My meeting in Saddleworth with a philosophy group

On Monday night, I packed Cassie my dog into my clean VW and set Google Maps for Greenfield. I do this CarPlay malarkey more out of habit as I knew the way to the Railway (opposite the railway station on a mad hairpin bend in Greenfield).

I'd been invited as I've got into the habit of posting quotes and images about life, philosophy and healing on my Instagram stories. These had caught the eye of Alex, who works close to me in Ancoats and is on a similar philosophical pathway.

Getting there was easy, and enjoyable, as you climb from the urban plains of Manchester up through the bandit territory of Oldham, where according to Farage no one can speak English, up through the increasingly salubrious suburbs of Lees, Springhead, Grasscroft, before the Nurburgring hairpin bend of Greenfield.

I didn't have any expectations of the meeting, to be honest.

There was an open chess club starting (very old skool), no sparkling water or even bottled water, no food except crisps and yet it was thoroughly enjoyable.

Cassie, my dog, laid people watching and I introduced myself to the small group.

Now there were a few surprising lessons here.

I'd always (wrongly) assumed that Saddleworth would be true blue Tory and pro-Brexit. It isn't. Their sitting MP is Labour, which I didn't know. And the area voted Remain.

It is politically more like Didsbury or Chorlton - but with no bottled water and with wild hills and moors.

The group were very friendly and the usual rules of No Politics was broken as the discussion tonight centred around politics.

Darren began by reading out a manifesto and asking if we agreed.

We all did unanimously with the five points (I demurred on one) and with cognitive dissonance swirling round the table, the five points were actually taken from Reform UK and the snake oil in chief, Farage.

Shocked.

We talked about collectivism, rationalism, irrationalism and capitalism and some two hours later, filled with a bag of crisps and some coke (cola, not the drug), I set CarPlay to Manchester and headed the 11 miles downhill to home.

So why am I sharing this?

I suppose it's to show we can all have fixed mindsets. I thought Saddleworth was Tory and pro-Brexit; it's not. I thought Reform UK talked rubbish yet their "contract" summation, admittedly picked by Darren to surprise us, did make some sense.

I actually enjoyed the debate, the people I met and the rugged rural surroundings. I am a townie at heart though and pulling into my gated compound, reinforced how much I love living and working here as a Manchester copywriter and web designer.

Most people here are wonderful - there's the odd bellend.

But with my trained stoic vision, I accept you can't change others - your only option is to avoid toxicity and get on with your own life.

As we only get one.