Believing Cassandra: how to be an optimist in a pessimist's world [Audio]
Speaker(s): Alan AtKisson | Coinciding with the reprint of Alan’s classic book, this event will look at how to build a bridge over the sea of despair, and show how to catch the wave to an enticing, sustainable future. Alan will discuss the pioneers who created the ideas, techniques and practices of sustainable living - the people who prove Cassandra's warnings wrong, by believing in them, and taking strategic action. Alan AtKisson is president and CEO of The AtKisson Group, an international su
EU as a global player: reality or illusion? [Audio]
Speaker(s): Dr Danilo Türk | Dr Danilo Türk is President of the Republic of Slovenia. Dr Türk assumed the position of Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia to the United Nations in 1992. Following the successful conclusion of Slovenia's term (from 1998 to 1999) as non-permanent member of the Security Council, Mr Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Organisation, appointed Dr Türk as Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs. For more than five years his tasks incl
Are the New Conservatives conservative? [Audio]
Speaker(s): Daniel Finkelstein, Professor Roger Scruton | The newly reinvigorated Tories describe themselves as liberal, progressive, and even radical. But these ideas have long been an anathema to conservative thinkers. Are the new Conservatives really conservative? Daniel Finkelstein is executive editor and chief leader writer at The Times and is an LSE alumnus. Roger Scruton is resident researcher at the American Enterprise Institute and visiting professor in philosophy, Oxford University.
Africa and the World: the view from Washington [Audio]
Speaker(s): Howard Wolpe | Ambassador Wolpe will comment on the Obama Administration's Africa policy and its perceptions of the continent's place in the international community today. Howard Wolpe is former special envoy to the Great Lakes Region for President Barack Obama. Dr Chris Alden is Co-Head of the Africa International Affairs Programme at LSE IDEAS. Michael Cox is Professor of International Relations at the Department of International Relations at LSE.
SIPRI Yearbook 2010 Seminar on Nuclear Weapons in Europe [Audio]
Speaker(s): Lord Browne, Dr Bates Gill, Professor Mary Kaldor, Baroness Shirley Williams | London launch of the 2010 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Yearbook on Nuclear Weapons in Europe, which this year considers world military expenditure increases despite the financial crisis. Lord Browne of Ladyton is convenor of the Top Level Group. He served as parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office 2001-03; Secretary of State for: Defence 2006-08, Scotland
What Europe Means to Me [Audio]
Speaker(s): Jerzy Buzek, Professor Norman Davies | Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament and former prime minister of Poland, in conversation with Professor Norman Davies, author of Europe: a History and God's Playground, a History of Poland.
Valuing the Humanities [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor James Ladyman, Professor Martha Nussbaum, Lord Rees of Ludlow, Richard Smith | James Ladyman is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bristol and co-editor of the British Journal of the Philosophy of Science. Martha Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago. Lord Rees of Ludlow is President of the Royal Society, Astronomer Royal and Master of Trinity College Cambridge. Richard Smith is a Former editor of t
The Meaning of Life [Audio]
Speaker(s): Robert Rowland Smith | From Plato through Monty Python to Terry Eagleton and beyond, the question of the meaning of life has been a source of both mystery and mirth. In this lecture, based on his new book Driving with Plato, Robert Rowland Smith breaks life down into its milestones from cradle to grave: what does it mean not just to be born and to die, but to learn to talk, to lose your virginity or have a mid-life crisis? Robert Rowland Smith began his career as a Prize Fellow of Al
The Long History of Dietetics: thinking sociologically about food, knowledge and the self [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor Steven Shapin | A survey and interpretation of historically changing ideas about food, knowledge, and the self. Steven Shapin is Franklin L Ford Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University.
Israeli Academic Boycott: Helpful or Harmful? [Audio]
Speaker(s): Dr John Chalcraft, Professor Daniel Hochhauser | This is a joint event hosted by the LSESU Palestine Society and LSESU Israel Society, this debate will be centred around the following motion: "This house believes in an academic boycott of Israel". John Chalcraft graduated with a starred first in history (M.A. Hons) from Gonville and Caius college Cambridge in 1992. He then did post-graduate work at Harvard, Oxford and New York University, from where he received his doctorate with dis
The Naked City [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor Sharon Zukin | Renowned sociologist Sharon Zukin will discuss her latest book, The Naked City: the death and life of authentic urban places, which explores the gentrification of cities. Sharon Zukin is professor of sociology at Brooklyn College and City University Graduate Center.
