Reported by Ben Blackburn
The PPE Society has announced that they will be launching a new “Bottles and Banter” event, which will involve relaxed drinking and debating.
It is hoped that the event, scheduled to debut on 29 January, will prove popular as a non-partisan alternative to the Oxford University Conservative Association’s long-running Port and Policy event.
Wine will be served at the event as part of the PPE Society’s aim of creating a welcoming and open atmosphere that combines fun debates and socialising. It will have no explicit party affiliations, which, it is hoped, will give it broad appeal. Price and venue have yet to be announced, but the location is expected to be central and a spokesperson for the society has told The Blue that entry is likely to be around £5.
The news comes as the Society prepares to release its Hilary termcard. A mixture of in-person and online events are planned, with a list of speakers that includes prominent historian and Classics editor of The Times Literary Supplement Mary Beard, political philosopher Jonathan Wolff, and sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild. In addition to the nine speakers on the termcard, the society expects to schedule more speakers in the near future.
The termcard also includes an Alternative Careers Panel with alumni, as well as several social events, including a black tie social in seventh week to celebrate the Centenary of the PPE degree, a pub quiz, and a crewdate with the Oxford History Society.
A spokesperson for the PPE Society said: “We are very excited to share our termcard marking 100 years of PPE. Featuring world-leading thinkers from Mary Beard to Jonathan Wolff, a black-tie formal, and our first ever Bottles & Banter we hope we have captured the breadth, wonder and strangeness of PPE.”