Is the Democracy Café just a talking shop?

January 2026

At the last meeting of the Café, one of the proposed topics was ‘is the DC just a talking shop’? It arose because the proposer had met someone on the way in who, when told she was on her way to the meeting, her friend replied ‘Oh that’s just a talking shop’. In the same vein, some have said they have come once or twice and decide that the absence of a conclusion is a problem for them. Some seem to want action or some kind of closure for something to be worthwhile.

Needless to say that those who do come, don’t agree with that view and find discussing a topic valuable in its own right. Someone said they listening or watching Question Time or Any Questions hard to bare because of the low quality of many of the participants, endless cross-talk and a kind of political predictability to the discussions.

There is also the problem of social media leading to an entrenchment of ideas because their algorithms selected topics which matched reader’s interests. It was good to come to a debate which wasn’t mediated in this way and to discuss things with ‘real people’.

People agreed with the view that the debates were really interesting and it was rare not to come away having learnt something new. There was actually value in not coming to a conclusion: many issues were not reducible to a simple conclusion in any event. There is often no right answer.

One aspect was briefly touched on was the absence of people who might broadly be said to be ‘on the right’. They have appeared from time to time but seem not to return. It must be said that all are welcome and the structure of the session is designed to listen to all views. There are no aggressive interruptions as we see or hear on the BBC programmes mentioned above. We do not shout at each other. Possible answers might be around those who have firm beliefs find it hard to have them challenged. If for example, you think as many do that Mrs Thatcher was a brilliant prime minister and we need someone like her today, then it will not be comfortable to hear a discussion claiming that her decision to sell off council houses led to the lack of affordable homes today.

Or if you believed – as the majority did – that Brexit was a positive decision, long overdue and enabled Britain to regain its sovereignty and ‘take back control’, then to sit in a discussion where people point to some of the disbenefits which have emerged will be discomforting. It would be good to hear from them what they think.

An interesting if brief discussion. Yes, we are a talking shop but it is good to talk as the BT ad once claimed.