London Freelance Branch meetings

We are holding hybrid meetings, with the in-person part at NUJ headquarters, 72 Acton Street, London WC1X 9NB - just off Gray's Inn Road. The nearest Underground stations are King's Cross and Chancery Lane: see Google Maps or Open Street Map.

Meetings are generally on the second Monday of each month at 18:30 - except when Bank Holidays intervene, and except that there is no meeting in August.

Branch meeting calendar jump straight to the next meeting

Motions for the next Branch meeting

This is not spam make sure you get Branch invitations

Please check back here - meeting subjects and speakers inevitably change from time to time. Members who have supplied a working email address to the NUJ centrally get a monthly email alert and virtual Freelance listing of recent updates.

Details of how to use Zoom are here. We send links to Branch members shortly before the meeting: if you've misplaced yours or are having trouble entering the meeting please contact the secretary directly.

NOTE that to comply with the Branch rules any motion for a meeting must be sent, in writing, to the Freelance editors ten days before the meeting date: see below for a handy form for submitting motions. See here for guidance on Tweeting and recording meetings.

There is information here on how the agendas for Branch meetings are put together.

The Branch also organises meetings for members new to freelance journalism, to meet other people new to the Branch and members with more experience of freelance journalism, generally on the last Thursday of every third month from 6pm. If you have recently joined, or transferred into, London Freelance Branch of the NUJ you should receive an invitation in email.

Our BlueSky feed @nujlfb.bsky.social and Twitter feed www.twitter.com/NUJ_LFB give updates

The Branch Committee welcomes suggestions for speakers and topics for meetings: contact editor@londonfreelance.org.

Archive of past meeting reports

NUJ Extra

LFB agrees to suspend its payments of £250 monthly to NUJ Extra, the independent charity for NUJ members – subject to review at any time. (Explanation: the Branch instituted this payment when covid-19 regulations prevented it from holding in-person meetings.)

Proposed: Phil Sutcliffe

AGM motion: Proofreading Branch rules

LFB agrees to amend its Standing Orders so that Standing Order 9 specifies that Delegate Meeting delegates shall be elected on a simple total of votes cast by members at the relevant Branch meetinng.

Proposed: Mike Holderness

Venezuela and the safety of journalists

This Branch is very concerned at the events that occurred in the sovereign country of Venezuela on Saturday 3 January 2026 - that have been widely reported by UK news and media outlets around the world.

As members of the global community, we deplore the violation of international law that has seen the US bomb sites in Venezuela resulting in a number of civilian and other fatalities and the abduction of the country’s president and its first lady to the US to face what it states are criminal charges.

This Branch has an understanding of the gravity of the situation now faced by the people of Venezuela. We have seen from other historical examples that fear, instability and a power vacuum created by one country’s attack on the rights of another is a threat to the security of civilians as well as the safety of journalists and reporters.

We urge the NUJ to work constructively with journalist organisations in the region to ascertain their needs and requirements at this difficult time and offer assistance as deemed appropriate.

We note that a number of trades union general secretaries in the UK have condemned the US action against Venezuela in a statement as reported by the Morning Star on 5 January 2026 - these include Daniel Kebede (NEU), Fran Heathcote (PCS), Jo Grady (UCU), Eddie Dempsey (RMT), Steve Wright (FBU), Steve Gillian (POA), Maryam Eslamdoust (TSSA), Sarah Woolley (BFAWU) and Gawain Little (GFTU). The UK prime minister’s refusal to denounce the abduction of the Venezuela president was also condemned by Unison general secretary Christina McAnea. [The Financial Times is deeply umhappy too.]

Proposed: Deborah Hobson

Defend Adil Raja and journalism in Pakistan

This Branch expresses its solidarity with member Adil Raja. An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has announced multiple criminal convictions and severe prison sentences in absentia against a group of Pakistani journalists and commentators now living abroad. Adil is one of those named, alongside colleagues such as Sabir Shakir, Wajahat Saeed Khan, Syed Haider Raza Media and others.

Adil tells us that none of them were notified of charges. None were summoned. None were shown evidence. None were given the opportunity to appear or defend themself. They learned of the convictions through the media, after sentences had reportedly already been imposed.

This appears to be a clear case of judicial harassment aimed at journalists in exile — to be part of a wider global trend of transnational repression, in which authoritarian states use courts and counter-terrorism laws to intimidate critical voices beyond their borders.

This matters to all of us in the NUJ, because it cuts to the heart of what the union exists to defend:

• the right to report freely;
• the safety of journalists wherever they work or live; and
• and the principle that journalism is not terrorism.

The Branch resolves to write to the NUJ National Executive and to the General Secretary thanking them for any steps that they may already have taken and urging them to increase pressure on relevant governments to protect journalists and journalism.

Proposed: Mike Holderness

• send your motion no later than 10 days before the meeting at which it should be debated; and see the form for motion details (Word .DOC)