Gender, Words and Power: meanings of inequality at a time of neo-liberalism [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor Mary Evans | This lecture explores changing vocabularies of feminism and the possibilities of a new political language and new forms of politics. Mary Evans is LSE centennial professor attached to the Gender Institute from 2010 to 2013.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL): Prerequisites for Injustice? [Audio]
Speaker(s): Omar Nashabe | Editor's note: Unfortunately the first few minutes of the lecture are missing from the podcast. The indictment of the STL in the Hariri assassination case is expected to be filed soon. However there are suspicions that the judicial process has been politically manipulated. This lecture will attempt to show that there have been serious flaws in the STL as an international mechanism for achieving justice. Omar Nashabe received a PhD in Criminal Justice; he serves as edit
Latvia Turns the Corner [Audio]
Speaker(s): Valdis Dombrovskis | After years of unsustainable growth and profligate spending, in 2009 Latvia experienced the deepest economic crisis in the European Union, with a GDP fall of 18%. Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis came to power facing the daunting task of averting bankruptcy. Severe austerity measures, combined with an international loan package, have yielded results – in 2010 Latvia's recession ended and economic growth is expected to resume in 2011. In this lecture, the Prime
European Questions – Turkish Angles: Europe's secularity [Audio]
Speaker(s): John Madeley, Professor Philippe Marliere, Professor Hakan Yilmaz | This series of events explores how our understanding of Europe's identity can be enhanced and developed in a new way by taking in a distinctively Turkish perspective. John Madeley is a senior lecturer at LSE's Government Department. Philippe Marliere is professor in French and European politics at UCL. Hakan Yilmaz is professor of political science at Bogaziçi University, Istanbul.
The Naked Scientist [Audio]
Speaker(s): Dr Chris Smith | Dr Chris Smith explores present-day predicaments and tomorrow's technologies, from the most surprising facts to the most innovative new inventions, from staggering stats to serious developments that will transform the world around us. Chris Smith is a medical doctor and scientist, employed as a specialist registrar and clinical lecturer in virology at Cambridge University. He is also the founder and driving force behind The Naked Scientist, a live weekly radio talkba
Big Society and Social Policy in Britain: a panel discussion [Audio]
Speaker(s): Frances Crook, Professor David Lewis, Rory Stewart MP, Karl Wilding | In 2010 prime minister David Cameron introduced the idea of the Big Society. It is yet unclear what this actually means, let alone what impact it will have on social policy in Britain or overseas. This panel will examine these questions and discuss their views on the Big Society. Frances Crook is the appointed director of the Howard League for Penal Reform. She was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Years Honours
Phase Three of the Global Crisis [Audio]
Speaker(s): Paul Mason | As countries adopt competitive exit strategies from the global crisis Paul Mason surveys the political economy of a flat recovery. He argues that mainstream economics have still refused to draw the lessons of asset price bubbles and situates the divergent recovery, east and west, within a long-wave explanation of the crisis. Paul Mason is the award-winning economics editor of BBC Newsnight, covering an agenda he describes as 'profit, people and planet' and author of the
The Role of Education in Greece's Recovery [Audio]
Speaker(s): Anna Diamantopoulou | With the economic crisis in Greece, the government is embarking on an ambitious set of domestic reforms. What is the role of education in enhancing Greece's international competitiveness? Can Greece achieve the target of doubling R&D expenditure by 2020? Can the government realise its controversial reforms in the university sector and will they bring Greece closer to the rest of Europe? Anna Diamantopoulou is the minister for education, lifelong learning and rel
Growing the aid budget at a time of deficit reduction: moral imperative and political challenge [Aud
Speaker(s): Harriet Harman MP | The three main political parties have committed to the target of spending 0.7 per cent of Britain's Gross National Income on overseas aid from 2013. But, at a time when the government are embarking on a programme of deficit reduction, that political consensus cannot be allowed to lead to complacency. Harriet Harman MP, Labour's Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, will set out the arguments for overseas aid and, in a changing economic and polit
