No Such Thing – the distance edition

When was the last time you had a conversation with a stranger?

No Such Thing is a conversation between two people who might not otherwise meet.

Once a month, we invite you to join us for lunch and a chat, one-to-one. We meet, we talk, we eat, we say goodbye. That’s it.

Since 2012, we’ve had almost 500 conversations with 500 strangers. Unfamiliar faces, all with stories we’d not heard before, opinions we couldn’t predict…

Much of Quarantine’s work is about creating the circumstances for conversations between strangers and in that respect, No Such Thing is our quintessential work. It explores how we negotiate difference and find points of connection.

No Such Thing takes place on the first Wednesday of the month between 12 noon and 2.30pm over video chat (Zoom or Skype). Each conversation lasts half an hour. To help things flow, we create a changing menu of conversation starters. There’s always a ‘Today’s Special’ from that day’s news.

Upcoming dates

None at present 

Before the coronavirus lockdown, No Such Thing took place monthly in Kabana curry café in Manchester’s northern quarter, where we offered to buy strangers lunch in exchange for a conversation.

Since launching this distance edition, we’ve been able to talk to people all around the world – people living in varying circumstances, but all affected by coronavirus. Kabana has now re-opened, but we’ve decided to keep No Such Thing as an online event for now, to support efforts to limit the spread of the virus and, while so many are still confined to their homes, to continue talking to people, both near and far…

No Such Thing is made possible by the generous support of George Whalley.