Drinking Liberally – Hamilton

Written By: - Date published: 10:55 am, October 24th, 2012 - 14 comments
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Great to see Drinking Liberally starting up again in New Zealand. And in a new city, Hamilton. Here’s the invite:

You are all cordially invited to the first meeting of Drinking Liberally, Hamilton.

Drinking Liberally is an informal, non-programmatic gathering of like-minded left-leaners, an opportunity to share you ideas while you share a drink. You don’t need to be a seasoned activist or policy wonk to join us in meeting new friends, reconnecting with old ones, and enjoying a stiff mix of socialising with a dash of politics.

The first meeting will be a bit of a get together to meet other progressive people, and to go over what we’re planning on doing for future events, and just to chinwag.

So come on down, we’re looking forward to meeting all of you!

Where: House on Hood, 27 Hood St, Hamilton

When: Tuesday 30th, 6pm

The fact that people are talking about Drinking Liberally again tells me that morale in the Left activist base is on the rise after a few tough years.

There’s nothing to stop people getting Drinking Liberally started up in other cities again. It’s pretty much just a matter of finding a venue, maybe organising a speaker, setting up a Facebook page, and asking your friendly Leftwing hub blog to tell everyone about it.

14 comments on “Drinking Liberally – Hamilton ”

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  1. Rosie 1
    24 October 2012 at 11:32 am

    It’s high time fun loving lefties got together to chew the fat! Sounds good, for socialising but also time to find and gather our collective strength again. Would love to see a group like this start in Wellington or is there one already? I don’t do facepalm but have been to social things (non political) set up via http://www.meetup.com. That seems to work for those who don’t facepalm. There would need to be low budget social options too, to suit folks of differing income levels, and to keep it inclusive. Cheers!

    • Rich 1.1
      24 October 2012 at 8:36 pm

      There used to be a Drinking Liberally group that met at the Southern Cross.

      I think people gave up on it after the 2008 general election – the Labour Party met a similar fate.

      • Rosie 1.1.1
        25 October 2012 at 7:49 am

        Thanks Rich, thats good to know. I did attend an excellent talk (panel discussion with Sue Bradford, Derek Fox, an Alliance member and RAM , the GST off food party, and some others) prior to the 08 election at the Cross.
        It would be excellent if DL Wgtn set up again – it really is the time to do so – but if this doesn’t happen I might consider setting similar something up. Theres a big void where our voices (and fun times!) should be. I think I’d want to see events that aren’t necessarily alcohol orientated as well, not alcohol avoidance altogether just maybe not so much of a focus on it. Its important to include all people and that may mean non drinkers.

      • millsy 1.1.2
        26 October 2012 at 11:22 am

        It appears that the left pretty much put the shutters up on November 8 2008.

  2. DLHamiltonNZ 2
    24 October 2012 at 7:58 pm

    Thanks very much! Looking forward to seeing people there!

  3. DLHamiltonNZ 3
    24 October 2012 at 8:05 pm

    And if anyone else is considering setting up a group and would like some advice (It’s amazingly simple), or has one going and wants to throw around some ideas, feel free to get into contact with us at DLHamiltonNZ *at* $gmail$ #dotcom#

  4. Georgecom 4
    24 October 2012 at 10:30 pm

    People might like to get along to Claudelands event centre on Thursday 1 November, around 5.30 pm, to collect some signatures on the asset sale petition before the Netball test.

  5. xtasy 5
    25 October 2012 at 12:22 am

    I do not know what this means, but drinking , if it involves alcohol, is being stigmatised, penalised and worse in this country something big. Other drugs are also persuecuted, but not the same. I am against wastedness, but when you have a crap society with little enlightenment, stimulation and entertainment, what do you bloody expect.

    I learned NZ is the prohibitive, anti fun and anti anything country, that is unless you pay big tourist dollares for sky jumping, white water rafting, other risky and exciting adventures, and also drink up in bars in the right time and manner.

    So the locals are again being punished for “misbehaving”, while tourists get away with a lot more. They are not alloowed anything here locally, apart to slave, work, pay rent, mortgages, other costs and shut up.

    This country is merely a bloody dictatorship now!

    Xtasy

    • Olwyn 5.1
      25 October 2012 at 9:40 am

      Xtasy, I had some sympathy with your view when I flicked onto parliament last night to hear Lianne Dalziel arguing for the legislation to be put in place for a minimum-price-per-drink to be installed, so as to put an end to cheap bottles of wine. Naturally enough, she emphasised teenage drinking (the wealthy ones rob their parents’ liquor cabinets anyway), but the result of course would be the end of a cheap Friday night treat for a poor person, while the wealthy quaff away in their tasteful bars. And I thought when are you guys going to give up managing the population and start representing them, and not just the ones who want to see a curb put on someone else? When are living wages and decent housing going to seem as urgent to you as targeted constraints?

    • millsy 5.2
      26 October 2012 at 11:18 am

      I find the anti drinking culture is more about snobbery than anything else. Apparently if youre young, poor, female or brown you some how cannot handle your booze and you need to be kept from buying it. Case in point: When there is a report on the news about anything to do with alcohol, there are always footage of young women in short skirts staggering around, KGB in hand, vomiting all over the place, with their young boyfriends trying to hold their hair out of their faces. (This isnt new. A Google search will get you to 18th Century engravings of gin fueled women in London slums acting all ‘harlot-y’.). No mention of the boozy Fridays at the local rugby club, or the long liquid business lunches that are all the rage in Auckland. Im sure Lianne Dalzeil, as a veteran MP, who Olwyn mentioned below would have witnessed a lot worse goings on in the Beehive bar on a Friday night, same with some of the other MP’s. (It should be mentioned that she was in the Labour cabinet that closed down the drying out facility at Hamner Springs – which thousands of people credit with breaking their addiction to alcohol and the negative consequences it had for their friends and families).