns include a recent initiative with city councils to adopt water fountains to reduce plastic packaging.
​
Veronica Wignall is Co-Director of Ad Free Cities, a UK network based in Bristol that campaigns to reduce the impact of corporate advertising in public spaces. They call out ads that promote carbon-heavy lifestyles, fast fashion and unhealthy products. Veronica will work to get such advertising banned by the UK Advertising Standards Authority and Ad Free Cities recently succeeded in getting an SUV ad pulled from the public space for being misleading about its emissions.
In 2018 Jessica Ferrow founded the Climate Impact consultancy Twelve, that year being when the climate cognoscenti indicated we had twelve years left to make meaningful change by the tipping point of 2030. Jessica helps businesses craft sustainability strategies and also to attain B Corp certification, a standard that indicates the company’s commitment to social and environmental performance.
Altered State’s Patrick Irwin says “People everywhere want real change. So as well as talking about ways in which we can all make a difference at home, we will hear about strategies to influence the workplace too”.
“The political class are fiddling whilst Rome burns, and it will burn at the rate we’re going, we need to talk”, adds Al Farquhar of Altered State, “we want to show that you CAN do something”.
The audience can ask questions at the end of the talk, which concludes with ‘the toolbox’ where the panel give their most succinct thought on the subject for everyone to take away and spread through their networks.
THE GRASS ISN’T ALWAYS GREENER - GREENWASHING VERSUS CREDIBLE CLIMATE ACTION.
Altered State’s 7th talk takes place at 7.30pm on Tuesday October 22nd in the Hen & Chicken, 210, North St, BS3 1JF.
Tickets, including student discounts, from here.
A month doesn’t pass without another extreme climate event somewhere in the world and as the planet’s temperature rises inexorably. Amid legislative weakness and delay, we’ll talk about what we can actually do in our everyday lives in the face of the looming tipping point; we’ll discuss what action we can take as individuals to effect real green change, how best to exert influence at home and in the workplace and also ask if a green vote is a wasted vote in light of Labour’s supermajority. We’ll call out corporate greenwashing and show how companies can strategise sustainability and better their environmental practice and community impacts.