Presenting the third Scottish Social Media Dinner with a theme of Politics and Social Media. As with previous events, the idea is that people speak inbetween courses telling us their experiences of social media, what they’ve learned from it, what they use, how they use it and what their general thoughts are. There’s also a Q&A at the end which does what it says on the tin.

This month has been in the planning for a while and it’s got some good speakers lined up. We’ll be having speakers from either each of the main political parties in Scotland or someone well-known for a party in blogging circles. Talks are ongoing with a few people still but I can reveal that we have confirmed for Wed, Feb 17:

First of all, I just want to say thanks to the speakers of this event. I know this is shaping up to be an interesting 18 months in Scottish politics (that may even lead to the break-up of the union and Labour ruling Scotland for a very long time) so for some of the best from each party to give their time is greatly appreciated. On that note, we have:

Labour’s Tom Harris MP. Regardless of politics you can’t help but admire Tom for the way he has grasped social media as a way of communicating and engaging with the public. He has been one of the UK’s top engaging politicians (I would go as far as to say he has been the top engaging politician) and an event with him alone would be fantastic.

But there’s more than just Tom!

We also have Patrick Harvie MSP from the Greens. Patrick has been a well known user of technology – I’m willing to lay money he’s the only person in the Parliament who knows what Unix is – and made the headlines for tweeting while at dinner with the Prime Minister (you can insert your own tut-tut or gag here). Again, like Tom, Patrick understands digital as a way of communicating and he’s probably the best technologist in the Scottish Parliament. Some of you may even remember that he was one of the first to sign up for the Scottish leg of the Digital Britain Unconference in 2009. And no, don’t ask him Linux questions on the night. Use Google to fix your broken install.

For the Lib-Dems we have Andrew Reeves who has a really good blog looking at not only politics but various aspects of social media. Andrew has been very engaging back and forth over Twitter with me – and he’s also been a supporter of the Scottish Social Media Dinner in the past (which proves he’s a switched on person.) Andrew’s day job is the Director of Campaigns for the Scottish Liberal Democrats and is responsible for their move into the social media scene, which I think he has carried out very well and with not enough praise for his efforts. Andrew previously worked for top Lib Dem blogging MP Lynne Featherstone.

The Conservative and SNP speakers are still to be announced.

I think this could be a fascinating chat because obviously for so long politics was easily controlled by the centre – traditionally Westminster – but now it’s far, far more personable and now every little thing a politician says or does can be analysed or used to hold them to account. We’re now also in an era where – thanks to social engagement – not only can more people interact with their elected representatives, but discover who they actually like and want to vote for.

To me that’s the really interesting part because in an era where you can now discover that you like the individual but hate the party (and vice versa) what will be the ultimate fallout from that? Will social media help lead to an erosion of the party structure as we know it and in the future people will form mini-coalitions depending the topic?

During the Q&A – and after – if people want to debate politics then that’s fine as long as the speakers are happy with that, but for the main event can we keep the chat to digital communications and politics please? I’m sure that will still be enough to cause arguments.

Now, the ticket price is slightly higher – £25 – to cover the cost of speaker meals (the dinners are run as not-for-profit but it’s only fair the speakers get a bite to eat free).

Now the venue is just outside Glasgow City Centre – it’s at Mother India, 28 Westminster Terrace, G3 7RU. In the basement to be precise. I think Mother India is one of Glasgow’s top curry houses, though I know there’s often a debate between Mother India fans, Wee Curry House fans and Dhabba fans. For me, Mother India was the one that invented the ‘what do you mean that’s just the starter?’ sense of being full and I was delighted when they said they were available on the 17th.

Kick-off time is 7pm and it’s 7pm sharp. We’ve moved the time back twice to try and give people from Edinburgh a chance to get to Glasgow for the start, but as we have (potentially) five speakers, time will be of the essence. We’ll have two speakers before the starters, two after starters and then one after the mains – and then a Q&A. So feel free to turn up before 7pm to get a good seat. We’ll have the whole basement booked anyway. I won’t be there before 6.30pm mind you so if you are there first, mine’s a lager.

The menu is below, but first, the all-important ticket buying button and link:

Here’s the menu:

Starters

Vegetable Pakora

Spiced vegetables deep fried with gram flour

Aubergine Fritters

Aubergine smothered in a spicy batter

Mushroom Garlic Poori

Spiced Mushroom served in puff pastry

Vegetable Samosa

Vegetables cooked in a pastry served with chickpeas

Ginger and Green Chilli Fish Pakora

Haddock marinated in ginger and chilli puree, then deep fried with spicy vegetables

Mains

Lamb Karahi

Lamb cooked in rich pepper sauce

Delhi Style Lamb

Lamb cooked with peppers and whole tomatoes with a touch of yoghurt

Chicken Tikka Chasni

Barbeqeued chicken cooked in a creamy sweet sauce.

Chicken Saag

Diced chicken cooked with spinach

Chicken Achari

Diced chicken cooked in a wok with a host of mixed pickles

Prawn Dosa

Spicy prawns stuffed in a rice and lentil pancake and served with a daal

Vegetable Karahi

A mixture of vegetables with green peppers and tomatoes

Basmati Rice

Breads to Suit

After this event, it’s Edinburgh at the end of March (and after this event – unless there’s a special speaker we’ll always aim for the end of the month) and then back in Glasgow on April 21 for a podcasting special. Once we are rotating like that, I’m happy to still go around central Glasgow venues – but equally happy to just stay at one place if we get a decent price and varied menu – it’s entirely up to the attendees. But we can run a poll on that in the coming weeks once the new site is live.

And no gags about expenses in the comments eh?